Skyscraper radios were made by various different companies for Bond and Bond Ltd. B & B also had Crusader and Skymaster.

This Skyscraper is a 6 valve, Dual Wave chassis, and has a wooden cabinet. It is from about 1939/40, by Radio (1936) Ltd.

A  few parts have already been replaced at this stage, but there are still some major problems, not the least of which is over 1000 volts on one valve! I don't know how much over as both my analogue and digital meters peg at 1000. The little black switch at the bottom right of the picture, on the back of the chassis, is a local-distance switch. Unusually, it has 4 dial lights. Most only have 2.

Since this photo was taken, a new coupling cap from the plate of the first audio tube to the grid of the output tube was fitted, changed an electro, and then found there was no voltage on the plate of the driver tube. The plate resistor was open and a new one got the set going.

This is a very interesting radio. When Junior got it, I thought it was probably late 30s. With a bit of checking, I figured it as 1934. Still wrong! There is a manufacturer's swing tag inside the back with a barely readable date. 31/10/1933.

Originally, the cabinet looked very shabby and would need stripping and redoing. The names and markings on the knob plates were also unreadable. However with a lot of careful elbow grease, it smartened up very well. The tuning knob is mounted directly to the tuning gang shaft!  No difficult restringing needed here! Ever! Nor are there any light bulbs to burn out!

Five valve chassis, no shortwave, electromag speaker and nearly all original. As with many very old radios, no on/off switch. A very good find for $10.00. Particularly as it was in an antique shop, which usually means EXPENSIVE. But she had it out the back, because it didn't go. The wire-wound volume control had a minor contact problem. Cleaner soon fixed that, and a bypass resistor on the control was faulty. That was it!