More pics. There seems to be a signature of some kind inside the shell - and a pencil mark on the re-ring, so either this was wrapped originally or was going to be wrapped at some point.

I would say yours is a student model Radio king, due to the absence of the holes for the RK brackets, But they also did make 3 ply radio kings. If you are thinking of wrapping it. Try to see how heads fit with just the way it is now painted. It looks to be a good shell build it up and play it for years to come.

"Chrome or Nickel" were often found written in cursive with a pencil inside some shells. You can thank Mark Copper for this bit of info. Yes Sir

Nice shell and great size!!

That shell oughta sound great when you get-er done.....

Maybe hang a drumkey holder in the extra muffler holes ???

This was likely a painted shell originally.... a wrap would prolly make seating heads properly very tough, as VTM has pointed towards......

She may look great with a natural finish if you can get all the paint off.

The original paint, if it was painted, is likely lead-based.....be careful!

Nice shell waiting for some love!!

:):)

I think that may have been one of my auctions. The drum was never wrapped and most likely has blue and silver paint underneath. However, they did make plain mahogany shells. The badge puts the drum at around 1945-1947. This drum was not necessarily a "student" drum. Three ply shells were considered to be true Radio King snare drums. Doesnt have to be solid.

There was however, often a three digit number penciled inside on "true" student models. The model number was "157". They didnt really use the term "student" until 1948-49. Prior to that, #157 was just "wood shell drum". Because this aluminum badge drum had extension brackets, double flange hoops, etc., it would have been a Hollywood Ace Radio King with a three ply shell. A #157 usually had single flange hoops and clips.

A Duco finished Hollywood Ace.

If I had this shell, I'd strip it and put a new Duco finish on it.

I think all of the parts to finish it up are available as repros.

Thanks for the info guys. Yes Mark, I think this was one of yours. I'm only calling it 'student' because this is what I've found it to be called - like I said, so far my knowledge of old Slingies is rather limited. At the end of the day, what I want is to restore it as close to the original as possible. I've managed to locate some of the hardware, still looking for more stuff.

What about wrapping it? Head-fit aside, will the wrap 'choke' the sound at any rate? And how can I clean the bare wood without using sandpaper? I don't want the interior of the shell to be completely smooth..

Alex