chadsarcade
Lord of Vectors (tm)
Nice work! I'm reading this interest, one of my cabs has similar (but more extensive) damage to the bottom sides.
Defender (Black Tiger) de-conversion/restoration.
- Thread starter ArcadeAddict77
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chadsarcade said:
Thanks dude.
ArcadeAddict77
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I got home last night, all layers are now glued as well as I will get them. Mixed up some Bondo and lathered it into the cavities and around areas which need filling. I am going to follow up with a smaller amount to fill in some of the lower areas where I was unable to get as much on as I wanted in those places.
While I was here I went around the side with a fresh razor blade to get the last of the green paint off which can be removed. This side is far from perfect, and I still have some green paint in some depressions in the wood which I will get some touch up paint for.
While I was here I went around the side with a fresh razor blade to get the last of the green paint off which can be removed. This side is far from perfect, and I still have some green paint in some depressions in the wood which I will get some touch up paint for.
Baiterhater
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Its looking great ! your end up with a nice defender there
j
j
ArcadeAddict77
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Been putting this off for a bit recently. A combination of competing priorities and not having the right tools to finish the bondo work.
Got out to the hardware store this weekend and bought the things I needed. Paint, bondo knife kit.
I also received new leg levelers for the cabinet. Going heavy duty as I want this thing to last another 30+ years when I am done with it.
The old leg leveler blocks were ok, but not quite big enough for the plates I have, plus the rear blocks had the old leg levelers seized in them.
Old leg leveler blocks removed, and new ones cut. I am probably going to get these finished 100%, then finish off the work on the bottom of the cabinet before fitting these back.
Couple of pics, all I took when I was out in the garage working on this:
More to come soon...
ArcadeAddict772017-09-11 15:27:17
Got out to the hardware store this weekend and bought the things I needed. Paint, bondo knife kit.
I also received new leg levelers for the cabinet. Going heavy duty as I want this thing to last another 30+ years when I am done with it.
The old leg leveler blocks were ok, but not quite big enough for the plates I have, plus the rear blocks had the old leg levelers seized in them.
Old leg leveler blocks removed, and new ones cut. I am probably going to get these finished 100%, then finish off the work on the bottom of the cabinet before fitting these back.
Couple of pics, all I took when I was out in the garage working on this:
More to come soon...
ArcadeAddict772017-09-11 15:27:17
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Took a few minutes to finish drilling the new leg leveler blocks. Ready to be reinstalled now.
ArcadeAddict77
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After four rounds of filling with bondo and a load of sanding this is how the worse off side now looks. I actually took the sander back to it after this photo as there was still more green paint and raised bondo I wanted to get rid of. Still this is shaping up to be much better than the sorry state I started with.
nice work
ArcadeAddict77
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Hurray Banana said:
Thanks, hopefully I am making positive changes here.
Just for fun here's a comparison of where I started and where I am with this now. Its not perfect on the under/inside but considering this will not be seen... it all comes down to a time / effort trade off.
ArcadeAddict772017-09-16 00:46:46
ArcadeAddict77
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Got home tonight and gave the bottom of the cabinet another coat of black to finish that off. Took off the t-molding on one side as I needed to strip more tiny flakes of green off with a razor blade. I hate to think of the hours I have spent doing this now.
When I first got the cabinet I noticed the right hand side by the control panel seemed to be loose. The coin door panel was loose from the side. While the cabinet is down on this side I knocked on the coin door panel and sure enough the sound confirmed it needed fixing or this was going to continue to be a point of weakness. I'm not sure how popular I am going to be with this, as at this point I am pushing out the boundaries of originality, but my priority here is making this cabinet last longer than I want to use it, let alone Williams or the arcade operators.
Ripped some more strips similar to those I cut for the back door. Dry fitted to make sure I have enough room.
Quick tester with the nail on these two pieces of excess. This material is slightly thinner than the cabinet sides, so no danger of piercing right the way through.
Wood glue and nail gun to make it secure. A knock afterwards and it now sounds much more solid.
DMC if anyone is interested is the operator, Derrick Music Company located out of Hinton, West Virginia at the time the machine was operated. See the first post in this thread for some history.
ArcadeAddict772017-09-16 02:12:14
When I first got the cabinet I noticed the right hand side by the control panel seemed to be loose. The coin door panel was loose from the side. While the cabinet is down on this side I knocked on the coin door panel and sure enough the sound confirmed it needed fixing or this was going to continue to be a point of weakness. I'm not sure how popular I am going to be with this, as at this point I am pushing out the boundaries of originality, but my priority here is making this cabinet last longer than I want to use it, let alone Williams or the arcade operators.
