It’s always good to complete a restoration. This Atari Battlezone cabaret is no exception. This cabinet was part of the Pete Davies collection, that I picked up last year. As one of 60-odd cabinets rescued from his house in Scotland, it has been very satisfying to get the machine up and running again in his memory.

You may recall in part 5, the cab was now in the house, had some scuffs touched up and I was making a start in rebuilding the hardware. So here we go then, into the final stretch.

There was one final job to do in the garage – detailing the coin door flaps, screws and control panel carriage bolts. They had rusted quite badly, so I gave the heads a rub with sandpaper and got to work with the Hammerite spray:

I left that lot to dry overnight and they look like new. Back into the house, and here’s all the bits that need to go back into the cab:

There’s a few hours work here, so here goes:

Then back downstairs for a couple of jobs:

Artwork next. So the story behind this is pretty involved. I wanted to get the original side art on this cab. It’s been available for some time, as the original screens from Atari turned up a while back. You can buy this original stuff from the USA, but at well over $100 plus shipping, plus customs charges to get it here, it comes at a heavy price.

I was lucky and managed to find someone who made a good approximation of it for me. I got it over to a specialist printers, who did a great job. This is printed on thick 3M vinyl, then diamond lacquered to protect it, and prevent fading over time:

I got the monitor ready, and applied the relevant red and green gels. Then went through a flight check, before switching things on:

So here you go. The finished result:

Here’s a couple of before/after pics:

So there you go. I reckon that’s about 20 hours work all in. Everything is documented from start to finish, so if you missed the earlier work, click here. I’m very pleased with the result. And even better, I managed to squeeze it into the arcade room quite nicely.

The PCBs are currently with James at Retro Games Party for repair. I would imagine by the time I post this, the boards will be back and I can show you a picture or two of the game in action. I’ll update this article once they’re back in and working.

Thanks for reading – do share this article using the social media buttons below. If you like what you see, check out my other restorations using the menu at the top of this page.

It has been an honour to work on Pete’s rusty old Battlezone cabinet, and getting back into working shape. It’s going to get plenty of play for years to come.

Keep your eyes peeled for more arcade restorations here on the blog. Remember to check out the archives above to read more.

See you next week.

Tony

In memory of Pete “Invadar” Davies: 1938-2015.