The Norwegian Zaccaria Star Splash restoration project

[Arch]

Deep breath...

Some of you might have noticed that I've been asking for pictures of Zaccaria Star Splash art recently. Well, there is a reason for this. Some months ago I was at a meeting in the "Secret Norwegian Arcade Club". We are four guys only in Oslo who are into arcade machines, and I am the only oddball who prefer woodies to candies. At one point one of the candycabbers showed me a dark picture of his woody cab that he had stored in an old barn. When I saw the Zacc art I got very enthusiastic, so he told me that I could have it for free if I could arrange the pickup. This first and only picture was not very revealing to say the least, and it was very hard to tell the state of the cab, but I noticed that the bezel and the marquee were missing, and consequently I started the quest for art here on DLF.

Here is the first picture I saw:



Yesterday I went to pick up the cab at a barn outside Oslo. And, surprise surprise... it is a wreck.  

I suspected as much, but I hadn't thought it to be this bad. The main issues are as follows. The sides are scratched badly with names and your regular AC/DC-logos, the wood is chipped, it has several holes, the t-molding slots have been filled with glue and painted over, the control panel is flaking badly underneath and the plexi is melted, bent and stained from cigarette burns. The inner bezel (for lack of a better term), the bezel, the marquee and the back door are all missing. I need some good t-molding too. I have never seen a Zacc in the flesh before, so there might be other bits missing as well.

We all know that a thread like this is not worth a damn without pictures, so see for yourself:








There are some upsides though. The guts aren't all bad. The monitor, a Hantarex 900, is crisp and clear with no burn. It needs a recap but that's about it. Marquee light works, the coin door lights work and the buttons and the joystick are ok.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Germany several wheels are already set in motion. Deals have been made, money have been changing hands, and the DLF community represented by Luigi, Bela, Lachek and others have shown their true colours as the most helpful and friendly guys out there.  



With this much community involvement alredy, and because I'd hate to see this get chucked, I feel I need to go through with this. So, this is The great Norwegian Zaccaria Star Splash restoration project! Welcome!  

What I'm thinking is that I have to go deep on this one, probably to the point of disassembling it, repairing the wood and making new side art, a new cp, and a new inner bezel. This will be a long and painstaking project, but hopefully, with the help and backing of the community, I will get there in the end.

So, what do you think? Doable? Answer: Yes! Where should I start? Answer: Haven't got the slightest idea! This is the first time I plunge this deep into a restoration, so any input is welcome.  

Cheers,
Håkon

[Etienne MacGyver]

We have a brave man here !

I did the scanning / preserving of the spacestation and Crazy kong sideart, and maybe you can do the starsplash 
Here how i started on my sidearts..

https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2779.0

PS, Goodluck on the T-moulding....  If you do find it, please let me know where, i never saw the silverish t-moudling for sale...

[Arch]

Thanks, Etienne. I've been looking at your threads a lot, so I think I will be able to manage the scanning and vectorizing. I've found a HP Scanjet 4670 at a Norwegian auction site, and I've put in a bid already. It's pretty cheap atm.

What puzzles me though, is how you go about printing it? On the Star Splash the art seems to sit silkscreened on the paint itself, or it might be a very thin sheet of vinyl. Is the vinyl the way to go? Will gameongrafix or thisoldgame take the job, you think?

As for the t-molding, I am curious if there were any original Zaccaria cabs without the silverish T and if there is any other alternative that would pass as "authentic"? The silver T is the only part of the whole original cab design I feel that I really dislike. Bela? Anyone?

[Etienne MacGyver]

on the T-moulding part i need to disagree with you, i like it very much.

The originals are indeed silkscreened direct to the wood without vinyl.

as reproduction, i will have it print it on vinyl, i have contact with two printers in the netherlands, and i need to see what the costs are.

I have never ordered art in the US, but i think they can print it also for you.

Dont know about the costs, and shipping.

Are there no printers local to you who also print on vinyl ?

[Arch]

I will check around locally, but my previous dealings with Gameongrafix for my Compu-Game cp were very positive, so I might end up using them again. Easier to deal with someone who are familiar with the end product, and the texture of the printed material came out exactly as the original was.

Here's a shot:


But first things first, namely... making the file. The side art on the Star Splash consists of a lot of defined lines, so it shouldn't take too long once I have the scans and the correct measurements.

While I have your attention, do you plan to make new runs on the alu stickers or the control panel plexi? I think the layout on the Star Splash might match your CK you see.

[Etienne MacGyver]

it depends what you need for alustickers.
I am not specificly planning a run now, but i do have some requests, so who knows.

I made a bunch of stickers for bencao74 who wanted to place them in his webshop.
So if you need the zacc alu sticker, you can contact him, he has them for sale  

The Plexi i am not planning to make again, also the panels in plexi you can get from bencao, based on my file and verificated by me.
(i have one sample here to test the size etc etc. but i need that for my 2e zacc   )

The Starsplash does need an extra hole though. but here you can see that :

https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2958.msg39412#msg39412

As for the printing of the CK panel, or any other panel, i can ask the printer that i used to do that for you and ask a price.
(rough estimation 30 - 35 € excl VAT )

The last time i ordered 4 in one go, so i could save on startup costs.

I understand your point of the structured CPO material, but zaccs use plexi CPO's, so i dont need the structured material for that.

[bencao74]

Hey,

 sure, I can do some plexi also with extra cut. I prefer CDR, PDF or DXF files. But perhaps Etienne has a layout with this extra button already. The CPO plexi is pretty much the same but with rounded and polished edges (is this correct, Etienne?).

