Radio Model

Among some of the countless accessories available for a model railway in 1/19 scale, I was tempted by a 1940-1950 radio. As I had a package sent to Denmark, I added the radio to the order. I bought the radio from Dioramaparts, a German company selling detail parts and kits through eBay in 2019. The company seems to have stopped trading since.

The printed front panel.

The resin cabinet fitted with plastic stock dials and buttons.

To call the radio a kit is an exaggeration. The zip lock bag contained one resin radio cabinet, one printed radio front panel and a piece of thin metal wire for the antenna. I sanded the resin part lightly to achieve a smooth surface. I then added two large dials and the row of smaller buttons under the frequency scale from plastic stock. On the back I added a small piece of plasticcard to represent the metal plate holding power cable and antenna socket. I then primed the radio and painted the cabinet dark brown and the back a lighter brown to represent the cheaper wood used for the parts of the cabinet not in direct view. I cut the loudspeaker and scale from the printed front panel and glued them in place separately. The loudspeaker panel was given a touch of matt varnish, while scale and dials were given gloss varnish. The dark brown cabinet sides and top was also gloss varnished. A roll of power cable was made from solder wire, while I chose not to fit an antenna. 

Radios looked very cool in the 1950's. Here is a Danish made TO-R Merkur D 2 from a 1951 advert.

I ended up adding 5 home made parts to the radio, keeping one kit part unmodified, changing another and discarding the third. Not too unusual when I model. Now I have to find somewhere to place the radio. Perhaps in a small shed or near a window in the planned relief building on the in progress layout?

The radio loaded in the back of the Chenard & Walcker van. I hope the driver is a careful one, as the radio is a fragile item fitted with vacuum tubes that break easily.

A lot of car for a light load - a single radio.