David

Interesting that the renderings in the original promotional articles did not even show a tuning eye on the Masterpiece or Super XII. In the collector guide, the various Phantom models and Sixteen with a wood front show the tuning eye sitting above the top of the panel. The variation 4 of the Phantom has a taller front with the escutcheon perched on the top, with almost half of it above the wood! How many of these sets were actually sold with a wood front is a question, there must have been some buyers that did not want a cabinet but liked the look of the wood front. 

I have some scraps of 1/4" plywood so will start by making a mock up panel and see how it looks. There is another thread with much discussion about the Mayfair Credenza cabinet, you posted some photos of the mounting brackets in your set there. Those are the mystery brackets that I had seen in a picture before.

Yeah, some chassis photos omitted the eye. But some cabinet photos for those models show the eye and escutcheon(s) as do the owner manuals drawings.  Those models came standard with the eye tube and the mounting bracket for above the dial. The Scott News, Vol II no 3 of March 1939 has a full page model description for the Super 12 with 2 columns of features including a cathode ray tuning indicator .And the diagrams all show one eye tube. The FM sets had two:  one for AM tuning and one for FM tuning.

I have seen a couple examples missing the eye because the cabinet dimensions could not accommodate the eye above the dial, And a couple such cabinets with very unusual eye locations. (Laureate Grande &  Westwood, as I recall). Do not know if these were factory, or merely retro fit efforts some years later.

The Philharmonic always had two eye tubes. The AM only sets had a 2nd one to show volume expander action. The FM Philharmonic eliminated the volume expander and the 2nd eye was for FM tuning.

The 1941 Scott Laureate was an AM/SW/FM and had one eye for both AM and FM tuning,  a benefit of a later ground up AM/FM design.

David

I made a panel last summer, I made templates of various sizes but in the end decided one with proportions similar to the one shown in the collector guide looked best. As suggested, I found a set of Phantom escutcheons which are almost the same. I used a plywood panel salvaged from an old cabinet, and left the original finish. The reproduction dial pointer looks better behind a crystal. An original crystal and pointer might show up someday, until then these are fairly good substitutes. The Masterpiece dial is very attractive and lights up nicely and the dial lights also illuminate the chrome at the front of the set, so it displays well on a shelf.