Peto Scott H52

[PJC58-Hythe]

I was lucky enough to buy a Peto Scott H52 from a local chap who had the set in his family since new, it even had the original local shop sticker on the back confirming where it had been bought! It had obviously been in the 'loft' or some such place for a very long time and was extremely dusty and slightly rusting especially on the aerial and earth connectors.

I decided to do my 'usual' rebuild which involves stripping the set down completely to it's component parts, treating the chassis to a good clean and a lick of paint, then re-assembling and testing. I don't know how others go about this but I tend to remove all the components on the top of the chassis then try and remove all the valve bases with components attached so you end up with a sort of framework that can be put back into the chassis with relative ease, I then re-cap / re-wire as needed.

The tuning dial on these sets is a drum which rotates driven from a spindle with a rubber bush at one end, it's a peculiar setup but works well! The dial on this set really needed replacing so I decided to create a new one using polypropylene sheet. I first removed the old drive and then flattened it out as much as possible and took several photos of it. I then overlaid the best photo onto a blank Publisher page and started the painful process of recreating the whole thing. Once done I printed it out (and finally got the size correct with the original). I then printed the correct size onto clear self-adhesive paper which was attached to the polypropylene sheet and formed around the original drum.

[PJC58-Hythe]

After the chassis was re-assembled all the 'waxies' were replaced along with the 2 low voltage electrolytics. The wave change switch was given a good soaking of switch cleaner and the volume control was thoroughly cleaned and the mains switch re-attached as it had obviously come away some time ago. I had already checked the mains transformer and smoothing choke so was happy they were OK. Once assembly of the bare chassis was complete I powered it up and checked the alignment which was pretty much spot on, I attached a short piece of wire and was rewarded with a lot of stations on SW and all the usual suspects on MW & LW. This set is amazingly sensitive even with a 6ft bit of wire.

Now I had confirmed the set was good I set about the cabinet. The logo had to be sanded off, but before I did this I took a good picture of it and then spent a couple of hours touching it up in paint to get a suitable image to print onto self-adhesive paper. I could then varnish over this to create a stable image that wouldn’t come off.

I lightly sanded it down to remove the old varnish (being careful not to sand through the veneer), once done I masked off two lines down the cabinet where the colour charges and used a mahogany varnish for the darker colour and a dark oak for the lighter colour and black paint for the horizontal bars across the speaker opening. The speaker cloth was completely shot to I made a trip to fabric land to find something suitable, and with a little help from my wife regarding which colour she thought the best I got a couple of yards for a fiver. I then glued a suitable sized piece to the speaker baffle board and re-assembled the set. I'm pleased with the result and more amazingly my wife thinks it would look good in the house somewhere, what a result!

[stitch1]

Excellent, the cabinet looks great
You have gone much further than I ever do, Ive never stripped a chassis, that is a full restoration.

I picked one of these at a car boot it was in very poor condition and had a mouse nest inside!
These radios do perform very well, very sensitive.

[Andrewausfa]

Once again I'm in admiration of the work you put in. It looks excellent.

Andrew

[Denis G4DWC]

What a nice job you've made of it, well done.

We had one of these H52s at home back in the early 50s and I well remember, sat on my Fathers knee, being terrified listening to Journey into Space. I wound the volume up a bit one one occasion when some music was playing and the thing died. I of course was blamed for causing the fault. Money was a bit tight back then but my Father had it fixed. Goodness knows what caused the fault.

I suppose I can come clean now after all these years and tell you how it ended up.
In the early 60s a school friend and I decided to make a medium wave Transmitter from a Top Band Transmitter article in PW. The old H52 was taken to pieces and the transmitter was built on the chassis using the existing Mains Transformer and other components. I managed to buy a 10X style crystal and a 100mA meter for the PA Current meter from the Shop on the Bridge in Reading. The crystal came out at about 210metres. We used to put a stack of records on his Record player, which was used as the modulation source, and ride around Didcot on our bikes listening to it on his Mum's GEC Transistor radio.
Sometime later we were advised of the error of our ways and later I got my Amateur licence.
I still regularly keep in touch with that School friend who now lives in Western Australia.

Denis

[Ken]

I also have one of these sets although it was some time ago that I did most of the work on it. I do remember having trouble with the drum based tuning dial it being both dirty and distorted. After dismantling I was able to clean the scale using a light brush on the printed part of the scale and a mixture of ethanol, water and a drop of detergent on the rest. This worked well. I am impressed that you were able to recreate this scale. Of course beauty is always in the eye of the beholder but with its two tone veneer I think it is quite an attractive set.

Regards,

Ken

[mark pirate]

A very worthwhile restoration, I used to have one as a child, bought from a jumble sale in the early 70,s.

I really like the unique look of these sets, and as you have found, they really work well.

Mark

[PJC58-Hythe]

Thank you for all the positive comments, and I'm glad it brought back some nostalgic memories for some of you! I agree it's a 'pretty' set and I'm looking forward to using it on a regular basis.

Peter

[PaulR]

A very thorough job indeed with excellent results. I am glad that you intend to use it as so many sets get restored then forgotten about.

I have a friend who has a Peto Scott radiogram and it is a first class piece of kit, so if your radio is built to the same standards I am sure it will sound good.

There was a Peto radiogram on ebay recently but SWMBO just could not see the benefit of removing an existing piece of furniture so it could be accommodated!

Paul

[Chris Parry]

You've done a very nice job on this old H52. There's one here, serial 38409. It's a little different from yours in that the IFTs have solder tags rather than flying leads. Many years ago I had one of the HU52 AC/DC variants, with a cabinet in single veneer. That radio sticks in my mind because one day, the Osram 302 barretter exploded when I switched it on. Glass everywhere! Fortunately the back was fitted at the time. These are very good radios and it looks like there are several survivors. My curved perspes window is cracked. Anybody got one they don't need? Chris.

[vinrads]

All I can say is wow ! what a super restoration job, I am with you when it comes to restoration of a particularly nice set, that is a total strip down and re build, keep up the good work . Mick.

[davidgem1406]

Superb job Peter and well worth the effort. I can appreciate the amount of time and work that goes into doing such a fine job.
You have done what I do myself if the unit is in such a poor state as to warrant it.

Dave

[bobbyball]

Looks like new!

Robert