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Author Topic: R-388: Cosmetic Restoration Question  (Read 2297 times)
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Joe Connor
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« on: August 25, 2019, 05:43:37 PM »

I have a couple of questions on the cosmetic restoration of a beat-up R-388.

    1. What's a safe and effective way to clean the drum dial? This radio was apparently used in a heavy smoking environment. The lettering is crisp but I'd like to clean the drum. I'm gun-shy because one of my early "Oh sh*t" moments in radio occurred 30 years ago when I used Fantastik on the dial of a Philco tombstone and watched the numbers disappear before my very eyes.

    2. All the IERC tube shields are missing. How important are they? Does anyone know a source for them? Fair Radio has them, but a complete set will cost more than I paid for the receiver itself. Is there any acceptable substitute?

    3. Does anyone know the thread of the screws used to hold bottom cover onto the receiver? The prior owner frig-rigged this one.

    As always, thank you for your help and guidance.

                       
                                Joe Connor
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nq5t
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« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2019, 09:17:16 PM »

I have a couple of questions on the cosmetic restoration of a beat-up R-388.

    1. What's a safe and effective way to clean the drum dial? This radio was apparently used in a heavy smoking environment. The lettering is crisp but I'd like to clean the drum. I'm gun-shy because one of my early "Oh sh*t" moments in radio occurred 30 years ago when I used Fantastik on the dial of a Philco tombstone and watched the numbers disappear before my very eyes.

    2. All the IERC tube shields are missing. How important are they? Does anyone know a source for them? Fair Radio has them, but a complete set will cost more than I paid for the receiver itself. Is there any acceptable substitute?

Drum Dial — nicotine or not, they almost all turn tan to brown.  The lacquer used to coat the paper yellows and darkens over time.  I've seen several approaches to "cleaning" or trying to bleach it out, but frankly think it's a fools errand.  You can purchase a new drum dial overlay for under $15.  They're easy to apply.  One source is Nationwide Radio run by KE9PQ (google it).  There are others — maybe Howard Mills (W3HM), and some I don't remember offhand.

Tube shields — the radio will play just fine without them.  They show up from time to time on eBay, too, still overpriced of course.
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WB6NVH
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« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2019, 02:13:48 PM »

They did not come with IERC shields originally.  IERC shields became the fancy item among BA enthusiasts in the early 1990's and people started using them everywhere.  While they do wick heat away from the tube and sink it to the chassis as well as radiate better, failure of miniature tubes in these receivers does not occur from excessive envelope temperature.

The original drum overlay was a water slide decal that was then sprayed with a clear coat and then almost always with MFP.  A carefully done MFP job won't be too objectionable but I have seen some horrible ones with big brown drips and runs, and so on.  The MFP wasn't applied at Collins.  The drum decals were not stark white to begin with, they were kind of an off-white hue.  A lot of them are turning to corn flakes now. Between the yellowing of the clear coat and the messy MFP, you get the color they are now.   But as above, there are a few people offering repro scales on card stock that you can apply to the drum. My plan was to make a water slide decal using one of the card stock versions as a master, but motivation and spare time have not come together yet.
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Geoff Fors
Monterey, California
Joe Connor
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« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2019, 06:54:37 PM »

Thanks, guys. MFP is exactly what the dial discoloration looks like.  Since the dial is readable, I'll leave it alone.

Thanks for the tip on Nationwide Radio. That's where I bought my replacement filter cap for this receiver. Mark has a great inventory and provides first-rate customer service.
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WBear2GCR
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Brrrr- it's cold in the shack! Fire up the BIG RIG


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« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2019, 11:16:51 PM »

The overlay works, the drum needs to be clean and smooth (I went over the decal).

The drum decal will clean up nicely with a cotton swab and some bleach!
Not my discovery, but told to me on the air.
I tried it, it works. Doesn't come back perfect like new, but darn good.

Standard tube shields work fine.
All of mine have standard tube shields.

You should have the tube shield over the RF and IF tubes.
It can effect alignment and stability, not always, but it can. Also will reduce
spurious noise pick up.

Just did this one - has the dial overlay... have a few more R-388s to refurb.
They'll be up and open to offers... (when done)

Use a very mild cleaner on the front panel...


* R-388 REFURB SER 361 ANGLE 2.jpg (628.67 KB, 2592x1944 - viewed 278 times.)
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_-_- bear WB2GCR                   http://www.bearlabs.com
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