Ripped some more strips similar to those I cut for the back door. Dry fitted to make sure I have enough room.
Quick tester with the nail on these two pieces of excess. This material is slightly thinner than the cabinet sides, so no danger of piercing right the way through.
Wood glue and nail gun to make it secure. A knock afterwards and it now sounds much more solid.
DMC if anyone is interested is the operator, Derrick Music Company located out of Hinton, West Virginia at the time the machine was operated. See the first post in this thread for some history.
ArcadeAddict772017-09-16 02:12:14
ArcadeAddict77
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Back on the resto. Flipped the cabinet onto the other side, had enough of looking at the other side at least for the moment. Used the razor blade to remove the last of the remaining green paint on this side. Also removed t-molding on both sides now to get into the edges of the sides. Small amount of touch up on the art where the scratches have gotten through to bare wood. Some small amount of bondo work. Unfortunately this will take 1 or 2 more applications to build out the piece at the front where some larger damage happened.
ArcadeAddict77
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Been doing other things, but have also done some work on this project. Almost finished with bondo and sanding the bottoms. I am just at the point where I am doing finer work which no-one else will probably ever notice. Painted just about everything I wanted to sharpen up the overall look of the cabinet.
Almost time for final clean up and reassembly. At this point I really need to get this thing stood back up so I can step back and see what I have been doing this for, its been laid on its sides for just too long.
ArcadeAddict772017-10-25 23:19:03
Almost time for final clean up and reassembly. At this point I really need to get this thing stood back up so I can step back and see what I have been doing this for, its been laid on its sides for just too long.
ArcadeAddict772017-10-25 23:19:03
Great progress
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Hurray Banana said:
Thank you. It feels good to almost be at the point where I can stand this thing up.
Got home this afternoon and attached the leg levelers and put some strips of wood up against the back lower panel. I think over the time this cabinet was operated and sack trucked around this became a point of weakness. I'm trying to make this thing as robust as I can as I would like to take it out to shows at some point.
It's definitely gruelling work doing this level of repair. Takes patience and bloody ages. If you're like me, you will achieve something close to perfection then stuff it up when you move the cab in the future. Mind you, you've got legs...dj_yt2017-10-26 22:04:59
ArcadeAddict77
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dj_yt said:
No doubt on how gruelling this can be. Unfortunately this will be far from perfect. If anyone wanted to see what Defender patina looks like this is a great example.
Though I am not strictly finished on the sides I just ran out of patience and am moving onto other parts of the project for the time being.
Cabinet stood up against comparison shot.
Bought this, yes genuine cigarette burns no less
and this:
Which will wipe away the last remaining parts of Black Tiger on this cabinet.
ArcadeAddict772018-03-06 20:01:47
ArcadeAddict77
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Waiting for my parts to come in CP and marquee, so started work on the speaker grill assembly. Dismantled and gave the grill a rattle can spray to freshen it up. Checked what looks to be the original defender speaker and it is a 4 ohm.
At this point with how little I have of the original defender wiring, no PCBs, and no power supply I am seriously considering running this cabinet with a JROK board, at least to get this machine up and running which means I need an 8 ohm speaker, right?
At this point with how little I have of the original defender wiring, no PCBs, and no power supply I am seriously considering running this cabinet with a JROK board, at least to get this machine up and running which means I need an 8 ohm speaker, right?
This is a very cool thread sir, what a great job. Great to see the original artwork underneath is looking pretty damned nice.
The artwork seems to be of the rarer variant also, the guys on the sides are both facing forwards as opposed to the guy on the right hand side often faces the back of the cab(looking at it from the front) Also, the stars/dots on the front are yellow as opposed to red.
Just out of interest, what is the serial number?
Awesome work!
The artwork seems to be of the rarer variant also, the guys on the sides are both facing forwards as opposed to the guy on the right hand side often faces the back of the cab(looking at it from the front) Also, the stars/dots on the front are yellow as opposed to red.
Just out of interest, what is the serial number?
Awesome work!
ArcadeAddict77
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PAC-MAN said:This is a very cool thread sir, what a great job. Great to see the original artwork underneath is looking pretty damned nice.
The artwork seems to be of the rarer variant also, the guys on the sides are both facing forwards as opposed to the guy on the right hand side often faces the back of the cab(looking at it from the front) Also, the stars/dots on the front are yellow as opposed to red.
Just out of interest, what is the serial number?
Awesome work!
Thanks!
You seem to know a lot more about Defender cabs than I do then. I have seen multiple numbers stamped on the cabinet and I will have to look them all up. I do have a picture of 1103 on the back of the machine stamped on the panel above the back door.