:: GaLaGa - Diary of a Renovation :: The End

[DarthNuno]

Following this roadtrip, I've to work now on one of the greatest games ever made by ... Namco : GALAGA 




I didn't look it closer until now... well, the overall condition seems to be not too bad... but closer  hum...

OK, let's quickly examine it :



Serial 10397... made in USA :







The operator sheet :



Something good : a NOS bezel  The control panel is in good shape... just have to clean it, and it will be fine 



View from the back :



What I can see so far :

- The front kickplate panel is not the original one. It's has been changed in the past following a crack down into it, or maybe some water damages ? ... more than that, the new one is badly painted 
- Same things regarding the base of the cabinet...you can see skrews on the sides of the cabinet (you'll see that in the coming pictures)
- The 'inside' of the side have been painted... very badly 
- A lot of water damages on the base of the two sides 

Missing : backdoor, CRT
Not working : Power supply, joystick, monitor board
Working : Original Galaga board (I have to check it but it supposed to be *working)

A lot of work  ... but hey, it's a GALAGA cab, so let's save it 

[DarthNuno]

OK, now I've to look a little bit closer on this cab... to see what is the amount of work to restore it.

Soap & water will be perfect for this -pass1- examination 

On the folowing picture, you can see the skrews who maintain the new kickplate :



... and you can see other holes  :



Arghhh  Too bad to see these skrews... they should be hidden  :



The panel is in good condition, but all the mechanical parts are broken... only the red ball is there  THe good thing : it's a NOS bezel... very nice 



T-molding is destroyed...



...and you can also see the replacement plank for the front kickplate... And I even thought it was a Ms Pac Man front kickplate, because of the blue color under the black color 

Here the black speaker grille, full of rust... and some scratch on the back, just on the top of the monitor area 



Ok, let's remove everything 



Done. Now you can see the new plank used to replace the original kickplate...



I start to understand what happens on this cab 

The original kickplate has been damaged (destroyed by some hits or water damages ?), and this part has been replaced. This explain some skrews... but why there are also skrews to maintain all the base of the cabinet 

Easy : When the operator removed the original kickplate, he had to move apart the sides. So the junction between the base and the two sides became to fragile. So he put more skrews 

Hey... a 20 years old bubblegum 



Opsss... each tilme I try to clean this area with a simple towel, the black paint comes off 



It's clear that's not the original paint. This area has been very badly painted is the past 



I know that area is a common problem on all Galaga/Ms PacMan cabinets... I even found a picture of me, taken in an arcade in Los Angeles in 2001, where you can see the problem :



It's because the hands of the players & spectators... see 



The black paint used for these Midway cabs doesn't resist to the hands perspiration.

OK, but why the operator painted it again so bad   

Now the side arts. They looks good to me... it's written "Ricky's game" on it  Who's Ricky  ?



Back on the kickplate... same story regarding the 'BAD' back paint...



Well, for sure... it won't be a quick restoration. So it's time to move that cab in the Nuno's Workshop ... remember... the place where I worked on this Pac Man or this Space Ace 

Well... in fact... the workshop is just a room at the first floor in my house   

Ok, so... on location now :







I didn't show it yet, but there are a lot of water damages on the bottom of the two sides 

As you can see, other games are waiting here to have a second life 

[JimmyU]

Good luck with the restore.  There seems to be a lot of Galagas around so hopefully finding parts isn't too hard.

[vib_ribbon]

i'll tell ricky off next time i see him! 

good luck with the restore, keep us posted!

[DarthNuno]

Good luck with the restore.  There seems to be a lot of Galagas around so hopefully finding parts isn't too hard.

Thanks JimmyU 
It's true that Galaga is a common game in US... but rather rare here, in Europe 

i'll tell ricky off next time i see him! 

Noooo please       



OK, remember this movie ? 





...WARGAMES of course 

Each time I need some motivation, I watch these pictures 

Ok, back to work 

Let's clean a little bit more  ... with water & soap :



Hey... cool... there is still a protective layer on the top   



...and here too :



Back to the front of the cab... and still that poor black paint 



On this area, I can see the original paint... but why such scratches 



...and the kickplate... each time I touch it, I remove the black paint 



OK, let's put it on his side... nice  Once again, the protective layer on the base is still there 



...and now, the worst... water damages   



Each time I touch that part, the wood is crumbling 



... Grrrr 



Ok, so as you can see... a LOT of work to fix that 

Let's do it 

[JimmyU]

Is that particle board?  It seems that particle board was more prone to water damage than plywood or fiberboard.  Particle board just seems to crumble.

[DarthNuno]

Yeps, I would say it's particle board too 

I can't let that cabinet like that... I mean the water damage parts... Impossible to move the cabinet without spreading wood particles... 

