Atari 720 restoration

don1400

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Green Bay, Wisconsin
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One down and one to go, just finished up the first of two 720 resto's, major fark up with final clear coat ruined a really nice job paint job, had to resort to painting the cab after I was unable to apply Rich's 720 vinyl to any satisfaction, way too many air bubbles, got some application tips from jedidentist and chad1, still couldn't do it. In normal lighting and in between two games the the clearcoat sagging isn't very noticeable. Since the cab had the black bottom vinyl base as its original color I decided to stick with it and not paint it silver/grey. Biggest pain was was getting the 4 side pieces smooth as glass, when the original vinyl was pulled off, hundreds of small pieces of the particle board came off too, it took 4 coats of auto primer with a sanding between each coat plus plenty of spot primer mostly on the two lower sides to get the job done. The Phoenix Arcade artwork is just awesome. Sorry about the poor pix quality, my good camera decided to die about a month ago.
More pix before and after are here:http://s593.photobucket.com/albums/tt19/don1400/TRON/720 resto/
Rich
Green Bay
 
Looks great! So, yours had a black vinyl bottom base too? Everyone around here thinks I was nuts keeping mine black, but that's what it was originally and a conversion her me was the same too. Glad to see you finally finished it.

I also see you went with some glazing putty for the small pin holes? That stuff woks great.
 
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Game looks awesome, did you put black vinyl on the front around coin door or did you paint it?
 
Looks great! So, yours had a black vinyl bottom base too? Everyone around here thinks I was nuts keeping mine black, but that's what it was originally and a conversion her me was the same too. Glad to see you finally finished it.

I also see you went with some glazing putty for the small pin holes? That stuff woks great.

Derek,
Don't know about your game but the black vinyl on the base of mine was the same as the textured vinyl used on the cabinet interior, wasn't smooth like the kick panel, looked kind of odd to me, definitely original though. A lot of work went into making the sides smooth, the pix with all the red spot putty was after the third coat of primer/sanding. The most tedious job was getting all the edges square, lots of Bondo and patience, the inside and outside vertical edges to the left and right of the kick panel were rounded off from wear and abuse. I sure messed up the lower sides when putting on the clear, I was either too close with the gun or went to slow, probably should have had more light too. All in all it was worth the time and effort (pats himself on the back). Everything is on hold for the second 720 till spring, just picked up a Burgertime so that may move to the head of the line.

Game looks awesome, did you put black vinyl on the front around coin door or did you paint it?

I used the black vinyl from Rich's 720 vinyl kit, it was thicker than the silver/grey vinyl and went on without a hitch. The kick panel piece is new, was able to get old one out easily then cut a new piece of MDF to fit. After cutting the kick plate I applied the vinyl, then routed out the coin door hole, then mounted the kickplate and clamped it in place, I drilled dowel holes through the sides into the kick plate side edges and secured it with the dowels and plenty of wood glue, finally after letting the glue set up for two days I used Bondo to fill in the dowel holes.
Thanks,
Rich
 
looks good man... When i did mine i took the HEAD off of it which made it alot easier to work on, is that what you did? also taking the sides of the radio apart wasnt fun, but it was the only way to put new silver t-molding on them..

if you do take the sides of the radio off, i used a finishing gun to put them back on,
they look factory done!!
 
looks good man... When i did mine i took the HEAD off of it which made it alot easier to work on, is that what you did? also taking the sides of the radio apart wasnt fun, but it was the only way to put new silver t-molding on them..

if you do take the sides of the radio off, i used a finishing gun to put them back on,
they look factory done!!
I remember reading your posts and checking out your pix, didn't take the head off but I did take the boombox sides off, it was relatively easy to do on mine even with the glue blocks and staples. You're correct virtually no way could you get the chrome t-molding off/on if they weren't removed, was yours real tight to the black molding right beneath it? I lightly belt sanded the the glued surface area of the sides and made new glue blocks, and like you used a finishing gun to put them back on. BTW, despite the problems I had with the vinyl I was able to apply it on the boombox sides without any bubbles. The glue on the head was letting go in several places so I put a number of new dowels in place and clamped it up for a few days to make it rock solid.
Thanks,
Rich
 
rich,

nice job! great job on your bondo that stuff is just a complete pain in the ass.

look like you really took your time and it turned out great.

whats your plan for the second machine, do you really think you will restore two?

cr
 
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