the restoration continues ... with the marqueethe vindicator parts i got from the usa must have come from an auction ...
... because the auction sticker is still on the marquee!
one thing i really r.e.a.l.l.y R-E-A-L-L-Y hate are stickers which do what they are supposed to do:
STICK!!! 
this one is no different, so in order to get it off i'm soaking it in water
after a warm soapy bath, i'm trying to pull the sticker off
see how great this worked?
time to step it up a notch: sticker remover - it worked like a charm!
the attraction decal itself is a thin sheet of plastic which has been deformed by the heat emitted from the light fixture behind it
there's not a lot i can do "to get it back in shape", but i'm trying to at least keep the condition of the attraction decal. in order to do so, i'm cutting a thin piece of plexi to stick behind the decal
and here it is, the illuminated marquee!
on to the final act: re-assembly of the controllers! a task i've been postponing over and over again because it's not going to be easy and extremely time-consuming! but i will have to start eventually if i ever want to finish the game! so here we go ...
i took a maximum of pictures during disassembly to be able to get the controllers together again later. always with me: the laptop with the photos!
first step done: rubber bumpers installed
let's continue with the handles and the grips
although i only need two complete controllers for the game, i've decided to rebuild four (out of six) to have them as spares or in case someone else needs them desperately (i will sell them for good money
)
until now this was just a warm-up, because the difficult part is about to begin - or should i better say
PARTS?
the most time-consuming (and annoying) part is cleaning all the parts first, especially when there's "nastiness" involved
i'm giving the metal parts a "thinner bath"
make sure to do this job at an open window with a lot of fresh air and ventilation
the inner upper part of the controller has gone from
THIS ...
to
THAT!
the dirty buttons are allowed to take a nice cosy bath as well
button me up, baby
one thing that had been bugging me where those brittle o-rings
fortunately, i was able to source a shop which carried a wide variety of them, so i ordered a nice selection just to make sure they would fit
here you can see the replacement rings in the upper row compared to one of the original rings below
i put in a thicker o-ring first, followed by a thin one on top of it
a perfect fit!!!
in order to get the wiring loom through the shaft, i'm using a thin metal wire as a guide to which i attach the loom
that way, you can pull the harness easily through the shaft!
switches soldered back on successfully
in order to close the controllers up, i needed replacement screws for the rusted original ones - and i found them at modelfixings! ding-dong, a package from england to germany has just arrived
inside, a collection of various screws (also needed for other projects)
mission accomplished: four vindicators controllers fully rebuilt and assembled!!! let me tell you this: it was not a walk in the park and it took me a couple of days to get the job done, but the results are totally worthwhile the efforts: movement of the handles is very smooth, they center right back and look phenomenal!
to be continued ... stay tuned for the money shots!!!
