Battery / mains portable with flip-front dial, sometimes known as the Flip-Front, or Picnic Radio.
This was the last version of three (5150AB, 5153AB and 5155AB) and included a tone control in the dial.
Battery: Eveready 753 dual-A-and-B pack, 9V and 90V
There is a switch on the back to select battery or mains operation, and then the on-off switch is incorporated into the dial, so the radio comes on when the dial is opened.
Colours:
Ivory
Burgundy (Brown) with Ivory flip
Grey with Ivory flip
Mint Green with Ivory flip
Baby Blue with Ivory flip
Red with Ivory flip
- There is mention of an all-gold coloured one in early advertising, but one has never been sighted and was removed from later adverts as you can see below
CAUTION: The cabinets on these sets are fragile, and undamaged cases can be hard to find - especially the backs. Due to their age the handles should not be trusted, carry them carefully.
The Leader series of portable valve radios was first introduced by Collier and Beale in 1950 and went through 3 different versions. It was developed from the American Zenith model 4G903, and was sold in Australia under the Technico banner as the model 1259 and TO.8.
They ran on mains or a combined AB battery that supplied 9V for the filaments and 90V for HT.
A quick way to identify which of the three models you have is to check the dial. If there is a round metalic badge screwed on over the dial pointer hub then its probably a 5150AB, if there is a tone control in the same place then its a 5155AB, otherwise its probably a 5153AB.
Intermediate Frequency: 455kc/s
Frequency Bands: 1
Chassis Notes(most schematics can be clicked to download a full size version)
General Construction Notes for Collier & Beale Ltd:
Model numbering followed no real sensible scheme until around 1940 - and prior to 1934 apparently no model numbers were assigned at all.
From 1940 a 3- or 4-digit system was employed where the first digit indicates the number of valves, the second digit is the number of bands and the third is the year of manufacture. From 1950 the last digit became two digits, eg: 5151 is a 5-valve broadcast-band only from 1951.
From 1957 model numbers were replaced with model names, ie the Pacemaker Buffalo - which makes the year of manufacture hard to determine unless service info is consulted (although C&B often released service info after the radio, and the date on the service info was for its release, not that of the model.
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