10 replies to this topic

[Chris Strong]

Hi all.  I've not been around much lately; I got married last July and it's been a nightmare to pack and move out both my Atari and arcade collection so I can buy a new home with my wife.

So anyway, in all this I've dug out some old projects that were quite literally buried behind my Atari storage.

One is the "Short" Atari 2600 display kiosk.  Unlike the tall one that has been a topic of discussion lately in the auction folder, this one is not well-documented on the web.  These photos are some I've found on another webpage.

Front View
Top View
Controller Detail
Right Side

So mine had to be disassembled for shipping; I bought it on ebay about five years ago, and the seller did not pack it very well...he had lots of packing material on the top and bottom, but NONE on the ends.  The heavy plywood components bounced around in shipping and broke apart.

The plastic marquee arrived in six pieces.  The two heavy plywood sections that make up the controller deck area and hold the marqee were all shattered.  Worst of all, it sat in the corner of my lab at work in the box for two months before I opened it (I had been sick and then was very busy with work), so by the time I opened it, there was nothing I could do.  It had been basically ruined.

Bit by bit, I restored it.  I spent every summer with some bit of plywood or plastic clamped together in my lab at work.  This had been one of the models without the built-in board that takes real cartridges (I also have one of the Sears countertop displays that DOES have the built-in games).  

But I ran into some problems with the marquee damage and lighting, and locating the proper T-molding...it needs 3/4 inch polished T-molding for the sides, and 1/2 inch for the top, which has proven very difficult to find.  So I packed it up at the end of 2008.

This may, I dug it out and started the final push to reassemble it.  I located the T-molding; even though I had to buy a 250' roll to get the 1/2 molding.  I'm almost done with the assembly, and seem to have some missing parts.

• There is a hole on each side of the unit that I cannot find a mate for; it does not seem to align with any hole in the center portion, and I just can't figure it out...I don't have any extra screws I can't explain.
  
• The back panel is also missing; there was never anything in the center portion, but the trim panel for the back of the control-panel area is missing, and looks like it was missing before it was disassembled to be shipped to me.  I need to find a photo of the back of the kiosk so I can reproduce the missing part.
  
• The wire bracket literature holders are missing; I fear those were custom-made and I won't be able to locate them, the best I could do is find a similar one and retrofit it.  
  
• The wire security bracket for the 2600 is missing, but I can probably reproduce this.  As I recall the 2600 was held down with a wire on this style, and not with screws through the bottom of the unit like the 5200 POP display (my Atari collection is currently in storage and I don't have a single 2600 to test).

So, I am looking for some photos of a similar unit.  Before anyone pipes up to say this looks like a tall 2600 kiosk has just been cut down, it has not.  This was custom made for this purpose, and all parts of the wooden side panels have their original paint (they are painted, even under the T-molding).

I've searched the web for photos of this model, and I've only found the four photos above.  I noticed the same mysterious unused screw hole on the right side of the unit, and when I compared the photos with my unit, I realized these photos are of my exact unit!  They must have been snagged from ebay back when I bought it.  Every scratch and even the dirt is in the same location; so this is currently my best-case scenario for restoration unless I can find photos of another unit.

So....

• Does anyone have a similar unit, or photos/drawings?
  
• Any idea how it was intended to be used?  It's short even for a children's display unit...I am suspecting it was a sit-down display, perhaps intended to be used in front ofa big-screen TV.
  
• Any other suggestions?

[Chris Strong]

Huh.  Not a peep all weekend.  Perhaps this thing is rarer than I thought...I was considering adding one of the all-games-in one PCB's to the unit (came without one), but I would use plug-in modifications so I could easily undo it.

I've already replaced the missing 36" florescent fixture with LEDs, so I can avoid heat/UV, and never have to open it agai,

[BDW]

While I do not know any facts about his kiosk, I do know for certain that this is one good looking kiosk

[CincYnoTi]

Chris Strong, on Fri Jun 4, 2010 6:59 PM, said:

Before anyone pipes up to say this looks like a tall 2600 kiosk has just been cut down, it has not.  This was custom made for this purpose, and all parts of the wooden side panels have their original paint (they are painted, even under the T-molding).

If I wanted to try and build or restore one of these, I would start with a normal kiosk and custom make the side panels by cutting down the original side-panels, to the size you see in the above photos.  Of course, you would then need to drill new holes for the top Atari logo piece, probably leaving an open screw hole since it would no longer match.  Maybe that's what the folks at Atari did to create this item.  Or maybe that is what the original owner did.

But where do you put the TV/monitor for this kiosk?

[Chris Strong]

[quote name='CincYnoTi' date='Mon Jun  7, 2010  9:30 AM' timestamp='1275924651' post='2027125']
[quote name='Chris Strong' date='Fri Jun  4, 2010  8:59 PM' timestamp='1275699568' post='2025895']

If I wanted to try and build or restore one of these, I would start with a normal kiosk and custom make the side panels by cutting down the original side-panels, to the size you see in the above photos.  Of course, you would then need to drill new holes for the top Atari logo piece, probably leaving an open screw hole since it would no longer match.  Maybe that's what the folks at Atari did to create this item.  Or maybe that is what the original owner did.
[/quote]


If you compare the side panels with this unit with the ones on the full-size kiosk, you'll see that the holes don't line up.  

In the photo from Curt's site (linked two above), you'll see that the holes along the control panel are four holes in a straight line, in mine there are two holes inline, one centered above, and the spare mystery hole.

