I recently purchased a ‘48 Admiral 7” electrostatic set in good condition. Seems to have been MOSTLY recapped in the early 60’s. I powered it up very slowly and it actually produced a bit of light on the screen, to my delight. Getting more on topic, does anybody know of a source for a new foam/rubber gasket for in between the pic tube and the cabinet? I know they are made for the same era Motorola sets.

I didn't know they ever had a gasket. I've had 3-5 19A11s, the Chinese grille version 17T1?, and a Canadian 25Hz wood cabinet set...AFAIK they never had a rubber CRT gasket.

Mine has it's original brown rubber gasket. Most likely latex rubber. I've never seen a reproduction for sale. Like most of these obsolete items there's not enough demand to justify re-manufacturing.

https://live.staticflickr.com/2579/3680555626_234a143e1f_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/6BeNXC)

As others have said, I too don't think that a replacement gasket for the Admiral has been made, only for the Motorola VT-71 style. And I don't think they are still made.

Motorola VT-1 masks are available from renovated radios. http://www.renovatedradios.com/product.php?product=374

I always thought those were a hard plastic part of the lucite mask assembly. I've never seen one degrade enough to be noticable from the front of the cabinet (if there's something aged inside the cabinet that can only be seen if dismantled that's just part of the patina).

I do have the mask assembly from a 17T1 Chinese grille bakelite set that had a wrecked cabinet...It's a white border double-D screen mask (not gold rectangular like yours) so I'm not sure it's useful to you.

The Admiral mask doesn't show much from the front like on the Motorola, so it shouldn't be too difficult to put something like door seal around the perimeter of the CRT face. Even a piece of plywood or Styrofoam insulation could be sculpted to fit. And a CNC router would come in handy. :D

The Admiral mask doesn't show much from the front like on the Motorola, so it shouldn't be too difficult to put something like door seal around the perimeter of the CRT face. Even a piece of plywood or Styrofoam insulation could be sculpted to fit. And a CNC router would come in handy. :D

I talked to a friend about the gasket today and he suggested basically the same thing. I SHOULD get away with using foam tape. I had the idea of borrowing a good gasket from someone and have a new one 3-D printed. I'm not sure, however, how well solid plastic would do in place of rubber.

Walmart and Hobby Lobby both sell craft foamie sheets in 4 and 8mm thicknesses. I think a narrow ring spray adhesived to the face of the crt will make a decent dust and shock seal. You really don't want to glue any gasket to the rear painted surface of the plastic mask, as it could peel the paint if you wanted to remove the crt later.