Alien Syndrome 2.0 Restore

AlienSyndrome

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Just starting a new restoration thread of my second Alien Syndrome. If some of you who followed the first one remember I had to piece it together and track down parts to convert it back. But not with this one, believe it or not it was able to hide away from the conversion demons. It's almost 90% complete, missing the back door and topper. It's running on the original 16A boardset I believe. The really big one with the rom board attached. I've heard there's a 16A boardset without the seperate rom board but have yet to see evidence of one. This one has the famous suicide chip which will have to be addressed. Also it's got a few graphic issues and the speech is kinda garbled. I threw it into my other one and have conformed it's the pcb. But it is playable which is amazing as these Sega security battery chips were only meant to last 10 years. One of the pics shows whats left of the original topper. Just a few purple plastic pieces :(
 

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Excuse the bad pic, but kinda cool. Was at Aladdin's Castle at some point. Could have started out there as they purchased there games new mostly. Also on my first one I looked high and low for the original two bulb marquee light. Had to use two individual ones for it. This one even has that. Needs a little TLC but will be good to go.
 

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Best I've been able to figure out is something smashed into the top destroying the topper and bending the marquee florescent fixture. Or it got dropped onto something. Either way something hard came crashing through the topper and breaking the light. Broken purple pieces is all that's left.
 

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Monitors getting a bath and dried out. Gonna need a cap kit. 80 degree day, best time to do it :)
 

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Sorry, I like things easy. And nothing is easier than 15 minute klean stripper. Especially on a hot day. The artwork literally bubbles up before your eyes. Like removing a comforter off a bed. If it's one sheet silkscreen then I do it in one setting. But if it's artwork on top of black vinyl, I have to do it in two steps. First the side art, then I reapply again covering everything to remove the melamine layer. I use tape to make a border around the edge so stripper doesn't dribble down on stuff that I don't want to repaint. This doesn't work near as good if the temp is below 65 degrees. Then I have to use a hair dryer to get the chemical reaction going. Same effect but takes longer. On a hot day in the sunshine, the artwork literally is peeling up before you have finish covering the whole side.
 

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Sorry, I like things easy. And nothing is easier than 15 minute kleen stripper. Especially on a hot day.

Wow that looks really simple, this should work on an asteroids side art? I sure hope so, I hate sitting there with a heat gun peeling that shit off when it doesn't just pull off in one go.

Also, which specific Klean Strip product did you use?

Thanks!
 
Again how awesome Klean Strip is. Wasn't as warm today so I used the hair dryer for a few minutes.
 

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Stripped and started on the control panel today while it's hot outside. First I try to remove most of the Polycarbonate material along with the graphics if possible by hand with a metal scraper. Sometimes putting it in the oven around 110 degrees can make this easier but just be careful not to warp the metal. Atari control panels no problem but these Sega ones are a softer grade material and after the hic-ups welding the other one I just stick with elbow grease.

Holy cow, I've been doing it all wrong! Usually I would use washers and nuts to hold the plexi-glass pieces to the control panel, but as you can see you should just use tons of bondo to secure it. This way you can make dam sure it will never come off again......WTF

Well after a half hour I was able to chip away and remove it without damaging the screw posts. Cannot believe someone thought that was gonna be easier than grabbing some washers and nuts.
 

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Well not to be a broken record but ya, Klean Strip.
 

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Laminating the front kick plate
 

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Did the sides today.
 

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A lot of cleaning today and a new back door was cut. It will get painted with Rustoleum black satin oil base. Maybe 2 or 3 coats. After it's dry for a few days it will be buffed out with a car buffer to blend out the roller lines etc. Sanded the control panel as well.
 

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Worked on the light installing a new ballast. Buffed out the back door.
 

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Side art put on. Thanks again Dan!!! Florescent fixture installed and working. Also sourced an original incandescent lamp fixture for the control panel. It left the factory using a 60 watt light bulb.
 

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Installed new power switch and cleaned up the mounting plate. Began putting the guts back in and zip tying everything back where it goes. Waiting on a new switching power supply. Here's a before pic and after. Still have to redo the power inlet box. Powered it up temporary to test the lights.
 

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After stripping I spent about 30 minutes reshaping the left side of the top marquee bracket. I believe it was damaged in the same incident that smashed the topper and the florescent fixture. But after filling and sanding it will be back to almost perfect.
 

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Finished priming the control panel. Also primed and painted the lower air vent grill and installed it.
 

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Got tired of moving this box for the hundredth time so since the light is all done time to button up the top with a Topper. :)
 

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Sega had used a single thick piece of plexi for their control panel windows and then routered down the edges to allow the smaller section to fit into the space. I instead will use 2 pieces and glue them together. I made templates out of cardboard and then simply took them to Ace Hardware to be cut. Then I drilled my holes for the pegs.
 

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