The Fine Things are Always Hand Made
Postwar Civilian RBO?
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Attached are two photos of my RBO that is not exactly an RBO! If you look at the first photo, you can see that is missing the usual Navy ID plate. Three of the four tapped holes for the ID plate are empty. The hole at the lower right looking at the panel does have a small "Scott" emblem plate attached to it. The second photo is a close up of the emblem plate. You can see that the front panel is also missing the two grab handles that were used to pull the set out of the cabinet for access.
It appears that this set might have been excess production that was rushed to market by Scott shortly after the end of the war. A second possibility is that a third party may have bought up a quantity of surplus RBOs, removed the Navy ID plates, and attached the "Scott" nameplate and resold them independently of the E. H.Scott company. The crude appearance of the panel, not up to the usual quality of E. H. Scott, with the empty holes and the little tag that only says "Scott" and not "E. H. Scott" suggests the latter. Anyone ever seen another set like this? The normal E. H. Scott nameplate on the chassis is in fact present, and shows a serial number of 1029. Its not clear if the set ever had the grab handles when sold or if they were removed afterward. The dial pointer is not shown, it needs to be restrung.
I know the SLRMs were sold directly by Scott out of their showrooms as early as the fall of 1945 (that's when mine was purchased in NYC by my great-uncle), they of course had a nicely executed non-military nameplate for the "Scott Marine Radio". I am curious what name plates the SLRMs that ended up on Navy ships (as the REE) and the merchant ships had. Did any actually make it to ships or were they all sold post-war on the civilian market?
Another curious thing about this RBO, and all other RBOs that I have seen, is that the glass dial plate contains bull's-eyes for the colored band selection pilot lights on both ends of the slide rule scale, but only has bulbs positioned behind the bull's eyes on the right side of the scale. There is no room in the RBO as designed to put lamp holders behind the left side bull's eyes. This suggests that Scott may have used an existing dial from a civilian set on the RBOs. Does anyone recognize what set might have had the dial used on the RBO?
Also for the record, my Navy RCH has two serial numbers - 4512 on the Scott ID plate on the rear chassis, and 2912 on the Navy ID plate on the front panel, which also states the military model as CZC-46209. The Navy ID plate has the date "7-10-45" stamped in the "Accepted by Navy" space, and a blank in the "Placed in service" space . I suspect that this set, based on the accepted by date, also may not have ever made it onto a Navy ship.
My SLRM serial number (previously supplied to this forum) is 1841.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Norman S Braithwaite on
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Chris:
The "Scott" tag on your RBO has been cut from the escutcheon of a Scott Allwave Superhetrodyne receiver of 1931. A complete escutcheon is on eBay now... http://www.ebay.com/itm/E-H-SCOTT-ALLWAVE-12-RADIO-DUAL-TUNING-DIAL....
Your RBO also had handles. The depression the handles left in the wrinkle paint around the mounting holes is visible in your photo. Also, serial number 1029 is low in the production of RBO/SLR-12 receivers and would have been delivered early in the war effort. It is very unlikely that this set did not see military service.
Regarding the dial scale, no pre-war Scott receiver had the same bands as your receiver therefore the dial scale could not have come from excess production for civilian pre-war receivers.
Norman
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I don't like being the messenger of bad news but your RBO front panel has also been truncated along the sides. A full front panel can be seen here... http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=111530
Norman
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Permalink Reply by Chris Bowne on
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Never noticed that! The "ears" of the panel were definitely cut off, there is just a small indent for one of the slots that can be easier felt than seen on one side. In light of the cobbled up Scott emblem. the low serial number, and the cut down front panel, this set was most likely sold as built as surplus, and then "de-militarized" by a previous owner. I am going to do a repaint of the front panel at some point. But no point in putting it into an original cabinet with the cut down front panel. It plays beautifully, even with the single 6K6 output vs. the push pull 25L6s of the SLRM. BTW, I have found the Mothers "Back to Black" automotive finish restorer for black trim does a nice job on old black wrinkle paint and phenolic knobs like those of the RBO and RCH.
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There is a chance that I might be able to get in touch with the previous owner if the RBO... There is a name address and phone number written on top of the main tuning cap shield can. The location is actually not far from mine.
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Permalink Reply by David C. Poland on
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My nice SLRM (Navy gray with tropical anti fungal residue all over the chassis) came from a nice Mahogany radio/phono credenza at Estes Auction maybe 15 years ago. The buyer wanted the cabinet but not the radio which I bought from him later that day. Wired to a 12 inch speaker in the cabinet. As I recall drop front for radio to the right and phono drawer to the left. Now wish I had a photo of that cabinet. The small speaker still in place on the radio panel. And the output transformer set up for additional speakers. Some day I will restore this radio.
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