After Burner U/R restore - in progress

swatchdh

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Donor 2011
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So after months of stalking CL/eBay/KLOV, I finally came across an After Burner upright cabinet for my home office. Wasn't the prettiest thing by far, and by KLOV standards is overpriced – but strangely, decent cabinets are hard to come by in Phoenix for a decent price. I have yet to grab the elusive 1943 in the 19" Dynamo cab I also would like to have…

The game played fine – joystick needed centering. Already installed a new pot and works beeautifully. Monitor didn't have any burn-in, recently capped. Shaker motor didn't work. Cabinet was rough – no side art (removed and painted a gloss gray) – lower vinyl was literally falling off the cabinet. Pedestal footings were rotted out, and the edges of the main cab needed some filler to return the side to the appropriate contour.

Now, I would have preferred a cab with perfect sideart – nowhere to be found. I mistakenly thought repro side art was available - also nowhere to be found – more on that later. It was my initial intent to rewrap the cabinet in vinyl, but of course the widest part of the cabinet was 25 inches… and for the life of me I could not find vinyl wider than 24 inches. So, lamination was the next option, except I have never touched the stuff and I had never used a router.

So here she was in original condition when I brought her home:

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Bezel decals are damaged – manageable, but still crappy looking. The clear bezel has some scratches from some enterprising punk – hoping these will buff out. Bezel overall would be fine to use except I for an obvious cigarette burn that would bug the hell out of me for a long time, and someone used a generic red plexiglass for the warning lamp covers. Would probably pass for Laundromat use, I suppose?

So, spent the past month sourcing NOS parts – scored all the bezel decals and warning lamp cover in NOS form from a few different places, as well as a replacement console and an extra bezel – all on the cheap! Grabbed a couple sheets of Wilsonart vertical grade laminate from the local WilsonArt distributor for $14/sheet, and stopped by Home Depot for a sheet of 3/4" MDF.

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First thing to address was replacing the pedestal footings and kickboard; here's how they started:

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Stripping them off was a delicate task as they were egregiously stapled from the inside:

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Kickplate stripped – not much protecting the board if the cabinet gets bounced around or finds itself in water:

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New plate fashioned up:

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Fits well:

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New MDF sides should bear a few more years of abuse now, and hold t-molding without the use of screws/staples as before:

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Time to strip the cabinet to prep for laminate; used filler to redefine some of the edges and roughed up the painted sides to accept the contact cement:

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Wasn't too concerned about the back – the plan is for a quick coat of satin black, clean up the hardware on the back. Thought about stretching vinyl over the back but it cleaned up really well with new paint:

Before
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After
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I don't have any pictures of the laminating process or my learning curve in using a laminating router for the first time; however, I was very happy with the results and I appreciate the information shared on KLOV regarding technique and materials.

Essentially, I cut a manageable sized piece with shears, applied contact cement on both the laminate and cabinet with a 4" foam roller, waited 15 – 20 minutes, affixed the laminate, used a J-roller to roll out the piece, and trimmed it off with a flush bit. Was very easy to do – and like I said, I was happy with the outcome.

Ended up going a lighter gray on the bottom and 1595 black on the side with the intent that I would someday find sideart for this thing. Coin-door holes and side access cabinet routed out very, very nicely. Pedestal feet were also laminated - not sure I'm going to reinstall the stainless bumpers, though:

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To get an idea of how thick (thin) the vertical grade laminate is, here's a closeup of the finished product:

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Next on the project list is:

* Reinstall new corrugated rubber on the pedestal
* Respray the cabinet edging satin black and reinstall
* Respray the coin door to match the edging
* R&R the console
* New keylocks
* Strip and respray the bezel in automotive finish w/ HVLP – apply new decals and lamp bezels
* Buff out the monitor bezel

I have a donor bezel in case something doesn't work out with the first one. I'd like to salvage the holographic 'Sega' decal on the one bezel, but need to find a savvy way of removing that without damaging it… any thoughts are appreciated.

Side art – so there's none available. You may have seen some of my other posts trying to pimp someone to scan their side art… luckily, I was able to salvage a couple cabinet sides that were just gonna make their way to the fire pit:

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At first, I thought a high-res scan, a little touch-up with PS, and I could reprint as-is. However, as soon as I received the side I knew that would be out the window… there is so much halftone/dithering on the sideart, that a high-res scan won't do:

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I reached out to Rich at TOG for an opinion – it was suggested that I vectorize the art and print vinyl, which means likely having to compromise on the final product with regards to performing an exact replica of the side art. I looked at the Ice Cold Beer blog, and the amount of halftones present in this side art far exceeds that of the ICB side art, so I don't feel it is reasonable to emulate the same practice.

So – I sought out a couple options for vectorizing the art, and scanning is underway. I realize this is a high-cost investment on my part to have repro that is not exactly that same, but thus far the example vectors I've seen will definitely pass the 'gallop' test if not completely pass for normal side art unless someone was privy to the halftones present in the original art. Once vectored, I'm going to hit Rich up to at least get a couple sets printed for myself. From there, if it passes muster, I'll likely post an interest thread to see if anyone else would like a set and hopefully offset some of the costs incurred… but that's a few weeks out at the earliest.

