Nintendo Space Firebird cocktail - Restoration

Pacman 83

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At last, time to make a start on the cocktail

It's been completely stripped out and I have included a full photo breakdown below.
Amazing that the screen has absolutely no burn whatsoever and looks like the original Sanyo.
These are great quality tables ! Every nut has been lock washered and most have the original threadlock on them, so they've never been moved.
The control panels are pretty nice condition (although needing some TLC) and the mechanicals for the joysticks etc are excellent

14,679 games played. Not bad really. Couple of old 10p's in there.

I am having the entire steel casing & legs shot blasted, treated then powder coated dark brown inside & out, as near to original as possible. The legs (feet) will be powder coated silver.

I have a brand new toughened & etched edged glass ready and new instruction cards etc (courtesy of James - tblilley) there's also new buttons for the CP's as well.

The wood effect around the top will be the real challenge, but I'm looking forward to that one, in fact, I'm really looking forward to the entire resto. Everything in there is in very good nick inside, just needs making nice & new again
Lots of pictures as it was being gradually stripped out.

Keep you postered & pictured

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Time to go to work !

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Spent some time today getting the table top sorted.

The plastic laminate sheet used for the finish was in really poor condition, so this had to be removed.
Used the heat gun on a low setting as not to damage the white laminate top.
The laminate has an adhesive 'sponge' type of edging for the glass which runs the entire edge of the table top. Of course, 30 odd years has now transformed it into the worlds hardest adhesive !

Similar with the excess left behind on the wood after the old laminate was removed. Awful stuff.
After the old laminate was removed, I sanded the entire edging down to leave a good surface for the real wood veneer.
I used Indian (Bombay) Rosewood veneer. Like Al said in another thread about this, it's VERY difficult to work with. I basically used extra veneer as some of it splintered so badly, it had to be done again.
Overall, it went pretty well, but I would steer clear of veneer unless you have a great deal of patience.

The table top was in OK condition, but some of the laminate surface had separated from the frame and needed to be re-glued.

The veneer was bonded on using contact adhesive sprayed on both the veneer and the table top.
I covered the laminate at this point with a sheet of brown paper masked at the edge to protect it.
The veneer was applied 'oversize' and when the surfaces were almost dry (5 minutes) they were applied and then left for 30 minutes to dry.
The excess was then folded firstly toward the laminate, then back as to allow a pick up of excess adhesive. The excess veneer was then simply broken away leaving the adhered veneer in situ.

Like I mentioned above, some of this was not a one hit job. It's very fragile (0.6mm) and being real wood, splinters and cracks as soon as you look at it. Take care here.

The joins where the veneer meets right angle was cut nearly flush and then sanded lightly with 150 grade sandpaper. Looks pretty good when it comes together, but make sure you let every stage dry completely. The contact adhesive is very tough stuff, so when it's dry it holds onto the veneer really well while you're sanding and prepping.

I used some thinners to clean the white laminate table top and remove the double backed tape used to secure the instruction sheets etc.
Just need to finally finish the last 2 bits above the joystick area and then the veneer will be varnished. Should look nice when that's done.

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Right. Carried on with the table top.

The veneer has been gone over with 1500 W&D and then a coat of clear quick drying varnish applied.
Then, again, papered down and a coat applied so it's nice and smooth and also the edges are sealed in. I masked off the laminate top to give a nice clean edge and to also protect the surface.
I also treated any exposed wood with some Ronseal. Not that anything's rotten, just in case there's anything burrowed in there.

Then it was time to strip the C/P down, completely.

There was a load of grease been applied to the mechanism and the ball top of the joystick needed to be removed in order to extract it from the housing. God, these C/P and joysticks are the most bomb proof units I have ever seen ! Fantastic quality.
The switches to the joystick have been cleaned and adjusted correctly to the striker.

The ball top is removed with a 3/16" grub screw which can be easily missed !
Then the whole thing was dismantled and cleaned. I have also cleaned the C/P aluminium overlays.
They are generally in pretty good condition, the player 2 one is more worn, but they are useable.

The coin slot mech front has been W&D papered as well. This was in a pretty worn condition.
I have applied an undercoat, 2 coats of enamel (white) 2 coats of metallic silver and finished it with 3 coats of lacquer.

