Valve Radio Restoration: AWA Radiolette

Well finally I have finished the restoration of a 1935 AWA Radiolette valve radio. Mind you I have only done the cabinet, the replacement of capacitors and such will have to wait, but this part of the restoratrion took well over 3 months on and off.

When I bought this radio it was in really bad condition, there was water damage to the cabinet and bits where the veener was missing. The water stain was on both sides and the front towards the bottom as you can see from the before pics. Normally I would just strip the old varnish and recoat with a poly or shellac, but the water stain was all the way through the veneer which meant replacing it. The first problem that I had was that I could not just replace the bits that were missing and or stained because the new venner would not match the old, both in grain and colour. The second problem was that if I was to replace all the veener I had to delicatly take the radio apart which is exacly what I did as you can see from the second pic. This was not easy to say the least, hide glue does a good job of keeping it together.

I managed to find some OLD (at least 10-15 years, going from the packaging) QLD Red Ceder veneer and I have finished it with at least 15-20 coats of shellac. Most radios of the era were not finished with shellac but I like the way it draws out the colour of the veneer compared to a poly.

There will be more restorations to come in the future but for now I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I did restoring it.

Beautiful Job Castaway. It looks great. :2tsup:

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Originally Posted by NCArcher

Beautiful Job Castaway. It looks great. :2tsup:

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Thanks NCArcher.

Thought I'd throw these up. This is my grandfathers STC console radio this is what got me started on collecting vintage radios. I restored this for my mother so she could listen to it again as it had been a long time between broadcasts. It has a great sound and I like the way it looks. Let me know what you think.

Excellent!

Makes me want to rush out and find an old radio.

Excellent finish on the STC gram :2tsup: It would be very intresting reading in how you restored the radio and cabinet to such a fine finish.

remember them monsters. used to pull them apart for the bits to build other radios etc.

Had quite bitey power supplies in those days (350 to 400v DC)

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

Excellent finish on the STC gram :2tsup: It would be very intresting reading in how you restored the radio and cabinet to such a fine finish.

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Thanks Wood en I, as with most radios of this era the varnish had gone off and turned yellow/brownish so it was a matter of stripping the old varnish off and then applying about 3-5 coats of a satin finish, sounds easy but it's the time it takes that is the biggest thing. there were a few black highlights here and there on the radio which were done in a matt then hit with the satin as well to achieve the same sheen. I then polished the bakelite station surround and knobs and placed them back on the radio. As you can see from the photos there is a big crack in the station dial I left it there because as far as I know its been there a long time. Sentimental stuff.
As for the restoration of the chassis, at the time I had no idea on that side of things so I found a guy who did and him do it. Since then, which was the end of last year, I have joind the local Radio Society and have started learning the tech stuff. Zap zap.

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Originally Posted by Avery

Excellent!

Makes me want to rush out and find an old radio.

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Thanks Avery, yeah the bug bit me after I had done my grandfathers STC console.

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Originally Posted by DavidG

remember them monsters. used to pull them apart for the bits to build other radios etc.

Had quite bitey power supplies in those days (350 to 400v DC)

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David, there are some that do make better spares that actual restoration but I try not to butcher too many radios as once there gone thats it they aint gunna make another, I only have a few big consoles like the STC too big to collect alot.

Castaway Just a quick note. If you intead to work on any radio chassis never do so without using a earth leakage safety switch as some of the older radios are AC DC sets they are lethal as they can be a LIVE chassis. A real trap for the unwary.

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

Castaway Just a quick note. If you intead to work on any radio chassis never do so without using a earth leakage safety switch as some of the older radios are AC DC sets they are lethal as they can be a LIVE chassis. A real trap for the unwary.

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Yeah I have heard, and am very vigilant when it comes to working with these sets, ya dont muck around with the 'silent killer'. The guys at our local radio society club have said its more common to have a live chassis when someone has tinkered with a battery set and converted it to AC/DC by chucking in a transformer and have solderd something onto something they shouldnt have in, the process making the chassis live. It's great learning from theses fellows as we have former radio techs, ex army communication technicians and so on. Lots of knowledge and experience. They have seen it all.

Castaway Good to hear that you are aware of the dangers and have a group that can advise you.

I have restored a number of bakelite and early plastic case radios still have quite a few to go. I have also recently acquired a 1950s wooden case Philips model 125 radio is
working condition but I will go over it again and the cabinet needs restoring, hence the reason I was so intrested in the nice work you had done on your radios.

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

Castaway Good to hear that you are aware of the dangers and have a group that can advise you.

I have restored a number of bakelite and early plastic case radios still have quite a few to go. I have also recently acquired a 1950s wooden case Philips model 125 radio is
working condition but I will go over it again and the cabinet needs restoring, hence the reason I was so intrested in the nice work you had done on your radios.

