The speaker grill. Plastic and "home made" !
They were efficient guys in Torino though, they used the same grill as vent covers:
No resto-thread is complete without some really dirty pics. First I'd thought to leave the plastic vent-inlets (at the bottom) and pulling grips (at the top) (again,the same plastics doubling in function) in there and just vacuum them, but I though, hardcore is hardcore, so out they go !
Good decision:
Those two were the inlets on the lower area, so if anyone doubts the "chimney" system of cooling in a cab works.....you bet !
Let's open the CP. That very weird, but OHH-SO smart CP. Because think about it: WHAT is the thing that ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS...(yes, ALWAYS) needs to be replaced because of cigarette burns ? Indeed the CPO !!!
So those smart Italians thought: how can we prevent that ? How can we make sure, that when Level42 buys this cab for his collection and wants to "restore" it, he doesn't have to scan in the CP, have several people from all over the globe work on the artwork and have it printed somewhere, all in all taking about 3 years to finish.....
Ahhhhaaaaa smart thinking guys ! And Muchas Gracias !!! (O fuck, that's Spanish) GRAZIE MILLE SIGNORI !!
Because although it may be a WEIRD idea to double the CP as an ashtray (it really isn't one, because the ashes simply fall on the floor, but still) but it WORKED great.
Although of course it got as dirty as the average smokers lungs after 31 years, contraty to those lungs, we _can_ clean those CP parts.
By the way, the brilliancy of the CP, is not just that ashtray idea, the "folding in" of the buttons is another extremely smart idea, and after having played it quite a few times now, I can safely say that it TOTALLY beats the original Atari CP. +2 for the Euro machine !
OF course, there is even a THIRD big PRO about this CP set-up, it saves LOADS of useless space like needed on the DEEEEEEEP original CP. +3 for the Bootleg !!
Sooo, I hear you say, is it true, can this be Asteroids heaven ? Well....of course, just as our famous football GOD always says: with every advantage, there is a disadvantage.
Being the Hyperspace button.
OK, let's face it, which moron thought that it was a wise idea to make a completely different and WAY too small button the Hyperspace ? OK, I'm the first to admit that I am ALWAYS too late with Hyperspace anyway, but this sure isn't helping.
The worst thing about it though, is it's position. I mean, it's there. On top. All the other buttons are below....so how on earth are you supposed to operate the damn thing, with your......uhm......NOSE
OK, so enough talk, you want pics. Through the coin-door I have to unscrew two wingnuts (maybe not as comfortable as latches, but still better then regular nuts as on the Puckman bootleg) and the CP opens:
Thank God, leaf buttons for all the important stuff, and I really like the flashy Atari vulcano buttons in the front (not pictured here).
Removed the CP and here we see the "fall-through" for the ashes.
Remove that plate and.......eeeuuuwww...:
There should be this text on every cigarette package:
WARNING: SMOKING CAUSES SERIOUS DAMAGE TO YOUR ARCADE GAMES
I'm very sure everybody will quite when they read that
Anyway, here's 31 years of smoking by an Asterock, the inside of the "cover plate".
