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Author Topic: Roadblasters  (Read 14598 times)

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wp34

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Roadblasters
« on: November 24, 2019, 11:02:18 pm »
Here is a game I've been looking for since I got into this hobby.  The few times I've come across one the timing wasn't right.   For the most part this game functions perfectly and just needs a lot of cosmetic love.  My plan is to restore it with the custom side-art from This Old Game.
















wp34

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2019, 11:04:42 pm »


I'm starting with removing the existing vinyl.  The trick with this project will be the weather in Iowa.  I'd really like to get this in the basement quickly so we can play it.  With the cold painting will be problematic at best.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2019, 05:36:43 pm »
Nice pickup!  Love that game. Looking forward to seeing the progress.  So paint for the sides?  Was the original painted or vinyl, or do you just prefer paint?

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2019, 06:09:44 pm »
 :applaud:

Following along. Looks like it's going to be an easy restoration! That cabinet is in great condition.  And wow, that monitor looks crispy!

Get yourself a good heat-gun and space heater and you can get that vinyl off pretty easily in the cool weather days.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2019, 06:36:01 pm »
Nice pickup!  Love that game. Looking forward to seeing the progress.  So paint for the sides?  Was the original painted or vinyl, or do you just prefer paint?

Yeah the originals were covered in vinyl.  The guy I bought it from has restored several System 1's.  He paints the sides and then applies the side-art which is what started that train of thought.  It looks to me that vinyl isn't any cheaper than laminate and I have some black laminate so I may go that route.  Laminate is more durable and (at least for me) easier to work with.

:applaud:

Following along. Looks like it's going to be an easy restoration! That cabinet is in great condition.  And wow, that monitor looks crispy!

Get yourself a good heat-gun and space heater and you can get that vinyl off pretty easily in the cool weather days.

Good catch on the monitor.  It looks even better in person.  I was a little on the fence going to look at it but when the seller fired up the cabinet and I saw the monitor I said I'll take it!




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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2019, 03:37:56 pm »
Friday I was able to fire up the heater do some scraping.  It went very slow as I was trying to use a metal putty knife.  I've since bought a proper razor scraper and will hopefully finish removing the vinyl quicker.



I didn't have keys for the locks but was able to get the CP off after stretching my arms through the coin door. 



After getting the CP off it was easy to remove the lock and get the PCB door cover open. 

This cabinet started her life as a Roadrunner.


But alas no Hemi inside.   ;D


In between scraping sessions I went through my inventory of parts and materials.  I have enough laminate left over from another project to be able to laminate the sides and front which is fantastic.  Just need some time and some warmer weather.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2020, 04:01:48 pm »
The stars aligned Sunday when my free-time converged with Iowa warm weather and I was able to get the vinyl cleaned off the right side of the cabinet.  Having a proper scraper sure helped but I did end up having to use my orbital sander to remove the smaller pieces of vinyl.  I forgot how much sanding indoors stinks.   :banghead:



There was enough time for one coat of bondo.


The next steps will be to get the vinyl off the front of the cabinet and start laminating.

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Roadblasters
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2020, 04:13:18 pm »
Nice! Keep us posted!
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2020, 02:20:44 pm »
Keep carving out that time wp34, looking good.

Mike A

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2020, 02:25:49 pm »
Glad to see another cab end up in good hands.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2020, 03:00:49 pm »
I swear to god this game gave inspiration for the Mario Kart blue shell to Nintendo.  I owned one for awhile, and you'd be cruising in first up until the last few moments where the car in second would show up out of nowhere and shoot you.

Then I learned the trick was to stay in second up up until the end of the race.  Then you're beating multiple races per quarter.


 :cheers:


I'm an idiot, I was thinking of Road Riot 4WD. 

 ;D
« Last Edit: January 08, 2020, 03:07:33 pm by pbj »

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2020, 09:45:29 pm »
Looking good!

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2020, 11:29:19 pm »
Got some time to work on this one again today.  I found out the vinyl pulls off pretty easy if you can get a good grip on it.  Almost like shelf paper.



The back door was bad and I decided it would be faster/easier to make a new one than to screw around with bondo.




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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2020, 11:39:36 pm »

I'm going to try and laminate the front without taking the cabinet apart.  We shall see.

For the section just below the CP I took a page for Arroyo's book and did some creative laminating.  I cut the laminate to the exact width and then applied it like you would a CPO.  I then carefully routed the top and bottom with a spiral flush trip bit.  It was a bit nerve racking but I'm really happy with the results.



T-molding added.


We stopped taking the newspaper last year and it has made masking a bit problematic. 


Next steps are to laminate the coin door area and PCB door.

Arroyo

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2020, 01:27:59 pm »
I cut the laminate to the exact width and then applied it like you would a CPO.  I then carefully routed the top and bottom with a spiral flush trip bit.

