Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

howard · 8th Jan 2006, 6:43 pm

Hello again,

I was very fortunate in acquiring a black 'starry night' Roberts RT1 off eBay a few months ago in absolutely mint condition. I found out soon after that there was a second of these 'ladies fashion radios' made in 1959 in yellow with red spots and stars. Very few of these appear on eBay, no doubt cos they were a limited edition back in 1959 anyway and Ive seen only 3 in past year and this one was the third, the second being snapped up by Avro here. Needless to say, these are very valuable radios, fetching £100+ apiece.

This was a one owner radio, unused for many years no doubt cos the 6v battery was no longer available but while in use it was obviously well looked after. The radio was very grubby, it was missing the brass cap off the wavechange switch, there was a slight dent in the grille, the badge was broken but the worst problem was the handle which had split at both ends on the top. I thought initially I might have been able to have turned the handle over but that was not to be .... But what is good about this RT1 is that it has absolutely no tears, stains or nicks in the material on the case

I gave the radio a good clean in upholstery cleaner, I was'nt not too rigorous here cos those red spots and stars are only printed on and I didn't want to damage them but I still managed to get 99% of the grime off

I managed to obtain a spare brass cap from Philsync here (thanks Phil) in exchange for a couple of new gold Roberts Revival badges. I took the other two caps off (actually they fell off), polished all 3 up with Brasso, revarnished them and then stuck them back onto the cleaned white knobs with Evo Stick. A little bit of the fabric had just started to lift along the bottom so I stuck that back down with super glue.

The chassis on these are very straightforward to remove, and entails removing two wedges secured by screws - the entire chassis then just lifts out. The handle pins on these are secured by soldered washers so I used my old 25 watt solon iron to soften those and my solder pump to remove the solder. The speaker grille is also easy to remove, first the speaker is removed by undoing four nuts, and then four more nuts are removed and the wooden baffle behind the front of the case comes away complete with the grille. The grille is glued to the baffle but as that had all but dried out it fell off immediately. I pushed the dent out by hand, it was very slight and managed to get it nice and flat again and then glued it back onto the baffle.

I checked the underside of the handle to see if it was feasible to turn it over but no, the fabric on the handle is very fragile, so I trimmed a tiny piece of material from the inside of the case and spliced in 3 small pieces to cover one of the splits in the upper handle material. Hardly an ideal solution but it looks a lot better than it did. I replaced the broken silver badge with a new gold Revival badge, again not ideal but it doesnt look out of place at all.

I replaced the original battery clips with a good quality PP3 clip so that I could attach a 6volt 4 x AA battery holder. I cleaned the MW/off/LW switch with a little switch cleaner, switched on and it worked perfectly, amazing !

I reassembled the radio and here it is. Its gorgeous and quite simply one of Roberts prettiest radios

And it complements my black starry night RT1 perfectly. It works well and personally I think these RT1s sound better than the later R200s ...

GJR 11L · 8th Jan 2006, 7:20 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard

Hello again,
It works well and personally I think these RT1s sound better than the later R200s ...

Me too! The RT1s I've had have always been a simple fix, usually they will come to life with the cleanup of the switch. I once had to put a pair of transistors in the audio stage of an RT1 of the *later type* & recapped the set while I was about it (*No heatsink for said transistors, an aerial socket in the back door and the later, underlined Typeface on the badge*) but even then the thing would have soldiered on for long enough before the distortion and loss of volume became unbearable.
The RT1 has always been slightly cheaper (in standard trim) on fleaBay than R200s in equivalent condition. A good thing I say!

That one looks like another stunning job Howard, you are doing the work of ten mere mortals in preserving these lovely things for posterity.

avro · 8th Jan 2006, 9:42 pm

Delightful radios. Howard we should nickname you 'The Roberts Man' I agree that they sound better than the R200s but in restored condition they fetch a bit more of a premium. I have 5 soon to be joined by a sixth-which I think covers most of the main colours.

Amongst the Roberts Radios these are definitely my favourite. Here is a photo of my Champagne starry night.

I had been looking for a good one for years and all of a sudden 3 showed up on eBay. Unlike Howard I have converted mine to run on D Cells rather than AA (after some good advice in this forum-I had been thinking about putting in a dropper to run them off a PP9) and it runs like a charm.

