Before and after.
The machine as I got it. It had been converted to a Choplifter game, but I thought the cabinet was a pretty solid Tron cabinet and decided to restore it.
Bunch of Choplifter junk I pulled off the cabinet.
I bought this monitor shroud. It needed new stickers, but the plastic was solid with no cracking.
Trial fit of the shroud. Almost looks like a Tron now!
Trial fit of the shroud.
Left inside surface, showing what was under the inner black vinyl covering that I removed.
Right inside surface, showing what was under the inner black vinyl covering that I removed.
This is the ugly vinyl that had been added to the inside surfaces of the monitor area on the cabinet. I pulled it off to get ready for sanding. If you notice the strip at the bottom, you can see the remains of the MCP cone translight (unfortunately that was all that was left)
Getting ready to start sanding.
After a few minutes with the random-orbit sander.
Getting ready to sand the other side.
The other side after sanding. I also did a touch on the front of the cabinet.
Here's the control panel. It's an original Tron panel with a red button where the spinner goes. The joystick is also a Tron original and doesn't even have any cracking.
Here's the control panel after stripping everything off down to the bare metal.
A brand new repro overlay applied.
Here's one of many Tron boardsets that I started accumulating in preparation for restoring this machine.
A Tron audio amp board that I bought (the original had been stripped out when the machine was converted to a Choplifter).
Brand new replacement T-Molding from www.t-molding.com.
The rear corners of the cabinet were a little smashed, so I got some "Minwax Wood Hardener" to try to repair the damaged "wood" (it's more like compressed wood fiber).
The damage to the corners basically splayed out the wood. I used a Dremel tool to route out some of the T-molding channel to allow the corners to be compressed back to their original shape. Here I've got the smashed areas clamped down and I'm wicking wood hardener into the damaged areas to both strengthen it and harden it into the recompressed shape.
Closeup of the repair work. The repair work actually turned out really well.
The repaired back edges. I also patched the holes in the sides of the cabinet that had been added to hold the Choplifter monitor.
Took the cabinet outside to sand down with a random orbit electric sander.
Here's what it looked like after sanding it all down.
After applying a thick coat of primer.
Primer (other side).
Back inside to let the primer dry.
Sanding the primer. At this point I would sand the primer really smooth, then add another coat of primer, and repeat. I did this quite a few times trying to get a nice good, smooth coat on it.
Sanding and sanding.
Some areas needed wood hardener to seal off the wood. The corners of the cabinet were of course the worst.
Sanded and ready for painting.
I had a local auto body-shop do the painting (I was too chicken). Here's the end result. They really did a fantastic job.
After painting by a local auto body shop.
Painting detail.
The original Tron wiring harness was incomplete and hacked up, so here's a replacement harness that I got on eBay.
Starting to run the wiring harness in the newly painted cabinet.
Running the wiring harness. You can also see that the new t-molding has been installed.
Some monitor shelf brackets that I cannibalized from another gutted Tron machine.
Running the wiring harness.
Dropping in the power block and an original Tron power supply (again from eBay).
The marquee light fixture installed.
The light fixture for the MCP translight graphic.
I can't remember why I had to do this. The connectors were different or something?
The original blacklight reflector was nasty. I decided to try and locate a source for the material used.
Brand new reflector material trimmed and fitted.
Before and after on the blacklight reflector.
The blacklight fixture had a bad ballast (figures).
Here's the front lighting fixtures and light panels installed.
The front lighting fixtures and light panels installed.
Uh oh. Looks like the audio amp is not the right board. The connectors don't match. I think this board is actually for a Discs of Tron machine. Back to eBay!
Comparing the 2 audio amp boards. The correct one for Tron is the one on the right. Notice the connector is different.
The audio amp connected up. Perfect fit now that I have the correct board.
Fitting a brand-new monitor.
Fitting a brand-new monitor. I got the cross-brackets from a Mrs Pacman machine and was told they were the same size. Notice they aren't quite as long as they are supposed to be, but good enough.
The new monitor installed.
Finally putting power on the cabinet to check out the lighting!
Checking out the lighting!
This is a NOS marquee that I actually purchased YEARS ago on eBay knowing that I'd someday have a Tron machine. I had never opened the package in the 4 or 5 years since I received it. I was happy to see that there was indeed a NOS marquee inside!
The NOS marquee mounted and lit up.
The coin door mounted. Yeah, I know I could have repainted it but I thought it looked fine.
A nice (and complete) Tron spinner that I bought on eBay.
Here I am transfering the control panel wiring from a parts control panel I picked up. The original Tron wiring had been removed.
The Choplifter control panel wiring that I had to remove.
Replacement spinner decal, which I ended up not needing.
Replacement joystick insert. I didn't use this as I ended up finding an original.
I stuck the inner joystick mounting rod into my drill as a makeshift lathe and used a scrubby pad to get it nice and shiney again.
Some NOS joystick handle pieces that I'd been saving for a couple of years.
The rebuilt Tron control panel installed.
The original Tron power supply had issues and I had told myself that if the original supply gave me any trouble I would replace it with this switching supply adapter. I had bought this adapter from Arcadeshop for my Discs of Tron, but I discovered that it doesn't work correctly with Discs of Tron (at least not the Environmental Cabinet version).
After swapping boards around between the 5 or so Tron boardsets I had laying around, I found a combination that worked. YAY!!!
Installing the monitor smoked plexi and mounting bezel.
Here's a replacement MCP graphic that I traded another collector for (I traded some vector monitor parts).
The MCP graphic installed in place.
Here's the repro monitor shroud art the I got from Phoenix Arcade. I hung it on the wall to let it straighten out.
Oh my god what a huge hassle and a huge MESS it was to get to this point. At this point I had gone through an entire can of adhesive remover, dissolved about 5 sets of gloves, and mucked up about 20 terry cloths. There was a black stain in our driveway for months after I did this. I left the rear graphic alone since it looked fine and wasn't cracking or lifting or anything.
The new Phoenix Arcade art installed on the monitor shroud.
The Phoenix Arcade inner art pieces are not trimmed to fit, so I bent a length of solder to match the contour of the edge that I would need to trim on the artwork.
Taking the length of solder with the contour, I created this posterboard template that I could trim to fit by trial and error.
Here's the template I made to properly trim the inner artwork pieces.
I used the templates to trim the inner artwork, which is being fitted into place here. I'm using painter's tape to just hold the piece in place with the backing still on it so I can check the fit.
The newly applied inner artwork. Perfect fit! You really have to trim it close, as the bottom edge is exposed right above where the control panel mounts. In hindsight I probably should have put down the artwork before installing the control panel mounting plates and just run the artwork underneath the plates.
Both pieces of inner artwork installed.
And the monitor shroud installed. Looking great!
Taping down the side artwork (again, from Phoenix Arcade) using painter's tape. The backing is still on the artwork. After taping the pieces down into the exact right position, I remove the tape one section at a time as I apply the artwork. I needed an extra set of hands here (my wife's) to help me juggle removing the pieces of tape in sequence, pulling the backing off the artwork, and smoothing it down VERY CAREFULLY with a towel as we went. These pieces of art are HUGE and consequently are VERY difficult to get on without bubbles or wrinkles (I consider myself pretty good at doing this and I still had a few minor issues). I went back and forth over whether or not I should “float” the art into place using warm soapy water, and I think if I had to do it again I probably would go that route.
All done!
