The cabinet is structurally solid and VERY well made... so all I had to do was strip it and refinish...lol
Basically ....stain - shellac - lacquer, lacquer, lacquer....lol.
Well so...I stripped it down to about the last layer of shellac ...never actually hit raw wood...( I tried 50/50 lacquer thinner and acetone and that was not enough... so then I used EasyOff oven cleaner to strip it further... then sand sand sand and buff with steel wool!
Then glue and strap-clamp any loose veneer at rear of curved sides at the bottom back.
... then I stained it with Minwax special walnut penetrating stain on the body and natural on the top.
The black trim is Ebony stain over the base shellac and again over one of the later coats of lacquer.
Many coats of DEFT spray gloss then rub out with 0000 steel wool, Dupont white rubbing compound, then rub out/polish a lot more with Brasso... finally added a thin coat of Magnolia Glayzit... for some extra gloss.
You can see the knobs reflecting in the lacquer in some pictures but you can't really see it well with these soft-box photo lights...but believe me... it is a MIRROR finish glossy... real deep thick lacquer look... especially the front and top shows it best in daylight.
I made my own logo Decals and they actually looked relatively decent and acceptably bright against the dark wood.... but for some reason... even after many many coats of lacquer over it.. I just couldn't seem to get the outline edge of the decal to fade out. It irritated me to death. I tried polishing it away... then steel-wooling it away... then flooding it over with lacquer ... arrgh..
Then goofed it up and had to dig it out and start over twice!!... finally gave up on a decal.
Re-coned the speaker.. Wow what a nice sounding radio now!
Scrubbed that chassis with Emory cloth, steel wire brushes etc..and then sealed it under Krylon acrylic clear gloss.
The Dial pointer came to me glued on because the set screw was missing. I had to drill out the center brass post under it. Then crazy-glued on a 2-56 nut in the center over the hole..and then held the pointer to it with a 2-56 tiny screw.
Had to restring the dial cause the cord broke... ( I have done many.. but never like this one... you DON'T want to try to re-string one believe me!.... I had to remove the entire front mounting face and then further remove the tuner and re-string just that part ....then tape the string in place gently... then remount it and finish stringing.. about 6 darn times to get it right ...lol)
Then make a new dial cover too. The old one actually attaches to the bezel... but I chose to make a new one that mounts through that bezel from the rear... but it looks fine!.
The knobs were thoroughly scrubbed and then coated with Krylon for that extra glisten! 
Peter; Very nice!!! I had the same problem as you with the decals and finally sanded the decals off and had to strip and refinish the radio a second time. I'm up early this morning; taking about 24 of my radios to a Nostalgia show. Hope to sell at least 3 of them.
:Well... let's see... What did I do to this one?... what didn't I do!??
:
:The cabinet is structurally solid and VERY well made... so all I had to do was strip it and refinish...lol
:Basically ....stain - shellac - lacquer, lacquer, lacquer....lol.
:
:Well so...I stripped it down to about the last layer of shellac ...never actually hit raw wood...( I tried 50/50 lacquer thinner and acetone and that was not enough... so then I used EasyOff oven cleaner to strip it further... then sand sand sand and buff with steel wool!
:
:Then glue and strap-clamp any loose veneer at rear of curved sides at the bottom back.
:
:... then I stained it with Minwax special walnut penetrating stain on the body and natural on the top.
:
:The black trim is Ebony stain over the base shellac and again over one of the later coats of lacquer.
:
:Many coats of DEFT spray gloss then rub out with 0000 steel wool, Dupont white rubbing compound, then rub out/polish a lot more with Brasso... finally added a thin coat of Magnolia Glayzit... for some extra gloss.
:
:You can see the knobs reflecting in the lacquer in some pictures but you can't really see it well with these soft-box photo lights...but believe me... it is a MIRROR finish glossy... real deep thick lacquer look... especially the front and top shows it best in daylight.
:
:I made my own logo Decals and they actually looked relatively decent and acceptably bright against the dark wood.... but for some reason... even after many many coats of lacquer over it.. I just couldn't seem to get the outline edge of the decal to fade out. It irritated me to death. I tried polishing it away... then steel-wooling it away... then flooding it over with lacquer ... arrgh..
:Then goofed it up and had to dig it out and start over twice!!... finally gave up on a decal.
:
:Re-coned the speaker.. Wow what a nice sounding radio now!
:
:Scrubbed that chassis with Emory cloth, steel wire brushes etc..and then sealed it under Krylon acrylic clear gloss.
