Australian Space Ace in need of a little TLC

[drawfull]

I picked up an Australian Dragon's Lair II and Australian Space Ace today, and while the DL is in lovely condition, the Space Ace has seen better days. The biggest issues with it which need fixing are the following. I will cross off this list one by one over the next couple of weeks months years hopefully.

External:
Marquee needs touching up or new acrylic, silk screened. No artwork available. Scratches are difficult to see, but prevalent


Needs side art replacing - the front lobe has been cut off on both sides. Plus there's a few dinks and scratches too. Repro is not available.



Needs CPO replacing, the front lip is badly worn and there are cracks around some of the bolts etc. Repro not available. Needs new white P1 and P2 buttons.
Refresh all bolts


New rear door / or lots of bondo/filler and new base


Sandblast and refinish coin doors


Other bits
Whole cab needs sanding / re-vinyling but the gentleman who supplied me the cabinet also gave me some replica vinyl stuff. The inside walls are especially rough towards the plexiglass.
New t-molding (flat)

Internal
Cap kit on the monitor, it's a little dim
Rebuild and reconnect all PSUs
Reflow bad solder joints
Upgrade LDP to a Pioneer LD-V8000

Artwork is going to be the biggest issue on this cabinet, but I would like it as accurate as possible whilst still looking new. I don't have a scanner so I plan to take loads of hi-res pics, import to photoshop and somehow recreate the existing art. I need a proper camera. Or knowledge of how to get good looking photos out of my phone.

[Spyridon]

Artwork is going to be the biggest issue on this cabinet, but I would like it as accurate as possible whilst still looking new. I don't have a scanner so I plan to take loads of hi-res pics, import to photoshop and somehow recreate the existing art. I need a proper camera. Or knowledge of how to get good looking photos out of my phone.

Neat looking cab.  Scanners have really come down in price.  You may want to look into getting one as it seems like it will save you some headaches trying to figure out how to work with photos.

[drawfull]

And just hold the bed onto the side of the cab? Will that work?

[Vigo]

Cameras uses lenses, therefore even if your photos are facing straight on the art, there will still be distortion. Best just to get a scanner.

[drawfull]

Cameras uses lenses, therefore even if your photos are facing straight on the art, there will still be distortion. Best just to get a scanner.

Good point, I will pick one up tomorrow. Where I live there will be limited choice. what should I look for? What's a realistic DPI to get these days?

[RayB]

That artwork is an insult! Horrible! Looks like someone took line-art and gave it to their kid to color in a paint program using "fill".

There should be art available for the North American release. Use it instead.

[drawfull]

That artwork is an insult! Horrible! Looks like someone took line-art and gave it to their kid to color in a paint program using "fill".

There should be art available for the North American release. Use it instead.

I don't mind it, and in any case the cab is a completely different shape to the NA release. Plus this is apparently the only known cab of this type (didn't know that til a few minutes ago when I found this cab on another site from some years ago), so would be a shame to fit the wrong art.

[Spyridon]

Here is a tutorial from Rotheblog.com that discusses scanning side art.

[drawfull]

Brilliant link! Thanks!

edit: have ordered an A3 scanner, 2400dpi. Hope to have it by the weekend

[drawfull]

Got my scanner yesterday, gonna make a start on this this weekend. Maybe tomorrow if I can slope off work. Also got the Turbo Out Run I bought delivered and that needs the same treatment. Fun and games!

Will hopefully have some progress to show on both shortly.