1949 Motorola 7VT5A ETF score, restored!

[zenithfan1]

I won this set in the silent auction at the ETF convention this year. I also won a set identical to it in the live auction, it is in rough shape but I'll repair it to working condition but the case is really torn up. I have to switch the CRTs as the crappy set has the bright and sharp tube. It's an RCA while the softer tube is a Sylvania, both have good emissions though. Right now, the softer tube is in the set and the better one is seen in the pics of the chassis in operation. Those are the first pictures it greeted me with when I powered it up the first time, a hot blonde dancing, hell yeah. I think the set likes me.LOL. I'll switch the CRTs this weekend and post a pic of the finished project. I also plan to get a hold of a few spare 7JP4s as these little sets are fun to work on and I might get a few more later on. The pics were taken before the last 5 wax caps were changed, those have been replaced now. I didn't order enough somehow. All old leads were removed unless they couldn't be. Some of the old caps went a few inches from terminal to terminal and the new caps couldn't reach. I think a total of 5 "J" terminals were made. I prefer none but oh well. All 6000v caps were insulated with blue heat shrink to prevent any accidents or arcing. The electolytics have been restuffed as well, I didn't replace the seleniums with diodes but might later on. I'll add terminal strips to the bolts that mount them and leave the selenium rectifiers in for looks. The case cleaned up well, it really surprised me how nice it came out. I'm looking for some rubber feet that are brown but will probably have to settle for black ones. I used white rubber cove base for the CRT bezel, the original gasket was black but the white looks better, I have a black piece too. I plan to make one out of it and see what happens. That's on the to-do list this weekend as well. Instead of just wrapping it around the tube, I tried for a more factory look by cutting it and making a bezel to attach to the tube and spacers to secure it . Anyone not told what it is might not notice, we all know of course. It would seem that the reproduction masks are only available for the VT71 and 73s, I see nothing that will work for this model anywhere so the cove base is good enough. Eventually, I would like to make some homebrew ballast tubes for these, I was lucky enough to have a good one in this set. I have studied how to do it and it's no big deal, I might go with Phil Nelsons idea but haven't decided yet.










I repainted the Moto emblems with Rust-Oleum metal flake gold and clear coated with Krylon clear coat, I repainted them on both sets. Here is an original compared to my repainted one. It is not clear coated yet though in the pic.

[David Roper]

Bravo!

[Tony V]

Wow! Thats a great picture! Nice and tidy work underneath too. Nice job!
-Tony

[Dan Starnes]

I like those sets,, congratulations!

[bandersen]

Awesome job

[Sandy G]

I'm in love...(grin)

[sansui2000A]

cute set I should of got one of those instead of the console....easy to store and saves space. Is this set easy to find? I founf my Tv by placing a wanted ad on craigslist only took about a week.

[bandersen]

There are several variations of this model. Mahogany and blonde wood, bakelite and this one (the suitcase).

The mahogany show up on eBay all the time. Just don't pay $310 for an empty case

Try searching on eBay or craigslist for 'vintage motorola tv' or 'golden view'.

I found my blonde (in fair condition) on craiglist for $50, mahogany (in great condition) on eBay for $130 and a smashed bakelite on eBay for $30.

Seems that a suitcase in good condition is less common. I haven't acquired one yet.

They are a lot of fun to work on. Just make sure you use an isolation transformer as these sets are transformerless.

[zenithfan1]

Thanks for the compliments guys! This one was fun.
sansui200A, these sets are less common than the table model, the more common ones are the table top models such as the VT-71 and 73, those are a dime a dozen and can be found for pretty cheap most of the time, although ebay prices are a bit overboard. They were quite popular back then and a lot were made due to their affordability. I think they were about 180 bucks new IIRC. Now the red one like mine is a bit more rare, and the blond table models are too.
Edit: I was in the middle of typing this and had walk away for a while, bandersen said about he same thing I did.

[zenithfan1]

Finally, I get time to sit and mess with pictures. Here are the pics of the completed project, minus new rubber feet on the cabinet. I installed the better CRT and put it a bit closer to the picture window, it looked funny with a half inch gap between. Now it has a quarter inch gap(roughly) it looks like more at the edges. The CRT was nicked and scratched on the face, I worked them out with automotive rubbing compound. It took a few hours of polishing, I took breaks to do other things too or my hand would have fallen off. Also, this is the only set like this that I have seen with the cloth straps intact for the back cover. I thought that was pretty neat. All old caps are gone now too.






My Daughter watched Spongebob on it

[David Roper]

You really do outstanding work and the screen caps testify to that! Did you stuff the electrolytic cans? If it were me I would have just put the caps and diodes on terminal strips where the seleniums are now. Clod, I know

Speaking of seleniums, they look like they're still in the circuit, are they?

[bandersen]

Thanks for the update and great pictures! You did an excellent job.

Originally Posted by David Roper

...If it were me I would have just put the caps and diodes on terminal strips where the seleniums are now....

That's exactly what I did on my last set. I'm just getting starting on a TS-18 chassis and I think I'll give stuffing a try. It does look a lot neater

[Hemingray]

dangit, now I gotta find me one of these.

[zenithfan1]

Thanks guys! David, yes, I re-stuffed the cans. I also left the selenium rectifiers in circuit, I don't plan on using the set much. I was also restoring a '68 Zenith color set (watching a DVD on it now) at the same time and skipped that step for now. I'll go back in on a rainy day when I get bored. I'll add terminal strips on to the end of the mounting bolts and leave the seleniums in for looks. Everyone, thanks again for the kind words.

[Tony V]

Was the ballast ok in this one or did you have to repair that also?
-Tony