[Arran]

Hello All;
  Well I went to look at the 3118 this afternoon, around 4, and I did bring the VOM along. The cabinet is pretty much as it appears, it does not look like it has suffered any water damage to the bottom part, the joints seem to be rock solid, as are the legs, the only obvious damage is to the veneer near the top right edge, not even 1/4'' worth, and a white ring in the top. I don't know how the U.S versions of this cabinet were built but McLagan built this cabinet just like they built their cabinets for Rogers, the sides are 3/4'' solid lumber, veneered on both faces of course, same with the top. The bad news is that although the electrics are sound, the dial scale might be shot, and the three knobs that are on it are wrong, they are Philco knobs all right but they are of the 1936-40 style with the pointer and the raised center like a Philco 620 would have
  Electrically the set seems pretty sound, the power transformer tests all right, for resistance, as does the 11'' H series speaker. There are two oddities however, someone added a screw terminal and rotary switch to the chassis shelf, which is connected to a fabric covered cable, with three or four wires inside, since the knob on the switch is not a Philco one I assume that this was some sort of early aftermarket phonograph input, either that or a speaker output, either way it's been there since the 1940s at the latest. The other oddity is that the cabinet has a bat switch mounted in the side, and it looks like it left the factory that way as it is mounted in a recess on the inside left of the cabinet, the 16 series sets have a switch in such a location but the 18/118 series usually do not, what it's purpose is will need to be investigated.
 I believe that this set is a factory frankenradio, but from Toronto, the chassis shelf was drilled to accommodate the larger 16 series chassis, but it has a 118 series chassis fitted in there, however rather then drilling new holes to accomodate the smaller chassis they added a series of "L" shaped brackets to pin the chassis in place around the rubber corner cushions, it looks like the 16s used round rubber washers under the chassis as the holes are recessed for this purpose. The controls all line up and are centered properly with the holes in the front panel, and the dial escutcheon is the proper type for a 118 series radio with shadow meter, since the model 16/316 and 34/334 had four bands, and the escutcheon is of a different shape, and also with a shadow meter slot, I can't see how they could convert the panel from a 16 to a 118 and have the escutcheon fit the hole without it showing. My guess is that they added the bat switch and cable to the 3118 chassis to make use of the existing hole for the 316, but the only way to know for sure is to buy the set, and take the chassis out to examine it.
Regards
Arran