1924 Reichmann Thorola Islodyne
Regenerative AM Receiver Model 50
This was my first radio restoration, it was found while cleaning out an attic in Oneida,NY
I thought it was one of the coolest things I'de ever seen. Even today after all these years it is
still not 100% finished. I'm still trying to locate the missing cabinet hardware which was most
likely scraped for the WW2 steel drive. The original transformers were replaced around 1930,
but other than that it's pretty complete. Many man hours were spent on brining this radio
back to a presentable level. The chassis turned out really well, it has a nice matching set of
Silvertone Gold 01A's.....
I'm always on the look out for Thorola items, they are getting scarce.....
Below are the pictures of the Thorola as it arrived. It's condition seemed terminal at the time
I had a lot of fun with this radio, it is by far one of my favorites......
The cabinet was completely disassembled, stripped by hand sanding only!. The interior wood of the
cabinet was lightly stained and then sealed with 3 coats of laquer. The cabinet was then reassembled
using all the original nails which were polished back to new. All the front wood trim work was refinished
and the front frame was repaired, prepped and painted with gold foil paint. The outside of the cabinet
is ready for it's new material which was obtained from Canada. A lot of time was spent streching and
gluing on the new faux leather covering. The Bakelite knobs have all been restored, and have the gold
indicators replaced. I then started working on the radio it's self. It took 12 hours just to do one of those
tuning capacitors.
The radio has undergone the major cleaning and polishing. Every nut, bolt, rivet, hardwires and bakelite
has been restored. Every part recieved a lot of attention, both the tuning coils and the tuning capacitors
seemed to take forever. The bottom of the breadboard has also recieved the same treatment. It really looks
sweet inside. So many hours were spent on this unit, I would have to do a lot of typing to explain how I
did it all. We will say a lot of Q-Tips gave thier all.......
Below are some of the pictures taken during the restoration...
Below are some of the finished pictures, The Thorola has been put back together, but there is still lots of work to be done on the cabinet. I still have to locate all of the missing steel corners and steel side strips. Really starting to come back to life.....It has been a lot of fun.... One of the hardest and most time consumming was the recreation of the Thorola Islodyne logo on the front of the radio. It's was all done by hand, that is not a decal !.
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