This is that little 14" I found at the estates last saterday. This was quite a dirty set when I found it, but could tell it had much potential. I went all the way on this one and took the entire set apart to clean.
It was from a non smoker home, but had its fair share of dirt in on the cabinet and on the knobs.
The little 12B8C15 hybrid chassis was neat to see out of its cabinet. They didn't get any smaller and more comact than this for a zenith tube color set.
It was a well used set, was in for service a number of times. Some of the problems found by me from other techs: Broken off solder cone on one of the B+ junctions, the tech bunched all the wires up and soldered them together. I removed a solder cone from a parts chassis and properly resoldered the B+ leads back how they should be. Horizonal output cathode fuse was run up to the top of the chassis for easier replacement and tacked to ground. The chassis indicates that the fuse is under the set. You could see where the orignal leads from the fuse were clipped. I reinstalled it in its correct position.
UHF tuner didnt work, due to dirty wiper springs.
10Z10 audio output was bad as usual, as well as the typical faulty 2HA5 and 4GJ7.

Another reason the set HAD to be dissassembled was the fact that the color and hue controls needed to be cleaned and there was absolutly no way to get at the pots on this set unless the chassis was pulled! The opening of the pots were facing down on top of it, so you couldn't even get them from a distance.

This set uses the 2 pole static convergence unit. Much simpler convergence circuit. The convergence board is only a 3 pin connector!

As for cleaning, I used fantastic with water, which cleaned up excellent and does not leave marks or dull the cabinet if used properly. Never apply a cleaner directly to a plastic cabinet from the spray. 9 times out of 10 you will stain the cabinet with "spray" marks. Also, never use a toothbrush other than to clean corners and the speaker grill, otherwise you will scuff the reflective finish on the cabinet. I learned that long ago. The only way to really clean a TV and make it look good is to take the entire thing apart so you can really clean using water and a toothbrush, not having to fear getting things wet like the speaker etc. You can clean it up nice and rinse it down with water to get all the junk out of the corners. I do not rinse the back cover off with water as it will ruin the tags and labels.

With the set having as much use as it seems to have had, the CRT is excellent still.

Even though this set has the bandswitch tuner, it still makes makes the loud "clunk" noise when tuned. This is the last year zenith used the bandswitch tuner with the leaf spring on a steel ball the indented steel channel stop wheel. If you know zenith, later on they used the cheaper metal leaf spring on a plastic stop wheel, making the tuner feel much "cheaper" when tuned.

Again, the model chassis tag was still on back of the set which is amazing for these portable sets. Starting in 1971 zenith switched from the chassis model stamp to cheaper paper tag with red lettering which seems to always have faded out unless the TV was in the dark for the past 35 years.

If you really want to know what model you have, use a black light and shine it on the tag, you can then read the info on the tag! It works good too.

The TV is now reassembled and works great. Looks like a whole other set compared to when I first got it.

WOW!

The picture on that looks simply beautiful. I don't see any vintage zenith color sets around here, and especially not portables. That is an excellent set, and I'm glad its going to be a part of your museum.

Doug,

It's nice to see someone of your age who really appreciates these sets. Most of what you have is what I made a living on in my "salad years"! You are fortunate to live in an area where these sets are relatively plentiful. I always check the thrift stores and garage sales etc and very seldom see these anymore. I have over thirty roundies to include 5 15" and a few rectangular and have in the last few years starting saving the rectangular ones. I always liked that RCA 14" CTC22 as I remember I was once saving my money to buy one of those when they were new. This 14" Zenith you have restored sold for $279.95 new and I sold quite a few of them. I think that this was the tail of of the "fair trade" which meant you could not sell this set for less than retail value. I still can't figure out why they are so heavy!

BTW, did you know Dave Johnson from your area? He died about 2 weeks ago and what a loss to the TV collecting community! He worked in the Sears Tower on the communications floor and at the TV museum in Columbus a few months ago he told me that he suspected it was all of the RF he was exposed to. He wasn't that ill at that time but it must have overcome him quickly.

I have over 10,000 tubes that I have saved over the last 40 years and tons of mostly RCA and Zenith NOS parts. If interested in my collection and knowledge of these sets, call me. Julian Burke Knoxville, Tennessee

That is a fabulous set. I've never seen that model before. The pictures are real eye candy for us TV nuts. You have done this set the same way I like to do mine. I tear them down completely and clean everything inside and out. When I service one of my sets, radios or TVs, years later, it is nice to pull the back and see a clean chassis and cabinet interior. That attention to detail is really important in a restoration. I hope you will enjoy that set for many many years. Vintage Zeniths are a marvel of quality and design. Also, as vintage TVs go, I find Zeniths make the best and most dependable daily watchers.

Absolutely awesome job with that Zenith. Ultra cool that it's a 14" screen, too. That crt looks like it tests better than new!

I visited yor site, mister Doug, you are a WIZARD!

Dude I so envy you! You got an an awesome collection!! Cannot beat an old Zenith in quality!!!

Besides the quality of the restoration and the excellent preserved condition of the set, the color combination on the cabinet surfaces is pretty. In the photos the bezel just around the picture tube is appearing to be a light blue color. Sweet.