This has not been modified; the bottom of the control panel is milled out to accept the uprights for the locking cabinets on the side.  The sides are not just painted, but coated in that odd vinyl-stuff that Atari used over particleboard arcade cabinets of the early 1980s; my Centipede, Crystal Castles and System 1 cabinets have the same crap...Nolan Bushnell mentioned at a CGE once that there were all sorts of painting restrictions on solvents in CA at the time, so they did not do a lot of the stencil work that the Chicago game manufactures could do, it was too expensive on an arcade manufacturing line in California.

This thing has custom routing all over the cabinet done with jigs clearly designed for the job, this is not in any way a "one off"; the particle board is also "aged" except where the lamp unit was installed.  

In any case, on the "full height" version, you'll notice the side panels are "dished out" near the Atari logo, but not on my unit, so the side panels are custom.  The control panel is also custom, as it is made for those small cabinets underneath.

[quote name='CincYnoTi' date='Mon Jun  7, 2010  9:30 AM' timestamp='1275924651' post='2027125']
But where do you put the TV/monitor for this kiosk?
[/quote]

It needs a separate TV, like the Sears version. That's why I was wondering if it was for a big-screen TV demo.


These kiosks ALWAYS used a TV, not a monitor.  Atari always wanted to emphasize "works on a normal TV".  By the time of the 5200, the public had accepted this and the 5200 kiosk uses an arcade monitor; Mine has a Wells-Gardner arcade monitor with a composite adapter.

[CincYnoTi]

With a circular saw (or photo editor), the piece on the right can be cut out from the piece on the left.  A router can be used to make a groove for the molding.  A drill can create the new holes for the three top screws, which would allow for the Atari banner to be set lower.  Notice the hole in the top right that would be left if the banner piece was set lower?

Attached Thumbnails

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[Chris Strong]

CincYnoTi, on Mon Jun 7, 2010 12:28 PM, said:

A drill can create the new holes for the three top screws, which would allow for the Atari banner to be set lower.  Notice the hole in the top right that would be left if the banner piece was set lower?

I totally see your point, but then it seems it would not be deep enough for the control panel....

Again, this is a factory job.  I can see Atari doing it in their cabinet shop as a small production run from the stock cabinet parts, but it's not a hack by some guy at the appliance store.   I'd like to find some other photos or documentation; I know I don't have the only one.

The control panel does have holes drilled for the "normal" kiosk mounting, but the threaded inserts for mounting into the console are not (and have never been) installed.  Only the special mount for this small console (shown as a single screw, loose in the photo) is installed.

-Chris

[keilbaca]

What I want to know is where can I get those paddle knobs... that's exactly what I am looking for to make my homemade warlords cabinet.

That thing is awesome

[bojay1997]

Chris Strong, on Mon Jun 7, 2010 2:05 PM, said:

CincYnoTi, on Mon Jun 7, 2010 12:28 PM, said:

A drill can create the new holes for the three top screws, which would allow for the Atari banner to be set lower.  Notice the hole in the top right that would be left if the banner piece was set lower?

I totally see your point, but then it seems it would not be deep enough for the control panel....

Again, this is a factory job.  I can see Atari doing it in their cabinet shop as a small production run from the stock cabinet parts, but it's not a hack by some guy at the appliance store.   I'd like to find some other photos or documentation; I know I don't have the only one.

The control panel does have holes drilled for the "normal" kiosk mounting, but the threaded inserts for mounting into the console are not (and have never been) installed.  Only the special mount for this small console (shown as a single screw, loose in the photo) is installed.

-Chris

I'm sorry, but how do you know it's a "factory job"?  What people don't understand about kiosks in general is that kiosks were often sold to retailers rather than given to them or loaned out.  Of course, some companies like Nintendo always just "loaned" kiosks to larger stores and their reps would take them back after they became obsolete, but I believe Atari and a number of other companies like Coleco actually sold these units to retailers.  As such, I can easily imagine a retailer deciding to repurpose an existing unit by having their staff carpenter just cut it down, re-route it and apply t-molding to the unit.  Not to say that's what happened here, but it's just as likely that the retailer did the modification, especially in light of the fact that nobody else has seen this particular configuration and it's not exactly tough to make the modification being described.

[Chris Strong]

bojay1997, on Mon Jun 7, 2010 5:01 PM, said:

I'm sorry, but how do you know it's a "factory job"?  What people don't understand about kiosks in general is that kiosks were often sold to retailers rather than given to them or loaned out.

It was modified, I decided that shortly after my last post.  My guess is that it was taken home and given to someone's kid, cut to fit the bedroom.  I got swamped at work and never got back here to post about it.

The modifications were just very, very well done.  Things were scaled down.   The plexiglas was cut and edges polished.  T-molding removed and replaced.  This work was done by a skilled person--like a cabinet maker--not the usual hack job one would expect.   So yeah, I was totally wrong.

It was the fact that the plexi was so well done, hinges moved, new slots routed for the locks....that's what had me fooled.  Once I started really looking at it after CincYnoTi's post above, I decided he had to be right, and I started finding the old locations for hinges and things in funny places on the back side of boards, etc.

My experience with modified cabinets like this has generally been hack jobs done by arcade operators, and I look for that "Friday at 430" slap-together work on modified cabinets.

This has no collector value, really, so I am going to build a nice countertop display out of what is left.

[GrizzLee]

Very cool I never heard of a short display. Looks like they took parts of the original and made it.

Due to water damage, I had to rebuild mine.
http://www.atariage....atari pop kiosk

I had limited space, so I imporvised.

Regards,
-GrizzLee