Here is the finished Miracle radio, all put back together.  The case was stripped, sanded, damage fixed in various places, grain filled, toned, and clear coated.  It was then rubbed out with various grades of sandpaper and rottenstone.  Lastly, a coat of paste wax was applied.

The chrome insert was removed and polished.  The grille cloth was replaced with a close match.  The whole thing was then put back together.

I think it turned out very well.  It's a nice looking radio, and I love anything with chrome on it.  Click the image for a larger photo.

Here's a better picture of the top edge of the Miracle radio that was repaired using artists paint.  This photo was taken after the finish was rubbed out, and outside under good light.  As you can see, the repair is darn near invisible (click the photo for a larger version).

All I need to do now is put the radio back together, polish the chrome, and put in a new grille cloth.

The Miracle has a few problem areas on the top of the radio where the veneer was thin or coming off:

You can see the damage on the left side.  This sort of damage was present on both front edges, plus some misc losses on the back edge.  It would certainly be possible to re-veneer the top of the radio to fix this.  However, it wouldn't be quite right, as the new veneer wouldn't be flush to the front edge, but would actually be above it -- showing a line at the top, when viewed from the front.

Another technique presents itself:  fill the chips with some sort of filler, then paint in the grain.  I haven't used this technique a lot, but it had potential.

Here's the top with the damage filled in with some wood putty:

It doesn't look great...right?  OK, now we need to come up with some paint to fix that.  The key here is to match the color perfectly.  I'll admit, I don't have a great eye for this, but I mixed some high quality artists pigment -- dark sienna and burnt umber.  I then thinned them with mineral spirits and started paint them on:

This is what we end up with.  A little too thick, so I had to thin it down a bit.  Then, spritz a quick coat of lacquer onto it, to seal it in.  Then repeat, until the color is right, or at least close.  You can use some yellow to lighten it up.  I sprayed some black paint through a piece of burlap to add in some grain to the patch.  The entire top was also toned, to give everything an even sheen.  This is what I ended up with:

Not perfect, but not too bad either.  Or, at least not too bad for a first effort at this kind of fix.  You can certainly see it if you know what to look for, or look really close.  It's stil a tad darker than the surrounding area, but it really isn't that  obvious from a distance, nor if you aren't looking for it.

I think this technique has merit, but I'll have to get better at it.

This is a Miracle radio made in Paris.  The radio was bought off e-Bay earlier this year.  It actually uses American tubes, with five tubes in the lineup -- 47, 58, 80, 2A7, 2B7.

The cabinet looks ok from the front, but has veneer damage on the top.  The veneer is chipped off around the top edges, so while itt displays OK from the front, it needs some help.

Like a lot of French radios, it has a huge multitap transformer so that it can operate at 110 or 220v.  These radios tend to be so heavy on one side due to the transformer, that they don't ship terribly well.  This one was no exception, with the case coming apart in places due to the weight of the chassis smashing around in shipping.

I refinished the case over the summer, and will write a few posts about it.

Here is the Parmak tombstone cabinet after refinishing.  The radio was stripped using Parks Refinisher, which went quite quickly because the lacquer was in such bad shape. 

The case was lightly sanded, and a few areas of veneer damage were glued down and fixed.  Once the case was nice and smooth, it was filled with grain filler.  I used Bartley's Dark on the case, and did two applications, with a light sanding in between.  The case was stained with a coat of special walnut stain, then sprayed with multiple coats of Watco semi-gloss lacquer.

The dark brown trim is thinned oil paint which was painted on, then topcoated with sprayed lacquer.  I would normally use toned lacquer for this, but couldn't find a close color match that I liked (all the lacquer looked too red, and I wanted a dark brown).

I have to let the case sit a week or two, then I'll rub it out.  I still have to strip and refinish the knobs, clean up the escutcheon, etc.