Reversing Rally- Star Wars Cockpit restore, part3

m_mcgovern

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Whoa. A long time between updates, but I got extremely busy with work through last December and then once you get to the winter in NJ it gets a bit cold to be doing work in the garage. At any rate, here is an update to my Reversing Rally to Star Wars Cockpit restoration.

Here are the first two parts of the restoration:
part1 http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=58308
part2 http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=64067

Warning...long wordy post with lotsa pics. I hope you enjoy it...

Since last time, I've started to make the cabinet repairs. First, I repaired the holes that had been drilled into the kickplace for the Great 1000 Mile Rally foot pedal. I started by gluing wooden dowels in the holes. I used Titebond wood glue After the glue set, I used bondo to fill in any gaps. Finally, I sanded it all down smooth.

During the original breakdown/cleaning, the lower control panel fell off. This piece must have fallen off before, as it was hastily glued and nailed in place on the edges from the outside of the cabinet. I used bondo to fill the nail holes and sanded it down smooth once it dried. Before replacing it back on the cabinet, I needed to replace the original blocking that held this piece in place with new 3/4" square pine molding. This time I glued the blocking with Gorilla Glue and used 3/4" staples. I figured the Gorilla glue would work better since one of the surfaces is Atari vinyl.

Since the cabinet was pulling apart in spots, I decided to use Gorilla glue to tyr and tighten things up. If you have not used it before, Gorilla glue expands before it dries to fill in gaps. As part of the application process it uses water. In order to get glue between the blocking and the cabinet sides, I first injected some water with a eyedropper. Then, I filled a syringe with Gorilla glue and injected some of it into the gap. I used pipe clamps to hold everything tightly together and shot in new 3/4" staples from the inside while the Gorilla glue set. This worked out quite well as the cabinet is much less wobbly after gluing. Here area a few pics showing the clamps in place while the glue set. It looks a bit messy, but it really helped to tighten up the cabinet.

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I used the same eyedropper/syringe technique for getting some Gorilla glue in the gaps between the blocking and cabinet top. Again, I shot some new staples as well. Here are some pics while the glue is drying:

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Next, I replaced the original blocking that supported the angled front cabinet top with fresh pine 3/4" X 3/4" square molding. These were stapled and Gorilla glued from the inside. I tried to place these based on where the original blocking were (which also looked to have been pulled out and reglued as a repair during this cabinet's earlier life. Either I or the previous repair didn't get it quite right, so the top piece is now a little too low. I'll need to go back and glue in some spacers to adust the height so the cabinet top is in the correct position.

continued...
 
continued...

Now, it was time to remove the black paint covering the sideart on the right hand side of the cabinet. I used the same Citristrip technique as before with the left hand side. That is, working in small areas (~1.5' x 1.5'), I applied the Citristrip with a paintbrush and let it sit for about 5-7 minutes. Then I took a plastic scraper and carefully scrapped off the stripper and paint, wiping the scraper often with paper towels. Once I got most of the paint off in that section, I would go back with a clean sponge and water to get the remaining paint off. This worked great! This time, I took a bunch of pics during the whole process so you can see the paint removed section by section. I hope you enjoy them:

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more...
 
Last edited:
finally done...

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What do you think! I am pretty happy with the condition of the sideart under the paint...I think it actually preserved it a bit!
 
finally done...

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What do you think! I am pretty happy with the condition of the sideart under the paint...I think it actually preserved it a bit!

Looks Great, you're lucky, I have to wait for the repro side art as some idiot scuffed mine all up before painting over it.
 
@ Elf - thanks!

@Hyde- yeah, on this side, other than the spot in the back near the bottom under the X-wing, the art is in great shape. There are some scratches here and there, but nothing too bad. I think the paint may have helped to preserve the artwork.

@Rcade - yeah, looks like the converters of this one did a half-a$$ed job. I'm glad they did! :D

It's a good start, but still lots left to do...
- repair a chunk taken out of the top of the cabinet
- decide if I bondo the one rear corner or just touch up with paint
- replace the skinny t-molding (looks like the wide t-molding is in fine shape)
- painting over all my bondo repairs
- fix another set of amplifone pcbs
- repair 2 holes in the control panel and apply new overlay (hurry up Rikitiki! :D )
- fix the yoke (3/4 buttons not working)
- assemble everything..

All this before my 7/4 deadline. It will be a mad dash for sure...
 
Super fantasitic awesome great freakin' job!

I love it!

Keep going!

Can't wait to see it working again.
 
Good God... that is very cool the way you took pictures like that. It actually looks like a bit of magic. ;)

Great job on the restoration so far.
 
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