I ultimately replaced most of the tubes with NOS (New Old Stock) tubes as well. These 1950's TV tubes are cheap, usually only a few bucks each.  I cleaned all the tube sockets with contact cleaner spray and tightened the pin sockets with needle nose pliers. To do this, I removed the tubes and squeezed the pin sockets a bit.  This usually eliminates intermittent problems. It's also a good idea to resolder many points that look dull by adding solder or replacing the solder.  Thermal intermittents due to cold solder joints are common .  As well, I sprayed the volume, brightness and contrast controls with conductive tuner cleaner. The only adjustments required were for audio peaking and the flyback transformer frequency. I couldn’t believe it but I had completed most of the electrical restoration in only days working a couple hours at a time! Cosmetically, I wanted to clean up the chassis and even that went very well. As an experiment I sprayed most of the wires and other parts with automotive carburetor cleaner. This worked great, allowing me to spray off the oily dirt till the wires and parts looked new. I wished I would have discovered that before. Then I dismantled all the chassis parts that I could and sanded and spray painted them in a metallic finish. The pieces I could not remove were restored in place. The chassis looks new now.

The electronics sit on the bench ready to be installed after being restored.

With the electrical restoration complete, it was time to dive into the cosmetic restoration. While I was restoring the electronics, I brought in all parts that needed to be brass plated to Fairmont Plating. I hate to slam a company, but I have had no luck with them and will never go back. Three years ago they did not finish a set of fan blades for me for an electric fan, so I picked them up unfinished after five weeks. This time around, the brass pieces for the Predicta were so poorly plated that I returned them three times. They were heavily scratched and very spotty the first two times they were plated. I made the mistake of paying in full before opening up the wrapped items the first time and through this all, they refused to give me a refund. After two tries, I was convinced they were incompetent and so I wanted to bring them to Albright Metal Finishing (Edmonton) where they have always done a great job for me. Beware!!! The result was a less than satisfactory finish on all brass pieces even after three tries. The plating was so thick from being re-plated that I spent a couple hours filing parts to make them fit again and the finish it still a bit spotty. Thank you for wasting my time, my money and for screwing up on parts for one of the most collectible item I have!

Restoration of the Plastic Parts
The plastic parts consisted of the CRT screen cover, the CRT enclosure and a band to tie it all together more or less. I have had a lot of success restoring plastic toys so I felt the same techniques could apply to some of the Predicta parts.  My screen had some deep scratches and was very foggy.  First I sanded the deep scratches with #150 and #220 sandpaper making sure that I feathered the sanded areas so that there was no visible dents.  Then, I used #320, #400 and #600 wetted sandpaper on the entire screen.  Initially, the results were just not good enough.  I could still see some light scratches and the fogginess was still there even though I had spent a few hours.  Next I tried a couple of off the shelf automotive products made by Turtlewax.  One is a rubbing compound, essentiality  a gritty paste wax.  The other product is a polishing compound.  It is more creamy with a very fine abrasive in it.  These products are normally used to remove scratches from cars but you can use these same products and techniques for plastics and even furniture!  

First, I took the rubbing compound and hand rubbed the screen with paper towel.  I had to concentrate on certain areas where I could still see scratches.  I did this for about an hour.  This made the screen even more foggy, but all the scratches were gone and the surface was now consistent.  Next I began to use the polishing compound.  This stuff is designed to provide a gloss shine on an automotive, clear coat finish.  When the polishing compound seemed to fall short, I would use some #400 and then #600 wetted sandpaper then continue with the polish.  I soon realized this could take me hours doing it by hand so I brought out my drill with a buffing wheel.  I kept sprinkling water on the screen so the waxy polish would not dry up and to ensure the screen would remain cool.  You have to be very careful using a buffing wheel because you can melt the plastic if you rush things.  Slowly, the screen got clearer and clearer.  I would often stop and polish it with Pledge to see where I was at.  It still took hours but eventually, the screen looked like new.  I used the same techniques and products on the rear CRT enclosure.  The wrap around band needed no work accept cleaning.

