ChrisBEANS
Professional
This is all posted elsewhere on the interwebs, but I'm making a conscious effort to contribute here rather than just surf the Marketplace forum...
So I picked up a U4 some time ago in decent condition, but needed a little TLC.
I've always wanted one with a chrome CP, but could never find one. Eventually found a U4 with a white CP surround being sold by a very well respected bloke in Sweden so I took the plunge.
Sadly, when it arrived the Operator who had it in circulation had removed the original coin mech and memory card module, and riveted the holes closed.
Missing was the very cool coin entry, and sadly the CP surround had been very poorly repainted.
It hadn’t been done well, was rough to the touch and was generally crappy.
A real shame as the original powder coating on the rest of the cab is in decent shape considering its age.
The underside of the CP housing was even worse. It’d been painted with some horrible black stuff and all the components including the hinge and the brackets for the locks had been painted on.
It had to be refinished in any case, and I’d always desperately wanted the chrome (or stainless steel maybe??) CP surround, but I could never find one, or a cab for sale with one.
So my options were:-
1 - Strip it, and paint it white again but properly, or maybe powder coat it. - problem here is that unless I did the whole cab, the new white would be a contrast and likely jarring.
2 - Strip it, and polish it up to look like the stainless CP surround. - problem was that although the white paint stripped off without issue, the black stuff inside was impossible to shift. It also turned out that the metal underneath wasn’t suitable for polishing, nor do I have the skill to do an adequate job in any case.
3 - Strip it, and get it chromed by the bigger boys - problem with this, is that it’s not authentically as the cab was made.
I’m all for authenticity, and faithful, sympathetic restoration but as the CP surround had already been repainted, and needed to be stripped and refinished anyway, so I figured I’d opt for the chroming…
Here it is after I stripped it myself...
The inside made me sad…
As I couldn't sort it myself I sent it off to a metal finishers, and these are the pictures they sent back...
Got it back, fitted it, and added a few decals, and added an NV RAM module the the motherboard too.
Managed to source an OG coin entry, although it has to be said that it's strictly decorative as what used to be the coin reject button is now a coin up button.
So I picked up a U4 some time ago in decent condition, but needed a little TLC.
I've always wanted one with a chrome CP, but could never find one. Eventually found a U4 with a white CP surround being sold by a very well respected bloke in Sweden so I took the plunge.
Sadly, when it arrived the Operator who had it in circulation had removed the original coin mech and memory card module, and riveted the holes closed.
Missing was the very cool coin entry, and sadly the CP surround had been very poorly repainted.
It hadn’t been done well, was rough to the touch and was generally crappy.
A real shame as the original powder coating on the rest of the cab is in decent shape considering its age.
The underside of the CP housing was even worse. It’d been painted with some horrible black stuff and all the components including the hinge and the brackets for the locks had been painted on.
It had to be refinished in any case, and I’d always desperately wanted the chrome (or stainless steel maybe??) CP surround, but I could never find one, or a cab for sale with one.
So my options were:-
1 - Strip it, and paint it white again but properly, or maybe powder coat it. - problem here is that unless I did the whole cab, the new white would be a contrast and likely jarring.
2 - Strip it, and polish it up to look like the stainless CP surround. - problem was that although the white paint stripped off without issue, the black stuff inside was impossible to shift. It also turned out that the metal underneath wasn’t suitable for polishing, nor do I have the skill to do an adequate job in any case.
3 - Strip it, and get it chromed by the bigger boys - problem with this, is that it’s not authentically as the cab was made.
I’m all for authenticity, and faithful, sympathetic restoration but as the CP surround had already been repainted, and needed to be stripped and refinished anyway, so I figured I’d opt for the chroming…
Here it is after I stripped it myself...
The inside made me sad…
As I couldn't sort it myself I sent it off to a metal finishers, and these are the pictures they sent back...
Got it back, fitted it, and added a few decals, and added an NV RAM module the the motherboard too.
Managed to source an OG coin entry, although it has to be said that it's strictly decorative as what used to be the coin reject button is now a coin up button.
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