RE: Battlezone CPOs

Go with the Vinyl and find a plastics place get a piece of 1/8" plex cut and
drilled to the right form. Then you can do whatever you want.

The only problem is that you usually need some nature of additional securing
for the plex so it doesn't walk. 4 screws (4 corners) usually is enough.

I am doing this on pretty much all my games. It means a lot less worry
about something getting scratched or worn away with cleaner.

David

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-vectorlist@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu
> [mailto:owner-vectorlist@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu]On Behalf Of
> chumblespuzz
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 1999 8:53 PM
> To: vectorlist@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu
> Cc: Rick Goodman; cschaible@home.com
> Subject: Battlezone CPOs
>
>
> Ok. Before I go into this let me say I know that Battlezone
> control panels
> are painted on.
>
> My Battlezone project is coming along quite nicely,
> especially because of a
> surpise, recent aquisition of a complete set of NOS joysticks (Thanks
> Mike!) . My control panel sucks. All rusted, paint flaking,
> but it has no
> dings.
>
> So several weeks ago I scanned in my control panel and have
> been carefully
> reproducing it. I'm not touching up the scan, I'm completely
> redrawing the
> whole thing at 600 DPI, and it's coming out really nice.
>
> So I AM going to have one of them produced at a local sign
> shop. They've got
> some great equipment which I will describe below. I know
> printing on vinyl
> is not the ultimate medium, but I highly doubt there would be
> enough of a
> demand to have a decal made or to have it screened onto
> Lexan. So vinyl will
> have to do.
>
> I have two options to choose from. The first option is
> ink-jet printed and
> laminated. My local sign-shop has a 600DPI HP printer that
> can print on
> vinyl. The colors are, of course, dithered but at 600DPI it's
> not too bad -
> fairly solid when chosen carefully. The blacks are solid and
> there are no
> visible streak-lines within a color. The problem with this
> one is the local
> shop may not laminate, and non-laminated it would get
> destroyed easily. If
> they do laminate, great. If not, I'll find someone else with similar
> equipment who does or I could use the shop that the Appollos
> use, although
> he only prints at 300DPI.
>
> Another problem with an ink-jet is that it can't print
> silver. I would have
> to use some shade of gray, instead.
>
> The second option is the local sign has a "Roland" machine.
> I'm not quite
> sure of the technology behind this machine, but it is a printer, not a
> cutter. This machine is used for printing signs to put on
> automobiles or
> trucks. The colors are sharp and bright. I'm not sure if the
> colors are
> dithered, but the demo's look solid and clean, actually a bit
> glossy. Very
> nice.
>
> This printer can print silver, and it looks great. The cool
> thing is that it
> can also print chrome.
>
> The output of this machince is very durable, but not great. I couldn't
> scratch it with a key, but it came off easily with 400 grit
> sand paper. I
> know I probaly won't go down to my gameroom and sand paper
> the control panel
> very often. My concern is more with long-term scrubbing with
> scouring pads.
> I don't believe this can be laminated. It's suppose to stand up to car
> washes, but damage to a sign on a car is less critical in
> appearance than a
> CPO is on a restored game.
>
> The real problem with this machine is that it is expensive.
> The off-the-cuff
> quote without them seeing finished art was about $75. Ouch.
> This is compared
> to $35 for ink-jet printed vinyl.
>
> I have seen many Q's about reproducing CPOs and I question
> how many are
> actually done. Unless someone comes forward with an awsome BZ
> control panel
> for sale for a reasonable price, I am going to print this.
>
> My question to you is, if I go with the Roland machine,
> should I stick with
> silver as in the original or should I go with the chrome? I
> think the chrome
> is really cool looking, but it is making a major deviation from the
> original.
>
> Also, of course, would anybody else be interested in one? If
> so, which one?
> It doesn't matter if some want one style and some want the
> other. Once the
> artwork is done it can be sent easily to either machine.
>
> What do you think? Thanks.
> -roy-
>
Received on Sun May 23 02:13:26 1999