R1155 Radio Restoration

[alzictorini]

Morning PMs

OK, my good buddy Jim Nunn has been asking me for som time to share this restoration with the PM community so, Jim, here it is buddy.

Last year I managed to come across an old WWII radio, an R1155 for those techs out there. I got it very cheap and it did not work. What I wanted to do was to get this radio to look as if it was fresh from the factory for display purposes in a museum.

The link below shows such a radio fitted to an aircraft:

https://masterbombercraig.files.word...navigator1.jpg

Here's what she looked like when I picked her up:



She was missing a few plates and a few switches but I figured she would be a great project to crack.

Initial examination and strip:



My big worry was the dataplate was missing so I didnt know who she was or what Mark??!!

I stripped the tuning plate first to see how this went and to see what sort of corrosion there would be. She was pretty good externally but all the internal radio kit was rotten and crumbling to bits - As expected:



I took everything to its smallest component for cleaning and restoration, here's a few bits:







She was really dirty and covered in grime. I found a lot of the exterior items when cleaned were actually Brass or Chrome and cleaned up beautifully. Likewise some of the original writing was too far gone so i reproduced them in photoshop and printed them on silver sticky back paper which I stuck over the top of the original. When in place I satin varnished the plates. See below as an example:

[alzictorini]

Hello Again PMs

here's some more examples of the plate clean up with new graphics:



When fitted:



They look as i wanted, to look brand new:





Finally:

[alzictorini]

PMs

When I was stripping the inards I came across what I believe was the this radios serial number, stenciled in brown across the sub-frame. Like wise I searched the internet and from the fittings on and inside the radio I came up with a mark of radio (I think she is a B model). from this I produced the following data-plate graphic:



I had some Aluminium Adhesive tape which I stuck my graphics onto and cut and drilled the plate to shape:



This is what it looked like on the frame:

[alzictorini]

Hello PMs

The original tuning dial was looking a bit faded when I removed her from the frame. I decided to have a go at creating a copy:



For the graphics I used Serif free software and basically I took a pic of the original dial and drew over it with the original colours:



I wanted to keep the original dial face so I made a new face from 1.5mm plastic:



I simply pritstuck the printed off new graphics to the plastic card and varnished it:




Cut to shape:



The clear plastick was also too far gone to use again so using the old item as a patern i made a jim so as to cast a new transparency:



I had some clear plastic sheet about 2mm thick which I heated with a hair dryer and formed with the wifes ladel (say nothing). It worked a treat forming to the required shape.



The front plate was painted using wrinkle spray paint - wow, cool stuff!!



All the items were test fitted before final assembly, its looks really good at this stage and urged me to do more:



Starting to look the part

[alzictorini]

PMs

The main front face of the radio required stripping also:





I stripped the old inner radio equipment which was in a hell of a state. All the tuners and switches were as mentioned cleaned and if need be varnished. Then I stripped the front face of old wrinkle paint:



Masked off:



Fresh set of wrinkle paint - it goes on like normal paint then it goes mad and wrinkles. Using a hair dryer can speed up the wrinkling:





Enjoy

[alzictorini]

Hello PMs

The tuning dial scale (for the hand tuner) was next. It had gone very light due to age but I needed it to be black once again. I simply masked off the the scale lines and sprayed it satin black. I had some railway model decals which were identical to the numbers on the scale and hence i stuck them in the correct place when the paint was dry:



Good as new:



Enjoy

[SCEtoAUX]

Wow. Some very impressive restoration work. It will look good in the museum.

[alzictorini]

PMs

It was now a case of putting everything back together again:









The outer box was painted satin black:



And finally, shes complete and on display:





ON DISPLAY



I couldnt quite leave it there, stage 2:



With modern DAB radio fitted and a new (Home made) magic eye - she works.....

Hope you've liked this thread

Enjoy

[alzictorini]

Thanks Doug

She looks great and in the next few weeks she'll be tuning into Glenn Miller.
Very cheap restoration. I don't think I've spent more than 60 pound on the whole project so far.

There are more pics here for those interested:

https://www.pinterest.es/mad9562/r1155-receiver-restoration


AL Z

[Ckendzierski]

No tubes looks old eunuch to have had 10 or 15 in their