Thought I'd share my restoration of my Elgin RD-1040, as its a pretty rare clock and I have yet to see another one like it. I won it for about $25 on eBay, and it came in pretty good condition. Both neon bulbs were burnt out of course, and the radio worked but had the AM/FM switch issues typical to clock radios.
Some cleaning with electronic spray, and two neon bulbs later, it was pretty much ready to go. This is the first clock I've had where everything is vertically mounted inside of it, most of these clock radios usually horizontally mount the components. This makes the take apart a little harder as you have to get everything screwed in just correctly otherwise it won't go back together.
There are many knobs on this clock, and they all have this nice painted chrome finish. The clock originally had this on the top and bottom lines of the dial "dome", but it was really tarnished and missing in certain places so I polished it off. I'd like to put this back on, does anyone know what paint can be used to accomplish this? I was thinking model paint or something.
The "dome" also has some imperfections on inside as well, as you can imagine it's hard to reach in there as it's glued to that white faceplate. Gonna try to remove it later this weekend and see what I can do. Still also have to find out if the radio tuner is supposed to be lit as well when that's on.
For now, this is actually my everyday clock on my nightstand, and it wakes me up to NPR everyday quite well. The speaker is tiny compared to many clocks but it doesn't sound terrible.
Some cleaning with electronic spray, and two neon bulbs later, it was pretty much ready to go. This is the first clock I've had where everything is vertically mounted inside of it, most of these clock radios usually horizontally mount the components. This makes the take apart a little harder as you have to get everything screwed in just correctly otherwise it won't go back together.
There are many knobs on this clock, and they all have this nice painted chrome finish. The clock originally had this on the top and bottom lines of the dial "dome", but it was really tarnished and missing in certain places so I polished it off. I'd like to put this back on, does anyone know what paint can be used to accomplish this? I was thinking model paint or something.
The "dome" also has some imperfections on inside as well, as you can imagine it's hard to reach in there as it's glued to that white faceplate. Gonna try to remove it later this weekend and see what I can do. Still also have to find out if the radio tuner is supposed to be lit as well when that's on.
For now, this is actually my everyday clock on my nightstand, and it wakes me up to NPR everyday quite well. The speaker is tiny compared to many clocks but it doesn't sound terrible.
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