A ground-up restoration of a 1981 Atari Tempest, the vector arcade classic I later rebuilt in software.
It arrived rough. Over about five months I stripped the cabinet to bare wood and repaired the swollen, water-damaged particleboard, recapped and fixed the board set, and rebuilt its Wells-Gardner WG6100 color vector monitor. Fresh reproduction side art finished it off. It boots and plays.
The Tempest cabinet torn down, original worn side art and boards pulledWater-swollen, crumbling particleboard at the base of a cabinet panelThe original faded and worn Tempest side art before restorationA Tempest circuit board mid-repair with freshly replaced capacitorsAnother board from the set recapped and repaired on the benchThe vector monitor electronics out of the cabinet for repairThe CRT neck board and tube socket being reworkedA deflection component from the vector monitor in handThe rebuilt Wells-Gardner WG6100 vector monitor showing a clean crosshatchScraping the old artwork off a cabinet side panelA side panel with its old art half stripped awayA cabinet panel sanded back to bare particleboardA repaired cabinet panel with its edges rebuiltA rewired edge connector for the cabinet wiring harnessThe restored cabinet standing with fresh reproduction Tempest side artThe original Atari Tempest arcade flyer showing its color vector graphics
