Almost time to arm the Victor TT 101

@knollbrent  whichever arm you choose from the ones you have you will land upright and unharmed.
When you have completed the front-end share some photos.

Thank you @best-groove I appreciate the vote of confidence. I do like to take as much time as needed plus the Russian will be assisting from long distance. 

the Russian will be assisting from long distance.

good idea! Say hello to the Russian for me pls. :)

If I were still collecting Vintage Japanese DD TT's the Victor Models will certainly be on my short list. The appeal is the mass of the materials, which has been selected for producing the Structure, certain Victor Models are looking like they are honed as design for the structure.

I have seen go to Japanese Vintage DD TT's with a TA > Cart' attached as  sale item, be offered between £5K - £8K. Where the TT Model has a very wanting structure for the chassis. The Bowl which the Stator and Bearing Housing is seated, has a gauge of metal to form the Bowl of not more than 1mm (1/64). A very poor structure, to perform the role of remaining rigid, as all the forces of the driving the Platter and Platter Rotations are transferred to this structure. Flexion and Resonance are the only outcome.

My investigation of Vintage Japanese DD TT's has taught me there are models that are ranging in the designs put in place for the Bowl that mounts the Stator and Bearing Housing. Substantial material used to form the Bowl with a shallow depth for the Bowls form is the ideal for this type of design.

Additional methods adopted for any DD TT that functions to rigidly secure the Bowl, produces a design, if executed correctly, that offers a very good method to create an improvement for the mechanical function of the TT.

I am not too sure the use of the Original Plinth is going to yield the most attractive end sound from a Japanese Vintage DD TT. Research will show there are numerous redesigns for a Variety of Brands Models through out the period of their Hey Day of being in production.

The Link will show how ideas for the Victor Plinths has evolved over time. The Link also shows a Through Section of a Victor DD TT, the idea of rigidly coupling the Bearing Housing Base seems to be an easier option on this model shown, than some of the other Brands DD TT's I have investigated.  

In the present era, looking into a Phenolic Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board to produce a Plinth. Where using a Branded Product like 'Panzerholz', or a very similar designed Product from another Brand. Has for many adopters of such a material type, been proved through experiencing the material function as a Plinth. Shown to adopters of it, as a choice for a material. It has been the one that has created an end sound that is difficult to imagine can be bettered.  

https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrkgBf.vu9mUZgj4Mp3Bwx.;_ylu=Y29sbwMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=victor+tt+101+plinth+images&type=f2%3A%3B.6850610d4680680b2811f3dcdca6be379af%3B5.ac485699f167851185abd8a8e3b01611ec4ceacc0ec960448b74805219ec715ff444172e085fa8ab2404f80e999&param2=9dUI1n2R0BLDxNuWfiP4aSFOTltNdSPoIx38%2BUf%2FiXrvPdoGmStdlfwLFZYDvqkAJrWWk4yNReCLnBD%2FqPsDZd7olTZcV8HMx1G%2Fk786sE2Tis1g8dJd8zxVWs%2BbKztBnq1TfqUiqPYK9pXifXmJFyorDuCsYXJE71Y6G5tfejCBJ709m7Zpo%2F2aZp0wMFRV33bhz0mG%2BW1RfPzxTgU9h9%2Bg2MzyaAYF%2BHHrEYxQdnW39UUpNcmZ7tftT7H4SmoJ0CdhyGRNdyTsr3z9MfJHQvfrDp%2FFRUkymC8Gr74VduEGjRIq7fhfIvmh5rtuHz6f&param3=HpCyCT2cXaKG4CVDR00rqlSr3FoJYZnmiwl1hIhP7ORcwvK%2F0U7mr7TFNI3FZ%2Bsse%2Bxg1AgA69bXklHFsPM75QZXRnrNIa5ZfngbT2CAm%2FMw8wQKkwszIga9f8W9ucu4blb370UAnbXPk7ypBSeasz6XSxuCC%2F3QxpWAjAzi51QBpttOdmOpSFGOhcSaChHjNZa97gKep3eN%2Fp5WlKCouIKDuJ2%2BS7CsKWKu6zqSTc1KClVObQWo6toSZ9U%2FMftFha2Psi2mzDpfRpdfZRIK3Rkq4PlJCXbdwRvp1tn%2FuCGhu1JNwNAKMJeSEKK4sWXd&hsimp=yhs-syn_scoop&hspart=iba&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-iba-syn_scoop

Any of the tonearms you mentioned would be fine, but I think the EPA100 is the best of them. At the very least, I would upgrade the tonearm mount board. Use the OEM board as a template and make a replica out of solid aluminum or panzer holz. In addition I added large pieces of aluminum as bracing on the bottom side of my plinth, using heavy duty wood screws to dampen the wood structure. The OEM plinth and the wood arm board are the Achilles heel of the Victor TT series.

Thanks for chiming in everyone. I'll give everyones thoughts regarding the plinth and arm boards serious thought. Panzer holz is much easier for me to get shaped into arm boards. I'll look into bracing the bottom with aluminum!

​​​@lewm is there a better affordable approach to a new plinth that you would recommend???

There was a clue supplied in the following:

"Phenolic Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board to produce a Plinth. Where using a Branded Product like 'Panzerholz', or a very similar designed Product from another Brand". 

Very Similar is able to be sourced in the USA, as due to the materials weight and the importance of the material type in other industries, most Countries have their own equivalents manufactured to keep the shipping costs from making the materials prohibitive.

Thank you at @pindac 

My first vintage table, the Luxmann PD-444 is up and spinning, so I'm good for now but that Victor stares at me every day!

As I wrote, what I did was to brace the OEM plinth with aluminum nearly covering the bottom with one inch thick pieces that I fixed to the plinth with heavy duty wood screws. This in addition to replacing the arm board. You can buy slabs of alu on line. Then you only need to cut it to size, which any machinist will do for you.

Excellent @lewm 

For some reason I thought you have a custom plinth for this drive but maybe it was another TT in your collection. Thanks for the tip!

From Looking at the images of the 101, the bottom of the Platter Spindles Bearing Housing, projects into free space between PCB and the Vented Protection Cover.

A Part can be bought/produced (shaft collar or similar)that clamps onto the Bearing Housing and projects through a penetration made into the vented cover.

Additional Base Bracing, can then be designed to receive the projecting part, to incorporate a anchor point for the base of the Bearing Housing.

On the Base Bracing, another collar can be added that has the walls drilled to receive Grub Screws or Similar, these can then be used to apply force to the bearing base, and lock it rigidly, in interference fit is not desirable as the rigidly anchoring method.

Lenco Heaven has been showing TT designs doing this for numerous years, a method can be found that is to ones own liking.

I encouraged this on a TTS 8000 not too long ago and the owner was thoroughly impressed with the improvements detected, they has a Stock and Modified model to do comparisons on. The TTS was a much more difficult model to achieve this type of anchoring the bearing housing on.

Knoll, by the time I had my TT101 up and running, I had no energy for creating a new plinth, after having done that for Lenco, DP80, and SP10 mk3.

Thanks for all the helpful tips!