Re: Crumbly RS capacitors.
I never really liked (feel free to interpret as "trusted"....) the way that RS had all sorts of things own-labelled- why not let things for sale be labelled Hunts or Erie or National Semiconductor or whatever, unless perhaps they were "B" grade items that the OEM didn't want going out with the original brand.
Those capacitors look rather like a (possibly later) grey plastic-packaged version of the brown and black-cased Hunts types that we all know and don't love. Possibly, the original encapsulent had a degree of suppleness/flexibility for the first few years that catered for thermal expansion/contraction of the inner contents but it hardened and became brittle over time, with the resultant cracking from differential expansion.
Once again, this looks like a component of not particularly exalted quality that continued in use beyond its expected lifespan by quite some margin.
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