1955 Grundig 2035W/3D/GB Hastings Am/FM 6 valve + metal rectifier radio

[howard]

Hello again,

I won this set at the last Harpenden auction for £28 which included its box and instructions, and was described as 'a nice one this', and it certainly was.
I managed to get a circuit diagram for it from Tim Pullin which was for a German spec 2035WS/3D set but apart from a different magic eye is the same. This model wasn't sold in Germany, and has extra features compared with the German 2035 models, including provision for remote control (so it has 7 piano keys rather than 6 and a connection board on the back) and also a second lamp behind the dial above the volume knob which lights up on MW and LW.

I got it home, cleaned loads of dust and dead spiders out of it and changed the capacitors in the audio circuit, switched it on and there was nothing on AM but it worked reasonably well on FM for a few minutes and then started to get distorted so I switched it off. Also the tone and volume controls and the piano key switches were all stiff and noisy, the main dial bulb was dead and the EM81 magic eye was very faint. So I took it over to Ron Bryan for an appraisal and he soon spotted broken/bodged wiring to the revolving aerial and removed it for repair while I took the set home and continued replacing the old capacitors and worked on the cabinet.

So briefly the work carried out on the chassis in this set was as follows -

- Ron repaired the ferrite rod aerial by replacing the remains of the litz wires with very supple wire from a discarded modern earphone (Edward Bean's idea !)

- I replaced the remaining paper caps with Vishay and US polyester axials (except for an awkward one attached to the ECH81 which Ron did later). These were branded ERD and Prako and there were also a couple of those blue (Siemens ?) lozenge caps - all were tested later and all were leaky.

- The volume and tone pots were all cleaned with Servisol 10 but not the waveband switches as I gather the plastic used in them by Grundig can react with certain solvents. So I simply operated those a few times and they cleaned up nicely.

- The set was working now of FM quite well but only for a short period before it started to break up. I fitted a perfect second hand EM81 magic eye and fitted a NOS ECH81 and EF89 (the old ones will be recycled if good), the ECC85 surprisingly was fine as was the EABC80 but I didn't have an EL84 to hand so I left that one in place.

- The set was now working on AM too now but very quietly without its ferrite rod aerial. The set worked for around 20 minutes and started breaking up again. I eventually decided to try another EL84 and found one in a scrap Bush set, fitted that and that stopped that problem.

- Back to Ron, one more cap replaced and the repaired aerial fitted and AM sprung into life ! Ron did random checks on the valve voltages which were fine and also checked an electrolytic which was also fine.

I then did the work on the case ...

- The wooden case which was quite dirty was first cleaned with upholstery cleaner and then polished with Mer, which is a very slightly abrasive polish and that brought up a stunning shine on the lacquer. I then applied a light coat of Topps dark wood Scratch cover which disguised almost all the little scratches on the case.

- The side grilles and main speaker baffle were removed. The gold coloured cloth under the grilles had wrinked at both ends so I dunked the grilles and warm water for a couple of minutes and managed to lift off enough of the material to straighten it. That was dried and glued back with Pritt Stick. The bar along the middle was stripped, polished and revarnished. I also polished and revanished the badge.

- The brass and aluminium trim around the front was polished/revarnished in situ, after masking it off with masking tape with sellotape on top and I avoided losing any paint between the trims

- The brass on the knobs was badly tarnished so those I carefully cleaned up with fine wire wool, followed by lots of polishing with brasso.

- I cleaned the chassis with toothbrush and white spirit and it came up unmarked. I also cleaned and oiled the plethora of pulley wheels around the two dial cords.

It took me 50 hours and Ron quite a few hours too to restore this Grundig but it was worth it. It's in excellent condition with just the odd little mark and it works perfectly. With its baroque dark wooden case with brass trim/inlay it looks stunning and with four loudspeakers it sounds excellent too. In 1955 a set like this which was imported just as VHF was about to start in the UK must have sounded absolutely amazing to folk then ....

Howard

[avro]

Howard,

These are super sets. It is one of my favourites and like yours mine needed a bit of work.

I managed to find a Majestic Baton remote for it too. Worth looking for.

You will really enjoy this Grundig.

[howard]

Hello Brian,

It's simply stunning this Grundig Hastings, to listen to and to behold. It doesn't have the thundering bass of my larger 1956 Grundig 3028 Zauberklang (Marlborough) model so sounds better balanced to my ears. I read Tim Pullin's account of his restoration of your set before starting this one and used it as a guide.

More pics, the ferrite rod aerial before and after, the new capacitors under the chassis and a close up of one end of the dial showing a nice feature of the set, when one operates the treble or bass controls little red perspex curtains revolve under the dial shadowing the scale of notes next to the treble and bass clefs.

If anyone has a spare remote control for the set I would be interested in acquiring it.

Howard

[Nickthedentist]

Hello Howard,

I'm very impressed with your efforts, as usal.

In particular, that cabinet has come up very well indeed. The appeal of so many of these nice but fairly common big Grundigs is spoiled by faded, crazed and dull lacquer.

I'm glad you stated that it took well over 50 man-hours to do though; it makes my 3 hour start-to-finish restorations seem not so bad after all

Nick.

[Steve_P]

Me too, having read through it! Was that Blu-tack on the ferrite rod?

Cheers,

Steve P.

[itactics]

It looks incredible Howard! You must be very pleased with the results and this has to be one of the best looking Grundig's on the planet! Well done

-james-

[howard]

Thanks all,

I don't think the Hastings model is that common, this is only the second one I've seen in the flesh and they don't turn up that often on eBay. On German eBay 1950s Grundig AM/FM sets are very common and inexpensive but no 2035s were built to this specification with remote control. On eBay USA though 1950s Grundigs fetch very good prices !

I took my time restoring this set, mainly cos I knew I would find it difficult to find spares if I messed anything up. Some of the old capacitors were difficult to get at but all their leads and old solder were removed from the tags before new ones were fitted in their original positions. The brass trim around the front took a day to restore but it is perfect, no dents or scratches whatsoever. There are one or two hairline cracks in the lacquer which are common on these sets but none have lifted and thanks to the shine in the lacquer, accomplished by polishing small areas at a time with Mer, are not noticable. Had the electrostatic tweeter or the AM/FM cord clutch been faulty it would have taken a lot longer.

None of the pics I've taken have done this set justice, it looks fabulous and is by far the nicest of my wooden cased radios. If only it had been a British built radio ...... so I'm looking out for a Bush VHF64, a set of comparable quality, to restore to the same standard.

Here it is amongst some of my favorite sets, sitting on top of my PYE VHF2D, which is the same size ..... but only half the weight !

Howard

[howard]

Originally Posted by Steve_P

Me too, having read through it! Was that Blu-tack on the ferrite rod? Cheers, Steve P.

Hello Steve,

It sure is Blu-Tak. Ron spent ages picking it all off the coil before attaching the new wiring, which initially was held in place with cable ties and then glued in place under the ferrite rod, so that no strain would be placed on the joints on the coil.

Howard

[batterymaker1]

You have contributed so much to this section. I look forward to seeing what you have on the bench every time.

Wish I had the time to restore on a continuing basis....

[geofy]

Originally Posted by howard

Here it is amongst some of my favorite sets, sitting on top of my PYE VHF2D, which is the same size ..... but only half the weight !

Howard

Very nice display Howard, it is good to see all these looking like new, it represents hours of hard work

Regards

Geof