Well, it's time to work on the heavy monster! If anyone has a schematic of this devil please HELP! The CRT checks OK on my Beltron (6 on the scale without any cooking or boosting the voltage), I've started to capacitor list. So far the worst part was getting it down from a 8 foot high shelf! It's HEAVY!!! There were some postings earlier on this set so now it's time to start!
And don't worry, I'll do pictures tomorrow. This is the one built by Colonial Radio with the vertical tuner with the pushbuttons!

Is it a Silvertone 8132 ? I think I might have the Riders service info area here somewhere.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6031/6245505076_f89295fc02_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6245505076/)

Yes, that is the one!

It's one of my favorite sets and, yes, incredibly heavy! The chassis construction and engineering is amazing :yes:

Finally got around to replacing the last of the capacitors. This beast is not fun to move around and I worried about the original CRT so I installed my test tube. As one can see, it does have somewhat of a picture now. Shortly after these shots were taken the high voltage lead punctured and blew the 1/4 amp fuse. Sorry for the mess but the flashlight and the water bottle are holding the test CRT up. Once I replace the HV lead, I'll get some time on it as I work out the other problems.

Finally got around to replacing the last of the capacitors. This beast is not fun to move around and I worried about the original CRT so I installed my test tube. As one can see, it does have somewhat of a picture now. Shortly after these shots were taken the high voltage lead punctured and blew the 1/4 amp fuse. Sorry for the mess but the flashlight and the water bottle are holding the test CRT up. Once I replace the HV lead, I'll get some time on it as I work out the other problems.

I thought the water bottle was thrown in to help amplify your frustration lugging the chassis about.

It looks monsterous. Why is it so big? What is on the chassis anyway?

It has a Philcoish look about it. I later saw the loktal tubes which confirms this. Any idea of its origin?

Here are photos of mine inside and out. I can confirm it is a beast to move around. Might be even heavier that an RCA 630TS!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/sets/72157627771449261/

I thought the water bottle was thrown in to help amplify your frustration lugging the chassis about.

It looks monsterous. Why is it so big? What is on the chassis anyway?

It has a Philcoish look about it. I later saw the loktal tubes which confirms this. Any idea of its origin?

Was Colonial owned by Sylvania, by the time, the set was built? They leaned toward locktal tubes, as they and Philco developed them in the late 30's.

That is an impressive chassis, looks like it would be fun to restore.

Gregb

It is really impressive. I followed the Flickr link and counted 30 tubes including loktals in the tuner.

Has the tuner four tubes? I suppose the design is split sound from the tuner like the TS630?

I am also curious which manufacturer adopted the rounded side CRT mask first? RCA made the transition a rectangular mask with rounded corners to rounded sides in 1949.

When was this set manufactured? By 1949, the cheapening of the design had begun but it looks like this Silvertone with 30 tubes ignored this and went all the way!

Yes, four tubes in the pushbutton tuner.

7AG7 + 7F8 for channels 2-6
6AK5 + 7F8 for channels 7-13

Split sound IF using six tubes!

6AU6 1st sound IF
6AU6 2nd sound IF
6AU6 3rd sound IF
7A6 discriminator
6AT6 1st AF
7B5 audio output

The tuner is very impressive. It is a split tuner. One entire half for VHF low band and an entire half for VHF high band. The push button mechanics are fantastic as well as the fine tuning.
It also has plenty of high voltage! The horizontal oscillator and afc circuits are extremely stable. And it has a million capacitors that needed changing....

Nice set! I really like it. Should be fun to watch..

The Silvertone has been a good worker for quite a while until yesterday. Suddenly , no brightness and terrible sound. Digging around showed plate voltage on the video out 7B5 was about 80 volts lower than it should be. What makes life even more fun is this set, like early RCA sets has a 130 volt negative line. A bit more digging revealed the line would go to -30 when the screen went dark. I finally said "enough" and hooked up my bench supply and when the 130 volt line drooped, I cranked it back to -130 on the supply. The three section candohm started to smoke. Pulled the candohm and the 510 ohm section is corroded terribly where it laid up against the chassis. It is shorted to ground. Now I get to wait for the separate resistors to arrive and mount them. I am also changing the other candohm as it is in a number of circuits, especially right off B+ waiting to go after a number of critical parts (focus coil for one).