RCA Victor Special...and I'm new here.

[TheNixer]

Hello all! I rescued an RCA Victor Special from the dock of my local TV repair man. I'd love to restore this TV and thought I'd start with the cabinet first and worry about the actual TV a little later. I paid $50 for it and I have no idea if that's a good price or not.

Although I'm working on the cabinet first I would like to hunt down a schematic for it. The back of the TV tells me it is Model 21-8-832, but it is rather faded. I'm not finding any information for this set on the internet using this model number.

The speaker fabric on the bottom of this set is really faded but it looks like it totally made the set. It's got gold flakes in it and it made me wonder if there is reproduction fabric out there I could replace it with. I also wondered about the decals on the inside compartment with the dials. There is a Victor decal and one that says Special, I wondered if these were being reproduced anywhere.

Thanks in advance for any and all help for a completely day one beginner!

Here's the set (It's the same one as my avatar, just bigger).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffjackson/2194470856/

I know nothing about this TV so if anyone even knows the year it was produced, that would be great.

[zenithfan1]

Welcome! I'm new too, I feel like a kid in a candy store here! First, try looking for a chassis number somewhere on the chassis it's self. If you find one, you can enter it in the search box at sams photofact and they most likely will have a schematic for you. And thanks for saving that cool RCA!
I was looking at the pic you posted, I'm no expert but it may be a '56 or '57

[Tube TV]

First of all , I would like to welcome the 2 new members above to the AK early B&W forums .
The RCA was a nice score , $ 50.00 isn't a bad price .
I would say it's a 1957 . I might have info on it , schematics ect .
I'll have a look . Do you have any idea when it was last opperating ?
I would avoid plugging it in untill you done the wax\paper capacitors in it .
sounds like it's got a good home , that's great to hear .

[Sandy G]

Welcome to AK ! Yeah, I'd say mid-50s on yr new playpretty- And DON'T even think about "tryin' 'er out" until you've had it checked out...

[RetroHacker]

Welcome to AK! Also, welcome to the world of television collecting. Your basement will never be the same.

To get started, take the back off the set and look for a chassis number. The model number you have there is the model of the entire television - cabinet and all. You want to find the chassis number - which is the model number of the electronics. Then, go to www.samswebsite.com and type the chassis number into their search box, to figure out which PhotoFact folder has information on your set. Once you know the PhotoFact number, go to your local library (the main branch) to the reference desk, and ask for "Sam's PhotoFact #xxx-x". Most larger libraries have archives of these things. If they have it, they'll get it for you - go photocopy it and you'll have the schematics and all sorts of other information, like test voltage readings and instructions on how to take the set apart. Also, another nice feature of PhotoFacts is that they actually have pictures of the underside of the chassis, the boards, etc - complete with labels for the components.

I would advise against simply plugging the set in to the wall to see if it works, unless you know that it was used recently. The problem is, that if you suddenly apply power after 20 years of sitting in a garage, it puts a lot of stress on components. Granted, you're going to replace most of these parts anyway, but you don't want one to blow and take out a vital part, like the power transformer.

You're going to probably want to build a dim bulb tester. This is a simple device that can be pieced together with some simple parts from the junk box and hardware store - it's basically just light bulb socket wired in series with a power outlet. This allows you to use a light bulb to limit the current flowing to the television. And it can detect shorted components (the bulb shouldn't light brightly and stay bright, if it does, something is shorted). A good reference is www.antiqueradio.org - Phil has some wonderful beginner's articles, and covers the construction and use of a dim bulb tester. There are some caveats of using a dim bulb tester with a television, and I'm sure others can explain it better than I can. But read Phil's site.

Tell us a bit about yourself too. What kind of previous experiance do you have in electronics? Are you familliar with tubes, and tube based gear? Do you know the difference between electrolytic and regular capacitors? What tools do you have? Tubes are a lot different than solid state, and run on higher voltages (especially televisions! Be careful!). If this is your first step into tube gear, I would strongly suggest you start small, just to get the feel of it. Find a cheap plastic table radio/clock radio from the 50's-60's and recap it. It's a simple job, with less than a dozen capacitors to replace. (less than an hour when you get good at it). It'll give you practice working with this sort of gear, and be much easier to manipulate and get working. Another warning - a lot of tube stuff is hot chassis, meaning that the metal chassis is often connected to one leg of the AC mains. Televisions typically have power transformers (but not always) to eliminate this. Cheap radios don't - so just don't go poking around with fingers with the power on, a good habit to get into if you're going to work with tubes. Even cold chassis sets can deliver a nasty shock from the B+ supply.

I hope I haven't scared you off - It'll be a fair amount of work to learn, but it'll be a lot of fun. Trust me. And remember - we're here to help!

