Mark's comment is correct. Attached (actually pasted in) is an email I rec'd some years ago from Mike Jang. Mike worked at Atari designing cabinets. In my conversation with him in this email I was talking to him about Starship 1, but read down to the bottom of the message...he mentions the Star Wars bezel. In regards to the overlay, it might be bent at a different angle for the cockpit, but the part it bolts up to is the same. Thought this might interest some of you....
Regards,
Tom Cloud
Tom Thanks for the compliments on my design. I thought about that blue bezel question and you've got me stumped. At the U.S. factory, that bezel was made in white for Starship1 and black for a game called Sky Raider. SkyRaider was a jet bomber game, in the same cabinet, just modified w/ color changes. That leaves 2 other possibilities, 1- it was painted after it left the factory. Is it blue color on the back side also? Those parts were molded in colored plastic. 2- The bezel may have been made in the Ireland factory, where we did not have alot of design control. In those days, the particle board used in the Ireland cabinets was of a much lower density. They were much flakier looking, and often broke apart. Being as your game came from MA, it could be a possibility. Too bad about the side graphics, that cabinet had graphics silkscreened directly on the wood- right? There was a large room, looked like a refrigerator inside where games were laid on their sides, and silkscreened. The fumes were unbelievable in there! (pre EPA years) As to what cabinets I designed, the question should be which ones didn't I design. I worked there almost 20 years, the later years as a design manager. Now, if Atari/Williams would go under, I think I could publish a nice book with all the original conceptual sketches of those now famous cabinets. Did you notice the starwars sitdown and upright cabinet use the same plastic bezel? I ran across the arcade newsgroup by accident last month. I'm glad these games have become collectors items. Those pioneer years shouldn't be forgotten. regards, Mike
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