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  #1  
Old 03-17-2007, 12:38 AM
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Ampico-kid Ampico-kid is offline
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Rca Ctc9

Hi Guys;

This is a little out of my area of expertise, but I thought I'd check in with you all to obtain a little advice. My first love is antique radio/phonograph, followed by early black and white TV. While doing my usual searches in various places I came across an RCA Model 210ck856 which uses a CTC 9 chassis I believe.

Here are my questions to you. The original owner is looking to get $150 for it. Is it worth it? I don't yet know the condition of the CRT. Is the CRT used in this set rebuildable? The cabinet looks to be in respectable condition. Is this a very desireable set? How's the quality? Were they reliable? How involved (in general) might a restoration be on it?

My only real experience with "roundies" was with our family owned 1965 Zenith. It was a great TV, and I spent many an afternoon playing with the controls, both in the back and front of the set (and there were LOTS of controls to play with !!). I eventually ended up putting a new picture tube in it in the early 1970's. I guess I have that set to thank for helping me to learn the basics like purity, set up, convergence, and the general principals of color TV. It was a really reliable easy to work on set.

So what do you all think about the CTC 9 ?

Thanks for your guidance.

Bob.

Last edited by Ampico-kid; 04-18-2009 at 07:32 AM.
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Old 03-17-2007, 07:07 AM
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polaraman polaraman is offline
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I would grab it for $150. The CRT is rebuildable if it is bad. You can also stick a 21FJP22 in it as a replacement. Most of us here would already have that TV in the truck going home!!!! Hope it is still there.


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Old 03-17-2007, 10:17 AM
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Agree. Get it if you have any inclination at all. That set is 50 or so years old, and is quite rare.
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Old 03-17-2007, 11:33 AM
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Seems like the story of my life...."a day late and a dollar short". I called the seller of the CTC9 as soon as I read your replies to my posting and the set had already been sold.

Ah well...that leaves more room for some other goodies I suppose.

Thanks for the info and advice.

Bob.
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Old 03-17-2007, 01:01 PM
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Damn! You have to grab them when you are there. If you hesitate you'll miss out. Color roundies of any generation are ALWAYS good finds.



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Old 03-17-2007, 01:33 PM
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Hi Guys;

All may not be lost. I just had a call from the seller of the CTC9 and his previous deal to sell the set fell through. He then offered it to me. While trying to contain my enthusiasm, I calmly agreed to buy it. I go tomorrow to pick up the set. I'll let you know how I make out.

He gave me some additional information about it. It has been owned by the same person since new, never been moved out of the room it's in now, and was used pretty regularly until about 15 years ago, at which time they threw a blanket over it and left it alone until now. Almost sounds too good to be true. But we'll see about that tomorrow.

I'll report back.

Bob.
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Old 03-17-2007, 01:42 PM
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Aww, man ! Does sound almost "Too good to be true"...Maybe bring 'er up slowly on a variac....I'll be interested to hear about the cosmetics...My luck, I'd have a dream deal like this, slip 'n' bust th' damthing gettin' it in The Valdez...<Sigh> SO BE CAREFULL !!!
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Old 03-17-2007, 04:14 PM
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Yes Sir !
I promise to be VERY CAREFUL. I'll report back tomorrow.

Bob.
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Old 03-18-2007, 02:51 PM
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Hi Guys;

Well, here it is... fresh off the truck...well almost anyway. I left it on the truck for it's "Beauty Shots". Figured I wanted you all to see it while it's still virgin material.

Looking inside it seems mostly original, with the exception of an alligator clip across the glass fuse. That could be a little worriesome. And the other thing I see is LOTS of dust, about 50 years worth I'd say. The CRT appears to be the original. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but I'm guessing because of the age, the emissions will be pretty low and a rebuild will probably be in order.

I'm a little disappointed at the condition of the top of the cabinet. It's one of those photo finishes and it looks like it's starting to flake off. I'm not sure what if anything can be done to repair or replace that? Maybe some advice from some of you would be in order on that one. The sides and front are respectable looking.

I brought the set up on my variac and although I did see signs of life in that the tube filaments lit, that was about it. No high voltage and no sound. I expected as much.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction to get service info. on this beautiful creature?

Thanks again for your guidance and advice. Without that little extra "PUSH" I most likely would not have moved to get this set. It's definitely a "keeper".

Bob.

Last edited by Ampico-kid; 04-18-2009 at 07:32 AM.
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Old 03-18-2007, 03:13 PM
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Bob:

Very nice set. Those CTC-9s produced an excellent picture. Don't worry about the CRT yet. Last week I got a 21 in round color CRT from a friend that was original to a 1961 set. It didn't even move the needle on my tester (which I think works). Anyway, yesterday I put it into my CTC-10 RCA remote set (thanks Steve D. for the help) and after playing for a little while it produced a nice bright picture and is good on all guns.

I can send you the service info and schematics for that set if you'd like. Just PM me with your address.

Steve
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Old 03-18-2007, 03:25 PM
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Bob,

Now you need a Doiley,TV lamp, A cool set of rabbit ears and a vintage UHF converter. That will be plenty to cover up the top of the set. Your cool factor will exponentially go up with all that stuff on top of the set. You'll really be in business!!!: Right SandyG? banana:


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  #12  
Old 03-18-2007, 04:04 PM
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Yes, polaraman I quite agree. I think I already have a very large doily, and it seems to me I've seen one of those panthers lying around here somewhere. I'll have to keep my eye open for some other "interesting" things to put on top. Thanks for the ideas...

Bob
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  #13  
Old 03-18-2007, 05:39 PM
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Phil Nelson Phil Nelson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ampico-kid
It's one of those photo finishes and it looks like it's starting to flake off.
Stewart Schooley has done lots of experimentation over the last few years on reproducing photo finishes.

http://pages.cthome.net/ptf/photofin/photoFinish.html

Long story short, it's possible, but not easy, to reproduce it.

It depends on how much you care about the cabinet, and what's underneath the photo finish. In certain old radios, the wood under the decal is actually a nice walnut veneer, which you can strip and refinish with normal methods (although the grain pattern won't match the original photofinish). In other sets, the underlying wood is cheap stuff that won't look very nice no matter what you do.

If the old photofinish just has a few nicks and little boo-boos, your best bet is probably to touch it up with brown paint and little artist brushes, shoot it with a couple of coats of clear lacquer, and declare victory.

If it is too scarred to touch up, then you need to decide whether to redo only the top, or the whole cabinet. If you are able to strip only the top without damaging the rest of the cabinet, that should tell you which way to go with the whole project.

Or, if that's all too much hassle, you can just put a nice cloth on the top and pretend it's already perfect :-)

Good luck.

Phil Nelson
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html
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Old 03-18-2007, 08:08 PM
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Hi Phil;

Thanks for the information.

I took a look at the Stewart Schooley site and it looks like the photo finish that I would need to have done is not very practical. It's a very large area, as opposed to a small antique radio cabinet. The top of my set has some pretty severe "lifting" of the finish and I'll have to come up with something to dress is up. I'm not sure just what yet, but I've got time. I think the first order of business is to get the TV working.

Thanks again for the information.

Bob.
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  #15  
Old 03-20-2007, 02:34 AM
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Einar72 Einar72 is offline
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Glad to see you got it! I was beginning to wonder if there was a pox on RCA around here (see my tirade elsewhere in this section). I have a CTC-10 remote in a metal cabinet, no less, a CTC-11 like the one used in a 1983 MTV ad, and hope to have an Aldrich someday. They are new enough you don't get that "is it gonna blow?" feeling when you turn it on.
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