Inferno #2 - To Hell and Back

PS... the cab looks great so far.
Thanks! Next up: HVLP!

FYI, the original Inferno in the video from the CAX show is mine. I have brought it to each show since back when I picked it up...about 16 years ago now.
That's awesome! Such a cool game. How did you manage to find a complete original?

LMK if you need any help such as pictures or measurements off of my cabinet and I'll help if I can as your restoration efforts moves forward.
Thanks! I'd definitely appreciate it as things move forward, especially in terms of wire placement and lengths and such that would've been in an original cabinet. But I have a long way to go before I get to the point of wiring things up.
 
A bit of a story on how I got it. Saw it in an eBay auction that was for an I, Robot but the side of the Inferno was visible in the picture for the auction. This was around 2003 or 2004 or so, and it was understanding that both machines were found in a restaurant that had shut down in eastern Pennsylvania.

I immediately messaged the person who was auctioning the I, Robot to ask about it, but was already beat out by someone else who had also seen it and also knew what it was. I subsequently became friendly with the person who had beaten me to it, and when he decided to sell it a couple of years later, he offered it to me since he knew I still really wanted it and I took ownership at that time.

I think he had other offers, but he also really liked the idea that I would take it to CAX each year so the game again went to me, and I have brought it every year to CAX since and it is my pleasure to continue to do so.

Jon
 
It's so hard to get the damn finish right on this thing.

Two days ago, I did the HVLP topcoat on the cabinet, and all was going fairly well until I ran out of paint. Unfortunately running out of paint in this instance instead of stopping spraying paint out of the gun, sprayed ALL the remaining paint all at once, ruining the front of the cabinet with drips, and causing some minor drips elsewhere.

Yesterday, I sanded it down again and went to repaint it. It looks better today, but there's obvious discolorations? Tigerstripes? Because guess what? Out of paint completely now. Have to order more, but don't know if it will get here while the warm weather lasts. At least the woodgrain is much less visible now. The paint is pretty smooth, and looks "better" in person. Unfortunately my phone camera is a potato.

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I guess I need to order more paint, give it another sand, and do another coating whenever the weather warms up again. The HVLP definitely does do a better finish than the Rattlecan in any case.
 
Okay, okay, I think I've got it now. Only a few rough spots.
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I don't think it's worth my sanity at this point to do another coat, I think this looks pretty good, and it will probably get better as it dries and hardens further.

The only problem spots seem to be on the right side where a moth?? Seems to have kit the game leaving a dust spot. Must've been when it was wet. When it's fully dried I'll try to wipe it off. I also seem to have missed a tiny spot on the bottom left corner of the front of the game. I should probably touch that up, but how to do it without messing with the finish of the rest of the front? There's also one chip in the wood of the front that I missed, but I'm less concerned about that.

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I think it looks great. Aren't you doing stencils over the sides? If you're lucky, most imperfections will be covered by the stencil layers. Even if they're not, the stencils give the eye enough of a work out that you're not gonna notice. Time to move on. As to the black front, yeah you wanna get that as nice as you can, but remember you'll be installing coin doors and Tmolding, etc. Unless it's front and center, you probably won't notice it.
 
I think it looks great. Aren't you doing stencils over this? If you're lucky, most imperfections will be covered by the stencil layers. Even if they're not, the stencils give the eye enough of a work out that you're not gonna notice. Time to move on.
No stencils: Inferno was the only Williams game that didn't use them (except some Joust 2s I guess). It used a fairly generic sticker.

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No stencils: Inferno was the only Williams game that didn't use them (except some Joust 2s I guess). It used a fairly generic sticker.

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Oh shit really? Man, that makes me totally sad. I guess if it was me I'd be devising stencils based off that side art. There's no way I'd stick a sticker on a painted plywood Williams cabinet. Hell, they even devised stencils for both Moon Patrol and Make Trax, and neither of those are actually Williams games. I'm sure you're gonna go for originality which is totally fine and what you should do, I'm just telling you what I would do and what I have done in the past. Actually came up with a pretty sweet stencil concept for Frenzy as I hated the stupid decal Stern came up with.
 
Oh shit really? Man, that makes me totally sad. I guess if it was me I'd be devising stencils based off that side art. There's no way I'd stick a sticker on a painted plywood Williams cabinet.
Just because stencils are much cooler? I agree with you there.

Hell, they even devised stencils for both Moon Patrol and Make Trax, and neither of those are actually Williams games. I'm sure you're gonna go for originality which is totally fine and what you should do, I'm just telling you what I would do and what I have done in the past. Actually came up with a pretty sweet stencil concept for Frenzy as I hated the stupid decal Stern came up with.
Believe me I thought about it. I would have loved it if Inferno had a stencil of the Warrior character perhaps standing on a portion of the maze with the Grand Lizard looking down from the top, with maybe a cyclops or Two. Really an epic opportunity that Williams totally whiffed.

