Hi everyone,
I have a Majestic Charlie McCarthy radio thats needs a repair to the bottom of the cabinet,there is a piece broken off and I would like to
know the correct way to go about it,such as what type of epoxy,procedure etc.

Now that is a cool radio! There are numerous threads on using bondo and fiberglass to repair plastic and bakelite radios. I've never done it but many others have.
Ben

Can I search for the threads on this website?

make a mold of the missing piece using epoxy, use a piece of bakelite from another radio cabinet.

Yes--search this forum by going to the top left of the page and you'll see it says Forum rules, FAQ, search, etc. Type in bakelite repair and you'll have enough reading to last a long time!

Whatever you do, do it right.

That is a very pricy radio collectable, judging by what they go for on The Bay.

I wonder if repainting it in the original colors as a restoration would enhance, degrade, or make no difference in the value.

Hi,
In addition to searching the forum about the repairs, here is a link to a cabinet I repared for Ron Ramirez.
http://www.philcoradio.com/notebook/3812cbi.htm
Personally, I wouldn't worry about the value being downgraded by a repaint. Its value had already been decreased because of the damage.
Sure, the cabinet will not be original anymore, but it surely would look better.
I would say that by cutting a piece of bakelite, you will still need to glue/epoxy it in, then fill the small crack around the piece. You would have to get the donor piece to be perfectly in line with the original cabinet too.
I doubt you could cut an exact piece to fit in there, without detection. That's where we use a filler.
In the above link, I make the missing piece by usung fibergalss resin and cloth. Adding extra, then fining and shaping to the right shape. Then careful block sanding to keep things level.
You still might need primer/spot putty to fill in pinholes or very slight lows in the surface.
Your block sanding will show you your highs and lows.

In your photo, it seems to also have a hairline crack running up through the dial window. That needs to be stabilized too. I very tight crack responds to a superglue well, but you still need to back that cracl up with epoxy, keeping the 2 pieces together as one.
The large crack should not be hard to fill in, then shape, I don't see any feature lines on that area. Block sanding to make the fiberglass level with all edges, all the way across.
Block sand. If you on'y sand your repair without the block, you run the risk of cutting off to much of your repair. That will show up like a sore thums after painting.

Hope this gives you some ideas on how to go about the repair.
Good luck!

Thank You Gary

Here's one thats restored

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=1719

Gary, wow great restoration! I loved seeing the pictures and how you fixed all the damage!
Fantastic work that you do!!!! Keep it up!!

Thanks for the link to the repaired Charlie Mccarthy, If only I was rich instead of short and cute!!!

Great thread I learned some thing new today!!!!

Lynn

So did we;

I'd contour a piece of fiberglass cloth in the hole and epoxy it on the inside covering the crack also. Fill front with plastic type bondo and sand it to desired shape of missing piece. Its not a big project..

I was thinking of doing it that way, sounds like you have done this before.

A better way to go would be, take a junk bakelite cabinet, cut a curved section out and duplicate what you would be doing on the Charlie radio, if at all possible for the experience. I hope you have someone that can repaint the details on Charlie after the cabinet gets repainted.

Hi,
The trouble with Bondo is that it will keep shrinking over time. Hard fiberglass resin (and cloth backing it up) will be more like the bakelite hard material. Make sure you go beyond the repair area on the backside. The stuff will flow out nicely. Bondo also has no strength by itself, and should not be used as a filler of more than 1/8" or so.

With any repair the edges of the repair might show, unless you bevel the edges for the material to gradually blend into each other. If you have a sharp line where the two materials meet, you will eventually have a hairline crack.

Remember to scarify the surface on the rear side as any material will not adhere to a slick surface. I use a Dremel with a stone tip, making the adjoining area 1/4" of each side rough. That gives the resin something to grip onto.

That repair would amount to about an hour or so. A little primer and block sanding it will be good to go. The rest of the cabinet would take featheredging and possibly spot priming.

If there is a label on the bottom, there are ways to mask off the area. Whether the label itself is masked off or the bottom section itself is left original. Attempting to remove the label might result in its destruction.

I have to disagree Gary, Bondo of 50 years ago would shrink but the fiberglass Bondo filler of today will not. Alot of new products have come out since those shrinking days. And yes its strong and can be built up easily to 1/4"..