Just enough to make it presentable is all I'm lookin for.

Someone painted it white, can't tell what kind of paint.
What should I strip the paint with? Just sand it off or what?
And what type of paint should I just use
plain ol Spray Paint in a can to repaint it?

AA5 Chassis needs a replacement rectifier tube, so gonna be a while anyway.

Hi majortom,
Posting photos of your project makes it eaiser to assess and get advise from other members.
It looks like bakelite in photos of the set I found online. If that's the case, I hear paint stripper won't harm the bakelite. However, I have never done that so don't take my word for it.

As for the final finish--why not leave it original and polish up the bakelite?
Ben

thanks, sorry about that.
Yeah it looks like this, but looks like the original bakelite is black.
http://radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=0370103

Looks like someone painted over it with white spray paint if ya can believe/imagine that.
Makes ya wonder what they were hiding?
I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the paint off without damaging the bakelite. If I can get it off,
the bakelite underneath should buff / shine up later? am I understanding that right?
Might have some paint stripper kickin around here someplace. I can test it on a spot I guess.

Received a replacement 35Z5GT, NOS, tested real good in the Mitey Mite Tube Tester.
The rectifier tube that was in it originally had an open filament
I had replaced 'lytic caps earlier so brought the chassis up slowly with the variac, so far so good,
lit up and plays. Along with the Cabinet needing to be stripped of that white paint and cleaned up,
dial needs to be restrung. Where do ya get the little eyelits that they used to use from?
Thinkin it shouldn't be too complicated, just time consuming. But does anyone have the dial stringing diagram
for a Detrola 342 handy in case i can't figure it out when the time comes? It's not shown on the Riders
schematic I found.

Schematic is as close as it gets.
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByMode ... 004014.pdf
Sometimes they have the dial stringing diagram. This one didn't.

The dial stringing should not be hard at all. You oinly have the large pulley and the tuning shaft to worry about. The eyelets for the string are not needed.
When I get the path strung up, I put the end of the cord into the tension spring. Pull a little tension on it, then tie it off.
You can put a dot of superglue on the knot if you like.

If there is a label on the bottom or inside, take a sharp, high res photo of it to replicate. Use whatever stripper you like, you are not going to harm the bakelite.

thanks gary, I will have to chase down some dial cord string.
I used to have some layin around too, but god only knows where it is.

here's a couple pics of paint stripping progress so far.
Any suggestions for getting in to the nooks & crannies?

http://db.tt/nyZhQSIQ

http://db.tt/7lWaEDk6

They make small toothbrush sized utility brushes with stainless steel bristles that are great for this sort of work. They probably have them at your local hardware store and would look something like:



Just make sure the bristles aren't so stiff that they would scratch the bakelite. There are usually various styles of these brushes.

Peter

cool, yeah sumthin like that should work.
gonna take a trip to the craft store with the Mrs, and maybe hit a "home debit" along the
way later this PM.

some more progress...getting there.

http://db.tt/GqE2Sezm

http://db.tt/Zhbrf316

Some 342's were originally painted off-white. You can tell if any particular set was, because the label on the bottom would have been applied over the paint.