[R-390] WTK: Did any R-390's come with Grey knobs?

[Flowertime01 at wmconnect.com]

> Hi All;
> I picked up a Collins R-390, not R-390A!
> It has Grey knobs & was wondering if any came that way or were they all 
> black?
> Tnx in Advance.
> 73..Rich WA2RQY
> 
Rich,

The things that have been done to these receivers since they were
manufactured are both extreme and unimaginable.

Read the NOS line on the AF deck. The knobs were not original issue.
They may be GI replacement parts, or striped and repainted. 

My contact with R390's was the 69 - 75 time frame. I was well aquatinted
with most that made it to the Pacific area. I worked with guys who had become 
aquatinted with the ones in Europe, Africa and of course the US. The knobs 
were black back then, and only black. Knobs no longer black were made black. We 
saw no knobs that did not start life as black. Black had variation but did not 
extend to gray. Front panels were gray.

Roger KC6TRU