Asteroids Cocktail Restoration Part 1

Mike Doyle

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I picked up this neglected Asteroids Cocktail from another collector as part of a haul that also included a few uncommon titles. This one wasn't working and was missing the top glass along with the cardboard bezel, and tinted monitor plexi. Since I always like to get things running before working on cosmetics, I got started testing and decided to rebuild the monitor for good measure. I ended up adding a socket and replacing one RAM in the program section. Now that everything was working and I had a nice stable picture, I switched to cosmetics.

I propped the cabinet up on blocks and pulled the legs, they had a little rust here and there and were missing a couple of end caps. 30 minutes of prep work later, they were ready for paint, I used the 2x coverage version of Painter's Touch satin black. The bolts were prepped by chucking them in a drill and holding a foam sanding block against the heads. Everything got 4 coats of paint, spaced about 15 minutes apart, which was a good match to the original finish.
 

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Part 2

Prior to attaching the legs, I cleaned the cabinet and decided to replace the t-molding on both end panels and the perimeter of the top. The original stuff wasn't horrible, but it had enough scuffs here and there which took away from the condition of the rest of the cabinet which itself, was really nice.

I've got a plastic dead blow hammer which is intended for beating on machined metal assemblies, but works great for t-molding. Using a 250' bulk roll of smooth 3/4" t-molding, (that will eventually find it's way onto the rest of my Atari's), and the hammer, made quick work of the job.

At this point, the needed parts had all arrived: new end caps and monitor plexi from Mylstar, and an underlay and corner brackets along with the small black cardboard bezel from Arcadeshop Amusements. My local glass shop made the top which is tempered with no logo and a pencil polished edge just like the original.
 

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Part 3

Now that the legs were on and fresh t-molding was in place, it was time to finish cleaning the top and control panels in preparation for the underlay and new top glass. The original control panels were near mint and just need a little cleaning, I opened them up hoping for trapped tokens or quarters, but found none. A few years ago working on an Asteroids Deluxe CT, I found $23 bucks in quarters inside the player 1 control panel.

Here's the finished game, I'm really happy with the underlay which is clear allowing the artwork to appear screened to the glass as the originals were. Since I've got an upright already, this little cocktail is going to be for sale now. It had been a few years since I restored one, and it was a nice doing a low key resto with minimal artwork that was mostly parts replacement.
 

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Looks nice and these are easy cabs to restore. Usually the bodies are nice and it is the metal that needs work. I did one a couple years ago and ended up with a second. I sold the one I fixed up to another board member and still haven't restored the other (mine) yet. :(
 
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