Roberts R500 Restoration

[ian2000t]

Hi, I have a Roberts R500, which is in black (leather ?). I am looking to restore it for my wife as a present, but I really need to re-colour it.

How would I go about re-colouring one of these? I've thought about wrapping it, but the corners would be hard to get right. I am not sure if I can use any standard, or plastic paints on it, or possibly leather paints/dyes.

Any advice you can give me?

[G6Tanuki]

The generally-used product for restoring/recolouring leather in these sorts of cases is "Gliptone".

http://www.liquidleather.com/

I've used it with great success on leather seats and the bellows-thing round the gearlever on classic cars.

[ian2000t]

Ok, I'll have a look thanks!

Is the R500 definitely leather? It feels more like plastic actually, now I look at it more?

[music-centre]

They are covered in a vinyl material rather than leather so possibly something like a coloured shoe cream may improve it. Years ago you could get a paint for plastic that I remember worked very well on some car seats that I had but I don't know if anything like that is still available. The only trouble, of course, is that if its painted and doesn't look good there's no way of getting it off so I would try some sort of polish I think.

I have had a couple of these and one looked as if it was Black in most lights but I think they were originally a very Dark Blue, depends on how they have been stored possibly.
Steve.

[ian2000t]

Ok thanks. It is a bit of a drastic colour change I'm after though. I would like to change it to a "duck egg blue". I have used plastic primer on car parts before, that worked well - would this be the kind of thing to use, which will then allow me to top coat it with almost any paint?

[Tim]

They are covered in a vinyl material rather than leather so possibly something like a coloured shoe cream may improve it

Yes it does. I used the old "Meltonian" shoe cream on Rexine many times with good results. It even came in approximately the right colours. I don't think that make is available any more, but the newer makes are still OK and colours a good match. Apply generously and buff to a shine with a clean duster or cloth.

Of course, the old adage "try first on an unobtrusive area" applies here.

[dseymo1]

Most, if not all, 'leathery' materials take acrylic paint well if thoroughly degreased first. I use a small lump of foam to apply a number of successive coats (it only takes a few minutes to dry). As the paint is opaque, there should be no problem with major colour changes.
As Tim says, try it somewhere unobtrusive first, just in case!

[PaulR]

I think that restoring it and giving it to your wife is a great idea. I have just restored an R200 and the sound is very good.

However, I would imagine that trying to change black to duck egg blue = disaster. I seem to remember having read a thread on here where somebody re-covered one of these sets which I cannot find now but I bet it isn't easy. Personally I would clean and polish the original cover which I think is vinyl and give it to her in as near to "as new" condition as possible.

Paul

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by PaulR

I seem to remember having read a thread on here where somebody re-covered one of these sets which I cannot find now...l

Here?
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=101131

Note that David is a very skilled operator though. I too would just smarten up the original finish.

N.

[ian2000t]

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you all know that the restoration - and even the repainting went well.

I stripped off all of the brass parts first, to save masking them up. When it was a shell, I used the rough side of a scourer with some soapy water and gave all of the vinyl a good scrub, which flatted it a bit.

I then used some B&Q Valspar paint&primer in one to re-colour it.
http://www.diy.com/departments/valsp.../177592_BQ.prd

First, put some very very light coats on, then built it up slowly.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eC...=w1287-h965-no

As it's a very matt paint, and it felt like it would scratch easily, I used some standard Halfords Clear spray lacquer:
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/pai...er-spray-300ml

Didn't spray on too heavily, just enough to give it a bit of a shine, and a good hard-wearing surface.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gf...=w1287-h965-no

[Radiocruncher]

I have a couple of these that are in need of a make over. Any chance of a couple pics of the finished article?

[ian2000t]

Sorry, I didn't meant to post that reply - but once I had, it was in the abyss, awaiting approval!

Here is a couple of pics of the finished product:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ym...=w1600-h900-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KU...I=w543-h965-no

And this is a pic of the Internals:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AQ...=w1287-h965-no

Speaker box:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9s...=w1287-h965-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fG...=w1287-h965-no

The internals are:
- Raspberry Pi B (256Mb)
- Powered USB Hub (which also powers the Raspberry Pi)
- TP Link USB Wifi dongle
- Amp, speaker cones and USB DAC from a set of Logitech V20 speakers, in a home made speaker box.

Software on it is RuneAudio. Sound quality is actually very good - obviously not a lot of bass, but the clarity is very good.
Streams all music hosted on a file server upstairs, and steams any internet radio station.

[Paul Stenning]

Replacing the innards of a vintage radio with modern parts is not restoration as we define it here. In addition the links to the photos don't work - which is probably for the best really.

I'm closing this thread.