A baby is RE-born: BABY PAC restoration project

[zapposh]

Like mentioned before, the monitor is completely burned out, shorts the fustes and looks a mess.

I mean, look at that. Obviously the high score was not beaten for a long time. ;-)


So out it came, with the frame structure.
For info, it is a 13 inch Wells-Gardner monitor.

I suppose every project has some anecdotes and coincidence, and here is mine:
I used to do quite a lot of video editing in the past, and had quite a bunch of professional equipment for doing so. One of the things was a high-res RGB monitor with external synch input and over/underscan functionality. As far as I remembered, it was a 14 inch, lying around somewhere in the basement.
So I found it, pulled it out, and compared it to the original Wells-Gardner:

Veeery close, looking good!



I check the reference again on internet. The Panasonic 1415s is sold as a 14 inch reference monitor. Yet they look the same size to me.
So I unscrew the Panasonic, to find that the dimensions are identical to the mm, and that the frame screw mount holes are in exactly the same spot. This is amazing, as a while back I was thinking a selling this screen, long before ever thinking of getting an arcade machine. Very happy find, and very happy coincidence.


The thing now will be to replace one with the other without frying myself (asked the question in this post):
https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2998.msg39958#msg39958

Buy the way, the dead Wells Gardner is now out of the frame and ready to go to the recycling center in the coming days. While carrying the thing, so being very close to it with body contact, I got a very bad headache. Does that thing emit any radiation when not discharged or was it just provoked by all the chemical cleaners I was using?

[speleo_de]

Not sure about your storage capacities and location, but imho you should not dispose the original monitor, as its lost even for spare parts then.

Maybe someone can use it or parts of it, sooner or later. I would take it, if you were closer.

Maybe you find someone immediately taking it as a freebie.

[zapposh]

I would really need some general opinion here as what to do.

Here are some pics of my now completely empty cabinet. Please keep in mind that the photos always look better than the real thing in this case.
As you can see, the cab is not really bad. No major or serious damage. I will slightly sand down the black part inside around the monitor area and playfield, as the wood grain in coming through the old paint (you cannot see this on the photos). That is not much work and will be resprayed.



















The big question remains for the outside yellow. Besides it being filthy and most spots not being removable because they seem to have "entered the paint", everywhere there are chips, dents, little scratches, edge damage from moving around the cabinet, without any major holes or broken parts. Also under the side art decals the paint is chipped and coming off, and it would show just to stick new decals on top.

What would the pros here do???
Preserve the original paint and touch up all the little imperfections by maybe mixing a little acrylic paint and filling the holes as well as possible? Imperfections will surely show.
Or would you go for the full treatment and sand down / bondo the whole thing, prime and repaint?

Up to now I have been trying to get every little part to look like new again, but here I'm not sure what is the best road to take.
Comment very much appreciated.
Thanks!

[zapposh]

Not sure about your storage capacities and location, but imho you should not dispose the original monitor, as its lost even for spare parts then.

Maybe someone can use it or parts of it, sooner or later. I would take it, if you were closer.

Maybe you find someone immediately taking it as a freebie.

Of course, this is why I mentioned it. Anyone who wants it is welcome to pick it up.
What I don't want for now is someone asking me to disconnect the boards or something, as like I said, the whole thing is still charged and I don't want to get zapped. But anyone is welcome to get the lot.

[Superully]

i wood fix the damages to the cabinet and touch up the paint!

[level42]

Not sure about your storage capacities and location, but imho you should not dispose the original monitor, as its lost even for spare parts then.

Maybe someone can use it or parts of it, sooner or later. I would take it, if you were closer.

Maybe you find someone immediately taking it as a freebie.

Of course, this is why I mentioned it. Anyone who wants it is welcome to pick it up.
What I don't want for now is someone asking me to disconnect the boards or something, as like I said, the whole thing is still charged and I don't want to get zapped. But anyone is welcome to get the lot.

When was the last time you powered up this monitor ?