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So much to learn but I think I have found a good group of fellas to learn from. Can you post a pic of the Phillips 125. Its a great hobby, but it does'nt take long for it to become an obsession.

The photos of the Philips model 125 look better than the radio actually is. The top coat needs to be removed and all the black finish needs to be redone also. I will need to also make a transfer for the radio control legends and I am thinking of using a product called "waterslide". You create the layout and corel or paint works and print it onto the product and spray a light coat of acrylic clear and then place it in a bowl of water for a minute and then slip it on.

Yes I have seen that water slide transfer stuff. Very easy to use. I have a similar phillps set but different dial. Have not started it yet, one day.

I forgot to answer your reply - it does'nt take long for it to become an obsession. In my case that was 3 restorations now they follow me home. Another one today a HMV late 50s cabinet is junk but chassis is in good cond.

Your philips - could you tell me what is the model no ? I have not seen this one before. The cabinet is very similar to the 125. It also has the same colour style and it should come up very nice.
I wonder whether it has the same chassis but just a different dial drive. Incindentally
what did you finish the STC with - water based poly ? also the black.

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

I forgot to answer your reply - it does'nt take long for it to become an obsession. In my case that was 3 restorations now they follow me home. Another one today a HMV late 50s cabinet is junk but chassis is in good cond.

Your philips - could you tell me what is the model no ? I have not seen this one before. The cabinet is very similar to the 125. It also has the same colour style and it should come up very nice.
I wonder whether it has the same chassis but just a different dial drive. Incindentally
what did you finish the STC with - water based poly ? also the black.

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Dont have the model number right now, but will get it to you soon. I think it would be the same chassis. As for the STC I did it in a everyday Wattyl Estopal brush on in Satin finish. Since I did the R27 in shellac I have now started my next project (Airzone Cub) in the same way, I like the ease of workability of shellac, very forgiving. The black on teh STC was a water based gloss black with a few coats of laquer to get the same sheen.

I must admit I have not had much experience using shellac. did buy some shellac a while back added Metho but could not get it disolve the shellac. I gave up and used a wood stain then applied a water based wipe on poly. have also used a spray gun to apply polyester all came out very nice. But I agree shellac is a great product and french polishers do some fantastic things with it I just do not know how to use it correctly. The phillips you own what do you think was the original timber finish.
timber stain and lacquer finish ??

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

I must admit I have not had much experience using shellac. did buy some shellac a while back added Metho but could not get it disolve the shellac. I gave up and used a wood stain then applied a water based wipe on poly. have also used a spray gun to apply polyester all came out very nice. But I agree shellac is a great product and french polishers do some fantastic things with it I just do not know how to use it correctly. The phillips you own what do you think was the original timber finish.
timber stain and lacquer finish ??

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The shellac is very easy to use, find yourself a good quality metho, you may find the metho you used was past its date or conatained too much water as I discovered on one of the treads here. Put some shellac in a screw top jar then add enough methoe to just cover the shellac. The shake the jar for a bit then let it sit then mix then rest until its all disolved. Thats the way I do it. Having it in the jar just makes it easy to keep without the metho evaporating. To apply dip a cotton rag in and then brush on to the surface making sure its even and with no runs. If your worried about runs dont put too much shellac on the rag. The more coats you put on the more careful you have to be about getting it on evenly. Thats my experience anyway. Wipe on poly is used the same way I think. Hav'nt used it but cant see how it would be different. I like the shellac as I can just make it up when I need it as well.

Not sure what the timber stain is yet but seeing as your set is in fair condition might not be a bad idea to hit it with a furniture polish first and see how that goes.

Check out this link to French Polish in the Wiki.
French Polish - Woodwork Forums - WoodiesWiki

Regards
Hap

Hi Castaway Sorry for the time it has taken me to respond to your post. Have been away.

Thank you for all the information. I think you hit the nail on the head in regards to the metho. I originally thought that it was the shellac flakes that were the problem. First chance I get I will practice on some scrap wood.

In regards to my Phillips 125 it is the only wooden cabinet in my radio collection. Unfortunately I don’t have the room for the wooden cabinets. This radio was bought as memory replacement for a radio that was stolen from my Mum and Dad some years ago who purchased it new in 1954. It was a very expensive radio in those days and it was Mum and Dad’s pride and joy. It was always kept in immaculate condition.


I will restore this sometime in the future. The wooden case itself is in quite good condition. The finish has been messed with but I would really like to bring this radio back to it’s original condition. However at this stage really all I am doing is finding out more about the radio for future restoration as at the moment I have a few other projects to complete. The radio is working but some of the repairs that have been done are not very neat, also has some other issues that need attention but these can wait till I do the whole thing.

