Just picked up this 60's era Philco set from an estate sale in Niles, Mi.

All the years I spent servicing I don't remember every servicing one of these.182383

Perfect. Still in the living room after all these years??

I'd be so excited to walk in on an estate sale to discover that.

I brought it home and fired it up and it works great, all accept for the weak crt with cataract. I have extra crt's so I'll be changing it this weekend.

Strange thing about the chassis, it is identical to a Curtis Mathes I have from the same year.

I think that is the worst example of cataract that I have ever seen! At a glance I would think that the tubes electron gun was whacked off. No pun.....

I think that is the worst example of cataract that I have ever seen! At a glance I would think that the tubes electron gun was whacked off. No pun.....

back in the day I was working on an Rca ctc 12 in a customers home and she had all kinds of junk on top of the tv, instead of doing the right thing and removing them I tried to work around them. I caught the cord from a sailing ship clock and it proceeded to sail right thru the neck of the crt.

Photos of the Philco without any upgrades and before his trip to the optometrist.

peel it!picture tube looks good.cataract surgery and its good to go

back in the day I was working on an Rca ctc 12 in a customers home and she had all kinds of junk on top of the tv, instead of doing the right thing and removing them I tried to work around them. I caught the cord from a sailing ship clock and it proceeded to sail right thru the neck of the crt.
I think you could refer to that clock as "The Ship of Fools." :D

Wow, it almost looks good with the type of cataract it has..a perfect circle. Sort of a spotlight onto the person in your photo.
And a great starting point, since it worked as found!

very nice set. even as is.

I brought it home and fired it up and it works great, all accept for the weak crt with cataract. I have extra crt's so I'll be changing it this weekend.

Strange thing about the chassis, it is identical to a Curtis Mathes I have from the same year.

Probably, like the Curtis-Mathis, the Philco is an RCA clone.

-Steve D.

Probably, like the Curtis-Mathis, the Philco is an RCA clone.

-Steve D.

Steve
they are identical, I guess the burning question is who built them. This was prior to Philco being bought by Ford and I believe they were still making sets at that time.

I have one about that vintage that ran on the original caps as found...Though I had to tweak the H osc. slug to bring horizontal synch back into the range of the user control.

Steve
they are identical, I guess the burning question is who built them. This was prior to Philco being bought by Ford and I believe they were still making sets at that time.
The CTC15 was the last chassis that RCA sold to other manufacturers. I've seen and worked on many different makes and they were genuine RCA built sets. GE, Sylvania, Emerson, Philco, Olympic, Magnavox, Warwick, Muntz, Curtis Mathes and Wells Gardner. All the components had RCA part numbers.
When RCA came out with the CTC16 chassis, they licensed the CTC15 design to be cloned by others and quite selling complete chassis to others. :scratch2:

Steve
they are identical, I guess the burning question is who built them. This was prior to Philco being bought by Ford and I believe they were still making sets at that time.

Philco color sets from '61-62 used an RCA CTC-11 type chassis. '63 & early '64 RCA CTC-12 type chassis. Later production '64 & '65 Philco used RCA CTC-15 type chassis. Who built them or supplied these chassis to Philco is a question. Philco designed tuners were used in several of these various chassis. The model # of your Philco may pin down year of manufacture.
My source for this info is "TV Serving Made Easy" volumes 1 & 2

-Steve D.

Someday we should put together an accurate list of the clones, who built what, which were RCA-assembled and which were just built under license, etc.

A tube-color Philco has been on my want list for a while now. Someday...

And don't forget the GE Portacolor clones. "I don't get any respect".

Thanks guys,

For some reason or another We saw Rca, Zenith, Motorola and Ge color set in the 60's. I don't remember seeing a Philco color until the mid 70's when it was Philco/Ford.

Now I have to decide whether to install the Rca hi-lite tube or the Sylvania color bright 85 tube.

Thanks guys,

For some reason or another We saw Rca, Zenith, Motorola and Ge color set in the 60's. I don't remember seeing a Philco color until the mid 70's when it was Philco/Ford.

Now I have to decide whether to install the Rca hi-lite tube or the Sylvania color bright 85 tube.

