Custom Tron Cabaret Restore and Modification

[Vectoralpha]

I was fortunate that my cabaret was still in working condition when I got it & just needed some tweeking & clean up on the inside. The outside went through the major make over.
I did purchase a new joystick, CPO, kick panel, & graphics.

Where you get the joystick, and CPO. What is a CPO anyway?
I have the plastic halves and trigger.

 

[xstoys]

The joystick I have are the 2 halves & trigger. I got mine from groovygamegear.com.

CPO is "control panel overlay".

Where you get the joystick, and CPO. What is a CPO anyway?
I have the plastic halves and trigger.

 

[Vectoralpha]

The joystick I have are the 2 halves & trigger. I got mine from groovygamegear.com.

CPO is "control panel overlay".

yea that's really just the handle (I have the same thing from them too).
The 8 way joystick is what am looking for..is it just a joystick with a shaft adapter?

 

[xstoys]

I don't know about the 8 way joystick. I'm still using the standard joystick, with new covers.

yea that's really just the handle (I have the same thing from them too).
The 8 way joystick is what am looking for..is it just a joystick with a shaft adapter?

 

[gprotein]

Part 3:

Ok, now onto the vinyl... This was my first experience applying vinyl that ran the length of the cabinet. It took myself & the help of 2 friends to get the vinyl down as smooth as possible. I can't say it's perfect, but it's not bad. I re-vinyled the top, both sides and the front. I sprayed painted the edges satin black for the black vinyl to blend into. It was a nice combination and clean blend. I'm finally satisfied.

After the vinyl was applied to satisfaction, I cut a new back board & painted it satin black. I then attacked the vinyl side art. I had done a Photoshop mock up in scale of cabinet & graphics to design my final look. I had a few different options, & my friends voted for the one they liked best. I cut up the OG Tron side art using parts that I thought were appropriate. I also had to cut up the individual T, R, O, N letters to recreate the logo in the location I wanted.

Now I had the visual look I wanted. Now was the time to do the special mods to my Tron arcade machine. The one big thing the cabaret Tron arcade machine lacked was the UV lighted joystick. Unlike the full size upright, there was no black light in the cabaret. I had read the threads about how to possibly light up the Tron cabaret joystick, but I have personally never seen one done. Sure, UV LEDs, but what kind & where would I get the parts & how would I have to modify the joystick for the lights to fit & have the effect I wanted. I went on the search for LEDs. I found some flexible groups of UV LEDs I could use & took a chance & bought a bunch. These were already 12V+ LEDs so it was a straight hook up. Gamble paid off! I couldn't do the soft glow, but these didn't look bad either. I finished the game off with an homage to Discs of Tron with the "light blue" T-Molding and the cool Tron arcade toppers. I just need to get a black light to light the toppers and that will be a wrap!

I hope you enjoyed my journey! Big thanks to all the board members for all the posted knowledge. I couldn't have done it without reading about everyone else's arcade restoration adventures.

Nice job man. Did you paint the cab first to put on the vinyl, or did you sand it all down to bare board then put on the vinyl?

 

[xstoys]

I patched & painted ( w/ Satin Black spray paint) all visible trim next to the T-molding along the front of the cab. I also sanded the screen walls smooth in case I wanted to add graphics & painted satin black. In it's original state, the inner part is rough textured; that took forever.

As for the sides of the game, I did paint just along the T-Molding edge area, but not the entire side. The middle is still primer gray. I just didn't feel the need to waste paint & have uglier texture spray on the sides that I would have had to sand down anyways.

The top was done in a similar fashion. I didn't paint everything on the top, just the edges & primer. The black vinyl blended in pretty nicely.

I just didn't dig the textured house paint... tried it twice, but it just didn't work for me. I prefer the smooth look of the vinyl.

Nice job man. Did you paint the cab first to put on the vinyl, or did you sand it all down to bare board then put on the vinyl?

 

[motoman9]

Awesome job!

 

[MIKE96]

this is how the Tron cabaret should of always looked, amazing job

 

[xstoys]

Thanks guys! This was my first arcade restore/modification. I really appreciate the comments!

 

[Phetishboy]

Awesome. Sweet crop job on the side art. I love to see that this hobby is evolving.