Avro

howard · 9th Jan 2006, 10:06 am

Thanks Phil, Brian,

I was really thrilled to acquire my black 'starry night' RT1 a few months back, it was the best purchase I have made on eBay and I doubt if another like it will turn up again. This yellow one is prettier than the black one but not quite in such good condition due to its worn handle. I did contact Roberts in Isleworth for help but not surprisingly they no longer keep the handles or the material for these 50 year old sets

So I'm seriously considering making up some material myself to have made up into a replacement handle - I think that would be worthwhile doing to bring this yellow RT1 up to the same standard as the black one

I think these 'starry night' radios are destined to be genuine antiques in the not too distant future because amongst all first generation transistor radios these undoubtedly have the boldest coloured cabinets

Howard

avro · 9th Jan 2006, 12:45 pm

Howard,

I have already seen these in Antique books and I gave mine to my 2 daughters as an extra Christmas present that will keep on appreciating in value and will be an enjoyable radio to own.

My black one has good cosmetics except for the handle. If you do make up the handle and would like to sell some more, you have a customer here.

Avro

JoshWard · 9th Jan 2006, 6:52 pm

Howard,
I take it as these were the ones I got outbid on

Oh well at least they have found a good home and have had a nice restoration, well done! The only Roberts sets I have are an Ric1 and Ric2 (both not working).

howard · 9th Jan 2006, 8:22 pm

Hello Josh,

Im sorry about that, it happens to me all the time as well

I daresay if you ask in the 'Radio Parts Wanted' section someone here is bound to have a working chassis for either your RIC1 or RIC2 without you having to dig too deeply into your pocket money

Howard

Courtney Louise · 10th Jan 2006, 8:43 am

Howard,

Beautiful Resto job there, I have always liked the Ltd Ed Roberts and always wanted a stary night, saw a book once that showed a pic of a rolling stones one. Is there a definitive site anywhere that shows all the variants that were made?

Regards

Andi

Paul_RK · 10th Jan 2006, 9:27 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarl Ayari

Is there a definitive site anywhere that shows all the variants that were made?

I very much doubt it... Roberts themselves may well not have bothered to keep comprehensive records, and no collector is likely even to have approached gathering them all. Presumably the mink-coated and jewel-encrusted versions were only made in ones and twos: by comparison the "starry" RT1s don't seem terribly scarce at all. Perhaps somewhere in between are the R55/66 sets in patterned cloths seen in the Roberts' company history at the 1956 Radio Show, none of which I've noticed in my couple of years of watching eBay. On the Roberts group I started, I posted a picture of a patterned RIC1 I've recently acquired, and Stewart was able to list five other patterned versions of the model that he'd seen. And the real fun will begin when collectors turn their attention to the Revival... well over thirty finishes must have been available already

Paul

JoshWard · 10th Jan 2006, 6:21 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard

Hello Josh,

Im sorry about that, it happens to me all the time as well

I daresay if you ask in the 'Radio Parts Wanted' section someone here is bound to have a working chassis for either your RIC1 or RIC2 without you having to dig too deeply into your pocket money

Howard

I'm sure I will find another at some point! I thought I would show a picture of my RIC2.http://i21.ebayimg.com/02/i/05/6a/23/0e_1_b.JPG

howard · 10th Jan 2006, 9:13 pm

Hello Josh,

That looks in good nick

If its a mustard yellow one then its actually quite valuable.
Do check the earphone socket cos theyre troublesome on those. If not that then I know someone who has boxes full of old Roberts chassis and I'll find out if he has a working one you can have

Howard

JoshWard · 11th Jan 2006, 5:55 pm

howard, you have a PM.

8th Jan 2006, 6:43 pm	#1
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Hello again, I was very fortunate in acquiring a black 'starry night' Roberts RT1 off eBay a few months ago in absolutely mint condition. I found out soon after that there was a second of these 'ladies fashion radios' made in 1959 in yellow with red spots and stars. Very few of these appear on eBay, no doubt cos they were a limited edition back in 1959 anyway and Ive seen only 3 in past year and this one was the third, the second being snapped up by Avro here. Needless to say, these are very valuable radios, fetching £100+ apiece. This was a one owner radio, unused for many years no doubt cos the 6v battery was no longer available but while in use it was obviously well looked after. The radio was very grubby, it was missing the brass cap off the wavechange switch, there was a slight dent in the grille, the badge was broken but the worst problem was the handle which had split at both ends on the top. I thought initially I might have been able to have turned the handle over but that was not to be .... But what is good about this RT1 is that it has absolutely no tears, stains or nicks in the material on the case I gave the radio a good clean in upholstery cleaner, I was'nt not too rigorous here cos those red spots and stars are only printed on and I didn't want to damage them but I still managed to get 99% of the grime off I managed to obtain a spare brass cap from Philsync here (thanks Phil) in exchange for a couple of new gold Roberts Revival badges. I took the other two caps off (actually they fell off), polished all 3 up with Brasso, revarnished them and then stuck them back onto the cleaned white knobs with Evo Stick. A little bit of the fabric had just started to lift along the bottom so I stuck that back down with super glue. The chassis on these are very straightforward to remove, and entails removing two wedges secured by screws - the entire chassis then just lifts out. The handle pins on these are secured by soldered washers so I used my old 25 watt solon iron to soften those and my solder pump to remove the solder. The speaker grille is also easy to remove, first the speaker is removed by undoing four nuts, and then four more nuts are removed and the wooden baffle behind the front of the case comes away complete with the grille. The grille is glued to the baffle but as that had all but dried out it fell off immediately. I pushed the dent out by hand, it was very slight and managed to get it nice and flat again and then glued it back onto the baffle. I checked the underside of the handle to see if it was feasible to turn it over but no, the fabric on the handle is very fragile, so I trimmed a tiny piece of material from the inside of the case and spliced in 3 small pieces to cover one of the splits in the upper handle material. Hardly an ideal solution but it looks a lot better than it did. I replaced the broken silver badge with a new gold Revival badge, again not ideal but it doesnt look out of place at all. I replaced the original battery clips with a good quality PP3 clip so that I could attach a 6volt 4 x AA battery holder. I cleaned the MW/off/LW switch with a little switch cleaner, switched on and it worked perfectly, amazing ! I reassembled the radio and here it is. Its gorgeous and quite simply one of Roberts prettiest radios And it complements my black starry night RT1 perfectly. It works well and personally I think these RT1s sound better than the later R200s ... Attached Thumbnails Last edited by howard; 8th Jan 2006 at 7:03 pm.

