My coils are insulated with enamel paint, yours look like bare copper so they are shorted. Haha no Audioguru, it's yellow enamel. They are not shorted.
I used two 1000pF (0.001uf) ceramic capacitors to filter the power supply voltages at RF frequencies but you used something different (yellow tantalum?).Yes they are. But I will replace them if you advice that. - By the way, what do you think about the big and ugly green capacitors? Are they adequate?
My coils and tuning capacitors are spaced a little away from the circuit board and away from other parts. A total fail, my spacing is zero
Tuning capacitors never go to zero pF. Maybe yours go too high so then the number of turns on your coils should be reduced. Looks like the old lady on the shop tricked me again. I'll try with one turn less