Not so bad right?  I've been doing it more and more, and when you hinge things and take your time it works perfect.  One thing I have learned is that if you are doing an inside corner, it is best to put painters tape down near the corner.  That way you can lift up any excess contact cement (on the side you aren't adhering to).  The reason this is important is that if you leave it on, when you attempt to hinge the laminate the excess contact cement wants to grab the piece and screw with your alignment.  Barring that though it really isn't bad.  Nice work.  :cheers:

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #15 on: June 17, 2020, 02:15:35 pm »
I cut the laminate to the exact width and then applied it like you would a CPO.  I then carefully routed the top and bottom with a spiral flush trip bit.

Not so bad right?  I've been doing it more and more, and when you hinge things and take your time it works perfect.  One thing I have learned is that if you are doing an inside corner, it is best to put painters tape down near the corner.  That way you can lift up any excess contact cement (on the side you aren't adhering to).  The reason this is important is that if you leave it on, when you attempt to hinge the laminate the excess contact cement wants to grab the piece and screw with your alignment.  Barring that though it really isn't bad.  Nice work.  :cheers:

Yeah not too bad.  Originally I was going to cut it to the exact size but I chickened out when I saw my router could take care of the top and bottom.  Thanks for the tip on the tape.   :cheers:

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #16 on: November 19, 2020, 10:37:10 pm »
Back at it.  Trying to get this baby in the basement before the snow flies in Iowa.

First things first! My daddy always said to make a backup.  I like to make a template of the side of any cabinet that comes through my garage just in case.  In this exact case I have an idea for a future custom cabinet based on the Atari System 1.



I used the template to cut out the laminate for the sides.  Today I didn't get so far as to laminate the sides but I did get each side cut out.  It has been a while since I cut laminate and I forgot how delicate it is.  It took much longer than I had anticipated.


The goal for today was to get the coin door area laminated.  This part of the cabinet is tricky because my router will not reach all the corners.  I gave some serious last-minute consideration to painting.


But came to my senses in the end and slapped some laminate on.


I cut a 1" piece of 1/8" hardboard to help stabilize my router.  It really helped for this section of the coin door.


This is as close as I could get with my router.




To get to those hard-to-reach places I bought a flush trim bit for my Dremel. 


This was one of those steps where I worried more than necessary.  The Dremel worked fantastic despite my fretting over it for weeks.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.




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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #17 on: November 20, 2020, 02:32:29 am »
GREATLY appreciate the tip on the dremel bit.

Definitely need to get one of those.

First time I worked with some formica on some countertops with my grandad I was shocked at how brittle laminates can be (given how tough they are once laid down properly!)

RoadBlasters was a favorite of mine BITD
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #18 on: November 20, 2020, 08:13:07 am »
Nice solution there wp34.  I hadn’t considered the Dremel as a router alternative.  Did you keep it perpendicular by hand, or were you able to rest the tool on the wood like a router?

Good tip on making a copy of the sides.  What material and thickness do you use for the copy and where do you store it?

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #19 on: November 20, 2020, 10:34:27 am »
First time I worked with some formica on some countertops with my grandad I was shocked at how brittle laminates can be (given how tough they are once laid down properly!)

Man is it brittle.  At least I didn't cut myself on it this time.   :cheers:

wp34

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #20 on: November 20, 2020, 10:39:57 am »
Nice solution there wp34.  I hadn’t considered the Dremel as a router alternative.  Did you keep it perpendicular by hand, or were you able to rest the tool on the wood like a router?

Perpendicular by hand.  It wasn't nearly as hard as I was expecting but I wouldn't want to do a lot of routing that way.  Sure worked well in this case.

Good tip on making a copy of the sides.  What material and thickness do you use for the copy and where do you store it?

 For the templates I use 1/4 inch hardboard and keep them in my garden shed stacked against the wall.  They don't take up a lot of space that way.


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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #21 on: November 22, 2020, 03:46:40 am »

Good tip on making a copy of the sides.  What material and thickness do you use for the copy and where do you store it?

Cheapest/thinnest/best thing I have found for templates that takes up minimal space is actually Lauan interior door skin.
You can buy it in 36"x 80"sheets.  1/8" at the most
Pop a hole in the right place and hang em on a nail somewhere out of the way and you won't know they exist until you need em.
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #22 on: November 22, 2020, 06:17:29 am »
Quarter inch hard board for templates.

And I think I mentioned before, I love Road Blasters.

Nice job on this.


wp34

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #23 on: November 24, 2020, 02:33:39 pm »
Quarter inch hard board for templates.

And I think I mentioned before, I love Road Blasters.

Nice job on this.

Thanks!


Mike A

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #24 on: November 24, 2020, 02:41:19 pm »


There are DXF and Vcarve pro files for that cab at:

www.classicarcadecabinets.com

wp34

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #25 on: November 24, 2020, 05:16:42 pm »


There are DXF and Vcarve pro files for that cab at:

www.classicarcadecabinets.com

Thanks.  I've used that site for a couple of other projects.  I like to cut by hand and have the plans printed out in full-size on a large format printer.