[QUOTE=oldtvman;3100950]Thanks guys,

Did a little more digging. Ford purchased Philco in late 1961. They re-named it Philco-Ford in 1966. Ford sold Philco to GTE in 1974. GTE also owned the Sylvania brand at the time. So maybe the Sylvania tube? Just for yucks.

[QUOTE=oldtvman;3100950]Thanks guys,

Did a little more digging. Ford purchased Philco in late 1961. They re-named it Philco-Ford in 1966. Ford sold Philco to GTE in 1974. GTE also owned the Sylvania brand at the time. So maybe the Sylvania tube? Just for yucks.

Could be a sylvania tube, the two philco ford roundies I have I think have a RE21FBP22 and its a VERY nice tube esp the reds.

the ones I have are def not clones though, they have hybrid chassis, tuner/IF are SS the rest is tube. The HV regulation is a feedback type, not a shunt.

I have a 1963 Philco roundie, that contains an RCA, CTC-12a chassis, and Philco glued their tag over the CTC-12a stamp, barely centered, as you can see the slightly faded RCA stamp. My Philco has the original RCA 21FBP22, with a plastic safety glass in front of the CRT, that is curved to the shape of the CRT, like the fit of a bonded safety glass. This Philco also contains many RCA brand tubes in the chassis, that seem to be the original '63 tubes. The cabinet and bezel and knobs, etc. are not RCA looking design, so either Philco made or had those items made for them to use with the RCA chassis.

I have a 1963 Philco roundie, that contains an RCA, CTC-12a chassis, and Philco glued their tag over the CTC-12a stamp, barely centered, as you can see the slightly faded RCA stamp. My Philco has the original RCA 21FBP22, with a plastic safety glass in front of the CRT, that is curved to the shape of the CRT, like the fit of a bonded safety glass. This Philco also contains many RCA brand tubes in the chassis, that seem to be the original '63 tubes. The cabinet and bezel and knobs, etc. are not RCA looking design, so either Philco made or had those items made for them to use with the RCA chassis.

Thanks Dave, Upon removing the chassis, I found the chassis to be RCA, the tuner assemblies are Philco which explains why each tuner has removable wiring harnesses. Have installed new Crt, now working on power supply and checking caps. In looking at chassis from the bottom the PC boards have Rca stamped right on them

That's defiantly a set that's on my want list..

These Rca's in sheeps clothing remind me of that song by Judy Collins "Send in the clones"

That original CRT didn't look too bad at all, good to keep around as a spare at least..

That original CRT didn't look too bad at all, good to keep around as a spare at least..

Or one could fix the cataract by removing the CRT and soaking the face (or letting it sit in the sun and heat up) until the cloudy glue softens and lets go, clean the glue off and reinstall.

Haha, I like that Judy Collins song, "Send In The Clones!" I well remember when the song "Send In The Clowns" was popular :-)

I worked a CBS football game in the 70's that had a music video played at halftime with "Send in the clowns" edited by NFL Films to footage of Joe Namuth in not his good days. Clips of him throwing interceptions and tackles behind the lines. Hard to watch remembering his good days.

That same game had a fan walking past the truck at the end and flipping a power switch on one phase of the truck sending us towards near darkness and sync-killing all of the stations down the line genlocked to the truck through CBS.

Here are a few screen shots of chassis installation after crt change.

Now it's time for stage three final set up and alignment

Hey Larry, good choice going with the Sylvania CRT, my daily driver is set with the color bright RE85,and it produces an amazing picture.

Philco actually was acquired by Ford in 1961, but did not add the Ford logo until 1968 or so.
The Philco chassis that used the CTC15 clone was either a 15M91 or 16M91

This set is a working example of how sitting in a conditioned environment actually preserves the caps, pots, etc.

I have the Sylvania tube in my Magnavox, also.

The picture on that set really is looking great! Good work! Now, someday you can fix the cataracts on the tube you took out, and have a decent spare!

I have the Sylvania tube in my Magnavox, also.
When Magnavox started building their own roundie chassis, they always seemed to use Sylvania CRT's. Most were rare earth phosphors. :thmbsp:

I recently picked up an identical but RCA-15 at an estate sale for $10 including a 1954 Admiral B&W console in perfect condition except for a cataract. They're out there. Picked up another Zenith 4B25 from a church rummage sale as described in "rectangular" for free 2 days ago. And I was late for both events!