My Tron...re-rezzed!

Jedidentist

Well-known member

Donor 3 years: 2011-2013
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
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Location
Sudbury, Massachusetts
Howdy folks!
Thanks for taking a look at my new friend. I've got a lot of pics to show, but I figure most people nowadays have high speed connections, so hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. This fella was dropped off to me about a month ago. Paid the guy $650 + $200 to deliver it from Rhode Island (about 90 miles)...pretty much sight unseen from a CL posting. All it said was "good condition for its age" and that "it works perfect". Well, a fool and his money...blah, blah, blah... This is what I got:

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I also seemed to develop a mouse problem shortly after delivery. Killed 5 of them in the 2 weeks after...never have had a mouse problem before. Coincidence?

Well, I got some courage and lopped off about 8" of the bottom of the cab with my jigsaw, but left the front intact, as their wasn't any water damage. I got some 3/4" MDF, some wood biscuits and Bondo and went to work. I don't have a biscuit cutter, but I managed okay with my Dremel tool. I used 3/4" birch plywood for the bottom, and as you can see reinforced it with more plywood and metal brackets. I tried to overbuild this so as to never have a problem again.
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After sanding:
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Looks a lot cleaner inside now!

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I removed all of the sideart using a heat gun ($25 at Home Depot) and Goo Gone. The one side, I heated and used a spatula and scraped it off....the other side, I took longer and just used heat. Heating and using a spatula was faster initially, but smeared everything, and was a pain to get off...even with multiple applications of Goo Gone Gel. Definitely just use a heat gun and go slow! I sanded it, rolled it with satin black latex enamel, sanded, painted, sanded, and painted.

Spatula side after sanding:
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Slow side, heat only:
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The back panels were trash too, so I rebuilt those. I scavenged the two plywood pieces and metal grates, so it saved me from having to cut on an angle (I only have a circular saw, so I had to cut it all on saw horses):
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Done:

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At first, I was going to just replace my CPO, but the more and more I got into, money just started flying out the window. I got my new CPO and Spinner Art from Arcadeshop, and got everything else from Phoenix Arcade. I also got a new joystick from GGG. I attempted to try the highlighter trick with my plastics, but it just wasn't good enough for me. There is absolutely no question that the upper and lower plastics are worth the money:

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I stripped out my inner art and shroud art (what a pain...as everyone else knows). My one issue I had with Phoenix is that the inner art wasn't cut. I ended up taping pieces of paper together to get a guide and then cut the art...very scary. I ended up with this:

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Good work so far... Bondo is pretty great stuff, huh? What did you use to clean up the coin door?
 
Great work! Wow...now I don't feel so bad for all the money my Ms. Pac has sucked outta my pocket so far!

Trons are beautiful...I can't wait to see it when it's done.
 
I continued my refurb by replacing all of my ballasts, starters, and lights on all four of the fluorescents. Didn't know how to do that either, but I figured it out. I've got my 2 cool whites, black light, and white black light.

I repainted my coin door and replaced the lights with some help from Bob Roberts. I also replaced my Midway sign with a repro from Arcadeshop.

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I re-capped my monitor with a kit from Bob and installed a switcher (had a local guy from Sunshine Vending help me with those...he was here until 11:15 last night). Everything worked previously, but recapping it just made everything glow. Even though my power supply seemed good, I figured I would just do everything while I was at it. There is a faint hum, but when the game is going with sound, you don't notice it. I left my existing power supply in case I ever need it. I also had the guy replace my power cord...the first one had a bare spot that I found by accident...made my 3 year old son run as fast as he could yelling "Fire mommy! Daddy's on fire!" ;)

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Let's see...what else. I replaced my leg levelers as well...from Bob. Oh yeah...replaced all my T-molding with black leather ones from T-molding.com I used my Dremel tool to cut the channels in my replaced areas and used a low temp glue gun to help hold it.
 
And now for the REALLY scary pics!

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Yes, that's me with my Flynn shirts. I have 2 blues and 1 black. And yes, those are both Tron and Flynn helmets that I made out of Cooper SK2000 hockey helmets...lots of freeze frame action to get the circuit pattern that I drew up in Paint and Photoshop years ago. The disc is a resin casting of one of the original ones.

Thanks a lot of bearing with me and checking out all my pics. I know it's a bit much, but this is my first restore...and don't know if I'll do it again. Besides, pics are fun!

Derek
 
Very nice work! You ended up with a great looking Tron. The Tron helmet will look great on top of the machine...or are you going to require anyone that plays Tron to wear it? :D
 
That looks beautiful! But it looks like the retainer bracket that goes between the blacklight plastic and the shroud is missing.
 
Fanstastic Restore job !!
Night and day for sure.

But I must say.....

Paid the guy $650 + $200 to deliver it from Rhode Island (about 90 miles)...pretty much sight unseen from a CL posting. All it said was "good condition for its age" and that "it works perfect". Well, a fool and his money...blah, blah, blah... This is what I got:

If anyone brought me a machine in that sort of condition for that kind of money I'd have told them to piss off. Delivered or not, they'd be turning right back around and heading home with it.
How much do you have invested with purchase, repro parts, time, labor, etc ?
 
If anyone brought me a machine in that sort of condition for that kind of money I'd have told them to piss off. Delivered or not, they'd be turning right back around and heading home with it.
How much do you have invested with purchase, repro parts, time, labor, etc ?

But the man is a Jedi Dentist. That means he is either a Jedi and a Dentist, or a Dentist to the Jedi. Either way, he has powerful friends and probably makes pretty good money working on Jedi teeth. For all we know, he used the Jedi mind trick on the guy when he delivered the machine and got it for free.
Must I also point out this guy has a Tron helmet? He has connections for sure. :D
 
Bungy-Good eye on the retainer bracket. I actually have it...it was in the bottom of the machine when I got it. I just haven't installed it, because I wasn't actually sure what overlaps what. I am also missing a few screws there (they were missing to begin with), so I figure I'll install it when I get those. I'm also waiting on my locks for the rear, so I have just a little bit left to go. As for the grand total...haven't even done it yet. I'm sure it's WAY too much, but let's see:
$850 for the cab and delivery
~$150 for lights, ballasts, starters, wood, Bondo, paint, biscuits, heat gun, Goo Gone
$100 Dremel Max (I have a regular Dremel, but bought one of these to help with some of the wood work. I have other things to use it for, so it's not a total loss)
$500 for esthetics (art-I got the "B" versions and saw nothing wrong, plastics, joystick, T-molding)
$30 to Bob Roberts for "parts"
$80 switcher
$150 for help installing/soldering my cap kit, power cord, switcher-2 house calls, total 3 hours

So I guess roughly $2k over the past month and a half. As some of you have alluded to, I'm a pediatric dentist, and I've been pretty busy right now. I worked a couple of saturdays and one of my days off, so this wasn't something "out of my budget". I had fun doing it. As my wife asked, would you rather have just spent the money for a perfect one, or have a project...I think I liked the "project". Plus, as my tech said, now it's "mine". I probably invested at least 30 hours into it. At MY hourly rate, I don't even want to calculate that total ;) Oh, and I made those Tron and Flynn helmets...nothing that I bought. I'm no stranger to Bondo and Dremel work :D
 
Great looking cab Derek. This is why my Tron is waiting to be restored properly, it looks good but want it to look great but for what it costs I could pick up another game or two or maybe a few.

I really like the multi-max too, picked one up a few months back and made good use out of it on my last restore. Plus it does do much more besides wood.
 
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