Alca Space Firebird U/R ( ex Duke Of Lancaster ship)

[Ronnie Dent]

Can't you trace who had the cab and maybe buy the parts? or at least some of them

Well that would be worth a try, Martin the delivery man sold it in 2012 where it went from him to me I have no idea! Sure I seen a sale thread for it by @Pacman83 but the pics were in photobucket so you can't see them now to know if it's the same machine

thread here www.ukvac.com/forum/threads/space-firebird-upright-alca.26004/

 

[Ronnie Dent]

Not much to update, filled the many holes inside back in prep for re painting the black

 

[blazerfrazer]

This is great work, loving what you've done so far. I nearly bought this cab, and I'm so glad it's gone to someone with the skills and passion to make it original again.

I'm currently working on an Alca Snapper and, ironically, I'm at the same stage as you. I use chalkboard paint on my cabs, it's amazing stuff. It was recommended to me on here years ago and all my restorations get it. It goes on really well and covers a multitude of sins.

I'll get a picture of the paint and upload it. I will start a thread like yours soon, keep up the great work, top job!

 

[blazerfrazer]

It's lovely paint in my opinion, definitely worth a try to see if you get on with it. It's very durable and blends into itself well if you need to touch it up, it looks very matt in the pic but its not so much in real life.

 

[Ronnie Dent]

Thanks, that looks great blazefazer! Would be good to track your progress with it too, was yours complete inside? Also be good to see some pics to compare as I have little to go on, thanks for posting, paint wise I'm using what I had which is Dulux masonry black but it's probably more matt than yours by looks

Cheers Ronnie

 

[Alpha1]

That was definitely complete when it was rescued. Wonder what happened!

 

[Ronnie Dent]

That was definitely complete when it was rescued. Wonder what happened!

Yes the Firebird? Only the back door was AWOL

 

[blazerfrazer]

was yours complete inside? Also be good to see some pics to compare as I have little to go on, thanks for posting

I have the Alca Planet from the same chap. I got it working and will give it a light restoration at some point. It was totally complete and original when I got it. It's actually the identical cabinet to yours, whereas the Snapper is a slightly different variant that Alca did. I'm happy to share anything you need. I can post some pictures here or DM them to you, whichever you prefer. I don't want to hijack your thread with my stuff!

 

[Ronnie Dent]

I have the Alca Planet from the same chap. I got it working and will give it a light restoration at some point. It was totally complete and original when I got it. It's actually the identical cabinet to yours, whereas the Snapper is a slightly different variant that Alca did. I'm happy to share anything you need. I can post some pictures here or DM them to you, whichever you prefer. I don't want to hijack your thread with my stuff!

Brilliant cheers, If you could message me some pics that would be great

 

[Ronnie Dent]

Having looked at other Alca cabs inc Frazers they all seem to have art on the glass bezel, this makes me thing mine should have, but as far as I know the only image that exists is of mine, you would think there would be more lurking somewhere

 

[qjuk]

Managed to get the screen fitted, intervideo 17” nos, I believe it can run a 19” crt so maybe prospects to upgrade later
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Hi Ronnie,

Can I ask if you have tried getting a picture on this monitor in its current position?

The reason why I ask is that I’ve also got one of these 17” NOS monitors from Dave Wallace. On mine, if you position the monitor horizontally and upright you get a perfect crisp picture. As soon as I position the monitor at 45° degrees (like in your picture) I get colour purity issues. The same happens if I try and mount the monitor vertically, the colours go weird on the left side of the screen (red goes orange, blue goes purple and green goes turquoise).

I just wondered if you have got the same issue with your monitor?

 

[Ronnie Dent]

Not got to the stage where I have a signal hooked up to it yet. I may get the same issue, that’s something to look forward to lol, is it not a degauss issue?
Thanks Ronnie

 

[qjuk]

No, it’s definitely not a degauss issue. I thought that at the time and have tried a degaussing wand several times but it makes absolutely no difference.

If you tilt the monitor whilst hooked up to a test colour pattern, you can see the colours change.

I’ve had a similar issue before with a colour vector monitor. The monitor was factory set to horizontal, but rotating it vertically gave me colour purity issues. In this instance moving the machine to a different location pretty much solved the colour issue.

In the case with my 17” LG/Philips tube, no amount of moving drastically improves the picture (apart from standing the tube vertically upright in a horizontal position - then the colours are perfect). Great for a candy cabinet, but no real use for a lot of cabarets which tend to have the monitors mounted at 45°

 

[big10p]

No, it’s definitely not a degauss issue. I thought that at the time and have tried a degaussing wand several times but it makes absolutely no difference.

If you tilt the monitor whilst hooked up to a test colour pattern, you can see the colours change.

I’ve had a similar issue before with a colour vector monitor. The monitor was factory set to horizontal, but rotating it vertically gave me colour purity issues. In this instance moving the machine to a different location pretty much solved the colour issue.

In the case with my 17” LG/Philips tube, no amount of moving drastically improves the picture (apart from standing the tube vertically upright in a horizontal position - then the colours are perfect). Great for a candy cabinet, but no real use for a lot of cabarets which tend to have the monitors mounted at 45°

I had this issue once. Just turning the monitor round slowly affected purity. I figured maybe the shadow mask was loose and was being affected by magnetic north. God knows. 🤷‍♂️ I basically had to dial in the purity rings as best I could once the cab was in place.

 

[Ronnie Dent]

Might be a question for Grant @gunblade

 

[cools]

No, it’s definitely not a degauss issue. I thought that at the time and have tried a degaussing wand several times but it makes absolutely no difference.

If you tilt the monitor whilst hooked up to a test colour pattern, you can see the colours change.

I’ve had a similar issue before with a colour vector monitor. The monitor was factory set to horizontal, but rotating it vertically gave me colour purity issues. In this instance moving the machine to a different location pretty much solved the colour issue.

In the case with my 17” LG/Philips tube, no amount of moving drastically improves the picture (apart from standing the tube vertically upright in a horizontal position - then the colours are perfect). Great for a candy cabinet, but no real use for a lot of cabarets which tend to have the monitors mounted at 45°

I've had the same with one. I found I had to degauss it with a brief pulse with an external coil (which means having to check the image to see whether that pulse was successful) rather than rely on the PTC.