Wartime Civilian Radio

These sets were made to a standard design by 44 manufacturers identified by the code marked on the chassis. This particular one, marked U18 was made by Invicta Radio Ltd. The original cost of the set when first introduced in June 1944 was £ 12 3s 4d

I have cleaned up and polished the cabinet and treated the wood worm holes. The dial had been painted black thus obscuring the original markings below the curved indicator slot. When I tried removing the black paint some of the original cream paint came away as well so I scanned the dial plate and printed out another on glossy photo paper and glued it to the original dial plate see below:

Much of the rubber insulation on the wiring had hardened and perished and has been replaced by unsoldering one end squeezing it in pliers and sliding replacement sleeving over the original wire before soldering back into position.Some wires were replaced completely. Apart from replacing the "Westector" with a germanium diode, replacing the cathode bypass capacitor on the output stage and reforming the main electrolytics and repositioning them where they should have been no other repairs were needed to get the set working.