09/02/2026
Finally restored this Airline 84-HA-1528 from 1949. When we received this radio the grill cloth was sagging, someone at one time decided to paint the case however there were runs everywhere.
We brought up the radio slowly with a variac at 90 volts I heard enough loud humming to determine a filter cap as well as all the capacitors needed to be changed out.
When I took the chassis out of the case (it just pulled out) i noticed someone had tightened down both screws enough that it bust the bakelite mounts where the screw holes are :-( we did a similar repair to other radios such as this.
Get some gorilla tape, not duct tape, gorilla tape is much more rigid to allow a mold to be formed. Then figure out where the end of the mount is and place a piece of tape here. Now fill with JB weld. Once cured use a small drill bit to make a hole to allow a screw to be inserted, this method has worked for me well.
Once the radio was sanded with 400 grit, it was primed, then painted a dusty rose color, allowed to cure for 10 days, next is wet sanding with 1000, 2000, 3000 grit to get all the small bubbles out, then it's time for the rustoleum clear gloss, 4 coats 20 min apart, then cure again for 7 days, then wet sand again, and finally Novus 2 polish.
Since the grill cloth was hard to stretch, and really was not salvageable I decided to finish the front off with a carbon fibre sheet, to give it a nostalgic as well as a modern look....I don't mind the look 🤔
P.s. Yes there are tiny holes drilled in the carbon fibre sheet to allow sound from the speaker to escape.😀