-Ian

[kbmuri]

Try 21-S-632. The middle character is very likely an S, not an 8. I don't see an 832 listed anywhere but I do see a 632.
Also there's a 24-S-532 that looks a lot like your Avatar. The first number(21 or 24) states your screen size (inches, diagonally). Your picture tube will have a number etched on the glass of the neck or sometimes printed on the plastic cap on the neck. It will also start with 21 or 24, matchingly. That should clear up what your first number is.
Hope this helps.

[kbmuri]

I also see a 21-T-822 that's also close.
Year is probably 1954. I can't see personal photo pages at work (they're blocked) but tonight I can take a closer look at your photos.

Like others have said, this is a hobby that will "hook" you. The reward of hearing your first radio play and later seeing your first TV screen light up is well worth the effort. And saving old sets like this one from the dumpster is an admirable thing to do.

[kbmuri]

Reading this thread may also help:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...ht=21-s%2A+RCA

[Steve K]

Nixer:

Your set is a 21S632 "Special Series" from 1956. It was known as the "Brady 21".

Steve

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by TheNixer

reproduction fabric out there I could replace it with.

It's not terribly likely that you'll find an exact reproduction, but you could browse through the various reproduction cloths made for old radios and see whether anything looks close. The repro cloth guys only make a cloth when there is sufficient demand, and that includes few or no old TVs, which are not collected in the same numbers as radios.

Anyway, here are a couple of cloth sources:

http://www.grillecloth.com/

http://www.tubesandmore.com/

When I needed a sparkly cloth for my TrueTone boomerang radio, I looked high and low for something similar. I ended up hand-dying some fabric and spraying it with glitter from a craft store.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[TheNixer]

Wow, thanks for the great responses!

Steve K, thanks for the identification. All of the sets I've seen up to this point that resembled my rescued set had some sort of knob on the outside of the TV. This set doesn't have any so I wonder if it had a remote. I'd love to track that down as well.

I'm a bit fearful this WILL become addicting, especially if I love the finished product. I can see potential, even in it's withered state. Because this set was sitting in the rain for at least a year most of the finish is gone on it. I'd love to restore it to its original finish if I can find such information. The cabinet itself is very sturdy and the insides don't look too affected by the weather, thankfully.

I have no experience with tube televisions but have fixed computers for several years now. My best friend in the computer business used to be a TV repairman so I've got some wonderful knowledge to learn from him. He thinks I'm crazy for picking this thing up but he's willing to help! I know just enough to NOT turn the thing on and "see what I get".

Phil, thanks for the links! I'm going to take my time with this and try to make it look right so I would love to find some old fabric but may have to make do with making my own, like you suggested. I noticed the sides of the set are veneer so I don't know how matching the old veneer with new veneer will work out, along with finding a matching stain to keep everything uniform. I guess I'm just going to have to dive in.

The sad part about this story is I saw this exact set a year ago, perhaps the day it was left outside. I assumed someone was coming to pick it up. I had no idea it had been pushed outside permanently. I went by the next day and thought it was gone but it had been pushed against a Coke machine where I couldn't see it. Dang!

I'm still reading the responses, some of them three times. I think I now have plenty to get myself started! I'd love to keep everyone posted on the progress.

[Steve K]

Your set did not have a remote. If you'd like I could try to scan the RCA brochure that shows your set and post it here.

Steve

[Phil Nelson]

I forgot to include the URL to my article that describes making the glittery cloth:

http://antiqueradio.org/true01.htm

The photo doesn't show much sparkle, but trust me, it's there. If you're lucky, maybe you won't have to go to such lengths. There may be a shiny reproduction cloth that looks acceptable, even if not perfect.

If you have to replace some veneer, or do any serious cabinet refinishing, note that these cabinets were originally finished in lacquer, using brown colored lacquer ("toner") for coloring if needed, rather than stain.

Anyway, when you get to that stage, let us know what you're dealing with. There is a lot of online information about cabinet restoration.

Regards,

Phil Nelson

[TheNixer]

Steve, that would be great! I'd really, really appreciate it. I'll head to the library before the week is over to find the PhotoFact for this set now that I know what kind it is.

Phil, that's an interesting article and very helpful. I gotta say...that Truetone Boomerang looks amazing, great job. Thanks for correcting me on the finish of the cabinet. It's almost certainly going no need a complete refinish.

And dang, I was really hoping this came with a remote! I was looking forward to tracking down one of those space age looking remotes. Oh well. You can't have everything.

[Steve K]

Here is the scan from the brochure. Some of the RCAs of that year could be equipped with a wired remote but I doubt if it could be added to the specials.

Steve