TRON Gets Revved Up

Phetishboy

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This was a project I had been contemplating for a long time. I just completed my TRON restoration and was blown away by how cool the machine looks in the dark. TRON IS a visually stunning machine, no doubt, but something seemed to be missing. If you think of The CP/Monitor area of TRON as the Vegas Strip, the bottom of the machine seems to fall into the scary shadows at the edge of town, past the last burnt out street light. I decided to fix that.

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More pics:

Before:
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Close-up:

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Lights on:

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Wait, WHAT? Is that EL wire?

Coooooooooool.

Yep. I cut a new molding piece out of 1/4" aspen, then routed the channels to match the edges of the molded recesses in the original plastic molding.

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That's awesome. Nice job!

Thanks Brett. All that's left to do is tidy up the wires and mount the switching transformer inside the coin door. I have this powered from the service outlet, which I rewired to the the interlock so it would switch on and off with the game.
 
That is way cool. You are right, Tron is one of the most visually impressive games when the lights are off and that really sets it off at the bottom. With all the Trons out there, I am sensing a pretty nice little product you can offer with those skills you have.

Count me in as your first buyer of one of those kick plates!.............kind of kidding, but not really!
 
That is way cool. You are right, Tron is one of the most visually impressive games when the lights are off and that really sets it off at the bottom. With all the Trons out there, I am sensing a pretty nice little product you can offer with those skills you have.

Count me in as your first buyer of one of those kick plates!.............kind of kidding, but not really!

I agree, phet or someone with his blessing should make a kit for this! I would buy one.
 
And here's the impact the illuminated molding makes in a line up of 'normal games'. Poor bastards.

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As to making and selling kits, couple things to consider.

*Materials alone are about $45 which includes:
-EL wire, transformer, AC adapter - $38.50 (my cost with shipping)
-board, $4 or so
-primer, paint $1-2
-Also, don't forget shipping cost ($10-15?)

*Each one takes about 3 days with cutting, routing, drilling, sanding, primer and paint curing time. I'd need to make at least $25 profit on each one to even consider doing it. So you're looking at about $85 shipped for each one, which may or may not be worth it to you.

* You'd have to drill a 1/4"-3/8" hole thru the divider board in your cab. You would also have to drill four 1/4" holes into your kickplate. (how else do you think the wires enter the cab?)

*you'd have to decide on how to attach it. I can provide double sided carpet tape installed on the backside which would probably hold it to the cab for a good long while, but you'd have to decide whether to staple/brad nail it as well if you want it installed permanently.

So it sounds cool and all, but I doubt anyone wants to pay that much and then have to drill holes in their cab as well.
 
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