1938-1942 Pre War Radios
Page 2
The Rise and Popularity of Plastic
The Rise and Popularity of Plastic in Radio Cabinets. Wood cabinets are labor intensive. The introduction of plastic materials allowed cabinets to be molded, saving labor costs. Early plastics used a material called bakelite, which was hard and overtime became brittle plus it came in a dark brown so sets had to be painted if a particular color was wanted (usually white). Plaskon was a popular product that made radio cabinets lighter and thinner. White or ivory were the standard colors.The other was CATALIN which allowed colors to be added during molding process. Like Plaskon it was a fairly lightweight material. Today CATALIN cabinet radios are highly sought after and expensive.
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Plastic Table Radios
Plastic gave new meaning to small stylish radios. A manufacturer could cheapen the design to save money, yet make a good profit because the look and style is the selling point. These plastic sets became the stepping stone of what was to come.
6D312 Totally Restored
Dial glow of Ward's Airline 24BR-735B.
Painted Bakelite with Pushbutton Tuning. One of the last prewar radios. Interesting Transformerless 7 tube AM/SW Radio. Incorporates separate oscillator (12J5GT) and Converter (12SF7) which provides wider band tuning and more transfer gain.
Plastic MIDGET Radios
Often sold as an extra set around the house. Midget sets began during the early Depression when manufacturers had to cut cost to sell radio sets. They later became the extra set or that bargain set for those who live in the metro areas. Usually sells between $7-$12, They were minimal sets often low end TRF sets or bare bones superhets. The use of plastic help open up the market for these sets. All midgets were transformerless. Early models used "line cord" resistors that look like a basic AC power cord, but these had a third resistive wire to help drop the tube filament voltage. These cords got warm to the touch.
Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Sets
TRF sets are sensitive but are not very selective. Strong signals tend to "drown out" the tuning. Bakelite cabinet. Later midgets started using Plaskon material, which provided more variety of shapes and lines but were prone to heat cracks and deformations.
Superheterodyne (Superhet) Sets
Plaskon plastic cabinets tend to be translucent, allows scale light to glow through cabinet.
SHOWCASE:
The FADA 1000 "BULLET" : A CATALIN Plastic Radio
FADA used this style from 1941-1942 and 1946
(Fada Radio & Electric Co, Long Island NY)
RESTORING THE ELECTRONICSAll paper capacitors were replaced with PTE Molded capacitorsThe Filter Capacitor was a sealed aluminum FP Twist Lock type. It was cut open, cleaned out in new reliable aluminum electrolytics were installedAll out of tolerance resistors and power handling resistors were replaced with more reliable metal oxide types.
FADA probably felt that they could use this radio during the postwar because the style was popular so no new engineering was needed.
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