Season 1 TV Monitor frames

 I picked up two Panasonic Portable B/W TV's off eBay pretty inexpensively. Dissembling them was fairly easy. You have to be careful not to damage the TV tube as it could explode on you as it is under pressure. Once the front frame is removed from the rest of the TV housing, I need to trim out the inner frame as it is molded as a solid piece.

I could use the monitors in my car, but hooking up the tubes is more cumbersome than I want to take on. Plus, I want something more modern

than the 80's style TV with low resolution. I hope to use touch screens, or more modern monitors. The trick will be to find ones that are the right size and wont look funny with the curved frames, as all monitors are flat these days. 

In the show, the corners are drilled and a flat head screw is used to mount the frames to the dash. I have seen most replicas omit this detail for a cleaner look. I will incorporate them in my replica to maintain the Season 1 look that tried to stay true to the cars original aviation design.

I just saw this the other day while watching the first season. In this particular screen shot of the interior of the car, the outer frame wasn't removed for this dash. Comparing the above photo of the Panasonic TV, you see what I am talking about (I hope). It does appear that they sanded down the face of the frame so it did not protrude too far out from the inner frame. I do not recall seeing this particular option of TV frames at any other point in the show.





What is more common (before they changed it again during the first season) is this version (left), with the outer frame removed. In this screen shot. You can see the screws in the four corners to mount the frames.

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