ThunderBlade DLX restoration

[Gamesmonkey]

Hi all
After procrastinating about starting the restore on this ThunderBlade DLX I have finally got the F**k on with it!
First up is the PCB cage...

Before

After

The lid had heavy pitting so not perfect unfortunately.

Throttle lever

The rubber end stoppers had completely disintegrated and the spring inside the lever had broken in half, making the movement very loose.

New spring and fresh gease / respray

 

[Gamesmonkey]

Next is the dreaded seat, which like every ThunderBlade DLX I have ever seen has cracks all over the middle.
These have a terrible design, with the plastic underside of the seat resting on a piece of wood roughly the same shape as the inside of the seat.
The only problem with this is over time the crappie chipboard bows and stops supporting the seat and then the plastic just cracks.

So after several weeks of thinking about the best approach.
I got one of those cheap car bumper repair guns with the hot staples.

Pushing down on the two sections while putting the staples in has taken the curve out of the top side of the seat.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

So after doing a couple of experiments with epoxy resin and stainless steel mesh.

This seems to be really strong with the mesh and will hopefully bond well with the seat surface.
I have cut strips of mesh and embedded them in the epoxy, using these three keys of smack to weigh them down (house bricks wrapped in parcel tape)

I am not overly confident this will work so watch this space...

 

[Gamesmonkey]

I think this turned out OK...

I added another few mm of resin so that it just covers the centre bars.
I think that will do for reinforcing the underside.

The next job is to try and work out the paint color and fill and sand the cracks o the top side.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

On to the power supply today...
As with the rest of outer panels all but one of the security screws had to be slotted with the Dremel as they were stuck fast.

Numbered all of the connectors just to be sure!
Removed two of the boards and put them in a bag of IPA and into the ultrasonic cleaner for five minutes each.
They came out looking much better.

I run out of time and still need to put the wiring loom through the ultrasonic.
So far I can't see any damage from corrosion or bad caps.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

Finding the correct match for this blue/gray metallic finish was a real pain.
In the end I went with (Yamaha Bluish Grey Metallic 2) and is a very close match for the original color.

A quick rub down with a wire wheel to get what was left of the old paint off.

I will give this another coat and then some clear lacquer to seal and protect.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

OK I am officially stuck does anybody know what this is holding the shaft to the universal joint? Is it some kind of bodge?

 

[Mrhide]

looks like "an operator fix" to me!

 

[sven666]

Nice, coincidentally im also fixing a thunder blad dlx right now

 

[Gamesmonkey]

Nice, coincidentally im also fixing a thunder blad dlx right now

How far have you gotten with it?

 

[Gamesmonkey]

looks like "an operator fix" to me!

Yes looks like a brass pin has been rammed in to bodge it up.
Will probably have to drill it out.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

Well I wasn't stuck for long...
I found another grub screw on the bottom of the main shaft covered in grease.
Once this was removed I could with the help of another person to lift both ends of the frame and move it upwards.

However the flight stick was still connected to the steering mechanism.
To overcome this I undid the bolts holding the mechanism to the bottom of the case and lifted the whole thing out in one go, this allowed easy access to the brass pin someone had hammerd in.

Here's the steering mech with the flight stick removed from the universal joint.
A weekend of cleaning awaits!

 

[sven666]

Im waiting for my pcb to return to see if the speakers work, after that ill paint the seat and start assembling the cab

 

[Gamesmonkey]

Today's little job was to repair parts of the wiring loom.
Looks to have been chewed through by mice.

I also had to cut out pieces of semi damaged wire and splice in new ones.

Here is the little pile chewed and broken pieces of wire I had to cut out.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

OK on to the main event...

I have taken half of the steering mechanism apart and cleaned with WD40 and brake cleaner.
The rails have come up nice and clean the metal work has some corrosion.
I may have a go at some electroplating to return the nickel finish?

 

[Gamesmonkey]

And all done, just need the replacement springs to arrive for the centering mechanism.

 

[Gamesmonkey]

Quick update not to much report.
The replacement springs for the centering mechanism have arrived.
Thet are not an exact match for the originals and have slightly thicker wire diameter.

Theh fit and are the right length and return the mechanism to centre point.

The other job I have been putting off is filling and sanding the top side of the seat, so I made a start on that...

I went with plastic bumper filler in the hopes of it giving it a bit of flexibility.