Turtlewax automotive products can make the plastic screen on your Predicta look new again.  The Novus products sitting on top can take out minor hazing and scratches however they are relatively expensive.  I have found that automotive products are cheap and effective in making plastics look like new.  For the $9.00 or so that they cost, (combined) they can be used to remove scratches and haziness on your car, furniture and of course, most anything that is plastic.

Restoration of the Cabinet
The cabinet was in rough shape and would require much structural and cosmetic work. First I removed the chassis and all hardware. The cabinet consists mainly of;

• The Frame

• Front and Rear Feet

• Top Plate

• Bottom Plate

• Control Panel

• Grill

• Wrap Around Back

The back was broken up around the antenna terminal area and the top corners. (not shown)

Everything needed work. I removed all of the wood screws, some of which I had to drill out because they were rusted. I then knocked the frame apart till it was fully disassembled. The front and bottom plates are solid wood with veneer on both sides for added strength. The top plate has an additional piece of plywood glued to it, which is painted a blondish yellow.  Much of the veneer on the top and bottom plates was de-laminating and some was missing. To maintain authenticity, I purchased some birch veneer to replace the missing veneer and painstakingly replaced and re-glued all the lifted veneer on the inside of the cabinet. Some wood filler was used too.  I was able to save the top piece of painted plywood by squeezing  glue into the separating layers before clamping it.  I should be clear that when I say "squeezing glue", I really mean pouring , pushing and prodding glue between the separating layers.  It makes a real mess.  When you clamp the plywood, you have to use large flat pieces of wood so it dries flat and even.  It's a lot of work just to wipe off the excess but you have to do that before it dries.  Heavy sanding with a palm sander afterwards ensures the repaired plywood it flat and straight.

The front, vertical grill is made up of a single piece of mahogany or walnut. It had broken up in several places do to shrinkage. After I repaired it, I determined it had shrunk ¼ inch. I would have to remember that later.  The front control panel (another piece of plywood) could not be saved because of excessive rotting so I would have to replicate this part. I decided to hand this off to a carpenter friend (Terry) but before I could do that, I needed to provide him with a piece of 3/8 inch Baltic birch plywood. The original panel was exactly that. Baltic birch is high end, dense plywood with no air pockets. The thickness is simply not available anywhere so I had to make it by laminating three pieces of 1/8 inch Baltic birch from Lee Valley Tools. To compensate for the grill being ¼ inch shorter, I had Terry make the front control panel ¼ inch longer at the bottom of the panel. It turned out perfect. After scraping off glue and much sanding to the other parts, I reassembled the frame including the top and bottom plates, the grill and front control panel. I used many clamps and a square to ensure everything was plumb. I replaced the rusted screws with the same slotted type. The cabinet was rock solid after completion.  

Since the front and rear feet were rotted, I also had Terry produce replicas of both. They are identical to the originals. Next I would tackle the wrap around rear cover. It is made up of a top and bottom wood C ring and curved mahogany plywood. There were fractures on the two top corners where screws are used to secure it to the frame and more breakage around the antenna access terminal area. As well, the plywood was unglued from the C rings which were also broken up. I stripped the complete wrap around assembly and repaired all of the major structural problems with glue and clamps. Where the screws had broken the top corners of the plywood, I replaced the broken corners with multiple layers of mahogany veneer, essentially creating my own high strength plywood by alternating the direction of the grain. A small amount of wood filler blended the repairs in. I could not use something like epoxy putty for the corners because they would likely crack when a screw was tightened. Instead I needed to maintain the compressive and flexible properties of wood. I did the same to the antenna opening, using multiple layers of mahogany veneer and a little wood filler.  Much glue and many clamps were needed.  The wrap around back was now complete. It was strong, straight and still flexible because of the veneers.  To prepare for finishing, I meticulously sanded all parts using an orbital palm sander wherever I could.  I started with #180 then #220 and finally #320 sandpaper.  The cabinet and frame were now ready for refinishing.