On a side-note I just noticed that my first post on this project was one year ago today.  Dang I'm slow.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #26 on: November 25, 2020, 02:08:07 am »
The longer it takes the better it will be!

Yeah?!

Like... wine

Or cheese

Or...
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #27 on: November 25, 2020, 10:11:10 pm »
The longer it takes the better it will be!

Yeah?!

Like... wine

Or cheese

Or...

 :cheers:

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #28 on: November 25, 2020, 10:19:51 pm »
For the back/top of the cabinet I only repainted above the stickers.  I really wanted to repaint the whole cabinet but in the end decided I preferred to keep the original decals and didn't want to try and paint around them.   The back door was in pretty bad shape so I ended up making a new one.  It isn't perfect but I'm happy with how it turned out. 



The sides turned out great.  This was the first time I laminated a full side without any help.  Usually my wife or one of my kids helps me set the laminate in place.


I tried to drill the pedal area from the front by feel which was incredibly dumb.  I missed the hole with my initial drill.   :banghead:  It will be covered by the pedal so nobody will see it but it still makes me mad.


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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #29 on: November 26, 2020, 02:27:29 am »
Still looks excellent to me
Don't sweat the small stuff, right?

Would you mind sharing what you are using for adhesive with that laminate?
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

wp34

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #30 on: November 27, 2020, 07:49:17 pm »
Still looks excellent to me
Don't sweat the small stuff, right?

Would you mind sharing what you are using for adhesive with that laminate?

Thanks!

I usually use Loctite spray adhesive for its ease of use.  You just spray it on to both surfaces and wait a few minutes to apply.


For this project the spray was too messy for the portions of the front of the cabinet and so I ended up using DAP.  With this you brush it on to each surface.


For the PCB door I did use the Loctite and while it was quick and easy I had a lot of overspray to cleanup after the fact.  As such I decided to use the DAP for the side panels and will likely just use it for future projects. 


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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #31 on: November 28, 2020, 02:39:33 am »
Appreciate the wisdom- thank you.

I had only every used the brush on stuff myself and that gets messy too if you aren't careful about it.

Spray is so nice because it usually seems easier to get an even layer of it, but like you say-

Oh... the overspray
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

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« Reply #32 on: December 14, 2020, 08:05:33 pm »
.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2021, 02:07:28 am by ChanceKJ »

wp34

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #33 on: March 26, 2021, 12:13:07 pm »
With the laminating done it I finally got around to applying the artwork this week.  The side-art came with the cabinet and I was told it was from This Old Game.  Unfortunately it had been sitting a long time and was very wrinkled and impossible to lie flat.  Furthermore the artwork is supposed to have a 1/2" bleed on every edge but was actually smaller than the cabinet.



I had a heck of a time getting it applied but my wife ended up jumping to help and really saved the day.  Between the two of us we were able to get the artwork on and I'm happy with the result.  It took a lot of starts and stops and a generous use of a hairdryer to make it happen.  3M vinyl is very impressive and forgiving material.

In the end I had to trim the white "overlap" off the bottom of the artwork due to the smaller size.  Since I went with black laminate underneath you really can't see it.  I also had to trim a little off the top as well.



Also in the picture above you can see I attached carpet sliders to the legs with double-sided tape.  First I tried some nylon leg levelers that were recommended over on KLOV but they really didn't work well on my carpet.  This setup is fantastic and the cabinet is extremely easy for me to move.  Will use this on a couple of my cabinets that do not have castors.



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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #34 on: March 26, 2021, 12:56:16 pm »
Looks great.  Only you will notice that bottom strip.  Really sucks that the side art was smaller than it should have been.  I wonder what happened?

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #35 on: March 26, 2021, 01:50:51 pm »
Looks great.  Only you will notice that bottom strip.  Really sucks that the side art was smaller than it should have been.  I wonder what happened?

Thanks javeryh.  It either shrunk over time or was sized wrong originally.  I'm not really sure.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #36 on: March 26, 2021, 02:11:50 pm »
All in all I am very pleased with how it turned out.  At first I figured this would just be practice and then I would end up ordering new properly-sized artwork from This Old Game.  I noticed some issues with the second side where the glue wasn't always sticking.  As long as that doesn't get worse I will leave the artwork as is.  It isn't perfect but looks too good to justify another $200.





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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #37 on: March 26, 2021, 02:22:00 pm »
Nicely done.

That looks excellent.
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools! I can fix it.

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #38 on: March 27, 2021, 09:14:11 pm »
2nd that ... it looks sharp

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Re: Roadblasters
« Reply #39 on: March 27, 2021, 09:34:57 pm »
Thanks guys.   :cheers: