I previously asked about nondestructively removing labels from an 8003 Silvertone Radio. The results of my restoration can be seen at https://www.msu.edu/~yurkon/Silvertone.html

I stripped the old paint, electrolytically removed the rust, an iron phosphate treatment and then powercoated it with a hobby type unit and cured it in a toaster oven. The lettering was done by sprinkling power into the lettering and wiping with a finger. Unfortunately I thought I removed all of the power that got on to the blue finish, but you can see a bit of the overspray.

I thought about chemically treating the dial, but decided that it was safer to paint. I used Krylon Short Cuts Hobby enamel, Red Pepper, and cut it equal parts with lacquer thinner. I applied it with a q-tip and cleaned the lettering with 400 sandpaper after it dried but not fully cured. I sprayed the knobs to match the lettering.

I'm not super happy with my first attempt at powdercoating. I would like the paint to be smoother. I'm tempted to wet sand and polish, but for now am leaving well enough alone.

I recapped the radio and used safety capacitors where appropriate. It seems to work well enough, but I still need to do an alignment.
-John

Looks really good, John.

Best Regards,

Bill Grimm

:Looks good John........how about some chassis photo's ?

By the way, another way to "paint-fill" depressed features in bakelite, plastic or metal radio cabinets / knobs is to use a lacquer stick. They are available in several colors from Antique Electronic Supply: http://www.tubesandmore.com/

Enter LACQUER STICK in their search bar.

I've used them and they work fine....they take awhile to dry though....so you need to wait a week or so before a final clearcoat.

Thanks, I'll check out the lacquer sticks. I need to clean up the chassis some more. I wanted to see if it was working before I did any cleaning that could affect it.

This was also a functional restoration rather than trying to be authentic.

The air variable capacitor has some extreme bends in the outer plate which I assume was done for tracking. It seems to have accomplished the purpose, but looks pretty ugly. I'll probably leave it alone when I do an alignment unless there's any indication that it's not tracking properly.

John

::Looks good John........how about some chassis photo's ?
:
:By the way, another way to "paint-fill" depressed features in bakelite, plastic or metal radio cabinets / knobs is to use a lacquer stick. They are available in several colors from Antique Electronic Supply: http://www.tubesandmore.com/
:
:Enter LACQUER STICK in their search bar.
:
:I've used them and they work fine....they take awhile to dry though....so you need to wait a week or so before a final clearcoat.