My First Predicta

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They used tined plastic - do NOT try to chemical treat it. I've worked on about 200 vintage TVs at this point and have never found a bad flyback so that's the last thing I'd consider.

Yes, they smell - it's the Tenite plastic Cleaning them exposes fresh material and it will smell worse for a while. I've had good luck with ScratchX and Novus #2 plastic polish.

As for the CRT looking pristine, that's great, but not that unusual because the plastic shell protects them from the environment.

If you're not hearing anything when you change channels, you have at least one other fault - maybe related to the lack of HV like something is off with the power supply.

I always recommend the easiest thing first. Grab an ohmmeter and go through the resistance chart published in Sams. No need for socket extenders or an isolation transformer.

Everytime I've made a wiring mistake, I found it very quickly with this method.