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But yeah, I feel like doing anything other than the sticker is an injustice to a cabinet so rare, much as I'd love a stencil like that :(
 
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Hell, even Motorace USA got stenciled
 
Okay, okay, I think I've got it now. Only a few rough spots.
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I don't think it's worth my sanity at this point to do another coat, I think this looks pretty good, and it will probably get better as it dries and hardens further.

The only problem spots seem to be on the right side where a moth?? Seems to have kit the game leaving a dust spot. Must've been when it was wet. When it's fully dried I'll try to wipe it off. I also seem to have missed a tiny spot on the bottom left corner of the front of the game. I should probably touch that up, but how to do it without messing with the finish of the rest of the front? There's also one chip in the wood of the front that I missed, but I'm less concerned about that.

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The tiger striping It's usually caused from either lack of paint laid on or your distance from the medium you are painting is too far. The general rule is to make sure the coat you lay down looks " wet " and correct any issues before it begins to set let alone dry.

This came out excellent and I would definitely leave it as is.
 
Oh shit really? Man, that makes me totally sad. I guess if it was me I'd be devising stencils based off that side art. There's no way I'd stick a sticker on a painted plywood Williams cabinet. Hell, they even devised stencils for both Moon Patrol and Make Trax, and neither of those are actually Williams games. I'm sure you're gonna go for originality which is totally fine and what you should do, I'm just telling you what I would do and what I have done in the past. Actually came up with a pretty sweet stencil concept for Frenzy as I hated the stupid decal Stern came up with.
I second this sentiment... it's a williams game which, to my mind screams STENCIL... for them to have used a sticker.... well, they must have forgot what the were doing, and what they were about.

At any rate, any imperfections/stripes/etc in the finish will fade behind the artwork in an "authentic" game in a dimly lit arcade stuffed in a row. If your obsessing on the finish under the previously mentioned parameters, then you're probably not as focused on having fun playing the game as one should be. But, to each their own.

What @DonPanetta said makes sense. Perhaps Wyo can offer some suggestions... I appologize.... tagging Sam @Wyo doesn't appear to be working properly... anybody that can offer help in flagging him to this post would be appreciated.

Best regards
Dylan
 
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Well, I think the sticker over stencil is another indicator that they were rushing trying to get it out. When I was talking with him at PRGE in September, George Petros said that it was an incomplete game. They had the basics done but there was a lot of gameplay refinement that didn't get done. I can't speak to that myself only having tried it in MAME, but it certainly sounded like Inferno didn't get fully cooked through the process. Wouldn't be surprised if proper stencil art was a facet of that.
 
Star Rider lost the company millions and a lot of engineers and artists were laid off; Williams had to cut corners on everything at this point to stay alive.

The crunch and tight deadlines also contributed to the rushed, incomplete vibe for these later Williams games. Star Rider and Inferno both have this really basic text display for the high score entry screen, it feels like an afterthought. Such a weird juxtaposition compared to the cool lava background and sfx for Joust's high score entry.

EDIT: Cabinet's looking great so far!
 
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Inferno came back in from the paint shed today.

It's looking killer. I touched up the couple bad spots, and I'm really happy with it.

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Now all I need to do is the sideart before I can start reassembling the components of the cabinet.

So... Escape Pod looks like the only service that has the Inferno sideart on inventory. Go with that or do something else?
 
Been a little bit since I've touched Inferno... But now Artwork is installed!

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As per usual, ignore my HORRIFICALLY messy garage...

The sideart did not go on perfectly, this was my very first time trying to apply an artwork sticker... There are some bubbles and smudges from when I perhaps too forcefully tried to remove said smudges, and I'm not sure how percfectly centered or level these are, but I'm hoping it's close enough. It looks good at a distance anyway!

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Also went ahead and did the bezel art. I used the original glass, which was a little beat up to begin with. maybe at some point if I feel it is necessary I may try to replace it, but in a dim setting, it certainly seems good enough. This ended up with less bubbles and such than the sideart did.
 

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A little bit of T molding, the speaker panel reinstalled, and the AC harness and power brick are back in, along with the working original monitor.

Goes a long way to make it seem just a little further along.

Also, this came in the mail today!

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Well, this took me all damn day, but I Inferno'd the Joust II PCB. One step closer to having this cabinet back again!

Also went ahead and cadded up the Inferno plate. Hopefully it's accurate.

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