| Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair |
| Galaga Restore - A Christmas tragedy and New Years miracle |
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| Le Chuck:
I'm all but complete on a Galaga restore I did for a friend. A bit of background: My buddy is a commander on Ft. Bragg with a 12 year old son who is gonzo for classic gaming. This kid's room is just mountains of retro console whatnot he's collected - everything from famicom to weird atari stuff I've never heard of. His passion tho is classic arcades. Kid is a real wealth of knowledge, lurks the hell out of KLOV and here - is soaking up all kinds of information. At any rate, my pal finds a good condition Galaga about 3 hours away a few days before Christmas. Price was right so he jumps in the truck and heads that way. On the way back he gets hit from behind going 65mph. Some window-licker changed lanes without looking at was in front of him. Buddy is sore but okay, truck is borked, Galaga has some severe strap damage, bottom was crushed and now the game is only playing blind - no neck glow. I get over to his house the next day and give the cab a once over. We discuss options and after Christmas I offer to tackle the restore. Powered through and delivered the cab last night. Not bad for starting on the 29th and going back to work on the 3rd...and celebrating New Years like a boss because ---fudgesicle--- 2016. ---fudgesicle--- it dead. On the 29th my buddy brings his son by the shop. Kid was so heart broken to see his first grail all beat to hell. Cab had some wear anyway, sideart was long gone, CP had the rust line across the bend that all original Galagas have, and the bottom of the cab had taken a beating. Kid is a total purist and is most upset over the CRT. Now, I'm no monitor wizard but I benched it and it seems like either something went wrong with the tube, everything else had good readings. We agree that sourcing a replacement CRT might take a while so we'll drop in an LCD in the meantime, just to get the game in his house. While working the game I posted it to Carolina Arcade FB page and had a gal less than 1/2 hour from me come up and offer a free CRT for the cause. People rock. Will be picking it up today or tomorrow. In the mean time, PICS! Cross members were all popped in the wreck Strap scars abound Bottom caved, cab was decidedly out of square New bottom! Bondo, primer, sand, fix, fix Installed a CGA to VGA board and added a SLG for good measure. Did everything tight taped and solder free so it's a quick convert back to CRT. SLG goodness! Luckily Galaga stuff is easily available. Made some orders, everything came super quick so did all the assembly in a day. This is cool. Kid and I discussed CPOs, I recommended he check out Willis, he texts me that he likes the look and wants to do the Willis CPO. I find a NOS one on ebay for next to nothing. Crazy! Detail of the CPO. It's gorgeous but a ---smurfette--- in install. 35 years had taken its toll and the adhesive wasn't strong, the CPO didn't want to flex, had to use a lot of heat, a lot of clamps, and a lot of spray glue, but it's on now and lookin sharp! Delivered! I had given the controls to the lad to clean and check for cold solder joints as he is working his way into the hobby. He wasn't done cleaning the fire button so we dropped in the P2 yellow to get some gameplay going I'm pleased, turned out a bit of alright. It was the boy's choice to go with the Galaxian Green t-molding too. Looks good, this kid has style. Our intrepid hero defeating the Galaga Armada and finally enjoying his Christmas present, his first arcade cabinet. |
| vwalbridge:
That CPO is hawt! I need to replace the soggy and rotten bottom on my Pac Man too. Was that hard? |
| Le Chuck:
--- Quote from: vwalbridge on January 07, 2017, 10:55:00 am ---That CPO is hawt! I need to replace the soggy and rotten bottom on my Pac Man too. Was that hard? --- End quote --- I have a hard time answering the "was it hard" questions these day [insert dick joke] because I don't know where other people skill levels are and what their tool boxes look like. I'd say no. It's a square piece of wood with some cutouts. Measure twice and yadda yadda. I used pocket screws from the inside and glued it in as well. Even if you didn't have a pocket hole jig you could just but in battons and then screw it from the bottom. Should be an hour or so worth of shop time. And yasss, that CPO is the hawtness |
| vwalbridge:
Thanks! I always forget about using pocket screws...and I even own the kregg to do it. And I've seen other Willis CPOs before but somehow this is the first I've seen the Galaga version. I love it. Nice job. |
| yotsuya:
Looks great LC! |
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