Thank you for the link Hap, Sorry for the time it has taken me to respond to your post. Have been away. Lots of vaulable info I will make good use of it.:2tsup:

Cheers.

ahhhh.... that brings back memories. I worked at the AWA factory in Ashfield in the 1960's as a trainee Engineer in their test department. I distinctly recall being given a radio that had no output sound, and was required to find the fault. What I didn't know was that on one of the valves, my senior colleagues had cut off the pins that gave the audio output, but left the power pins connected, so that to a mug learner like me there was nothing wrong with that valve, it was glowing perfectly :)

That was a bit of a nasty thing to do to you Jill, but I supose it makes one really think.

Funny in the sixties I would go past AWA every day on my motor cycle to work in the
city, I never ever realised what a truly amzing company AWA was untill now.

Watched a DVD called AWA during the war years - truly amazing it would or should make every Australian proud of the people that woked there.

Cheers

Ashfield Park was named by Robert Campbell, whose father was the laird of Ashfield in Scotland. While never a noted industrial suburb, Ashfield has had a couple of important industries. On Parramatta Rd near Frederick St was the Australian Six motor car factory which opened in 1920. The site later became an AWA factory producing radio valves and other components. The site has since been turned into a marketable and suburban development.

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

Hi Castaway Sorry for the time it has taken me to respond to your post. Have been away.

Thank you for all the information. I think you hit the nail on the head in regards to the metho. I originally thought that it was the shellac flakes that were the problem. First chance I get I will practice on some scrap wood.

In regards to my Phillips 125 it is the only wooden cabinet in my radio collection. Unfortunately I don’t have the room for the wooden cabinets. This radio was bought as memory replacement for a radio that was stolen from my Mum and Dad some years ago who purchased it new in 1954. It was a very expensive radio in those days and it was Mum and Dad’s pride and joy. It was always kept in immaculate condition.


I will restore this sometime in the future. The wooden case itself is in quite good condition. The finish has been messed with but I would really like to bring this radio back to it’s original condition. However at this stage really all I am doing is finding out more about the radio for future restoration as at the moment I have a few other projects to complete. The radio is working but some of the repairs that have been done are not very neat, also has some other issues that need attention but these can wait till I do the whole thing.

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Finally got to my phillips, cant see a model number on it but will have a better look in the morning. I think that the original varnish was a cellulose based varnish, I think. I will let you know more about it in the morning. The brown I think is just a mission brown but again not 100%.

Found out a little more about the philips model 125 it is a super Hetrodyne reciever
according to the info I read the only other model that had the same chassis is the
philips model 140.
I will be going to my radio group metting tomorrow I will try and see what else I can find out, will also be on the lookout for some bits, :U and see what follows me home.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

Found out a little more about the philips model 125 it is a super Hetrodyne reciever
according to the info I read the only other model that had the same chassis is the
philips model 140.
I will be going to my radio group metting tomorrow I will try and see what else I can find out, will also be on the lookout for some bits, :U and see what follows me home.

Cheers

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So what followed you home this weekend. Anything interesting. I had a better look at my phillips and I think that the dark staining is either a walnut stain or its painted mission brown going to restore mine soon as I will be selling it, so will do some testing to see what it really is. Still cant find a model number on it.

I did not get a chance to find out anything in regards to the philips radios as I was a little late getting there. was a lot of stuff going at the auction, I bid on a AVO valve tester but it went to high.
However I did win a American Triplett 1503 valve tester in a lovley oak box. But I am still debating if I will restore this unit, it will require a lot of work.

Re: Philips one way to figure out model type is by valve type line up which can narrow it down quite a bit, but I must admit not a great deal of info on philips on the net.

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Originally Posted by Wood en I

I did not get a chance to find out anything in regards to the philips radios as I was a little late getting there. was a lot of stuff going at the auction, I bid on a AVO valve tester but it went to high.
However I did win a American Triplett 1503 valve tester in a lovley oak box. But I am still debating if I will restore this unit, it will require a lot of work.

Re: Philips one way to figure out model type is by valve type line up which can narrow it down quite a bit, but I must admit not a great deal of info on philips on the net.

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Which auction did you go to.

I am a member of the Historical Radio Society of Australia and we have 6 meetings per year. At these meetings members share their knowledge on various radios or other historic radios etc.

Members bring in radios, valves, electronics etc. - all stuff they no longer require which is auctioned off after the meetings.

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Originally Posted by Castaway

Well finally I have finished the restoration of a 1935 AWA Radiolette valve radio. Mind you I have only done the cabinet, the replacement of capacitors and such will have to wait, but this part of the restoratrion took well over 3 months on and off.

When I bought this radio it was in really bad condition, there was water damage to the cabinet and bits where the veener was missing. The water stain was on both sides and the front towards the bottom as you can see from the before pics. Normally I would just strip the old varnish and recoat with a poly or shellac, but the water stain was all the way through the veneer which meant replacing it. The first problem that I had was that I could not just replace the bits that were missing and or stained because the new venner would not match the old, both in grain and colour. The second problem was that if I was to replace all the veener I had to delicatly take the radio apart which is exacly what I did as you can see from the second pic. This was not easy to say the least, hide glue does a good job of keeping it together.

