Well the meter may be busted.
The relay wouldn’t let go. Took it apart and didn’t find anything. Moved it manually a few times to ensure it was moving. Started it up again, this time in the variac, and all good.
We now have 240vac, a glowing red power lamp and 2 good fuses, protection relay is not activating and, oh, no meter movement. The meter should move in the ‘set’ position for calibration/confirmation that the input voltage is ok, but it doesn’t move.
It could be the rectifier diodes. The 2x GEC D77s glow, but I haven’t checked they are producing the expected dc voltages. The paralleled meter and R9 shunt read 9kohm so they are not open circuit. I am hoping that it simply a matter of retubing the rectifiers or replacing with one of the silicon rectifiers in this thread:
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=74490