Starting this off with the Blue Exceleena 1.
The control panel..... As i mentioned earlier, the blue cab came with a really well made, but completely incorrect control panel. It was well made but just horrible to play on, and i really wanted an original panel.
Here's the panel that the blue cab came with... YUCK.
I feel like the control panel is a big part of the artwork of a cabinet, and when it's not original or at least a remake of the original, the cab loses a lot of character.
So... I ended up buying the red cab to get the control panel for the blue one. The issue here, is the original panel on the red cab was in similar shape to the insides of the red cab... it was rough. BUT... the artwork overlay was actually in pretty good condition, so i knew i would be able to clean it up and use it on my blue cab.
Here's how it was when i got it. As a bonus, it also had the original Seimitsu sticks that these cabs came with. They were also filthy.
Check out all that rust. If you've ever worked on rusty control panels before, you learn to be able to tell if rust is light surface rust or if it's going to be that rust that's eaten into the metal. I could tell that all that rust around the button holes and the right side of the CP was that horrible rust that had eaten deep. I was right
I used a power drill and wire wheel, trying to get all the rust off without damaging the artwork on the other side. It'd tedious work because the rust is so thick and hard to get off, you need to have the drill going full power and also push hard down onto the rusty spots to get it to come off, all the while trying to hold the flimsy panel in place, but not damage the artwork on the other side....... It was a lot more work than i thought it was going to be.
Around 2 hours later, i ended up with this. You can see the spots where the rust was very thick, it's eaten into the metal. It doesn't matter, it's just the underside of the panel, but it was really difficult to get off!
NOTE i managed to save the date code on the back
Also note in this pic that one of the joystick screws is now broken, this happened when i was trying to remove the nuts to get the joysticks off. The nut and all around it was rusted and the nut never even moved, it just snapped straight off. I still have 3, but a little worried if another one comes off.
After i had wire wheeled pretty much all the rust off, i painted it with a grey primer/rust protectant paint. It's a product that primes and also has some anti rust treatment in it. Available from the hardware store. I also cleaned up the artwork with some warm soapy water and a cloth (non abrasive).
So I ended up with this.
Back of panel
I managed to preserve the date code on there with a little piece of tape and cardboard over it when i painted. Just a little nerdy thing!
Small section of the panel front.
Very happy with the results so far