I just picked up a Philco 50-T1443 yesterday.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachm...chmentid=27073
which sounds very similar. It's a 12-inch tube, cabinet mounted. One 5U4G, the rest of the (visible) tubes are Loktals. I guess I'll become an expert over the next month as I try to restore it.
I use JB-Weld (pictured) to repair bakelite. The radio cabinet (also pictured) was repaired that way, with excellent results.
I sprayed the cabinet with clear polyurethane. The radio was dumpster-grade, and the bakelite couldn't have been in worse condition. After JB-Welding the shards of it back together, I deep-cleaned and rough-scuffed it with steel wool, then sprayed the urethane. It looks fabulous now (the white flecks are just dust in bright sunlight in the photo). The clear topcoat brings out all the original swirling better than just rubbing out the bakelite. And I agree with Phil N, polishing raw bakelite runs the risk of digging too deep into it and ruining it. The clearcoat seals everything, so any polishing down the road only removes clearcoat, not original material.
I would worry a little bit about using lacquer, as it's a pretty strong solvent when wet, and will melt thin plastic completely. Not sure how it would react to bakelite, never tried it, but I remember melting plastic model cars with lacquer spray paint as a kid.
Of course, if it's a museum piece, I wouldn't spray it, polish it, or modify it in any way, just leave it be.