:Hi folks,Have a chance to purchase an Rca 8T tombstone for $35 bucks.Chassis is complete with all tubes,speaker is in one piece,knobs and trim are all there.Now here's the clincher:it has been painted white from top to bottom,trim and all.Is this radio worth the hassle to remove all this paint?I have never owned an RCA radio,and I have heard that some of these tombstones were lousy performers.Is the trim on this radio metal or plastic(surrounding the dial)?If it is plastic,is it possible to remove the paint?Can anyone recommend a good paint remover,that's if I decide to tackle it?Is it possible that the paint remover will remove the veneer(dissolve the glue)?Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.Bye for now.
Mike,
Sounds like a good deal. The dial bezels are stamped metal, some sort of brass. Be carefull with them, they tend to be rather thin and the dial covers are riveted to them.Try to keep the paint stripper off the plastic. Most any paint stripper will work, if the veneer is tight, the stripper should not loosen.Hopefully the original varnish is still on the cabinet and was painted over it. The paint will stay out of the wood grain. Take you time and dont strip too large an area at one time. Also use an after wash, it helps to even out the wood tones after stripping by removing trace amounts of stripper. All can be found at home improvement centers. Be aware of fumes, hand and eye protection. Good luck.
Jon.