update part of the power supply works! By shorting the terminals on a relay on the ps board I was able to get most of the deck to come alive! The main clock, channel, etc display refused to work along with remote and manual power buttons.
It did play one of my tapes quite splendidly!
Also the "video action" switch on the deck worked well, but the remote would not change it's mode. All other functions of the remote seemed to work well. It does not use a power transformer connected to the power cord, but instead bridge rectifies the line and feeds it in to other circuits that I get lost trying to trace.
I think it is time to bite the bullet and cough up the exhorbitatant 22$ for the sam's off their site.
I'm happier now that I know that it mostly works (which gives me the motivation to push foreward).
Tom C.