Sega Alien Syndrome Restoration

IT"S ALIVE!!!!!! Only got half of it permanently wired up, the rest is just temporary as I actually ran out of screws for my wire anchors. But I got to play a couple of games tonight.
Still have to cut a back door, redo the marquee brackets. Did score an original marquee on eBay this week so hopefully that will show up this week. Still have to do the whole coin door. But it's getting there.
 

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The cracks were fixed by laying the cabinet on it's cracked side on the ground on a completely flat hard surface. (concrete garage floor) I used a mallet to basically hammer the sidewall from the inside flat to make all the pushed in areas flush again. Now that the sidewall was again flat and most of the loose debris that had come loose during the incursion was now free to be cleaned up. Then I slide cardboard underneath between the floor and the side wall. Then I liberally used a wood hardener in all the cracks and surrounding areas. Once this is dried the same process is repeated after flipping the cabinet. Then the process is repeated two more times for both inside and out but now using Gorilla wood glue. After drying all the cracks and missing areas are filled in with bondo and then sanded. At this point the structurally integrity is as good , maybe even better that new partical board. Once the outside is laminated that just adds to the strength of everything and then it's good to go. Let's face it, not too many cabinets will fair well being kick in from a steel toed boot. Now some Midway all wood cabinets, yes they will definitely fair better.
 
It's always something...

You know, if your gonna reproduce and make crappy quality artwork , the least you can do is make it the correct size. So I got this stupid bezel from someone in Canada off eBay, (nothing against Canadians) and the quality is crap I know that but it was all that was out there so I figured I'll use it until someone makes better or I score an original. Well the num nuts left off a full inch on the top. My only assumption is that the original they were working from was missing that portion as well. Maybe cut down to fit another cabinet. Anyway as you can see my monitor can not go any higher and the plastic bezel is centered correctly with the monitor. All I can do for now is run some black tape or vinyl at the top to hide the wood from showing or something like that. I know there's people starving in the world so this problem is pretty trivial, still kinda sucks as your getting things buttoned up but yes, not the end of the world. I'm just pretty anal about my restores and this is gonna bug me I have to admit. aaarrrggg :)
 

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Coin Doors

1) disassemble all the parts.
2) Coin doors and frames are soaked in Kleen Strip 15 min stripper overnight, usually all the
coating just falls off after this.
3) Then all metal parts are soaked in Eagle One Mag Wheel Cleaner overnight. This chemical
actually eats all the rust off but sometimes will leave the metal pitted where it was rusted
and these areas are usually minor and can be fixed by over applying filler sandable
primer. In extreme cases a thin layer of bondo is used and smoothed out.
4) All loose parts are placed in the tumbler with walnut shell for 3 days. (Best $150 I ever
spent)
 

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5) Door and frame parts are wired brushed and hand sanded.
6) Several coats of automotive sandable primer is applied and then hand buffed down to a
semi shine to identify any blemishes which are then fixed and reprimed.
7) Kylon Semi-flat is applied to the inside of doors and frame.
8) Kylon gloss black is used to speckle texture the doors and frame. This is very tricky and
takes time to figure out. First you start a spray then you gently ease back until it's
barely spitting out droplets. Start on the left or right of the doors then when it's spitting tiny droplets, then move over the items and rain down in circle motions.
DO NOT have the spray can directly over the parts as paint will pool in the channel
surrounding the tip and will dribble out onto your parts ruining everything.

9) After drying, final coats of Kylon Semi-Flat will be applied. If done correctly this
should mimic the coin controls splatter texture used mostly on early to mid 80"s games.
The real heavy bumpy texture came in the 90's.

10) The darker shaded area on the door is from the buildup of primer to fill in the pitted
spots after the rust was removed. It disappears after the final coats of Krylon Semi-Flat are applied.
 

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It's hard to see the effect in a picture , in person it's pretty convincing. Maybe these pics might be better.
 

