Daves Colorfull Radios Page 5Welcome to page 5 of Daves ColorFull Radios. The 1930s continues with some more radios. Some new plastics came along that were very inexpensive to make. More colors were availible with this type of plastic. The plastic was Catalin. This type of plastic was a phenolic type. The cooling process was much quicker and was less expensive to make then other phenolics. There was one other step that was involved with the manufacturing process that would become a dissadvatage on time. The finishing step was that this plastic had to be polished and this was done by hand. In the 1930s through the mid 1940s labor costs were low so it was part of the manufacturing process. After WWII labor costs had risen sharply and by 1948 Catalin plastics were droped by the radio manufactures. During its use Catalin radios were the most spetacular looking radios as far as colors that were made. Some were solid colors. Some were a combination of colors and some were colors that were swirled and marbled in the cabinetry. One other drawback would appear with Catalin plastic radios over time. The plastic would shrink causing stress cracks and warpage. Today collectors collect this type of radio and prize them highly.
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Addison A2 Catalin Radio
Addison was a Canadian radio manufacturer that made some of the nicest Catalin plastic radios. The Model A2 is a 1940 model. The design of this radio with the combonation of solid colors and the swirling make this radio very striking in its looks. There were several color combinations offered on this radio. Yellow/maroon,Black/white,yellow/red etc were some of the combonations. Addisons are highly sought by the collectors. |
Addison A2
Here is another Addison A2 in yellow and brown. |
1940 Fada Model 1000
1940 the FADA Radio Corperation brought out the most famous Catalin radio made the Fada 1000. This radio combined streamline styling with the bright Catalin plastic colors. The cabinets were made in single solid colors(rare), two solid color combinations,and two colors with swirling.(also rare) The style of this radio remains popular today because the cabinets style has been reproduced in many transistor radios. Click here to go to page 6 of Daves Colorfull Radios. Click here to go back to page 4 of Daves Colorfull Radios. Click here to go back to my homepage. |