 

[Belike]

Nice to see that another Zacc will be saved.
About the t-molding, I also like the silver one, but I think you should choose the one you like the most (ok, not green or orange ), the original is not available anymore.
Was there any pcb in it?
I've never heard about the game Bad Monkey, which one could it be?

[Etienne MacGyver]

Maybe a variant on crazy kong, like big kong :

played it in mame, I love it !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlURS0UUKqA&feature=player_embedded

The plexi is indeed with rounded edges, and very nice
i only have the file with the 3 extra holes like in the link.

but its easy to remove the 2 holes from that file and then you got the correct button setup.

[Arch]

Hehe, the "Bad Monkey" is not really a game I think. Apparently it is a nickname of the previous owner, and the "marquee" if you can call it that is just two sheets of paper.  

I am on my way to Germany right now, and I will be off the radar for some days, but I will contact you guys next week with regards to the cp. When doing the vector of it I might do a little customisation and add a third button. I know ths might be frowned upon by the purists, but the way I'm thinking is that the Star Splash was originally intended as a universal cabinet. With a third button it becomes even more so, and if the graphics are in keeping with the original design (ie. adding another "shoot"-circle), I think it should be ok. Had it been a dedicated cab I would not have done this.

As for the t-molding. I think I might go with non-intrusive black if I can't find anything that looks like the original.

I've spent the evening ripping out the monitor and the guts from the cab. What I'm left with is a very light but very sturdy shell. I want to take it apart for a couple of reasons. This is going to be a long ordeal, and I would like to store the cab in a small area. When working on the surfaces I also think it will be easier to pull out and handle one piece at a time. At this point, however, I'm already a bit lost, because the thing is glued together like a rock. I've been searching for a weak spot where I might start to break it apart, but no luck. I really don't want to take a sledgehammer to it or anything like that so I guess I'll just keep prying. Is there a trick or a spot you guys know about? I've looked all over, but there is not one single screw in this thing.  

[Belike]

They fixed the parts together with a kind of a stapler (that is the closest match in the dictionary) from the sides, it is really hard to take it apart without damaging the wood.Ully made it somehow with his Jungle King, but that cab is a bit different:
https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=1843.0

[Etienne MacGyver]

I know what you mean, its build to last 

i would not take it apart if i where you.

[Luigi]

You will also need a black cardboard bezel. This can be easily done. Just buy some black cardboard and adjust it to fit in the cab...don't forget the hole in the middle or you won't be able to play 

[Etienne MacGyver]

Talking about the cardboard, don't forget Paul swan's tutorial :

http://www.zzzaccaria.com/MonitorSurroundRestoration.htm

also the rest of the site is worth browsing ! 

[Arch]

Hm, guess I’m not pulling the cab apart after all. There is no way I can do it without screwing up the wood, so it stays as it is I guess.
Thanks for the heads up about the cardboard bezel. The one for the Star Splash is just black, isn’t it?

And now… roadtripping!


German roads are estimately 15673 times better than Norwegian roads. Even in Rheinland-Pfalz.  

When I was given the Zacc Star Splash I went on DLF and asked if anybody could help me by scanning some artwork. The plan was to vectorize and reproduce the art, because there was no way I thought I could source original art for the cab. Well, I was wrong. I was contacted by Luigi who knew where to find a NOS bezel, and Laschek who had two marquees for sale. Problem was, I was in Norway and they were in Germany and sending the glass bezel and marquees would most likely end in a glass shard disaster.

As it happens, I have a Norwegian friend who lives in Karlsruhe, Germany, and last year I booked tickets to visit him. I knew that in Karlsruhe there is a museum called Retrogames where they have a lot of old cabs, and had announced on J+ that I had planned to go there. I seemed to remember a reply from Luigi that he lived only 50 km away from that place, which again ment that I could actually go from Karlsruhe to Luigi’s place to pick up the bezel. On his end he did one hell of a job to get the bezel transported from another place in Germany. It all started to come together nicely.

Initially, I had planned to have Laschek’s  two glass marquees sent to me by post. This was not the optimal solution, given the fragility of the items and the high shipping cost that we non-EU citizens are blessed with. I mentioned to him that I was going to Luigi’s place, and although he lives quite far off, he kindly offered to deliver the marquees to me in person.

So here is the scenario: the marquee coming from somewhere north of Frankfurt, Laschek coming from Kaiserslautern, me coming from Norway via Karlsruhe, and we’re all meeting up at Luigi’s place at 15:00 on Saturday. Something’s got to go wrong, right? No! It all went down perfectly!

I arrived with my friends who had offered to drive me, we met Luigi and he showed me his wonderful game room, and shortly after Laschek arrived. Zacc wares were exchanged, and we chatted a bit before I left for Karlsruhe again with a car full of valuable glass and a smile on my face! Thanks again to Laschek and Luigi who went out of their way for an unknown guy from Norway. You guys are the best!


Me and Luigi wheelin' and dealin' over the NOS bezel.


The deal is made!


Laschek and me sealin' tha deal.


Later in the evening we went to Retrogames (http://retrogames.info/) and had an absolute ball! The friendly guys there, Klaus-Peter and Mario among others, were kind enough to give me a tour behind the scenes, where they had rare Atari cabs like Gotcha (http://retrogames.info/arcade/show/858), Battlezone, a very early Sprint clone and a very nice Asteroids cabaret. The rest of the night was spent in the main game room where we enjoyed beer, 80's music, Centipede cabaret , Star Wars upright, Juno First, Tron, Space Harrier cockpit and a lot of Marble Madness rivalry with my friends. A great night, and I really really recommend a visit to Retrogames!


You can't go wrong with beer and a Centipede cabaret. I WANT ONEEE!!!


My friend Finn gloating about kicking my butt in MM.  

I’m now back in good old Norway where I plan to do some heavy work on the cab in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!