Regentone A133 Cabinet Finish - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Aubade65 · 7th Oct 2016, 5:00 pm

I am in the process of restoring a Regentone A133.

I have found that the cabinet seems to be fairly well made with a nice veneer that seems to have been sprayed with a single coat of a light brown varnish. This varnish could be easily removed by scratching it with a thumbnail so as the painted side panels were not in a very good condition I decided to strip the whole cabinet and revarnish/repaint it.

I was surprised to find when I removed the speaker grill and the plastic surround around the speaker/dial aperture that the cabinet seems to have sprayed with the brown varnish with these two items in place - was this part of the design or did the assemblers run out of varnish and sprayed it at a later date?

I am now in a position to reassemble the set, I have respayed the speaker grill with an antique gold finish insted of the original muddy brown (there was the remains of agold anodised finish underneath) but I do not know what to do about the plastic aperture trim - if it was really intended to be sprayed with brown varnish then I will leave it as it is or should the varnish be removed to leave the trim in its original white finish (the plastic is in good condition)?

7th Oct 2016, 5:00 pm	#1
Aubade65 Tetrode Join Date: May 2012 Location: Oxfordshire, UK. Posts: 69	Regentone A133 Cabinet Finish I am in the process of restoring a Regentone A133. I have found that the cabinet seems to be fairly well made with a nice veneer that seems to have been sprayed with a single coat of a light brown varnish. This varnish could be easily removed by scratching it with a thumbnail so as the painted side panels were not in a very good condition I decided to strip the whole cabinet and revarnish/repaint it. I was surprised to find when I removed the speaker grill and the plastic surround around the speaker/dial aperture that the cabinet seems to have sprayed with the brown varnish with these two items in place - was this part of the design or did the assemblers run out of varnish and sprayed it at a later date? I am now in a position to reassemble the set, I have respayed the speaker grill with an antique gold finish insted of the original muddy brown (there was the remains of agold anodised finish underneath) but I do not know what to do about the plastic aperture trim - if it was really intended to be sprayed with brown varnish then I will leave it as it is or should the varnish be removed to leave the trim in its original white finish (the plastic is in good condition)?