Dragon's Lair 2, the second one... WIP!

[DarthNuno]

Following this road trip 



What an epic one, huh? 

So why "Dragon's Lair 2, the second one" in the title?
As I explained in the road trip report, I once owned a Dragon's Lair 2 arcade cabinet 20 years ago. I sold it a few years ago...I thought I wouldn't regret it, but that wasn't the case.  Fortunately, I've found another cabinet, still in England, but this time it requires a lot of work!" 

So, let's continue this story. Unloading the cabinet 



First examination ...









It's the same versoin than my first one: an Italian version made by Elettronolo :



Serial is -as far as I can read- 000655 or 000656? The last two digits are hardly visible.  I will need to take more photos with different lighting conditions to confirm these two digits.
Anyway, we're not far from my first DL2 cabinet, which had the serial number 000683

Alright, we'll take a look at everything after an initial rough cleaning   

[Digimon]

Congrats, nice find.

A question to the cabinet, can the top be removed/disassambled?

[DarthNuno]

A question to the cabinet, can the top be removed/disassambled?

Yes, quite easily Pictures to come.
Do you also own a DL2 cab?

[DarthNuno]

Let's continue examining the beauty. No more PCBs or the laser video disc player. However, years of dust...and rust 



Not only did I bring back this arcade machine from England, but I also smuggled in some eight-legged roommates and a few other creepy-crawly companions! 



Arghhh, this is not the original DL2 joystick



The monitor bezel has also taken a hit. What on earth could have happened to damage the bezel? 



Alright, I'll remove the screen. The chassis has definitely taken a beating from the rust as well. 



Located above the screen, there's a sheet of metal...



Once the metal plate is removed, I can access quite a few things, including the two large screws that hold the two parts of the arcade cabinet together...



...and thanks to the relentless grip of rust, one of these two large screws has met its inevitable demise   



With plenty of rust on the speakers grille as well... this arcade cabinet could easily have been part of the legendary haul from the 'Duke of Lancaster' raid... 

[DarthNuno]

Alright, I'm bringing the arcade cabinet back out for a closer inspection.
The artwork on this side has suffered, particularly at its base :



The other side is much more damaged  



...ouch... 



Let's take a closer look at the two speakers



Looking at the state of the right speaker? it does make you wonder what could have caused such damage. It might have been insects, like termites or carpenter ants, which can chew through materials. Alternatively, it could have been caused by a rodent gnawing away at it... whatever, it is dead! 



Under the back door, I can say that the cabinet is in good condition. I mean the structure is rather sturdy. 



On the other hand, all the metal parts have suffered from rust.



With so many plays on the counter, I think the game has definitely been well-utilized.



I?m removing the metal parts...10 pence arcade  coins  , evidence that it was indeed operated in England, where I went to retrieve it. 



...Other coins here and there. For my English friends here, what was the price of a DL2 game back in the day? 



Here are the rusted parts that I will be working on 



Since the arcade cabinet is outside, I'm taking the opportunity to give it a deeper clean. The colors are now much brighter and vibrant. 



You'd almost forget about the damaged artwork! 

[Andreas_AUT]

Nice one, I would LOVE to have at least a dragons lair - then I would run that minipc in it to play all the laser disc games....

[Belike]

Nice catch, there will be a lot of work to restore this, but worth every second.

[DarthNuno]

Now comes the most tedious part : removing the paint and rust from all the metal parts. 
Fortunately, I now have a new young apprentice... Darth Nuno Jr.   





 



Usual treatments to restore all these metal parts that have suffered greatly from years spent outdoors...





There you go, this is the best I could do. But as you can see, the rust has really taken hold in some spots.





That's strange, at first I thought the corner of this door was damaged   



But no, this cut is present on all four corners of this door. I've never seen such cuts on a coin door before :



Below is the piece that required the most time to work on (the grille that hides the speakers) :

[Andreas_AUT]

Well done, and yes, derusting takes a lot of time. But dont you have a company near you who do sand blasting?

Im really happy that I bought and sandblasting cabin and a big air compressor for derusting metal parts. But yeah, on the other side it takes some space and I dont need it many times in the year. :-)

Maybe I wouldnt bought it if I had a son ... 

[DarthNuno]

Well done, and yes, derusting takes a lot of time. But dont you have a company near you who do sand blasting?
Im really happy that I bought and sandblasting cabin and a big air compressor for derusting metal parts. But yeah, on the other side it takes some space and I dont need it many times in the year. :-)

Yes, I have used the services of a metalworker once or twice in the past to sandblast a few parts, but unfortunately, the price and waiting time weren?t great. 

Wow, you're lucky to have a sandblaster at home?that's really cool.
I've thought about getting one before, but I kept putting it off? so after all these years, I?ve managed without one...

[DarthNuno]

We continue with the marquee, or rather the absence of the glass window that protects the marquee.

Not far from my place, a shop offers glass cutting services.
The dimensions I used are 405mm x 695mm, with a thickness of 4mm.
Nice! The employee is available and offers to do the cutting in front of me.   



I opted here for simple, inexpensive 'float glass' (this will not be the case for the pane protecting the monitor).

Below, the employee has finished the cutting and is now sanding the edges of the glass to ensure safe handling.



In less than 15 minutes, the job is done. It cost me 25?, including packaging to safely bring it home.   



Did I take my measurements correctly?  We'll find out very soon...  yes 



Cool, things are moving forward 
As you can see, I'm also missing the glass window that protects the monitor. 



For this one, using 'float glass' is not an option. It needs to be tempered glass for strength and safety reasons.
Since tempered glass cannot be easily cut, I'll have to wait... one month  to receive my custom cut...

[Muerto]

Great catch Bruno, and nice to see some action on the site.

[DarthNuno]

Great catch Bruno, and nice to see some action on the site.

Hey Michael, happy to see that you still drop by from time to time! 

Let's focus on a small detail today: the marquee lighting.
Normally, I quickly replace the lighting system with a modern one, but I'm curious to see if this tube has withstood years of storage as well as outdoor exposure.  





Well, everything is still working fine.   Great, we'll keep it as it is. 



 

[Dazza]

I am absolutely loving this!

Seeing my old machine given the loving care it deserves is such a highlight. Keep on going Darth Nuno!

[DarthNuno]

Thank you, Dazza!  Glad to see you following the new life?or rather, the rebirth?of this Dragon?s Lair 2 cabinet! 

Today's small delivery... the new speakers 



Comparison with one of the two original speakers, completely destroyed 



Same diameter, same impedance?we're looking pretty good!  On location