The story begins with a young man’s dream, a dream to offer the world a chance!
Enter Preston Burt, the year is 2012. Preston has just been on a warehouse raid. But not just any ole raid. In this raid, he perchance happened upon a NOS arcade video game kit. Little did young Preston know that this NOS Kit would have the ability to one day CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE FOREVER!
Fast forward to 2018, our young Preston is now all grown up and the co-founder of the Southern Fried Game Expo. A very prestigious and glamorous position no doubt. And as Preston is reveling in all of his success, is he content to rest on his laurels and let the SFGE 2018 show be merely Great? No indeed , he comes up with a plan, a plan that could make SFGE 2018 the GREATEST SHOW EVER!
What is that plan you ask? Well it involves that now almost forgotten NOS Kit. That rare game is heretofore unnamed. The infamous, nay may I say, Celestial game…………. ZOAR !!!!
His plan, to bring the game, a game rarely if ever seen in public, to SFGE 2018. That in itself would be sheer brilliance. But does Preston’s genius end there? No indeed! Not only will you be able to play the game in all it’s glory , but you may, just may, be able to be the HIGH SCORE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!
Yes, folks, with only one recorded score, and that just a paltry pittance of a score, you have the chance to be Number 1 in the world at a game that is rare and wonderful.
But with tears in his eyes, Preston realized the glaring problem with his master plan. He had no cabinet to put the game into. Was the dream to be denied, would there be cats and dogs living in peace and mass hysteria? No sir, no way!
Enter humble Hailrazer. A simple man with simple skills living in the shadow of mighty men such as Preston. But this man could help, he could rise out of the pitiful ashes of his own existence. How you ask? By re-purposing an arcade cabinet to put this Celestial game ZOAR into.
And that is what has happened. So with no further ado, I give you……. A ZOAR re-purposing!
The cabinet as it was received:
But oh no! It seems as if the bottom of the cab has had some water damage.
Well, let’s get rid of it by cutting off a few inches and putting on some new melamine. This was done with wood glue and biscuit joining.
Now the back, top, and inside front edges are sanded and ready for black paint.
And the painting is done!
Now laminate is applied to the sides and front.
And with the new laminate
Now we have to trim down the marquee , unfortunately the cabinet is an Atari cab with a very small marquee space. But it turned out acceptable. The metal brackets were sanded and painted.
Now it was time to tackle the side art. Well the side art is around 35 years old. So the adhesive isn’t very sticky. Well the artwork was laid flat for several weeks. Then it was applied dry method with 3M #77 clear spray adhesive. It turned out beautifully
Now, what about that control panel? Well, it was stripped and sanded and then painted.
But wait a minute, is that 35-year-old cpo going to work? Unfortunately ….no.
It cracked the moment it was bent.
So I scanned it and then fixed it up in Photoshop.
The file was sent to EscapePod and the new CPO is already on its way to me.
The buttonholes will be punched and the new overlay installed next week. Pics then.
The coin door was sanded and painted
And the cabinet was wired.
And finally, I will be adding t-molding
Zoar Lives!!!
