Discs of Tron...done! Another tale by Jedidentist (Pic Heavy)

Jedidentist

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Donor 3 years: 2011-2013
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Discs of Tron...done! Another tale by Jedidentist (Pic Heavy)

Time for another Jedidentist restoration story…with lots of pics, of course! Well, this one isn't as exciting as some of my others…pretty much routine stuff, but thought I'd share it anyway. I made an agreement to buy this from Waltgman back in January, but didn't take delivery until 2 weeks ago. Special thanks to my NEACF buddies!!!
Definitely in nice shape…
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…but not up to Jedidentist standards!
 
The side art wasn't bad, but it had a couple of dings and there was some minor swelling on the bottom and a few chipped out parts. Time to strip it off with a heat gun:

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This was the easiest side art I've done so far. The heat gun got it started and then it just pulled off quickly as the adhesive was pretty old. It took 20 minutes of working slowly with the heat gun to do half of one side before I figured this out. It took 10 minutes to finish off the rest. I was going to leave the black alone, but upon closer inspection, the heat over the years had warped it in some areas, so off that came.

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I Bondoed all of the sides and corners and sanded that all down…God I hate doing that. I also stripped and primered and painted x2 the back and front, and sanded and polyurethaned the sides x2.

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I removed the coin doors and coin boxes, sanded and repainted them only as the powdercoating was pretty good. I found an MCR II instruction manual to go with the printed and bound EDOT/DOT manual I had made…I also found a cool little sheet of paper that looked like an arcade owner had made for an op with a list of games and what wasn't working on them. Fun little read…

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I removed all of the cardboard inserts and mattes and spray painted them flat black. I also cleaned all of the glass and inserts (DOT/EDOT owners all know how fun it is removing all of those), wires and power supply. The ballasts of all of my lights seemed pretty good, but I replaced all of the starters and bulbs. It was interesting to see the development changes from 1982 to 1983 after having restored my Tron:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=114727&highlight=tron+re-rezzed

The T-molding didn't go around the entire cab, the coin door was more "robust", and they skimped on the front black light (albeit there is a 2nd one inside the game, and they increased the complexity of the game design to give it a 3-D effect). They also replaced the flimsy piece of aluminum foil faced cardboard that is used to reflect the front black light with a polished/mirrored piece of metal. Very good move…however, over the years, that metal became pitted and rusty, and was no longer shiny. I thought about just buying some automotive chrome tape to resurface it, but then figured, what the heck, I've got some Naval Jelly…might as well give that a try! I really wish I had taken before and after photos, because it took that rusty piece of metal and made it all shiny again. It took a couple of coats, but worked great!
 
Then came the fun transfer from garage to basement with a hand truck with a flat wheel…still have the marks on my arms from that one. My side art from Rich came in record time…no surprise there. This was my first time applying full side art…Tron only had the one piece and 720 was full vinyl, but in smaller pieces. I had considered the wet method, but didn't trust that my polyurethane would be water proof enough. After reading a few threads, I went with laying it on its side. Rich's notes state that there's about a 1" overhang/bleed on the art. I ended up cutting it all to shape to make it easier to manage. It also allowed me to line it up easier…I used the front "point" and "indent" as my starting points, and then checked for equal overhang all around:

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In order to keep it stable, I cut in two little notches on each side of the side art to the edge of the machine, and taped it down:
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I then worked from the middle down:
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After a few inches, I would remove some of the masking to ensure there were no bubbles:
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This was by far the easiest side art/vinyl I have yet to install. It's tough and durable, doesn't stretch, and the air channels work very well. Not nearly as difficult as the 720 vinyl or Tron side art.
 
For those of you that care, that's the Disney Tron statue from years ago…pretty cool for Tron fans!

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And into the lineup it goes…yeah, I can actually call it a "lineup" now!

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Now, I obviously have issues with the CPO and the front light housing (it's faded and chipped). However, have no fear…eventually Rich will have those completed. I just couldn't wait until then to post this thread, as that might be 6 weeks, 6 months, or 1 year. My joystick is also pretty good, but I'll be replacing that, the insert, and white buttons when I do the CPO. Maybe some of you can express some interest so he bumps it up on his priority list? :) I also wouldn't mind replacing the red button…anyone know where to get one? There's some fluttering of the screen from time to time, but I was on a 2 week deadline for my son's birthday party today, so I chose form over function on my list of priorities.

Thanks for reading!


Derek

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Thanks. It doesn't seem like much of a dramatic change since the "before" pics don't show a lot of the issues with the bottom of the cab, but it takes the same amount of work to restore a game in "pretty decent" condition as it does one in "crappy" condition. That CPO is going to drive me crazy...
 
Hey Derek,

Beautiful job man. These are my favorite kind of threads to read; thanks a lot for taking all of the pictures and putting together the complete story. You really work to have your games looking as perfect as possible.

I've got a set of that side-art that I haven't yet applied, and was hoping to see how it came out. Looks perfect as always from Rich; I'm waiting for the plexi black light cover and new cpo as well to finish off my dot.

So I have to ask the dumb question: Why aren't your Trons side-by-side?? :D

Anyway, excellent job. When you pick up your Star Wars our game-rooms will be almost identical.
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Rich---awesome news on the CPOs! Seriously though, all of the "hinting" to do them is tongue-in-cheek...you've got other projects, so whenever man...

Jeff--I remember seeing your setup and seeing all of the similarities...I know of a few other members who happen to have 720, Tron, DOT, and SW...don't know what it is about those games, but they all seem to find themselved together. As for the lineup...I'd like to have them together, but by putting the 720 in there, you can see the sideart of Tron a little better. It's all about trying to show off the work I put into them. WAAAYYY down the road in 5 years or so when my kids are older, my entire basement is going to be wall-to-wall displays of my Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Tron Collections. Ideally, each section will have the associated game in the middle of them with toys, posters, costumes, and collectibles around them.
 
Update:

Pics with the new CPO, repainted joystick, new GGG joystick cover, new insert and polished button and new white buttons. Also added a Squawk and Talk for EDOT sounds, repainted the coin door and replaced the Midway Coin Door plate. Now all I need in the light cover (which has been ordered) and this is 100% done!

Before:
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After:
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Really nice work. Gorgeous!!!! I've wanted to pick one of those up for some time now. I am officially jealous. Wow.
 
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