Refinishing
Before beginning the refinishing, I gathered as many pictures as I could find for this model which is characterized by a blondish yellow top and front and a maroon frame, grill and back cover. I used the same techniques I have used to restore dozens of antique radios in the past, relying on the use of spraying equipment, alcohol stains and lacquer. The mahogany back was never factory grain filled and so the original showed the texture of the wood somewhat. As a result, I skipped the normal process of rubbing in paste wood filler to attain a flat, glass like finish. For this piece I sprayed two sealer coats of 35-degree (between semi and satin gloss) lacquer. I then hand painted the top corners and antenna opening repairs and some miscellaneous wood filler repairs so that later, when I sprayed on alcohol stain and more coats of lacquer, those repairs would be invisible. I use Sheffield touch-up paints for painting in grain for all the areas that I patched and filled.  Painting in grain is a technique that cannot be dealt with in the context of this article.  In a nut shell, you paint in the background color of the wood, then emulate the surrounding grain pattern.  Consecutive layers of sprayed on alcohol stain and coats of lacquer over the entire cabinet haze and mask the repairs.  It is nearly impossible to distinguish the painted in grain when it is done correctly.  

To obtain the maroon finish as in the original, I mixed some maroon alcohol stain with a little walnut stain and some methyl hydrate. If I didn’t dilute the stain with methyl hydrate, the stain would be too difficult to spray on evenly. Standing about two feet back, I sprayed the back cover, frequently moving it so that I could view it under various lighting levels and angles to ensure evenness. After I was happy with the colour, I spayed two more finishing coats of mixed 35-degree and 65-degree lacquer to achieve a semi-gloss finish.  I did the same to the grill, feet and front frame pieces.  Striving for authenticity inside and out, I even stained all of the inner frame parts to the light orange-like colour of the original before sealing it with a coat of lacquer.  

Next the top plate and the front control panel needed to be painted. I had special paint mixed up at Days Paints in Edmonton using what remained of the original front control panel and pictures as a colour matching guide. I chose a semi-gloss paint in an oil base and sprayed on three coats, sanding between coats. The painted finish looks immaculate.

Inside, the restored Predicta looks great.

Final Assembly

Re-assembling the Predicta was fulfilling to say the least. It was like assembling a new Predicta from parts. A few other finishing details included finding the original type of screws that held the wrap around back in place, and adding the Philco logo. The logo cost me $40.00 but I was willing to pay this to complete the set. I found a company in Calgary that can produce decals in a format similar to Letraset (rub on letters). I generated the artwork using Corel Draw software having to build each letter from scratch. Next, I produced a high resolution negative and sent it to Calgary with the Pantone colour. I guessed at the Pantone colour choosing gold with a bit of a green in it. I had the company produce a full sheet (same price) with twenty or so logos on it. In appreciation for Sonny’s help, I sent him a couple logos for his future restorations or he can sell them. To apply the logo, you simply rub on the letters and spray a sealer coat over it. I put the logo on, however I have yet to apply a sealer coat to protect it. The logo is shown in one of the new pics at the bottom of the page.  

One More Repair

Although the TV worked well, I wished the picture were a bit brighter. It is difficult to know how bright it should be or perhaps the CRT is week and nothing can be done. Soon after running it, it began to loose it’s picture, displaying snow intermittently. I determined that by wiggling the channel selector (tuner) the picture would return. Before, I thought the tuner was unserviceable but after I removed it and took a closer look, I learned I could open it up. After I did so, I saw a bunch of spider webs and plant matter. I cleaned this up and sprayed it all with conductive tuner cleaner before reinstalling it. That solved the intermittent problem and now the picture is nice and bright!

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