Irish Millipede Restoration

Lewdogg

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Donor 2012
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So I picked up an Irish Millipede from a local klov'r. Someone had put this thing in the trash and luckily he picked it up. It was almost a casualty of the recent flooding in the Detroit area a couple months ago. Can't believe someone would just toss it, especially being an Irish Millipede, not exactly common in the States, or even Europe from what I've heard.

Aside from a little swelling on the bottom from the flood, a few gouged corners/trashed wood, this thing is a very restore-able. Plus, it works!

I'm about to dive into fixing her up and figured I'd start a thread to log my progress here. Not sure how far I'm goin to take this one, as I can live with minor imperfections. I'm going to have some questions as I go, as there will be a few things I've never done before, mainly in the woodworking area.

Here's how she sits right now:




sideart is in pretty decent shape





one of the busted corners
 
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Pulled the marquee to examine it, I think I can use it. It has cracked along the crease and is starting to peel off:







But overall, in decent enough shape, no repros yet for this. Cleaned it up using simple green, some windex/bleach combo and a magic eraser. These magic erasers work wonders on this, among other things:





Here's another pic of the peeling:


What I'm thinking about doing for the marquee, is gluing down what is there, and then bondo'ing whats missing, and blending the torn/missing edges with bondo, then paint what isn't there by hand to give the appearance that its all there. You probably won't be able to tell at first glance, but the texture will be different. I'll post pics of my progress as I go
 
Congrats on the pick up, and good luck with the restore. I understand that this cab type was experimental. I can say that the handful of this cab type I have seen were all in rough shape (including my Food Fight). So much for Atari's experiment! I'd say it didn't go well.

You might PM Scott Evans to see if he can locate any of the films for the artwork.
 
I enjoyed your Outrun mini restore so looking forward to this one.

.

thank you, sir.

Congrats on the pick up, and good luck with the restore. I understand that this cab type was experimental. I can say that the handful of this cab type I have seen were all in rough shape (including my Food Fight). So much for Atari's experiment! I'd say it didn't go well.

You might PM Scott Evans to see if he can locate any of the films for the artwork.

I'd agree with that. The way the marquee wraps around the top, seems kinda dumb. I'm probably just going to take the material off the top part, above where it has already creased all the way thru, and just paint it black. Really depends on if I can salvage the marquee enough to make it presentable.
 
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They are rare over in Europe also.

There's a guy on www.ukvac.com that's restoring one right now also.

Before you bondo that artwork get it scanned, as someone can clean it up and make a vector file for reproduction printing purposes.

I'm planning on it, I'll probably vector it myself, as I have the programs and knowledge. Good thing is the only missing pieces are just lines/solid color.



do you have a link to the thread for that restore? Info is few and far between on this cab
EDIT: nevermind, found it :D
EDIT 2: just read thru that thread, its great to actually read SOMETHING about this cab, if anyone has any info (anything!), please post here :)
 
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Wouldn't be hard to make new sides for that....

You talkin' about the whole side(s)? Cuz the sideart is in great shape, its just the bottom of the sides and back are all chewed up.

I'll be looking at it tonight to assess what I need to do. It's not too pretty, thats for sure, and this will be a first for me, fixing corners and whatnot.

Been searchin' thru the forums tho, I think I have a grasp on what I want/need to do.


EDIT: any pointers, I'm all ears guys :)
 
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It's repairable for sure, but since the shape is nice and simple; it'd be fairly straight forward to make new sides too.

All depends where you sit on originality. Some folks will repair all kinds of crazy damage to 'keep it original'. Others are willing to give up some (or all) the originality for sake of having a nicer finished product.

To each his own !

Personally, I look at it in terms of "bondo-hours". If a project exceeds 3-4 "bondo hours", I'm probably looking for another way !
 
It's repairable for sure, but since the shape is nice and simple; it'd be fairly straight forward to make new sides too.

All depends where you sit on originality. Some folks will repair all kinds of crazy damage to 'keep it original'. Others are willing to give up some (or all) the originality for sake of having a nicer finished product.

To each his own !

Personally, I look at it in terms of "bondo-hours". If a project exceeds 3-4 "bondo hours", I'm probably looking for another way !

I hear ya, it's a balance of time/money/depth of restore. I think I have a few hours bondo time, so I'll see what I can do.




Started attacking the bottom on one side, applied some wood hardener. We'll see if that'll be enough to start bondo'ing...
 
I suspect that this has similar sideart as Food Fight in this cabinet type, and so is textured. You'll never find replacement art. I know I couldn't persuade Darrin to get the "proto" Food Fight sideart (which is what is on the Food Fight euro) done for me on textured vinyl. Even if he would have done it, I'm sure it would have cost a mint to do just a couple of sets. Sigh.........
 
I suspect that this has similar sideart as Food Fight in this cabinet type, and so is textured. You'll never find replacement art. I know I couldn't persuade Darrin to get the "proto" Food Fight sideart (which is what is on the Food Fight euro) done for me on textured vinyl. Even if he would have done it, I'm sure it would have cost a mint to do just a couple of sets. Sigh.........

It definitely is textured. And thank god its in great shape!

I'll get some closeup detail shots of the sides here soon
 
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CONTROL PANEL

Alrighty, got the control panel in good order, here's some before:

Generally just really dirty and a bit worn/rusted

BEFORE:









The bottom edge of the cp had a bunch of rust that was annoying the piss outta me


 
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After:

Sanded all the rust I could. Used magic eraser and a ton of elbow grease. Painted the black with Rustoleum spray paint. Also replaced the red button with what appears to be a brand new black button found in the bottom of the cab!















[



I know there is a lot of wear on it, but I'm torn as to repair/replace it, as I think it looks pretty cool, really shows it's age, not necessarily in a bad way. Plus, there is no repro yet for the Irish version. It actually looks better in person than the pics. The lighting in my work area kinda sucks.
 
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After:

-The ball was in decent shape surprisingly so I washed it really well
-Bathed EVERYTHING.
-New rollers generously donated by our own JC Arcade (thanks again man)
And bearings from good ole Bob.







 
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