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I was faced with two choices for aquiring a cabinet for this radio. First, I can try to locate an original R-520 cabinet, or second, I can modify an H500 cabinet. Since this radio is already rare enough and the chances of finding an original cabinet are slim to none, I decided to use the second option (as of January 4, 2005, I have aquired an original cabinet that is missing most of its original covering). I looked around on ebay for a while, trying to find an old, worn, tired looking H500 as a suitable candidate. I eventually found one that had been out in the weather for a while. The antenna, suction cups, and red twin lead were in good shape, but the dial bezel was broken, the wavemagnet was cracked and chipped, and the bottom of the cabinet was cracked and rotted. It didn't smell very nice either. But for the rest, the cabinet had potential: the cabinet upper and lower latch parts, and the lid hinges were in good shape. Here are some pictures of the H500 before I started.
Ok, so I have my work cut out for me. I started by disassembling the radio. I removed the chassis, dial bezel, antenna, spare tube holder, handle, knobs, and various other pieces of hardware. Upon closer inspection, I decided that I would have to make a new bottom for the radio.
Once the cabinet was empty, I proceeded to remove the rear cover and the front cover. Then I started to disassemble the cabinet and remove the old leatherette covering. All that remained on the wood pieces was the old glue.
Now to get all the old glue off, I hauled out my trusty Black and Decker Mouse sander, and got down to business. This isn't as easy as it looks, the old glue is pretty hard and thick, and it took me several hours over two days to get it all off, but the result was pretty good. There is still hope for this cabinet.
Now on day two of cabinet restoration, I was still working on removing the old glue from the front cover and other rounded surfaces, and it wasn't working out the way I anticipated. The glue got damp overnight and became soft and sticky, clogging up the sand paper. So I let the parts soak for a few minutes in warm water, then tackled them with a small scrub brush, and they cleaned up in just a few minutes!!! Then I let them dry out in the sun for a few hours. Another good thing about cleaning with water: it removed 95% of the smell from the wood. Once the cabinet was clean, I made a new wooden bottom. Took me a few hours of looking around at several hardware and woodworking stores to find some 3/8" stock 6" wide. I cut it down to size and added an angled spine for support, then test fit all the pieces with the radio to make sure that everything was OK. I discovered that I would have to drill a few holes in the shelf for the chassis mounting screws. I quickly drilled a few new holes, then reassembled the cabinet using glue and nails.
After reassembling the cabinet, I filled various holes and cracks with wood patch, sanded out several blemishes, and rounded off the edge of the new bottom piece.
I looked around at several fabric stores in town and online, and finally found a fairly close material to cover the radio with. It is sold by Gane Brothers and Lane on the internet (www.ganebrothers.com). I used the type 881 brown shoe print finish, which is a thin medium brown textured vinyl with a cotton base. Only thing was I had to order a minimum of 5 yards. So I have a little extra. (I am willing to sell the left over, send me an e-mail if you are interested.) According to Randy B. who compared this material to the original material on his R-520, this is just about as close as you can get to the real thing, just a little too dark, and should have a little more of a red tint to it. Texture and highlight colors are very close too. Laying out the old material, cutting out all the pieces, and test fitting everything was the easy part; gluing everything in place was not. Actually, it wasn't really hard, it just took some time, lots of patience, about 1/3 liter of contact cement, and 5 paint brushes. I used LePage's Latex contact cement because it has less fumes, allows you to remove and replace items if you don't quite get it where you need it, and cleans up with water before it dries. I also used an exacto knife and a pair of scissors to trim and cut the corners for a good fit.
The old pins that held the rear door on were rusted out and could not be reused, so I installed some T-nuts and used brass machine screws to hold the hinges in place. The old hinges where also painted a brass color. This probably isn't too authentic, but it stops them from rusting even more.
Now a few touch-ups and tweaks, and the cabinet looks pretty close to the real thing!! Considering I have never actually seen a real R-520 cabinet, I think I did a pretty good job.
You will notice that in these pictures I am using an incorrect handle on this radio. There are two different shapes of handles used on the transoceanic 500 and 600 series radios. One is more rounded and wider at the mounting ends. The correct handle for the R-520 is pictured below, on the left. I have now located and installed the correct handle on my radio.
The final touch on the exterior of the cabinet was the installing the reproduction ID tag just below the brass latch. If you are looking for a reproduction tag for your radio, send me an e-mail, and I will let you know who makes them.
With the exterior done, I tackled several smaller details of the cabinet restoration. I stained all the interior wood surfaces with Minwax Jacobean stain to even out all the color and hide the new bottom piece, as well as adding a pocket for the R-520 user manual. Unfortunately the H500 rear door is made differently than the R-520 rear door, so the original manual is about a half inch too long and doesn't fit in the door properly, so I had to make a reprint manual that is just slightly smaller than the original. I used the manual that is available on Nostalgia Air's website (scanned by August Johnson, KG7BZ), cropped and printed it out. It took three tries to get all the pages centered the way I wanted it, but it looks really nice, and was well worth the effort.
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