720 - The Restoration

KillerKades

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Here is the photo log of the project. The details:

Started: 7/4/09
Completed: 7/27/09

Its journey began late last October at the famous "Blue Nile" as shown here:

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It then made its way to Osseo, WI for a mid way meet/trade and a bit of tailgaiting with beer in some gas station parking lot.

I then beheaded the beast (on purpose) to begin the restoration. I am getting very good at taking apart cabinets that were not meant to come apart. Sanded the entire cabinet and began to bondo the edges and fill in some gaps -- yes even to the bottom.

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To be continued...
 
It was now brought down to the basement for re-assembly.

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Add some art:

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Was waiting for more t-molding to arrive as the standard 20ft just doesn't cut it. After it came, I was ready to assemble the boom box.

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More to come...
 
Sorry for the long post, but the 5 pic limit just sucks. Hope you enjoyed the picture progress as much as I did doing this project. Well, here is its final resting place.

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Skate or Die!
 
My vote for best thread evar. Ofcourse Im partial to 720, as its my grail, but it looks great. Awesome job! Now go play and enjoy the best game known to man. :)
 
Absolutely fantastic man. Its so great to see a pristine 720 being brought into the world. Great job on the work, and on documenting. Really nice to see a full restore, and the first time I've ever seen it done with the cabinet in two peices.

Excellent all around - thanks for the post. SKATE OR DIE!!!
 
I'm particularly interested in any restoration work that may have been done on the controller. :)

LOVE seeing a 720 getting the full restore job like this. Very nice, indeed!!

Dave
 
Tremendous work. I remember playing this one in my local arcade but I don't recall it having a boombox on the top. I wonder if there are multiple versions.

A few questions if you don't mind, from a complete beginner.

Did you have an original picture that you modeled it after or used your own creativity?

Did you make the art yourself or did you order it special? I've seen a few web sites that you can buy art from, but yours seems to fit perfectly.
 
Did you have an original picture that you modeled it after or used your own creativity?
This 720 looks about as close to how they looked rolling out of the Atari factory as you'll see. The only visible difference would be the monitor glass, which was clear. Also, you'd never know unless you were right up next to it, but the original 720s, like most Atari games, were covered with grey and black vinyl instead of paint.

Did you make the art yourself or did you order it special? I've seen a few web sites that you can buy art from, but yours seems to fit perfectly.
All 720 art has been reproduced: http://www.720zone.com/720-Links.html#720artandparts
 
Nice work Big Kev. You decided to just paint and not to go with Rich's vinyl? How was the original stuff to pull off? Looks like it came off pretty clean. When I picked that machine up, I thought it was the greatest looking all original 720 I had ever seen. I don't think I coulda brought myself to tear it down for a complete restore, but then, I do have 7 projects that would have been ahead of it anyway. Man, it does look pretty.
 
Nice work Big Kev. You decided to just paint and not to go with Rich's vinyl? How was the original stuff to pull off? Looks like it came off pretty clean. When I picked that machine up, I thought it was the greatest looking all original 720 I had ever seen. I don't think I coulda brought myself to tear it down for a complete restore, but then, I do have 7 projects that would have been ahead of it anyway. Man, it does look pretty.

I really don't enjoy working with vinyl so I opted for color matched paint. The original vinyl was no match for the belt sander. ;) Came off with a couple swoops of the 50 grit belt.

Needed the restore. The yellowing of the CP, half the boom box was missing, t-molding sucked, sideart gone on one side, cab was ok but now is factory fresh. I thought, if I'm spending all this on new art, why not just go all the way and not do a partial restore. I really love how it turned out.
 
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