Stella Tranny - Worth doing ??

[yestertech]

These aren't normally my thing but I was asked to 'revive' this for a cusomer for whom it has sentimental allure. It seems a bit of a cheapo set and not very well made but...

As you can see, it was in quite a state having lost part of the speaker grille and being covered in decades of "yuk". Although still working, the wooden cabinet was nearly in 2 pieces and easily detached from the rest of the radio, due to one of the plastic stand-offs being broken away. Fortunately this and the stella badge had been kept with the set by the owner in a bag taped to the front of the radio. The stand-off was reattached with Araldite.

After a good clean, some switch cleaner was dropped into the voume control which rendered it quiet for the first time in ages - Now the radio was working OK, the wooden case was re-glued where the joints had failed at the corners. There were some missing pieces of black felt on the speaker baffle and as these would have been visible through the new grille, new pieces were used to cover the white plastic being revealed.
Being as the job was on a tight budget, I searched for inspiration for a new grille and found a large piece of metal grille from an old radiogram. Although this was bronze, I was delighted to find the flipside was plain. The pattern was "centralised" and the edges carefully cut square with timmans snips. The original grille was neatly folded at the top edge, so it tucked away under the dial, so the replacment had to duplicate this, using the trusty workmate jaws as a former.
Being a very open "weave" it was a dilemma as to how this could attach to the case without the fixing being visible. Fortunately 'evostik woodworker' glue is very strong and dries clear, so a bead of this was used around the edges and weighted down whilst drying.
Finally, the STELLA badge was repainted in red, with any overpainting being scraped off the letters just before the enamel dried. The badge was fixed with another healthy dollop of Araldite.

So there it is - All Cosmetic and very little "techincal" and yet it still took a while despite being quite a small set. Hopefully, The look on the customer's face when they see the transformation will be make it worthwhile ....... Andy

PS the new grille doesnt photograph too well at the slightly elevated angle used for the first shot. It looks much better in the flesh - HONEST !!

[Robert Darwent]

"Worth doing ??" - I should say so Andy, you've done a really good job there. It looks super now!

I think the owner will be well pleased with their little Stella when they see it, I know I would be if it was me. The badge has come up a treat, and the replacement grill looks just the job. I think the different pattern on the new one is better looking than that on the original!

All in all a first class job, well done!

[yestertech]

Thanks Robert ! A.

[paulsherwin]

A nice job from unpromising beginnings.

The same Philips chassis is used in a number of radios from that time. I've worked on a few, and I've found that switch cleaner doesn't always make a permanent repair - the crackles come back after a few days. You may want to recheck the switchgear before handing the set back.

Paul

[howard]

Hello Andy,

I think it was worthwhile restoring, and I wish now that I hadn't discarded and sold one of these at the last BVWS Bring & Buy table which was in better condition than this one before you restored it ! Well done

Howard