More to follow.

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The rest of the cab, well the main cab and the legs, have been completely stripped and are ready to go off to the powder coaters.
The colour will be as close match to the original brown and the legs will be silver.
The stanchions for the adjustable legs have been removed (not shown, but the screws were soaking in anti-seize)
There's new fire / warp buttons, a reconditioned PCB, new adjustable feet and new graphics for below the new toughened glass.

Here's a couple of shots of the cab.

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What did you do to the plate of the coin slot? Is it paint or plate? It looks great!

It's mentioned in the post -

The coin slot mech front has been W&D papered as well. This was in a pretty worn condition.
I have applied an undercoat, 2 coats of enamel (white) 2 coats of metallic silver and finished it with 3 coats of lacquer.

Thanks for the comment !
 
Time to finish the table top.

The remainder of the veneer has been applied above the joysticks and they have been smoothed down and varnished 3 times. The edges have also been sealed with varnish to avoid anything catching them.
The top has been cleaned twice with thinners and then allowed to completely evaporate.
I've completely cleaned the monitor surround and the tinted window.
Then the cushion edge for the toughened glass has been applied. It looks a little 'proud' at first, but I've tried it with the corner brackets in the correct place and it's squashed down completely. I've also left it for a while for gravity to take its toll.
The graphics have been applied also. Great reproductions, and the colours are so vibrant.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the top. Look forward to the rest.

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Wow. Very nice job! You did a superb job restoring the wooden table-top. It looks factory! Can't wait to see the metal 'tub' and legs when they come back from powder coating. Nice to see this game getting some love and attention, when most would just part it out or convert it. Keep up the great work!
 
That looks brilliant, I thought mine was nice but not compared to that. Do you have extra copies/files for the artwork? I was going to vector my instruction card but there's little point if that work has already been done, and the little strips are missing entirely (looks like they were never there!)
 
So THAT'S what the original 2-way joysticks look like. Yeah, I don't think I'll be finding any of those any time soon.

Wow, absolutely sick restoration. LOTS of time and effort there. You have a real beauty.
 
Got the coin box sorted this afternoon. It was the usual mix of crap and rust, so did it all by hand. W&D, primed and painted Nintendo white
Did the coin facia and it looks, well, awesome I swapped the bits over from the one I had restored.
The cable tidies from inside the cab were of such good quality, I decided to strip them and use some new adhesive pads ready to be applied when the steel has been coated.
The corner brackets are away at the moment being re-chromed. also, I spent some time on the joystick 'bar' both of which were a little tired. Used T-Cut metal polish.

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Some more bits sorted this afternoon.

The joystick assemblies have been completely stripped down to allow access to the component parts.
Some idiot decided the best way to lubricate them was to use Locomotive engine grease ;) which in turn covered everything in it's vicinity.
Everything had to be de-greased, then re-greased with the correct 'light' covering of Finish Line PTFE grease. Awesome stuff.

I cleaned the ID plate, de-greased it, then gave it a coat of lacquer. Looks smart.

There are new ball tops for the joysticks, 3 new cam locks & keys and I have a set of M3, M4, M5, M6 zinc coated allen bolts with new washer/lock washers ready for assembly.
I managed to get the same feet (M10) for the legs, although I could not source white.
Most of the stainless steel screws that were exposed are being replaced with brand new ones. This includes the 16 used to attach the plates that hold the glass to the table top. These plates are waiting to arrive from the chrome shop.

The power supplies have been completely cleaned as well.

I'm now in the process of having a new CP overlay made for both sides. The original ones are just too shabby and when the powder coated steel arrives, they will look out of place. More on that when it unfolds.

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The steel has been finished and looks really good. Everything's come up really well and has been done inside & out. The 'dark chocolate' is a great match too. :)
Just waiting for the chrome corners to arrive then the top can be assembled fully and stored until the electrics have been installed.


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Wow, that is sick!! And I mean that in the best way possible. Never thought I'd see a beautiful restoration of a cocktail classic such as this. You go! :)
 
Damn, that is some unbelievable work you have accomplished. Very impressive bro!

Congrats, can't wait to see the final completion!

JJ
 
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