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So I receive my original marquee that I purchased off eBay. Not bad, a couple scratches I'll try to touch up. But when compared to the bad laminated repro, big difference. I knew it was cheap stuff but the coloring is not even close. OR was there a darker version of it??? I'm guessing not. Also it's an inch less as well. That with the bezel being off an inch as well kinda convinces me he scanned art that came off a conversion rather than an original.
 

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So I finally found a picture of the actual light fixture for this cabinet. (pic #1) Of all places right here on Klov. It's missing the parts for the second bulb but you can see how it's one fixture that holds two bulbs. I've looked everywhere too, even my usual honey holes turned up dry. I did however source two original Sega light fixtures which I'm mounting side by side so at least I kept it in the family as far as staying original. I'll still try to find one eventually, gotta be one out there, right???
 

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So as mentioned at the beginning, I started out with just the cabinet and the control panel as this had been converted possibly twice. It did have two marquee brackets but not attached. So now during the final assembly, I just figured out that the lower bracket is original, but the top marquee bracket is not. As a matter of fact it's an inch too short. I never noticed when I was redoing them. So I spent a good bit of time sanding, priming, painting a bracket I can't even use. I guess the lesson is to inventory all your parts and make sure you have actual genuine parts. Anyway it's up there with just 1 screw until I can source an actual correct one. It's never easy huh?
 

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Still have the back door to cut and have to redo the coinbox. Might be able to finish up tomorrow. But she's in place and ready to play. Hope you enjoyed the project, sorry if I have left something out as it was my first time posting any of my restorations from beginning to end. If you have any question let me know. Would also like to thank Xyla from Hyperspace for finding me the cabinet in the first place. Wouldn't have even happened without her. Thank you!!!
 

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Looks great!!! I was lucky enough to find one in great condition or i would be down your same path!
 
So in my continuing investigating into the game, I discovered a few things that I thought I would share. I will be adding to this page as information comes up during my next restore of one. If I am incorrect in anything please let me know.

a) Game was sold in a dedicated cab and a conversion kit

b) The original dedicated did not have a monitor bezel, thus why so many are seen having
just plain black one.

c) The conversion kit did include a nice vibrantly illustrated monitor bezel

1) The conversion kit was sold and license from Sega by Sun Corporation of America.

d) The original joysticks are the Coin Controls 4/8 way microswitch shown here:
http://www.kowal.itcom.pl/ArcadeParts_pliki/joyCCMJ48W.htm

e) control panel used two red and two green translucent buttons.

f) four versions of the pcb

System 16a CPU ID
Alien Syndrome Set 1 (FD1089) 317-0033
Alien Syndrome Set 2 (FD1089) 317-0033
Alien Syndrome Set 5 (FD1089) 317-0037

System 16b

Alien Syndrome Set 3 (FD1089) 317-0033

If anyone on the planet has a conversion Alien Syndrome please post a pic to this thread as I cannot find none.
 
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Wow, that is one heck of a restoration. Great job!

I'm working on a Domino Man cabinet in similar shape to yours when you started... I may go with black laminate for the sides like you used, as it looks so good. Can you share what brand you used for the laminate? Or where you got it?

Thanks for all the photos and explanations, this is a really useful thread.
 
There's a few brands, Formica, Pionite, Arbonite, Nevemar. I just contact the company's, and ask for a sample wheel of their solid colors, (I also got woodgrain ) then after I get them I locate a distributor. Not all have the same colors but all do usually carry black. I get matte finish which is very close. Pionite seems to have the less texture and is the most smooth for their "matte" finish. You will find they come in many textures too and you can get smooth gloss if desired . You also want to go with "vertical" grade laminate whenever possible as it's thinner and sometimes the t-molding will cover it. Not always but sometimes. I place an order using the color code on the back of the sample. Most of the time I have it delivered as they are keeping less and less on hand at distributors as the demand for laminate counter-tops has dropped off. So usually it comes from the factory direct.
 
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