I'll try to knock out the easier tasks off my list this weekend and I'll post as I go…
 
Awesome...........

I have an Afterburner project. On mine, the art vinyl is shrinking on the cabinet, so that it's pulling up around the edges and peeling. I'd like to restore mine to like new, with improved speakers. I sure wish sideart was available and solvent inkjet would be great for this. I wish I had the means to help make it happen, but if someone can get it done, I'll be first in line to buy a set of sideart!
 
I'm really digging this thread. Thanks for the pictures of your progress. As much as I like to see the early classics being restored, seeing you restore this machine is a nice change of pace from the usual Pac-Man and Donkey Kong restores. You're doing a great job too. That is a LOT of work. Can' wait to see it finished!!
 
I like this thread too, I haven't had a detailed look at an Afterburner UR since I was in my teens. I have a suggestion, why not re-attach the sides with the art and touch it up? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard. A little touch up and it will look nice. Good idea, bad idea?
 
Excellent! You have a great looking cab, and something that will be super easy to apply side art to if you get that far.
 
I wish I had the means to help make it happen, but if someone can get it done, I'll be first in line to buy a set of sideart!

Once things get rolling with vectorizing/printing and I have a passable set in hand, I'll start a list and see if we can distribute a few back into the community

I like this thread too, I haven't had a detailed look at an Afterburner UR since I was in my teens. I have a suggestion, why not re-attach the sides with the art and touch it up? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard. A little touch up and it will look nice. Good idea, bad idea?

So the sides I have are essentially cut from old cabinets, and they look like they'd be a total bitch to disassemble the cab I have to reinstall these sides. That, and I'm not good as far as detailed touch-up of vinyl art and didn't want to half-ass it, so I figured some new vinyl would be appropriate - we'll see how that turns out though...

Corrugated rubber on its way, off to media-blast the coin door and edging tonight to prepare for a new coat of paint. New pics within the next couple days!
 
Corrugated rubber mat came in today from RubberCal

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Future MIL is in town this weekend, will try to sneak an install on Sunday while they're at the Bridal Show. Front stainless kick plate is being fabricated at a local metal shop; should be done by Tuesday. No word on where my t-molding is at. Artwork is still being vectorized...
 
New console is sprayed and installed, as are the corner brackets. New step plate was fab'd and ready to pick up - dragging my feet on the rubber flooring. Pics to come later in the week. Was going to prep/spray the bezel, but got wrapped up into installing gutters before monsoon season hits...

Got an update yesterday on the vectorizing, wireframe is about 50% done, looks great so far... couple more weeks and I might have a file to pass on to TOG for print review:

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wow sideart vectorizing is coming along.. looking good. theres alot of afterbiurners out there, i think its something that would sell well.. ( also race drivin but thats a whole other discussion)

looking nice man. WHat ended up bieng your shaker motor issue?
 
Fantastic work. Will be subscribing to see how this progresses. I am going to start a restoration on another Sega classic, Outrun stand up. Hope it comes out as nice. :D
 
any update on this?

I just got a cabinet, I need the afterburner sticker for the bezel, the big one above the screen, any idea where to find one??
 
Slow work in progress - about a month before the wedding so my free time has been consumed with vendor meetings, more planning, dance lessons (LOL), etc... should have something to share with the group soon.

As far as the bezel decal, I scanned a 600dpi PNG file and posted it in another thread: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=182513&highlight=afterburner

For a NOS, I thing Mylstar (videogameparts.com) may have one? It took me a few weeks to track one down - that's why I scanned a copy for archive purposes in case they're extinct.

any update on this?

I just got a cabinet, I need the afterburner sticker for the bezel, the big one above the screen, any idea where to find one??
 
he had a nos monitor dome hidden away for me heh.. its nice to play my afterburner now without a binch of annoying scratches blocking my view.
 
Was able to 'work from home' this afternoon and knock out part of the bezel refinishing. I would have liked to just scrub this bezel and reapply decals, but the cigarette burns weren't coming out - so time to reshoot it with color.

Stripped the decals from the better of the two bezels I had, took it down with 600 grit wetsand, shot it with a automotive basecoat/clearcoat. Had some leftover paint from my former 350Z; the silver was a pretty darn close match for the AB bezel (paint code KY0, 2005 350Z), and luckily for me, had just enough slow reducer/hardener since temps were over 100º this afternoon. New color has metallic flake in it - makes it stand out just a bit - I think it looks sharp, myself.

Would have been nice to shoot this in a booth, but caught the weather at a nice point where crap wasn't flying around in the air to end up in my paint (no haboobs today!). Clear laid down very well, happy to say. I'll let that sit for a couple of days before applying the NOS decals and new monitor screen bezel.

Hope to at least finish the rubber flooring, kick panel, console install and corner metal this weekend. Almost done blasting the coin doors for new paint.

Stripped and sanded:
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New color and clear:
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Clear laid down nice with the slow reducer; high gloss and no orange peel:
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