So ....... Atari Asteroids Deluxe ...... Snagged off eBay last week. Collected Sunday.
I had dreams of finding an unhacked, entirely original, matching serials cab. Maybe even find it just needs the fabled easy fix.
Ummmm ..... Perhaps not.
This is without doubt the filthiest, smelliest cab I've ever encountered, let alone owned. So bad is the aroma that I struggle to be in the same room as it.
These pics were lifted off the eBay ad:
And from those pics, it doesn't look toooo bad. The biggest clue about what was to come is provided by this pic:
I was properly puzzled by exactly what all of the crap in the bottom is, where it came from, and how it got there ....
The good news is that most of the crap is dry, almost crumbles to the touch. Some of it though wasn't dry. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was wet, but it had a sludgy texture to it .... Not good .....
Decided to take the coin bucket out and have a sniff .... And this is what I found:
A mouse nest ... Great. The cab had been stored somewhere dry. The sludge stuff is the usual crap, but soaked in mouse piss. Truly disgusting.
The 'good' news is that I've taken all of it out. Every piss soaked piss. The other good news is that despite all of this the base of the cab is sound.
The bad news is that everything in the bottom of the cab is pretty badly rusted. Before I could properly clean inside I wanted to remove the power assembly and wiring harness. 4 hours to do that. At one point I thought I'd have to resort to drilling some of the screws out. Resorted instead to fitting as much of my considerable bulk as possible into the cab of piss .... Not nice.
But power brick now out:
As is wiring harness:
I've sprayed the floor of the cab with disinfectant.
Next job will have to wait until the weekend. That'll be dragging the cab outside with a bucket of water and bleach and attacking it with a stiff brush.
I've a feeling this cab might take a while ....
I had dreams of finding an unhacked, entirely original, matching serials cab. Maybe even find it just needs the fabled easy fix.
Ummmm ..... Perhaps not.
This is without doubt the filthiest, smelliest cab I've ever encountered, let alone owned. So bad is the aroma that I struggle to be in the same room as it.
These pics were lifted off the eBay ad:
And from those pics, it doesn't look toooo bad. The biggest clue about what was to come is provided by this pic:
I was properly puzzled by exactly what all of the crap in the bottom is, where it came from, and how it got there ....
The good news is that most of the crap is dry, almost crumbles to the touch. Some of it though wasn't dry. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was wet, but it had a sludgy texture to it .... Not good .....
Decided to take the coin bucket out and have a sniff .... And this is what I found:
A mouse nest ... Great. The cab had been stored somewhere dry. The sludge stuff is the usual crap, but soaked in mouse piss. Truly disgusting.
The 'good' news is that I've taken all of it out. Every piss soaked piss. The other good news is that despite all of this the base of the cab is sound.
The bad news is that everything in the bottom of the cab is pretty badly rusted. Before I could properly clean inside I wanted to remove the power assembly and wiring harness. 4 hours to do that. At one point I thought I'd have to resort to drilling some of the screws out. Resorted instead to fitting as much of my considerable bulk as possible into the cab of piss .... Not nice.
But power brick now out:
As is wiring harness:
I've sprayed the floor of the cab with disinfectant.
Next job will have to wait until the weekend. That'll be dragging the cab outside with a bucket of water and bleach and attacking it with a stiff brush.
I've a feeling this cab might take a while ....