:
:The Dial pointer came to me glued on because the set screw was missing. I had to drill out the center brass post under it. Then crazy-glued on a 2-56 nut in the center over the hole..and then held the pointer to it with a 2-56 tiny screw.
:
:Had to restring the dial cause the cord broke... ( I have done many.. but never like this one... you DON'T want to try to re-string one believe me!.... I had to remove the entire front mounting face and then further remove the tuner and re-string just that part ....then tape the string in place gently... then remount it and finish stringing.. about 6 darn times to get it right ...lol)
:
:Then make a new dial cover too. The old one actually attaches to the bezel... but I chose to make a new one that mounts through that bezel from the rear... but it looks fine!.
:The knobs were thoroughly scrubbed and then coated with Krylon for that extra glisten!
:
:
:
Lewis
Had the same problem with the clear decal sheets. The clear print-on base appears to be much thicker than normal. I purchased a set specific to a Philco 42-350 from Radio Daze, and they faded nicely into the background lacquer after a few overcoats, but being thinner, are more difficult to put in place. I was thrilled initially at finding the print-on materials available, and for custom decals using a printer, may be the only answer, but I'll do more research before my next purchase.
marv
:Well... let's see... What did I do to this one?... what didn't I do!??
:
:The cabinet is structurally solid and VERY well made... so all I had to do was strip it and refinish...lol
:Basically ....stain - shellac - lacquer, lacquer, lacquer....lol.
:
:Well so...I stripped it down to about the last layer of shellac ...never actually hit raw wood...( I tried 50/50 lacquer thinner and acetone and that was not enough... so then I used EasyOff oven cleaner to strip it further... then sand sand sand and buff with steel wool!
:
:Then glue and strap-clamp any loose veneer at rear of curved sides at the bottom back.
:
:... then I stained it with Minwax special walnut penetrating stain on the body and natural on the top.
:
:The black trim is Ebony stain over the base shellac and again over one of the later coats of lacquer.
:
:Many coats of DEFT spray gloss then rub out with 0000 steel wool, Dupont white rubbing compound, then rub out/polish a lot more with Brasso... finally added a thin coat of Magnolia Glayzit... for some extra gloss.
:
:You can see the knobs reflecting in the lacquer in some pictures but you can't really see it well with these soft-box photo lights...but believe me... it is a MIRROR finish glossy... real deep thick lacquer look... especially the front and top shows it best in daylight.
:
:I made my own logo Decals and they actually looked relatively decent and acceptably bright against the dark wood.... but for some reason... even after many many coats of lacquer over it.. I just couldn't seem to get the outline edge of the decal to fade out. It irritated me to death. I tried polishing it away... then steel-wooling it away... then flooding it over with lacquer ... arrgh..
:Then goofed it up and had to dig it out and start over twice!!... finally gave up on a decal.
:
:Re-coned the speaker.. Wow what a nice sounding radio now!
:
:Scrubbed that chassis with Emory cloth, steel wire brushes etc..and then sealed it under Krylon acrylic clear gloss.
:
:The Dial pointer came to me glued on because the set screw was missing. I had to drill out the center brass post under it. Then crazy-glued on a 2-56 nut in the center over the hole..and then held the pointer to it with a 2-56 tiny screw.
:
:Had to restring the dial cause the cord broke... ( I have done many.. but never like this one... you DON'T want to try to re-string one believe me!.... I had to remove the entire front mounting face and then further remove the tuner and re-string just that part ....then tape the string in place gently... then remount it and finish stringing.. about 6 darn times to get it right ...lol)
:
:Then make a new dial cover too. The old one actually attaches to the bezel... but I chose to make a new one that mounts through that bezel from the rear... but it looks fine!.
:The knobs were thoroughly scrubbed and then coated with Krylon for that extra glisten!
:
:
:
T.
Even though a bit pricey, they're better than I could produce on my PC/printer, especially the black outlined gold fonts. I managed, but made several prints on the decal sheet, after which I tediously filled in the fonts with gold acrylic paint and a needle brush. With practice and a steady hand, I could get one good one, from 3-4 attempts. Thickness is the problem with the clear print-on sheets, which leaves noticable edges.
marv
:The decals from Radio Daze are ideal. I like them a lot. The only complaint I have is with the lack of detail regarding the fonts. Some fonts aren't at all like the originals. They're only the same size and color. From a distance noone would notice, but it bothers me to no end (perfectionist).
:
:T.