Restoration - Galaxian

[ckong]

Yesterday I got my Galaxian cab. Although the cab looks pretty good on the photo’s, it still will need some TLC, and even some restoration work.

But first of all, here are some photo’s:

























Nice details:





The cab is working






Technically the cab is in pretty good shape. Everything works as it should, but the monitor has a lot of burn in and the picture isn’t crisp at all. The pots on the chassis don't do very much or nothing at all. I surely will replace the monitor, and the chassis will need some TLC (capkit?), but I might also decide to exchange monitor and chassis completely. Can someone identify the make of the monitor and chassis in my cab?

Cosmetically: the woodwork (plywood) is pretty good, particularly around the edges. Strange thing is that the left sidepanel is about 1 mm thinner than the right sidepanel (is good visible at the T-molding edge). Why is that?

The artwork and the T-molding has had it better days. So I will replace the T-molding (black or green?), the side- and front artwork (Mamemarquees?), the monitor bezel (get an original from ebay I guess), the CPO overlay (joystick and buttons are still good and probably only need a good clean) and I will repaint all metal parts.

The coin door has some dents which will also be repaired (or I get another one from somewhere).

After this work is done the cab should look very good again. It will be a long term restoration project, I will only start with it after my gameroom is finished. Although, I might of course already gather parts

[baritonomarchetto]

In my opinion, your new cab needs only a new monitor, nothing else. I prefer a good conserved cabinet (like this) instead of a heavily restored one.

[ckong]

In my opinion, your new cab needs only a new monitor, nothing else. I prefer a good conserved cabinet (like this) instead of a heavily restored one.

You are right, I also like to keep everything as original as possible. But a first inspection shows damaged T-molding, some holes in the sides and in the front plate (security bar holes) and some other small stuff. But I will 'restore' as little as possible, I don't mind if a cab shows its age, it's part of the charme. 

First thing that I will do is a good cleaning, I am sure it will look much better after that. Most of the yellowing on the side and front will be gone.

[scr33n]

In my opinion, your new cab needs only a new monitor, nothing else. I prefer a good conserved cabinet (like this) instead of a heavily restored one.

+1

[level42]

That's the original monitor.Wells-Gardner K4500. (Nice,the copyright sticker, mine had the same. I tried to transplant it to my new "monitor" but it wouldn't stick anymore).

Mine had some serious convergence problems. Remember that this is the first full color game ever. So it's a very old color monitor, with an extremely hard way to converge it (There's a huge neck-board with loads of pots. I wouldn't even start on it personally. I threw mine away....

The sides look VERY nice. Even the spots where usually the hands have worn away the paint are good (the letter "G" on the right side and "n" on the left.

Thisoldgame did kickplate artwork (but not on exactly the right vinyl, which is why I didn't buy it, I regret that now) and of course the CPO which I actually "worked on" with Rich.

Check out my first resto thread here for a shit-load of Galaxian info:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62784.0

[ckong]

I read your restoration thread more than once, and I will read it probably again. It's full of very useful information.

[level42]

 

You're _definitly_ are going to need this:



Oh, and keep it green T-mold IMHO. This clearly is one of the later ser. nrs. where Green was the standard. The red joystick is another indicator of the later serial nr. Which nr. is it ?

[ckong]

Which nr. is it ?

you can see it on one of the pics. 

[Superully]

In my opinion, your new cab needs only a new monitor, nothing else. I prefer a good conserved cabinet (like this) instead of a heavily restored one.

-1 

[ckong]

Let´s bring live in this topic again. 

Thanks to Eurocade and even more thanks to Aart I got the motivation again to work on some of my cabs, starting with Galaxian. When you guys check out the pics on top of this topic, then you can see how dirty the cab was. About a year ago I did an attempt to clean it, but unsuccesfully. In the meanwhile I had heard of some magic sponges, which might do the job. So, because yesterday was a terrible day, sunny and 25 degrees Celcius  , I decided to lock me up in the gameroom with a whole pack of magic sponges (from the Kruidvat), a towel and a bucket of water.

And after a few hours of rubbing this is the end result. The sides really look great again, as does the back







I am really proud of myself. The side art still is in great condition and the wonder sponges made the colours really come out again. The top came out very well also, but I am afraid that the useful cigarette burns will remain there forever.

But then the front kickpanel, this smallest piece of wood was the most challenging. I already had a lot of thought about using replacement artwork from TOG, but I had hesitations because the TOG vinyl is smooth where the original vinyl is structured. And I knew I didn´t want to replace the sideart because of its great condition, which might end up in a weird and ugly combination of original side art with structered vinyl and repro frontpanel art which is smooth. No sir, thank you. 

So let´s try what the wonder sponges can do with this panel:



Well, a lot I can tell you after some more hours of work. Of course I had to be careful with rubbing over the actual artwork, just as I did with the side art, but I really am very satisfied with the end result:



Sure, it is not perfect, but it bears the signs of years of usage and endless hours of playtime of gamers having fun on my machine, which I always want to see back up to a certain level (.
So I can very well live with this result. I might get a bottom protection strip, which was used on later production runs (my Galaxian is nr. 2146 and was originally destined for the German market), but I am not sure yet. what do you guys think?

Next step will be replacing the CPO by one that I got a looong time ago, replacing the T-molding with T-molding that I got from Bruno a while back, replacing the monitor and chassis, removing the wheels (yes, the cab is on 4 wheels) and installing proper leg levelers.

The final thing will be replacing the PCB again, it now is at Robinholland for a sound repair job.

And when Etiènne is doing another Sticker run, then I might get a new sticker for the back.

[level42]

Yes the Magic Sponges are really magic

I still have a brand new kick-plate artwork from TOG lying here.....however, I can't seem to get over to install it for the same reasons you mention. Mine even has it's original Dutch license label and I'd loose that of course, as of course the structure of the vinyl....
The problem is that the lower part of my Galaxian is much more damaged than yours. It has chips away all over the length. So I would like to repair that but that would mean having to use the TOG artwork.....which looks extremely tight but maybe a bit too clean for the front where the sides will stay original.

You are very lucky because the green on the Galaxian name on the sides is still perfect on both sides. Mine have faded near the front of the cab, which is a bit strange since, unlike Pac games, you don't have a hand free with Galaxian to hold the cab there.....

I am in a lot of doubt. The protection strip on the bottom was never installed originally on Galaxian or Pac caps, they did do them on Ms.Pac Man though and maybe Galaga, I don't know that much about that last game.....

The strip would easily hide the damage on mine and also the wearing off of the blue paint on the lowest part. It would make it improve visually but.....that strip is not supposed to be there.....

So, I am still in doubt about a lot of things....

[Etienne MacGyver]

Great job Erik!

And Yes, i am planning a 4th run of stickers, so let me know what you need and they will come eventually 

[Superully]

nice job, erik, those erasers really did their magic!

[gyruss]

Beautiful!!!  

And i see a very full game room in those pictures, would love to see some more of it..  

[Belike]

Beautiful!!!  

And i see a very full game room in those pictures, would love to see some more of it..  

+1, really nice job!