8th Jan 2006, 9:42 pm	#3
avro Heptode Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Kapellen, Belgium Posts: 656	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Delightful radios. Howard we should nickname you 'The Roberts Man' I agree that they sound better than the R200s but in restored condition they fetch a bit more of a premium. I have 5 soon to be joined by a sixth-which I think covers most of the main colours. Amongst the Roberts Radios these are definitely my favourite. Here is a photo of my Champagne starry night. I had been looking for a good one for years and all of a sudden 3 showed up on eBay. Unlike Howard I have converted mine to run on D Cells rather than AA (after some good advice in this forum-I had been thinking about putting in a dropper to run them off a PP9) and it runs like a charm. Avro Attached Thumbnails

9th Jan 2006, 10:06 am	#4
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Thanks Phil, Brian, I was really thrilled to acquire my black 'starry night' RT1 a few months back, it was the best purchase I have made on eBay and I doubt if another like it will turn up again. This yellow one is prettier than the black one but not quite in such good condition due to its worn handle. I did contact Roberts in Isleworth for help but not surprisingly they no longer keep the handles or the material for these 50 year old sets So I'm seriously considering making up some material myself to have made up into a replacement handle - I think that would be worthwhile doing to bring this yellow RT1 up to the same standard as the black one I think these 'starry night' radios are destined to be genuine antiques in the not too distant future because amongst all first generation transistor radios these undoubtedly have the boldest coloured cabinets Howard

9th Jan 2006, 12:45 pm	#5
avro Heptode Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Kapellen, Belgium Posts: 656	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Howard, I have already seen these in Antique books and I gave mine to my 2 daughters as an extra Christmas present that will keep on appreciating in value and will be an enjoyable radio to own. My black one has good cosmetics except for the handle. If you do make up the handle and would like to sell some more, you have a customer here. Avro

9th Jan 2006, 6:52 pm	#6
JoshWard Octode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Near Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK. Posts: 1,962	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Howard, I take it as these were the ones I got outbid on Oh well at least they have found a good home and have had a nice restoration, well done! The only Roberts sets I have are an Ric1 and Ric2 (both not working).

9th Jan 2006, 8:22 pm	#7
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Hello Josh, Im sorry about that, it happens to me all the time as well I daresay if you ask in the 'Radio Parts Wanted' section someone here is bound to have a working chassis for either your RIC1 or RIC2 without you having to dig too deeply into your pocket money Howard

10th Jan 2006, 8:43 am	#8
Courtney Louise Octode Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Welshpool, Powys, Wales Posts: 1,327	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Howard, Beautiful Resto job there, I have always liked the Ltd Ed Roberts and always wanted a stary night, saw a book once that showed a pic of a rolling stones one. Is there a definitive site anywhere that shows all the variants that were made? Regards Andi __________________ *33, 45, 78, around and around they go...*

10th Jan 2006, 9:13 pm	#11
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars Hello Josh, That looks in good nick If its a mustard yellow one then its actually quite valuable. Do check the earphone socket cos theyre troublesome on those. If not that then I know someone who has boxes full of old Roberts chassis and I'll find out if he has a working one you can have Howard

11th Jan 2006, 5:55 pm	#12
JoshWard Octode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Near Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK. Posts: 1,962	Re: Roberts RT1 in yellow with red spots and stars howard, you have a PM.