[zapposh]

Not sure about your storage capacities and location, but imho you should not dispose the original monitor, as its lost even for spare parts then.

Maybe someone can use it or parts of it, sooner or later. I would take it, if you were closer.

Maybe you find someone immediately taking it as a freebie.

Of course, this is why I mentioned it. Anyone who wants it is welcome to pick it up.
What I don't want for now is someone asking me to disconnect the boards or something, as like I said, the whole thing is still charged and I don't want to get zapped. But anyone is welcome to get the lot.

When was the last time you powered up this monitor ?

Officially, never. Got the Baby Pac 10 days ago. Plugged in my stepdown converter, and its fuse blew as soon as I turned on the game.
Unplugged all the boards, lamps and pinball. Again, the second fuse blew.
Unplugged the monitor, which was the last thing hooked up to the trafo, and the fuse held, so out came the monitor, which seems to be shorting.

[zapposh]

i wood fix the damages to the cabinet and touch up the paint!

But the touch-ups would need to be sanded, so paint applied to larger areas than little spots, so I'm worried it will be very visible. You have had positive results with little touchups?
The other thing is the surface does not feel like paint like on a Pac-Man cab for instance. More like some sort of synthetic semi-glossy coating.

[Superully]

of course it would be "smoother" if you repainted the entire cabinet ...

[Etienne MacGyver]

Seeing all the work done already, i would take the cab to the home depot and scan the color "darthnuno style", and repaint it completely after bondo-ing.

You spend too much time for the rest to look perfect and like you say, you will see the touchups (and probably you will see them more because you know they are there) and be annoyed by it every time you see your cab..

so i would suggest go all the way  

[zapposh]

Seeing all the work done already, i would take the cab to the home depot and scan the color "darthnuno style", and repaint it completely after bondo-ing.

You spend too much time for the rest to look perfect and like you say, you will see the touchups (and probably you will see them more because you know they are there) and be annoyed by it every time you see your cab..

so i would suggest go all the way  

Very funny movie clip of the cashier trying to find the barcode on Darthnunos Qbert. Excellent. :-)

Ok guys, thanks for your input. I cannot take to the cab to a shop and cannot afford a color scanner for now, but I'll try to color-match as close as possible.
From what I heard Rapsgelb RAL 1021 is supposed to be an almost perfect match:



I'll get a tiny pot of it and see if it's true.

[solidsnake]

if you going to repaint the cab compleet
try to take out a thin part of the wood with the yellow color on it,you can put it back later on and fill it up again.
i think i saw Superully doing it also that way im sure i read someone did it like that here on form

you dont need a big part to scan

found it https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=1815.30

[zapposh]

if you going to repaint the cab compleet
try to take out a thin part of the wood with the yellow color on it,you can put it back later on and fill it up again.
i think i saw Superully doing it also that way im sure i read someone did it like that here on form

you dont need a big part to scan

found it https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=1815.30

You are right, that's what I'll do. Yes, I followed the post where Superully takes a little block of his cab to have it scanned. The difference is that he's a wood expert and I'm learning, so I'm always a little worried to chop things up and later refixing them again without it showing. We'll see. 

[zapposh]

What the? No "pop"?

Ok, so I decided to have a first go at discharging a monitor and being a man about it, so for starters I decided to adopt darthnunos style. ;-)



Ok, so the croco-pincers are firmly hooked up to the chassis for one, to the screwdriver for the other. Then the screwdriver nicely inserted under the suction cup until it met some "resistance" in the center, well, until it could not go any further, and that was it.
I must admit I'm a little disappointed, as I was expecting anything from a simple loud pop to a life threatening experience with blue flashes flying around the room, screeching sound and implosion debris flying through the air. But nothing. 

Does it mean it did not work? The monitor was in action only a couple of months ago, so it is impossible it could have discharged by itself.

[Etienne MacGyver]

Yes, probably it was discharged over time, but always do it !

you never know if there is still a little juice left there..

i never use the stick, that makes it more difficult to manouvre..
just my two cents..