DangerousDad
Student
Hey everyone. So not too long ago, I became the proud owner of two Vewlix’s, an L and an FC, that I got for a very fair price on an AS-IS basis with the expectation that no refurbishing, cleaning or repair had been done beforehand. I started firsthand with the L and will probably start the FC in July or August (that'll be its own post)
I held off on making the post for awhile but I've done so much now that I'm forgetting things so might as well get started. I figured this might be a unique perspective due to damage and age now... 2024 marks sixteen years since the Vewlix L was introduced (the twentieth anniversary is coming up fast!) and some of these machines have been ridden pretty hard. What's kind of funny is that this is probably the same age of an Astro City if you bought one in 2010 (for any old-timers out there)
Let me preface this by saying that I’m an absolute beginner when it comes to arcade machines, vewlixes, and even restoration/handiwork in general. Everything I did required research and deliberation and had to go and buy some new tools. I know for sure I did some things wrong (especially when it came to painting), and hope that some knowledgeable people can set me straight, for me and the others who will read this in the future. I’ll link the inspiration posts that helped me as well. I hope that maybe my post will answer some newbie questions. I'll try go more in depth where I haven't seen other guides do.There are going to be some places where I just stop and push it off until later (such as making the wrist panel 100%) just because I don’t want the project to languish a bit (and I still have that FC to work on)
The L had some damage during shipping. What I believe might have happened was that the control deck was still installed when it was put in the shipping container, and then was somehow shifted in such a way that it was pulled hard enough to pop some of the rivets out and permanently dent the top part from the inside out.
Amazingly, the control deck itself was unharmed, but still pretty rough:
On the backside, there are hardcore scratches into the paint and the bottom backside has been punctured into the metal itself. Scratches won’t go away without sanding and painting probably. On the bottom, those are some hard paint chips that will probably need filler of some kind.
The display has some serious flickering issues when it boots up but the image will eventually stabilize if you give it some time to warm up. I’m curious enough to poke around in it to see if I can fix it but I am also planning to replace the monitor (currently testing an LG 32GP850-B) with a Hadouken-Arcade bracket.
Quite some yellowing on the plastic trim on the outside, when I get to cleaning it, I'll make a decision about whether to paint it or not. As you will see in future comments, I am... not a great painter. Until then!
I held off on making the post for awhile but I've done so much now that I'm forgetting things so might as well get started. I figured this might be a unique perspective due to damage and age now... 2024 marks sixteen years since the Vewlix L was introduced (the twentieth anniversary is coming up fast!) and some of these machines have been ridden pretty hard. What's kind of funny is that this is probably the same age of an Astro City if you bought one in 2010 (for any old-timers out there)
Let me preface this by saying that I’m an absolute beginner when it comes to arcade machines, vewlixes, and even restoration/handiwork in general. Everything I did required research and deliberation and had to go and buy some new tools. I know for sure I did some things wrong (especially when it came to painting), and hope that some knowledgeable people can set me straight, for me and the others who will read this in the future. I’ll link the inspiration posts that helped me as well. I hope that maybe my post will answer some newbie questions. I'll try go more in depth where I haven't seen other guides do.There are going to be some places where I just stop and push it off until later (such as making the wrist panel 100%) just because I don’t want the project to languish a bit (and I still have that FC to work on)
The L had some damage during shipping. What I believe might have happened was that the control deck was still installed when it was put in the shipping container, and then was somehow shifted in such a way that it was pulled hard enough to pop some of the rivets out and permanently dent the top part from the inside out.
Amazingly, the control deck itself was unharmed, but still pretty rough:
On the backside, there are hardcore scratches into the paint and the bottom backside has been punctured into the metal itself. Scratches won’t go away without sanding and painting probably. On the bottom, those are some hard paint chips that will probably need filler of some kind.
The display has some serious flickering issues when it boots up but the image will eventually stabilize if you give it some time to warm up. I’m curious enough to poke around in it to see if I can fix it but I am also planning to replace the monitor (currently testing an LG 32GP850-B) with a Hadouken-Arcade bracket.
Quite some yellowing on the plastic trim on the outside, when I get to cleaning it, I'll make a decision about whether to paint it or not. As you will see in future comments, I am... not a great painter. Until then!
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