OK, so I remove the biggest 'dead wood' parts directly with fingers, and in order to be sure to remove all the 'dead by water' parts, I use a manual saw :



...a little bit scary isn't it ?



...that corner is very 'water damaged' too 



On some area wich less damage, I'm only using a brush like this :



Ok, now before doing the same job on the other side of the cabinet, I'll remove that *bad* paint on the front kickplate.
To remove paint, I'm using 'Aceton' :



...just few drops of 'Aceton' on a towel, and you can easily remove a small area of paint, like I did on the previous picture.

20 minutes later... no more paint 

[DarthNuno]

The suports for the control panel are rusty :



I remove them both. See the original paint behind them : black satin 



Now check out this side :



It's the worst side : scratches... holes ... 



And of course... water damages too. ..



...closer...



Ok, same method than the first side : I remove as much *dead* wood as possible :



And I 'fine tune' the job with a metal brush 



The remains 



Before applying the wood filler, I'll use a special product. It's a primer who will harden the wood :



Maybe some of you can read french 



It's like a glue... it goes -in deep- inside the wood, in order to harden it. Here's how I'm applying it 

[DarthNuno]

In order to know which paint I've to buy, I'm removing a small sample under the cabinet. Note that the small protective film is still present... so this sample *should* be 100% error free 



...it seems to be something between black satin & bright black 



Let's fix the control panel metal supports... full of rust :



I'm using this product :



...if you can read french   



I put the two metal parts inside the rust-remover ...



...and about 12 hours later, it's like new 



Ok, now the serious work  ...the wood filler section 



The left side :



Closer..



Two 'wood filler' sessions later... I'm ok with the result :



OK... that left side is done... exept the screw holes to cover of course 

[DarthNuno]

OK, the first side looks fine to me now 



Let's do the same work on the other side :





...ooppss  So many 'hits' on this side  :





Before applying the wood filler, I protect the holes like this :



...closer...



Ok, no more 'screw holes' 





Now, let's protect the good parts on this side before to apply the paint :


 

[DarthNuno]

OK, for this first side, I'll use black bright paint... not sure if it will the right one, but I'll correct it If I'm wrong 



2 layers mininum. I let it dry 24 hours minimum.

Let's go now the second side... very damaged as you can see :



Here, I'm doing same job thant the first side : to sand, wood filler, to sand, wood filler... 



Regarding the paint, I won't do the same thing for this side... I won't just hide the holes like I did on the first one...



... and I won't follow what I've repaired ! I'll set a straight border, like this :



I'm sure it will look better than what I've done on the other side 

Ha, I also used black satin paint, and the the bright paint 



Now let's sand the interior parts 







Done :

[DarthNuno]

Before painting the 2 "interior sides", I'm protecting the parts that I need to keep original paint with a special adhesive tape :



...the other side...



And also here 



Ready to be painted now 



I'll use black satin :



Primer first :



24 hours later 



Second layer :



... beware... fresh paint  ...





Let's wait at least 24 hours... 

[polaris]

Nuno , just in case you did not know.
particle board is dangerous , wear a good breathing mask. open windows. best to work on it outside if you can.

[JimmyU]

Nuno,
I just saw this this listing on the KLOV boards for Galaga stuff and thought you'd be interested.  $30 gets you:
Board Rack, light fixture, unhacked original harness, working power brick with 2 transformers, speaker, and speaker grill.
Good job on the restoration.

[DarthNuno]

Nuno , just in case you did not know.
particle board is dangerous , wear a good breathing mask. open windows. best to work on it outside if you can.

Thanks for the advise Polaris  I use to open windows when I'm painting or cuting wood boards. I'm also working short periods but very often,so I'm never be too long inside the 'working room' 

Nuno,
I just saw this this listing on the KLOV boards for Galaga stuff ...

Thanks for the link JimmyU, but at this point, I got all I need to finish the cab' 

Ok, now let's sand the front with 120 & 250 sandpaper 



I'll use this paint :  black satin, 2 in 1 (primer & finish) 



The primer first :



While the drying, I'll test my original Galaga Midway board with this Galaga to Jamma converter 



Let's plug the thing...



  The games is stuck on its boot sequence...



...sometimes, it boots... but all the moving sprites (my ship & the aliens) are blue 



Well, I'll clean the board and try to fix it, but I'll also prepare a dedicated computer under advance mame (for having the 100% arcade looks with RGB signal), and I'm sure it'll be more reliable 

OK, back to the cabinet. Primer is dry now :



Second layer 



My wife is asking why I don't let her go inside that room in the first level of our house... Mhhh I don't want her to see this mess   



Ok, now the result  :









Looks better isn't it  ?