GORF Control Panel Restoration

Phetishboy

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Wow. If you've never taken apart a Gorf flight stick/CP before, and you have one in your future, I feel for you. I thought I could knock this out in a weekend when I started. 10,000 parts, a headache or 2 and several weeks later, I think I am finally finished. In addition to cleaning, painting and replacing rusty screws and nuts, I also picked up one of Rich's last repro panels and found some new bulbs for the stick at NAPA. I can't find my before pics, but here are some afters:

PC120198.jpg

PC120197.jpg

PC120196.jpg

PC120195.jpg

PC120200.jpg
 
Yep, I restored mine ala ThisOldGame too. I jumped on the GORF panels on his second run, and it was worth every penny. Picked up a new shiny insert as well.


Gotta love Rich's repros! ;)

S7303025.jpg


S7303029.jpg
 
Looks Nice, I am Doing Mine Right Now.
Butt Damm Paint or Replace the Rusty Joystick Screws!!
I picked up stainless phillips heads for my joystick.
 
Looks Nice, I am Doing Mine Right Now.
Butt Damm Paint or Replace the Rusty Joystick Screws!!
I picked up stainless phillips heads for my joystick.

You mean in the handle? Those are just placeholders. The security bolts that go to this stick were painted and still drying at the time of the pic. I wanted to keep it together while I waited. I got excited when I could finally put it back together and didn't want to wait anymore.
 
Gorf panels = PITA!!!

You know when I had mine and I did the same to it (then I sold it)... I noticed that the bend on my panel from TOG was not as sharp as the original? Did you see the same with yours?
 
Gorf panels = PITA!!!

You know when I had mine and I did the same to it (then I sold it)... I noticed that the bend on my panel from TOG was not as sharp as the original? Did you see the same with yours?

I didn't really notice that, what I did notice was the font differences. It's like whoever vectorized this had the "BOLD" key locked on. The original had much finer text. Not sure why it was changed. Here's my original compared to TOG's:

gorfcpf.jpg

PC120197.jpg
 
I didn't really notice that, what I did notice was the font differences. It's like whoever vectorized this had the "BOLD" key locked on. The original had much finer text. Not sure why it was changed.
The font on the original panel in your photo is shorter and wider, and a lighter weight. The TOG panel uses Helvetica or Arial bold. The TOG panel text looks nicer IMO.

GORF had a pretty decent production run, it's possible that the font Midway used on the original panels changed over time. The TOG panel might match an original Midway panel from a different production run. Like Midway's Kickman buttons - one run of buttons used the fancy lettering featured on the marquee to print "Kick." A different run of buttons just used all caps Helvetica.
 
Question about the lights in the handle. Mine are working, though there is a gap between the left and the right light... i.e. a small strip in the middle does not light up; just the left and right side of the stick after firing. Is this normal?
 
Speaking of this panel, has anyone found an accurate replacement for the clear plastic channel that is installed on the back lip of the metal CP? I assume it is to cushion the transition from the CP to the bezel. I still have the original molding, but it is old, yellowed a bit and has several crinkles in the material. It also won't lay straight/flat.
 
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