If you plan to operate your Atwater Kent be sure capacitors are ok. The power supply, in back, has paper type filter caps. These might work ok until your radio starts to heat. Monitor voltage while the radio is operating. If these caps are leaky B+ voltage will start going down.
Your radio may only need cleaning? If rusty I usually mix up dark brown paint with lamp black and a little water. Go over the entire cabinet, rust and all. Apply like a dye. I don't remove the original textured finish.
The top can be sprayed gold. After drilling out the two rivets on AK emblem you will see the original top color. The original brown will be noticed behind your tuning knob.
Norm
:I just acquired an Atwater Kent Model 37 (with Model E speaker), apparently original condition. Once the first stage rf tube was replaced(open filament), the set plays. The question is: is it better to simply preserve a good original condition example of such a set, or go for a total restoration? My initial feeling is to just carefully clean it without removing any original finish, retain the ugly(but original and functional) speaker wire and only use once in a while.