RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

This is an RCA 9X571. This first picture is not my radio - I swiped the
photo from an eBay listing, just so everyone knows what they look like. (I
forgot to take pictures when I first got mine). I'm sure almost all of you
have seen these.

I bought one a while back and started to clean the cabinet. Much to my
surprise and chagrin, the faux woodgrain on the front started to smear, and
I had no choice but to take it all off. It's just paint - and water soluble
paint at that. I ended up with a clean, plain bakelite cabinet - no
woodgrain.

What to do? Would I be able to reproduce that woodgrain accurately? What
were my alternatives? I tried a number of approaches and it took a few
attempts, but the next four pictures show the end result. You'll see that I
stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

Front view



"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message
...
This is an RCA 9X571. This first picture is not my radio - I swiped the
photo from an eBay listing, just so everyone knows what they look like.
(I
forgot to take pictures when I first got mine). I'm sure almost all of
you
have seen these.

I bought one a while back and started to clean the cabinet. Much to my
surprise and chagrin, the faux woodgrain on the front started to smear,
and
I had no choice but to take it all off. It's just paint - and water
soluble
paint at that. I ended up with a clean, plain bakelite cabinet - no
woodgrain.

What to do? Would I be able to reproduce that woodgrain accurately?
What
were my alternatives? I tried a number of approaches and it took a few
attempts, but the next four pictures show the end result. You'll see that
I
stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

Another front view


"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message
...
This is an RCA 9X571. This first picture is not my radio - I swiped the
photo from an eBay listing, just so everyone knows what they look like.
(I
forgot to take pictures when I first got mine). I'm sure almost all of
you
have seen these.

I bought one a while back and started to clean the cabinet. Much to my
surprise and chagrin, the faux woodgrain on the front started to smear,
and
I had no choice but to take it all off. It's just paint - and water
soluble
paint at that. I ended up with a clean, plain bakelite cabinet - no
woodgrain.

What to do? Would I be able to reproduce that woodgrain accurately?
What
were my alternatives? I tried a number of approaches and it took a few
attempts, but the next four pictures show the end result. You'll see that
I
stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

From an angle


"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message
...
This is an RCA 9X571. This first picture is not my radio - I swiped the
photo from an eBay listing, just so everyone knows what they look like.
(I
forgot to take pictures when I first got mine). I'm sure almost all of
you
have seen these.

I bought one a while back and started to clean the cabinet. Much to my
surprise and chagrin, the faux woodgrain on the front started to smear,
and
I had no choice but to take it all off. It's just paint - and water
soluble
paint at that. I ended up with a clean, plain bakelite cabinet - no
woodgrain.

What to do? Would I be able to reproduce that woodgrain accurately?
What
were my alternatives? I tried a number of approaches and it took a few
attempts, but the next four pictures show the end result. You'll see that
I
stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

From another angle


"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message
...
This is an RCA 9X571. This first picture is not my radio - I swiped the
photo from an eBay listing, just so everyone knows what they look like.
(I
forgot to take pictures when I first got mine). I'm sure almost all of
you
have seen these.

I bought one a while back and started to clean the cabinet. Much to my
surprise and chagrin, the faux woodgrain on the front started to smear,
and
I had no choice but to take it all off. It's just paint - and water
soluble
paint at that. I ended up with a clean, plain bakelite cabinet - no
woodgrain.

What to do? Would I be able to reproduce that woodgrain accurately?
What
were my alternatives? I tried a number of approaches and it took a few
attempts, but the next four pictures show the end result. You'll see that
I
stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

RF wrote:
Unrevealed Source wrote:

stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff





Looks great. So, the big question, howdja do it?

Whatever you did you did great!

-B.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

RF wrote:
Unrevealed Source wrote:
From another angle


"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message
...
This is an RCA 9X571. This first picture is not my radio - I swiped
the
photo from an eBay listing, just so everyone knows what they look
like. (I
forgot to take pictures when I first got mine). I'm sure almost all
of you
have seen these.

I bought one a while back and started to clean the cabinet. Much to my
surprise and chagrin, the faux woodgrain on the front started to
smear, and
I had no choice but to take it all off. It's just paint - and water
soluble
paint at that. I ended up with a clean, plain bakelite cabinet - no
woodgrain.

What to do? Would I be able to reproduce that woodgrain accurately?
What
were my alternatives? I tried a number of approaches and it took a few
attempts, but the next four pictures show the end result. You'll see
that I
stayed "on theme", but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind. This was a fun
little experiment. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Keff





Looks great. So, the big question, howdja do it?
Very nice, give us the process. Ken

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

I first tried paint - a coat of primer, and then gel stain to create the
woodgrain. I read all the how-to guides, tips and tricks, even bought a
special faux-woodgrain tool to apply the stain. I practiced and practiced,
and then gave up. There was no way I was going to get it to look like the
original. Maybe for a cheap bookcase that you want to look a little bit
like wood, but certainly nothing that passes muster up close.

The final solution is so low-tech that it's embarrassing. Contact paper.
There is a wide variety of self-stick vinyl woodgrain, and I tried a few of
them. The finish you see is actual Contact brand - they call it Cherry.
It required precision cutting, but fortunately the case lends itself to
trimming with an Exacto knife, and then I had to glue down the edges with
contact cement. (Contact paper does not have extremely strong adhesive -
it's made to be taken off easily). After the edges were good and tight, I
used several coats of polyurethane. A couple of those coats were tinted to
make it darker - similar to toning lacquer. Sanded between coats, and then
buffed the final coat. The pictures don't do it justice - the contact
paper underneath polyurethane looks amazingly like real wood - more real
than the original.

By the way, Contact paper does not like lacquer. I tried lacquer first, and
it bubbled and lifted the paper. That's why I went with polyurethane.

All in all, it was a satisfying arts-and-crafts project. Way more time and
energy than the radio is worth, but I think it's very presentable and
certainly unique. It's got me thinking of other uses for this technique.

Jeff




"Ken" wrote in message
...


Looks great. So, the big question, howdja do it?
Very nice, give us the process. Ken

RCA 9X571 re-envisioned
 

The horn is original. It had some scratches and scrapes, but fortunately
no cracks. The actual rings of the horn are clear plastic with the gold on
the back (like a mirror), so I was able to give them the usual
sanding/Micromesh/Novus treatment, leaving nice shiny plastic through which
the gold shines through pretty well.


"Jim Menning" wrote in message
...

"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message
...


Great job, Jeff.


What brand, type, and color of paint did you use for the horn part? That
looks great also.