Snow White Emerson Reproduction

Recently, I acquired the job of renovating an Emerson Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs radio. This is a picture of a similar radio, but the wear on the front was a little worse. It's a cute radio with nifty little acorns for knobs.

A radio like this is pretty rare, but looking like that with the wear on the finish makes it not so desirable. I was asked to refinish the front and the cabinet to make it look nice again. The chassis was a mess with a replacement speaker wobbling back and forth because it was held in with only a single screw and a bit of solder which had broken loose. The tuning capacitor also was loose from aged grommets that wouldn't hold it off the chassis any more. After making a bracket for the speaker, installing new grommets, replacing all the paper and electrolytic capacitors, checking tubes, aligning, and cleaning the chassis, it was back in working condition.

Next, came the challenge of refinishing it. I tried touching up the places with missing finish using touch-up markers for wood finishes, but they all left shiny areas where they were applied and it was always obvious where they had been applied. I decided to strip the front and cabinet and start from scratch. One problem was that the front of this radio is repwood which I understand is a mixture that was poured into a mold to simulate carved wood. I read that water is not good for some repwood materials, but for this one, Bix stripper is OK, and lacquer thinner doesn't affect it either.

So, I pried the front off of the radio using slim wedges to work around it and gently force it. It's held on by 13 little nails driven into the edge of the solid walnut case. Once I got it off I stripped it. At this point, I decided to try to make a duplicate of the front for 2 reasons. One, I was worried that I'd drop the original or otherwise screw it up. Two, I thought that if I could duplicate it, I might be able to make a reproduction for myself.

I had heard that Alumilite Corp. makes a product that would be appropriate for making what I wanted, so I contacted the company and ordered silicone rubber for making the mold and Alumilite for casting the piece.

The Form

First, I had to make a mold to contain the liquid rubber. I went to the local auto-glass company and got a piece of thick glass about 2 feet by 1.5 feet. It was a free "drop" from a larger piece they had cut. Then I sealed around the widows and knob holes of the object with a casting clay also sold by the same company. Next, I cut a long piece of showboard, sliced part way through where the corners would need to be and folded it there. Then, I placed it on the glass and sealed all around it with the clay. Now my mold was ready for the plastic.

The Mold

The rubber comes with a catalyst that one mixes with it before pouring it into the mold. Instead of pouring the liquid rubber directly onto the object in the form, I found that it's better to brush some of the liquid over the object, then pour the rest on top until it covers the highest part by about 1/4 inch. This helps to make sure that one doesn't get a lot of bubbles in the mold. The brushing action forces the rubber into all the little crevices and allows any bubbles to rise the short distance to the surface and pop rather then get trapped on the object. I had to throw away my first mold!

rubber mold

mold form

sealed with clay

original face

pouring the Alumilite

The Pour

Now, with a flexible rubber mold, I could pour the 2-part Alumilite into it. Regular Alumilite is mixed in two equal parts. That makes it very easy to calculate the mixing ratio. Either mix two parts by volume or by weight. You have just a few minutes to get the Alumilite into the mold and make sure there are no bubbles. I found that after pouring, if I take a small pointed tool, I can drag it over the places that tend to collect bubbles and release them before the stuff hardens.

When it begins to harden, it hardens FAST! The next picture shows what happens when you decide to try to add a little more after it's started to freeze. I say "freeze", because it looks like it's actually freezing when it starts to harden, but instead it's getting very hot. It's an exothermic reaction that causes it to get so hot that it hurts to touch the newly hardened plastic.

In the picture on the right, the plastic froze as I was pouring in a little bit more thinking that I didn't have quite enough in. Turns out it was too late and the column of plastic froze right up to the container.

The nice thing about Alumilite is that you only have to wait a few minutes and you can take the object out of the mold to see if it's what you expected. With luck and experience, you get what you want eventually.

The first few casts were full of bubbles. Probably they wouldn't be noticeable after a finish was put on, but I knew they were there and had to see if I could avoid them. Following Alumilite Co. suggestion, I found that by sprinkling talcum powder on the mold, spreading it around with a soft brush, then inverting the mold and tapping it, I could coat the mold with a light amount of talc. This would inhibit the formation of air bubbles. The talc gets incorporated into the plastic when it is poured with no adverse effect.

Once the plastic was poured, I had to quickly brush over the places that were prone to bubble formation to release any that may have appeared. With this method, I was able to produce end products with no bubbles. There are still bubbles that got trapped while rising but they made it to the surface, which was the backside.

The Finish

I decided that the finish for my radio would look best using a brown paint, then antiquing it. I tried about 7 different paints from different manufacturers. Most of them seem to come out too glossy, even those labeled "matte finish" for some reason. It must be the plastic it's covering. I ended up using a mixture of medium walnut stain and hickory stain mixed into lacquor. That seemed to bring it closest to the original finish.

The Glaze

The lacquor covered it well, but it looked too flat. I wanted that aged, antique look. I had previously used a glaze I had gotten from a paint and wallpaper store on a console radio and it really made a difference. Glaze is really just a thinned asphaltum. I read that you can use regular roofing tar if you thin it out. I haven't tried this thought. I wonder how it would ever dry.

Glaze is applied with a brush, put on thick, and squiggled around so you get it into every nook and cranny. After letting it set for about 15 minutes or less, you take a rag and wipe off the excess, leaving it in all the recesses.

It tends to slightly darken the whole surface, so you have to plan on it getting a little darker. Don't get too carried away wiping it off. It looks best if it's in all the cracks and edges, but no puddles in enclosed spaces. Use a Q-tip to get it out of these places. When dry, it'll make the piece look like it's aged from the passage of time. It gives it a three-dimensional look, rather than a flat look.

Here are the pictures of the finished reproduction.

Emerson also made the same radio with a painted front instead of just brown. Below is my attempt at reproducing it. I still have to apply antiquing goop to make it look aged. Hopefully, it won't disolve the paint when I apply it.