Budget Star Wars refurb

DP Louie

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Donor 2011
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Most of you guys probably missed the thread where I picked up a beat Star Wars cab for $40, but if you want to read about that adventure, here it is. Here's a couple of pics before and after I cleaned it:

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My original intentions were to totally restore the game with new art and the whole nine yards. However, my son and I were having so much fun playing the game that I just didn't want it torn apart for months while I restored it. But, the bottom of the cab definitely needed some attention. There was some water damage, and the leg leveler t-nuts were basically a pile of iron dust. I decided to cut the bottom 3" of the cab off and replace the rotting, chewed up partical board. I thought that if I was careful enough I could blend the repair into the sideart since there are horizontal blue/gray lines on the bottom of the sides.

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dang it's looking so much better already...

Greg, what are going going to take out of the ERA to fit it in?
 
I decided to not cut the front, just because there was no way I could keep the art intact if I did. The whole front panel should be replaced anyway, it's cracked in half at the top. That's why someone put the metal plate in above the coin door. But, I was determined to make this a "budget" restore, so I kept the front panel, cracks, lockbar holes and all...

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I built a new bottom from 3/4" ply and reused the back panel and the panel with the wheels. I went through a whole tube of Liquid Nails on this, so it should be plenty strong!

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Now that I had the cab solid, it was time for paint and touch ups. I sanded the edges of the cab where some of the vinyl had peeled, and carefully painted the new lower sections and the entire perimeter of the cab. I didn't bother with filling in the joint on the lower sides as I was afraid of damaging the side art anymore than it already was. If I eventually do a full restore, I'll fill in the joint of course.

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I trashed the original coin door, as it was beat beyond saving. Luckily, I had enough spare parts to build a replacement. New t-molding and some carriage bolts in the lock bar holes, and now it's starting to look pretty decent.

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So, that's where I'm at right now. Hopefully I'll be destroying the Death Star by Sunday. I just need to finish up the monitor (lv2000 install, cap kit) and put the yoke and cp back together. I had to replace 3 of the micro switches in the yoke, so now I'll have full fire power, lol. One benefit of doing this on a "budget" is that I ordered an ESB kit from Vector Labs with the money I have saved. I should have that soon. Back to work...
 
Greg, what are going going to take out of the ERA to fit it in?

Now that's the million dollar question! I really don't know, to be honest. I'm thinking I'll keep a few games in the garage and rotate them into the ER every so often. Something with have to go eventually though...
 
Awesome!

Adds to the argument for saving cabs. Nice 1 :D

nice work on that big boy


awesome!

Thanks guys. Comments like those make all the work worth it.

I finished the monitor work and decided to test it BEFORE I put it back in the cab... hmm, I wonder what game this 6100 originally came in?

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Well, it powered up fine, and at first I thought it was okay, but then I realized that it had no green color... It took me a little bit to track that down to a solder bridge on a couple of pins on the neckboard that I re-flowed. All good now. I installed the monitor and turned my attention to the last few pieces.

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The worst is the marquee - severely cracked on the bends, but decent in the middle.

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I thought about getting a repro from Arcadeshop, but that goes against my whole "budget" theme, and I've read that the quality is lacking as well. So I think I will use a straight edge to cut out the cracked area, then cover the bare spots with black tape. Kinda ghetto, I know, but I think it should look okay. Some more cleaning, and I should have some finished pics up tonight (for the 5 people who actually look at this section ;)).

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Glass is a bit dirty...
 
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Amazing how its coming along! I love the repairs you have done!! Hard to believe it started out as that nasty looking game. One heck of a score for the price!!
 
Amazing work there on the base of that cabinet. Looks to me like you'll soon have a great looking and solid working game on your hands.
 
My tape job on the marquee came out okay. Much better than it was, anyway...

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And here she is, all done except the back door:

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Here's the back door, and the back door sheet. I may just make a new back door instead of fixing this one. The back door sheet is beyond my help, though...

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And here's a final before/after shot:

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Hopefully I'll have my ESB kit this week, but till then plain old Star Wars will have to do. :)
 
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