Airline 05BR-3024C porthole restoration
 

I've been trading advice online with a fellow collector out in Montana over the past few years. A while back he mentioned a tabletop porthole TV he was never going to get around to working on and asked if I was interested.

Here's the photo he sent. I said yes, but wasn't sure about shipping.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5638/...0dc083cb_o.jpg

Well much to my surprise he not only gave me the set but paid for the shipping! Flash forward to yesterday when two big boxes arrived :)

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5760/...2a25fe41_c.jpg

The 12LP4A CRT had been removed and shipped separately. It not only survived the journey, but has great emissions :)
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5760/...89963358_z.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5686/...03ec669b_z.jpg

The cabinet and chassis looked OK at first but I later discovered a few issues. Like the speaker had broken loose and a side mushed in.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/677/2...da85270c_z.jpg

What an odd cabinet design. It has side panels covered with grille cloth that can be removed.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/650/2...3ae145a9_z.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/686/2...af48e705_z.jpg

Here's a look inside.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5745/...0a3ea755_z.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5835/...ae8c493b_z.jpg

Clearly some work had been done. I think in the 60s.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/610/2...7a6b3822_z.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5643/...f491a45f_z.jpg

No wonder the knobs don't fit right :( I'll have to track down a new power/volume/contrast control.
HV cover is missing too.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5716/...e574e3a8_z.jpg

It has a nifty continuous tuner with sliding slug inductors. I think two for the local oscillator and four for a bandpass filter.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5783/...1a5abfa5_z.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5773/...8e45d166_z.jpg

The speaker doesn't appear to be the original but it's fairly old.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5821/...a09766c1_z.jpg


Here it is back together. It's definitely going to need a lot of work, but I think it will be worth the effort :)
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/779/2...1410dbe9_z.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/644/2...f6f3ca82_z.jpg

Ah HATE Yew !-B. Bunny, Philosopher Extraordinaire...(grin)

That's an interesting set! Wonder why they covered the entire one side in grille cloth? Looks like there were Silverfish eating at the tube chart at one time.

Actually both sides are grille cloth or more precisely, thin plywood panels covered with cloth.

Will make refinishing a snap. With both sides removed, the only major surface is the top. Also no decals to deal with.

Here's the side that got mushed in. Luckily I just needed to push it back in place and tighten down some screws.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5728/...50142194_z.jpg

it kind of looks like a Raytheon inspired porthole. Cool looking set.!

It's chassis is very, very similar to a Raytheon M1101. Perhaps they made the chassis for Airline ?

05BR Stands for 1950 and Belmont Radio. The 3024C is just a model designation. Wards was one of Belmont's biggest customers for many years.

I have the same chassis in a non Porthole Truetone.

It has no identifying decal so I thought it was a Raytheon, until someone clued me in and sent a picture showing it's a Truetone.

Nice find Bob. I always liked those Raytheon-Belmont style "porthole" sets even more than the Zenith's, especially the console version with the screen area that juts out. I like continuous tuners on early TV's too. Good luck with the restoration!

Hey Bob, cool set, I look forward to the resto video!

Gregb