Quote:
Originally Posted by lloydwells
Does anyone have a source for good quality millboard suitable for back panels?
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Millboard isn't very suitable for radio backs in my experience.
The only presumed advantage is that it looks authentic, but in fact it doesn't.
It's invariably black in colour, whereas most radio backs are brown, and the textured surface of millboard is designed to mimic leatherette. Furthermore, it's made of compressed card, which is layers of paper, and whereas radio backs would originally have been die punched, we have to resort to DIY techniques using tools such as drills, chisels, scrollsaws, routers etc, and it tends to 'fluff up' or delaminate, rather then cut cleanly. It's only 2.2/2.3mm thick and is insubstantial when lots of slots or holes are cut in it.
I experimented with Millboard (AKA 'Trimboard') some years ago using a slot cutting router jig that I designed for making replica radio backs, but the results with Millboard were very poor, so I resorted to using 3mm hardboard and MDF, which produced far better results. Quite a lot of radio backs were not textured - the Wartime Civilian Receiver for example, or the 444 'People's Set'. I've mention my experiences in previous threads on the forum and in a BVWS Bulletin article back in 2013, so I won't bang on about it.
I've attached a couple of examples of backs I made using 3mm Hardboard. One for a Little Maestro, the other for a WCR radio.
I painted them with the nearest shade of matt brown tester pots that I could find to the originals, and made and fitted labels as called for.
These are just my experiences - other may have had satisfactory results using Millboard.
You can get a sheet 48" x 30" for £8.40 or 48" x 62" for £16.80 from here. You'll see what I mean about the texture:
https://www.martrim.co.uk/car-trimmi.../millboard.php
Or from Wollies, 61.75" x 48.5" at this link for £17.50:
https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/produ...term=Millboard
Hope that helps a bit.