Many AK parts have been reproduced

Coils

The coil on the left is genuine The inner coil is mounted with 2 brass screws, the label is brass and the coil is made from Bakelite. One of the tests for Bakelite is to rub it with metal polish. the rag will turn brown with real Bakelite. As you can see the coil on the right (the fake) is not Bakelite.The bottom shows sanding marks as it had to be flattened after being molded. The inner coil is shorter and is held in place with the terminal screws. There is no soldering in the fake since the plastic would melt. The label on the top is anodized aluminum and is lithographed. It feels smooth when you run your finger over it. The Screw terminals appear to be real.

Variable Condenser

The condenser on the left is the genuine one. The label on top is brass and has raised lettering. There are no holes on the bottom of the can. The condenser has an engine design on the rear plate. the Brass ground leaf is held in place with the terminal screw. The rotor lead is not grounded. The one on the right is later unit modified to look like an early model. It has 3 screw terminals on the front, but the rotor one is grounded. The label on top is anodized aluminum and is lithographed . The lettering is larger than on the original. It does have a hole in the bottom where the wire is supposed to come out.

TA unit

The TA unit on the left is an original early green unit. The one on the right is completely fake. The Plastic is not Bakelite The steel base was a brown or black unit that was striped and painted green.The bottom of the plastic it had to be sanded to fit the can. Standoffs are used on the screws so as not to melt the plastic when soldering. Solder was used to fix the Brass tube holders to the plastic base . Everything was sprayed black so if you look throught he tube openings you will not see the modern components.The reostat for the tube filaments is comlpetely home made. The connectors for P1 P2 come from a Model 20.

Switch

The switch plastic is not Bakelite. some bubbles can be seen from the molding process.

Tube Unit

The tube unit again is not Bakelite and has bubbles on the edge from the molding process. Another way this unit is faked is to take one that has the embossed areas for for A+ A- G and P and replace the screws with terminals and drill holes for the wires to come through the unit.

Crystal Set

The Crystal set is a copy the base is not Bakelite The label is lithographed and is not as sharp as an original. It is held on by screws and not rivets.The terminal nuts use hex nuts on the bottom instead of Knurled nuts.