Computer Space restoration for CGE 2012

[RetroGaming Roundup]

CGE has owned this game for a while but it sat in their storage facility for a long time, and it had a rough life before they acquired this rare gem. Last year at CGE we talked over getting it restored and thanks to Pete out in Vegas it was packed up and shipped to Scott at RGRUP who wrote the book on Computer Space so that it can be ready for the museum at CGE.

The package arrives;



The game looks easy from 15 ft;



But up close the game has allot of damage;



The metals are pretty corroded;



The back board is delaminating;



And the edges are wrecked;

[Queen Of The Felines]

Forget the Computer Space, I want to know more about that Ferrari.

[RetroGaming Roundup]

That is how the RetroGaming Roundup crew rolls.

[axxo1]

Forget the Computer Space, I want to know more about that Ferrari.

pretty cool car isn't it

[Niku-Sama]

so how long had it gone missing?

[skaar]

Italian car, Dixie flag. Makes sense.

[skaar]

Neat machine, classic look.

[DogP]

Oh... nice! I didn't know that it had arrived. I can't wait to see how it looks once you're done w/ it... make it look half as good as yours and it'll be a museum piece.

DogP

[RetroGaming Roundup]

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With the party and car show out of the way it is time to get to work on CS. Here is the first part of the job, making the cabinet solid. Mice had built a nest and through digging and pissing they had done allot of damage. Computer Space is made up for a main fiberglass body with a monitor support fiberglass frame bonded in. The base and the back are plywood that is bonded into the main body. The plywood was debonded from the body so I had to clean that up and rebond them, as well as adding in additional support through gussets made up of resin and chopped fiberglass. Now that the cabinet is solid and not falling apart it is ready for the edges to be cleaned up and the wet sanding to start.

Notice how the fiberglass shell is separating from the plywood back.




Remains of a mouse nest, to be honest it was an afterthought to leave this last bit in for a pic, it was a hell of a mess.






Looks a bit uneven? Well Computer Space was anything but even, a half inch or inch here or there was how they were made.

[heavysixer]

Hey I came across your post, while researching parts of a blue CS that I just bought. Thanks for posting pictures as you complete your restoration. Mine has damage in nearly the same spot as yours, but a different corner. Additionally, mine is incomplete (missing the shroud and tv).

Do you have any tips on where to get the proper paint for the shell? Also is your CS's paint job rough on the flat spots of the game but smooth on all the curves?

Also do you have any idea where one goes about finding spare parts of these things? I found flippers.com but i'd really like to hang on my arms and legs for the moment.

Good luck on your restoration!

[RetroGaming Roundup]

The paint job on CS should be the same feel on all surfaces, allot like the feel of a bass boat or any other metal flake painted product.

My schedule is to to get the CS on its way to Vegas not later than mid July so it will be there in time for CGE, so I can tell you that most of your questions about how to fix that crack and the paint products will be answered here over the next few weeks. I should have a post up with more progress sometime this week.

Here are some pics from my own CS when I did the paint; http://www.gamegavel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3945

As to flippers.com, he has a stash of parts and he knows it, there are no other regular "in stock" suppliers and he knows that, and charges accordingly. That stash of parts he has is slow moving at those prices but with so few on hand and such a limited market he is making as much as he can. The alternative to his store is a constant trolling of the auction sites and sites like KLOV, and word of mouth.

The TV is a tube type, and by that I do not just mean it is not a LCD, the circuitry supporting the picture tube is a tube based receiver. In the end there is nothing special about it, many of the small portable TVs of the late 60's and early 70's are the same thing. One important note is that the video signal from the PCB is not fed into the tuner, the tuner has been bypassed and it feeds directly into the chassis. Most any tube type portable of that era could be modified to work. The signal the game produces is similar to NTSC and can be displayed on most B&W security monitors (I use one for testing).

The shroud is a fiberglass or plastic shell (both variants were made) that is not hard for any decent fiberglass shop to reproduce from an original. And that is what flippers almost certainly did was head down to a shop and have it done, probably at $30~50 a pop depending on how many he had made. You could do the same if you found someone willing to risk their original to make a mold from, obviously he had one on hand. And naturally the rarity of the game makes that difficult. And alternate method would be to just make one, which isn't that hard. You know what the front and back sides have to look like and can make a template of both, the rest is just making a wrap around then you have what you need to make a mold from. I would suggest buying Sportplane Construction Techniques by Tony Bingelis. It is about building aircraft but everything you need to know is in there, it is no different and in fact much easier than building an aircraft nosebowl or cowl. I build airplanes for a hobby and that is where I picked up those skills.

A great resource for understanding CS is our interview with the co-designer of Computer Space Ted Dabney, you can find it here; http://www.retrogamingroundup.com/sh...24_2010.10.htm

And be sure to check out our friend over at www.computerspacefan.com