Found a TELETONE 131A radio and recapped it. Sounds and works great.

Now to the refinishing (which it needs) but there is an original decal on the front bottom, which I need to protect while refinishing.

Ideas?

As always, many thanks in advance.
Terry F

I think that I'd first try to locate a reproduction decal. There are a surprising number of people out there in webland selling repro decals for radios. Of course, if the set is an obscure one, this may not be a viable option.

Another approach might be to take a close-up digital photo with a decent digital camera, then play around with photo-editing software until you get a printable image. Even if the decal is damaged, you can generally "rebuild" it using the photo editor. Hobby shops sell inkjet-printer-compatible waterslide decal film, which is mostly used by railroad modelers and so forth. You can scale your decal photo to close to the original size, then print it off and spray it with a sealcoat of clear lacquer (inkjet ink is water soluble, so this step is necessary for waterslide decals).

The only flaw in this approach is that inkjet printers cannot print "white" at all and can't print metallic tones (such as gold) convincingly. However, this can be worked around with a little extra effort by editing the white or metallic areas of the decal to simply show "clear" or no color at all; then the necessary color(s) can be brush-painted onto the work as a basecoat prior to decal application.

:
:I think that I'd first try to locate a reproduction decal. There are a surprising number of people out there in webland selling repro decals for radios. Of course, if the set is an obscure one, this may not be a viable option.
:
:Another approach might be to take a close-up digital photo with a decent digital camera, then play around with photo-editing software until you get a printable image. Even if the decal is damaged, you can generally "rebuild" it using the photo editor. Hobby shops sell inkjet-printer-compatible waterslide decal film, which is mostly used by railroad modelers and so forth. You can scale your decal photo to close to the original size, then print it off and spray it with a sealcoat of clear lacquer (inkjet ink is water soluble, so this step is necessary for waterslide decals).
:
:The only flaw in this approach is that inkjet printers cannot print "white" at all and can't print metallic tones (such as gold) convincingly. However, this can be worked around with a little extra effort by editing the white or metallic areas of the decal to simply show "clear" or no color at all; then the necessary color(s) can be brush-painted onto the work as a basecoat prior to decal application.
:
Hi Terry F.
I would take a good close up photo and send it to the attention of John in the graphics dept of Radio Daze. Send the picture and demensions and he can probably make one up for you. He has made several things up for me over the last year. He's a good guy. But I would do like CV says and check the net first, but I think your going to have a hard time locating a Teletone water slide decal. John will probably make yours and then add it to the list Radio Daze offers. He will be out here in Las Vegas next week and I'm going to take him over to "Ricks Restorations" to meet Rick. I'll let him know about your Teletone decal. Also if you do get a water slide decal make sure you put a few coats of clear over it, they fall apart if you wax the radio otherwise.
Also if your decal is in good shape you could cover it with paper and put tape over the paper keep it close to the edges and then when you start refinishing it you can blend it in. Good Luck, George T