I managed to find some OLD (at least 10-15 years, going from the packaging) QLD Red Ceder veneer and I have finished it with at least 15-20 coats of shellac. Most radios of the era were not finished with shellac but I like the way it draws out the colour of the veneer compared to a poly.

There will be more restorations to come in the future but for now I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I did restoring it.

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That is one superb cabinet restoration, I must confess that the last radio that I restored for my wife, about six years ago was a 1955 Bush VHF54 which was the first model with an added an FM module , a cow to service! I repaired the veneer, cleaned it up and finished it with rattle can high gloss lacquer.
You all probably know sources for valves but the best place that I found for them was "thetubestore.com" in Canada, the prices I thought were very reasonable averaging $8.20 each for four plus just $6.00 air parcel post, all US dollars.

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Originally Posted by harrysin

That is one superb cabinet restoration, I must confess that the last radio that I restored for my wife, about six years ago was a 1955 Bush VHF54 which was the first model with an added an FM module , a cow to service! I repaired the veneer, cleaned it up and finished it with rattle can high gloss lacquer.
You all probably know sources for valves but the best place that I found for them was "thetubestore.com" in Canada, the prices I thought were very reasonable averaging $8.20 each for four plus just $6.00 air parcel post, all US dollars.

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Thanks for your feedback Harry and thanks for the link I have had a look already. Have been lucky so far and been able to get tubes off fellow members of my local HSRA. Yesterday I saw a similar set to the one you have mentioned except it was a bakelite version, the yanks were a few years ahead of us then. They had FM on there sets well before we did. Here in Oz we didnt have FM till we stareted making transistor radios

I was still in England, newly promoted to Service Manager at the tender age of 20 when the first test signals went to air from Rootham in Kent. The only receiver that I'm aware of was a console model TV with a metal cream painted escutcheon which reflected the main product line of it's maker, English Electric, which was refrigerators! The added FM tuner from memory was operated by a thumb-wheel control. This was probably about 1953 and it was a year or two before the first Bush with an FM band arrived, hence the reason that I bought the very same model at an auction for the inflated price of about $140.00, it was supposed to be a goer but the only sounds that it emitted were heterodynes, but that's a story for another time, I've already intruded on your thread.!

This is an interesting area.
I carried a console radio/record player home that had been put out for council recycling.... the complete lack of net based info on it and the company is a real stopper. I'm waiting for a chance to get into the national archives and see if they have information available,

Mine is a a cabinet by Elvy's of Sydney, with a Stromberg Carlson radio and turntable, and is used as a television stand, dvd and sound system component cabinet. I'd love to get the record player and radio working, and set up the speakers to the sound system.

Beautiful cabinet, fantastic fittings... a real restorer that came up spectacularly with a cot and polish wax.

G'day fellas.

Your stories brought back a few memories of my father who died 5 years ago. He used to sell and service all that stuff over 75 years as well as make amps and PA systems etc of his own designs. I've still got a carton of valves and I think a valve tester somewhere in the back shed. I remember him taking me as a young child to the AWA factory and the Ferris factory up on the northern beaches of Sydney somewhere. My first train set was a Ferris streamliner. Whatever happened to them?

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Originally Posted by Flaxton

G'day fellas.

Your stories brought back a few memories of my father who died 5 years ago. He used to sell and service all that stuff over 75 years as well as make amps and PA systems etc of his own designs. I've still got a carton of valves and I think a valve tester somewhere in the back shed. I remember him taking me as a young child to the AWA factory and the Ferris factory up on the northern beaches of Sydney somewhere. My first train set was a Ferris streamliner. Whatever happened to them?

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Wow, to have visited those two factories must have been fantastic. I don't have the train set but I do have an early Ferris Portable car radio, it runs on mains as well as 6 volt high and 6 volt low, had a plug similar to an electric kettle. Weighs about 6 kilos. All metal hammer coat finish. Its down on the list of restoring, but will get to it eventually.

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Originally Posted by Clinton1

This is an interesting area.
I carried a console radio/record player home that had been put out for council recycling.... the complete lack of net based info on it and the company is a real stopper. I'm waiting for a chance to get into the national archives and see if they have information available,

Mine is a a cabinet by Elvy's of Sydney, with a Stromberg Carlson radio and turntable, and is used as a television stand, dvd and sound system component cabinet. I'd love to get the record player and radio working, and set up the speakers to the sound system.

Beautiful cabinet, fantastic fittings... a real restorer that came up spectacularly with a cot and polish wax.

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If you can get me the model number and maybe a pic or two I'll might be able to hunt down some more info for you.