Art Deco Zenith 5-s-29 Radio Case Mod

Side Panel Mounting Strips

I cut and glued in all of the 1/2in x 1/2in strips that the side panels mount to. I had to do some cutting and measuring to make sure that the metal air chamber would still properly mount with them in place. I was thinking about just having the side panels stick on with magnetic strips, but I decided against it and am using threaded inserts to screw the sides on instead.

I cut both side panels. The pictures show the panel partially mounted; instead of using round-headed brass screws on the panel, I've got brass flat head screws in the mail coming my way so that the screws will sit flush with the sides.

Radiators and Fans Mounted

In order to know exactly where the holes need to be cut into the side panel for the radiators, I needed to mount the radiators and fans onto the mount. I took both rads, cleaned them with hot soapy water, then DOW Scrubbing Bubbles, then more soapy water, then lots of rinsing, then distilled water rinses, and baked them both at 170f for a few hours to dry them out. I cut and soldered in wires for the fans, cut a hole and mounted a grommet in the air chamber, and mounted the fans and rads.

While I was screwing in the Bitspower fittings, I noticed that the metal on the fittings was going all the way down against the rads. The o-rings are too thin to seal properly on the MCR rads. So I took a trip to ACE hardware and got some thicker o-rings. I'm really glad I noticed this as I am pretty sure it would otherwise end up leaking, and taking it apart later would be a real pain.

Radiator Grill

Instead of going with just plain rectangles for the radiators in the side panel, I opted for a arched design. I had to drill every one of these 1/2in diameter holes first with a forstner bit in order to get clean cuts.


Then I had to cut each one out with my scroll saw, and sand and clean up each arch. I wanted as much air space as possible, but I probably should have made the dividers between the arches wider than 1/4in as this is only 3/16in thick plywood. Some of them are a little fragile.

Here is what it looks like held on the side of the case.