First score of the year Tempest!

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Arranged to purchase this Tempest once it's been rebuilt. Owner will be adding the LV2000 kit as well as bullet proofing the board. Pic it up at the end of the month.
Couple of questions:
Side art may be replaced. Where to buy from?
Marquee needs to be replaced: Where to buy from?
Tempest Tubes kit. Easy to install? Where to buy from?
I looked at the spinner knob. It says Atari on it. Was this the original spinner knob? This also going to be rebuilt.

Any known issues with this game? Never had a vector game before and would like to know what to look for in issues if they should arrive.
Looking forward to this new addition.
 

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- Don't replace that sideart. Always keep original anything, unless it absolutely can't be salvaged. 20+ years from now, it will make a big difference in value, and it's nice to have the character and wear of original anything IMO, over shiny new repro stuff. Only replace as an absolute last option.

- There are multiple options for Tubes, depending on how technical you want to get. The easiest option is to contact brzezicki. He makes a simple kit that can drop in, and give you Tubes, and bypasses all of the ROMs, making the board more reliable. There is also another guy here (I forget who) who has a 'kit' that is basically just a replacement for the one ROM that holds the tubes code (as it's only one ROM that changes).

- The original Tempest spinner knobs didn't have Atari logos (as far as I'm aware, unless there was something different in Canada). My guess is you probably have one of the later spinner knobs that was used on Blasteroids and I think other games, assuming the rest of the spinner is the same. (Post a pic of the underside.)

- Marquees are tricky for Tempest. I'm not aware of anyone that makes a really good repro. Some here may tell you Phoenix Arcade, but theirs has issues, as I've documented in the thread below. My personal suggestion would be to find another original replacement, as replacing the overlay is a massive pain anyway, and there should be a fair number of originals still around.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=386506&page=4


Aside from that, I repair everything vector, and especially Tempest. If you have any other questions, feel free to post here, or PM me anytime.
 
Agreed.
Sideart looks amazing to me anyways.
What's the issue with it?

Like the Fire Escape in the background by the way.....
:)
 
Another tip:

Get a Testor's gloss black enamel paint pen on ebay for a few bucks, and you can touch up all of the black dings on that sideart.
 
Ok. I agree with the side art. Just asking questions. I'll get a enamel paint stick in black as well as various others to touch up the side art. I'll also add some castors on the bottom to make moving it easier.
Question about the control panel. At the bottom, the edges are a little cracked and broken. Is there a way to prevent any more damage from happening to the control panel? I don't want to cut away the jagged edges. Suggestions?
I'll clean out the cabinet and touch up the back door and marque panel. Will repaint the coin door as well.
Thanks for the info. I'll probably be asking more questions as they arise.
 
Ok. I agree with the side art. Just asking questions. I'll get a enamel paint stick in black as well as various others to touch up the side art. I'll also add some castors on the bottom to make moving it easier.
Question about the control panel. At the bottom, the edges are a little cracked and broken. Is there a way to prevent any more damage from happening to the control panel? I don't want to cut away the jagged edges. Suggestions?
I'll clean out the cabinet and touch up the back door and marque panel. Will repaint the coin door as well.
Thanks for the info. I'll probably be asking more questions as they arise.



Almost all Tempest CP's are cracked at the bottom. Your options are to just live with it, or on one of mine that was pretty ugly, I took a razor and a straight edge, and cut the bend out, cleanly across the entire width of the CP, just about a half inch strip, only removing the ratty part. I then took the Testor's paint pen, and hand painted the bend black. It actually turned out pretty decent, and at least prevented it from peeling more.
 
Ditto on the side art. What you posted looks fantastic and original is always best.
 
Congrats also...best game ever! :)

In addition to the other suggestions, I'd also put in an LV2000 kit for the monitor...from the picture, I don't think it has one already, yes?

I'd also cap the monitor while you're at it and reflow the solder at all of the molex connector points on the deflection board, and also reflow the solder for the interconnector pins on both the main and aux game boards.

Jonathan
 
replace big blue in the bottom of the cab and recap the ar2 board.

avoid changing the other parts if you can.



You don't need to recap the AR. The caps Atari used were excellent quality. They were overspeced for the application, and they don't get hot, so they don't wear out like monitor caps do. And even though the ones you can buy from the parts guys are good, you really don't need to replace them. Better to keep things original in this case.

I've repaired literally hundreds of ARs for people on this forum, and unless they've been physically stepped on or otherwise damaged, they will be fine.
 
The AR2 board? Not sure which one that is. The seller is installing the LV2000 kit as part of the deal.
Big blue on the bottom. The giant capacitor on what looks like the power supply? What is the specs for that capacitor?
 
The marquee on this Tempest is one of the weird ones where the cloud is actually in white and the monsters are drawn kind of funky and missing some of the detail. Im not sure what the deal is with those, but one of the machines in Banning has that and it looks weird as hell. Banning has a couple Tempests and looking at this one side to side with another one, it is way different.

Maybe someone can shed some light?
 
The AR2 board? Not sure which one that is.

TOUGH LUV: If you don't know what an AR2 refers to, maybe you shouldn't own this machine.

Owning a Vector (or any arcade game) implies the need to have at least some "basic" knowledge of the workings of the machine. Knowing what an AR2 is, is "basic" knowledge.

drawing%2B2017%2Buniverse%2Btough%2Blove%2Bw500.jpg
 
The marquee on this Tempest is one of the weird ones where the cloud is actually in white and the monsters are drawn kind of funky and missing some of the detail. Im not sure what the deal is with those, but one of the machines in Banning has that and it looks weird as hell. Banning has a couple Tempests and looking at this one side to side with another one, it is way different.

Maybe someone can shed some light?

Its basically the same as the side art, where its rendered slightly different from whats normally seen on the marquee.
 
The spinner will be rebuilt as well. That will get new bushings.
AR2. Figured it out. Audio Regulator pcb. Never had a vector game before so this is new ground for me.
I see what you mean about the cloud drawn in white. But the side art matches the marquee. Never knew there was a different style.

Looking forward to learning about the game as well.
Required documentation? I have a pdf of the manual and trouble shooting guide. As well as the drawing package. Any other stuff needed?
 
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