A sad story with a (fairly) happy ending...
While at University and living in Selly Oak (1994) I spotted a sad-looking TV24 put out for the bin men. Back missing, valves long gone, tube smashed, chassis generally fiddled with
. Obviously, I grabbed it.
Next week, the house clearance shop at the other end of the road was throwing out some non-working modern TVs, amongst which was a Ferguson 12" mono set fitted with the Thorn 1790 chassis (their last mono portable, I think, using the Motorola "Monomax" jungle chip). All it needed was a new line OP transistor and then it was like new. But even as a poor student, the appeal of B&W portables was minimal (except the low licence fee
).
So I stripped and French polished the TV24 case, and used Brasso to get the Bakelite gleaming. Then I fitted the Thorn 1790 chassis & Mullard 12" tube into the old cabinet. The big LH knob became power/volume, the right was linked to a rotary switch and some multiturn pots to provide channel selection, and the little ones were used to control brightness and contrast.
I appreciate that this kind of thing will NOT impress the purists here, but it saved two items from landfill, and gave a lot of pleasure for many years. I had it until 3 years ago, when I gave it away due to lack of space.
Sorry about the poor photos - the gleaming woodwork and Bakelite looked wonderful in real life.
Nick.