My father in law gave me a 1938 Zenith 5-S-228 tombstone radio he had for years in storage. It was not in good condition and did not work and there was water damage to the veneer that caused it to cup and peel off around the edges. I had done a re-purpose project on a Brownie Hawkeye camera turning it into a desk lamp with vacuum tubes and such and he thought I could make something out of it.

So....into MOI to sketch up some ideas and render what I was going for before getting into the project and then having to change something later on. So I am re-veneering the entire piece with Walnut, removing the old radio system and speaker and replacing it with a creative 2.1 set of speakers with a subwoofer. Also the dial will stay but is now backlit with LED's to avoid heat and an ipod dock which will be altered and veneered to match will be installed with a functioning remote so you don't have to get up for skipping and adjusting the volume.

Here is the adapter...since the audio jack and ipod connection came out the back I had to cut the adapter in half and lengthen it to hid the wires going down straight into the cabinet. Then applied the same walnut veneer and start finishing.

:)

Really cool project re-purposing and getting new life from that radio, Grendel!

I hope you'll post photos of it later on too!

- Michael

Yeah 2nd that. :-)

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Retro futurism ! :)

Thanks guys, it's fun to re-purpose items that actually had nice design...i-pod docks now look all the same to me..just shiny plastic. The whole reason for adding the handles on the side was that I can take this outside and actually use it by the pool and people get to see something different.

Walnut portion is done, handles added and now for the black lacquer side fillets. I do not have much experience with open grain woods as I try to steer clear of them to reduce tear out which has happened a little on this but it's a learning curve.

It's looking great so far! It will be a really cool one-of-a-kind dock when you're through!

- Michael

Grendel - You're my hero! ;-)

I love it! Using MoI to "re-purpose" an old radio to give it new life.
First appeared in 1937, with shortwave and AM. But now iPod!
Really nice model and render.


A bow from another vintage radio collector.

Thanks guys, here is a little progress on the dial face. There are four 110VAC LED's in there now but I will put one or two more in to even out the illumination.

I see that you will can listen some French radios :) (from France )

Amazing work. Well done!

A little further progress, should get it finished this weekend I hope.

That looks awesome.

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Very cool project and great execution. Congrats.

Bob

It's coming together very nicely Grendel!

- Michael

I finally finished it, sounds great and people love it. It sat at 90% complete for the longest time when other items on the "honeydo" list kept getting priority.

Scrounged around for all kinds of old Zenith adverts to make a collage for a back panel. These radios had no back panel originally and I wanted to cover up the wires, subwoofer and speaker so it worked out OK.

Looks great! Well Done!

Beautiful work Grendel!

Great way to 're-purpose' a classic!

It's a beauty! The back panel collage turned out very nice as well, looks authentic.

- Michael