[AMRadio] R1155 help

[Ka9p at aol.com]

Greetings AM receiver experts.
 
After several years of collecting parts and pieces of the Lancaster bomber  
R1155 RX T1154 cw/AM set up, I finally got to work on the much butchered  
R1155.
 
Happily, after waaaay too much messing about, the R1155 gave up and decided 
 to begin working well enough on 40 and 80, albeit without the RF amp, 
which will  require a lot more figuring out what on earth the previous owners 
were or  weren't thinking.
 
But I'd really appreciate any sage advice on the following issues, as  807 
consumption is increasing at an alarming rate at the moment:
 
1) Two functional tubes have either a loose grid cap or loose base - what's 
 the best cement for resecuring those to the glass envelope before 
something bad  happens?
 
2) the tubes in this beast are VR99s, VR100s, and VR101s.  I'm pretty  sure 
there are no US equivalents but if anyone is aware of a US type that  can 
work without rewiring the base, I'd love to hear it.
 
3) re same tubes, is anyone aware of a US source? I've found some in the  
UK, but I'd sure rather not ship 70 year old tubes around anymore than I need 
 to.
 
4) re same tubes, I've looked online for tube test data for my Hickock 532  
for those tubes but haven't found any yet.  Anyone aware of any sites I  
might try where folks may be aware of the settings for tubes like this? Or  an 
article that suggests how to go from a tube spec to settings for a  Hickock 
tester of this vintage?  Or a better idea? I've tried the tube  tester 
sites, and while finding lots of good stuff otherwise useful, the VR  tubes 
remain an enigma.
 
Thanks for any thoughts on this stuff - I will say it is really cool to  
watch the magic eye tube operate on AM signals :)
 
73, Scott