[Heathkit] Heath HX-10 Marauder restoration

[Rick Poole]

I am about to begin restoration of my Heath HX-10 Marauder and have a 
couple of questions.

History is... bought it at NEARfest (big semi-annual hamfest in New 
Hampshire) maybe four years ago for a cheap price.  The seller told 
me he had used it as recently as two weeks prior.  I have not plugged 
it in or turned it on since I got it... some other things distracted 
me and I ended up putting it on the back burner for a while.

There are some fairly extensive and undocumented modifications, 
allegedly to make it more useable on RTTY, which is the other reason 
I didn't turn it on... I'd like to restore it to it's original 
configuration before doing that.  Fortunately I have a good quality 
manual reprint (though I'd like it if the schematic was clearer) and 
two other parts donor units to use for reference.

So, first question is... Should I just replace all of the 
electrolytics and not bother with the variac / "bring it up slowly 
and hope for the best" routine?  I have no special interest in 
keeping it looking 100 percent original and "correct"... this thing 
will never be "museum quality" anyway... so I don't mind if the 
replacement electrolytics don't look original.

I'm putting in yet another Mouser order tomorrow and wanted to add 
these to the order if necessary.

Thanks...

Rick WA1RKT