MAJOR HAVOC DEDICATED MARQUEE

PROJECT BLOG

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(Updated: 06-21-09)

There's been a lot of interest in the progression of various projects over here at RAM Controls, so the following page has been created to provide background information on the reproduction marquee used on dedicated Major Havoc cabinets. 

   
REPRODUCTION ARTWORK BY RAM CONTROLS

Background

A very sought after 80's classic from Atari, the Major Havoc dedicated version is built around a very unique cabinet which is beloved by past and present arcade enthusiasts.  Almost everything about this cabinet is unusual.  Something else which is considered to be unusual, at least for the time period, was the use of "translites" for marquee (or "attraction") artwork.  In this case, Atari opted to do this with Major Havoc.  A translite is a very thin piece of plastic (usually polycarbonate) which the screen printed artwork is applied to.  This translite is then sandwiched between two thicker pieces of glass or acrylic for stability and strength.  The process of applying the artwork to a translite is identical to that of traditional materials.

Generally, the translites that Atari made from the 80's are considered to be inferior when compared to their glass or acrylic counterparts.  The polycarbonate material they used for their translites has a tendency to react poorly with UV light and heat which causes the material to yellow severely over time, causing the artwork to appear to fade.  In any case, the artwork applied to this material looks pretty bad after 20+ years.  In fact, it doesn't take nearly that long for the artwork to deteriorate.  In most cases, the fading is noticeable after a time span as little as 3 to 5 years.

Of course, the question comes to mind, why did Atari go this route?  Why on earth did they use a sub-standard material on this beauty of a machine?  Actually, this wasn't the only time they did put the material to use.  It happened quite a bit, right around this time frame and moving forward.  But WHY?  The answer is quite simple.  Economics.  They wanted to save money.  Forget the fact that Atari produced each arcade game title by the thousands, which would have been reason enough for the Atari execs to think about the bottom line.  Atari was a huge corporation at the time Major Havoc was produced and their company was hemorrhaging money from every division across the board.  They dumped money into R&D for every last little thing they made.  Ever notice all the crazy custom controls that seemed to be different on every game that Atari made?  Well, all that design work wasn't free -- it cost some serious funds because design work is anything but inexpensive.  Additionally, in 1983 the great game crash was in process, arcades were losing money, arcade games were losing money, arcade companies were scrambling to save themselves from implosion.....Atari had every reason to cut corners and save money just to stay alive.

In the year 2009, nearly every new game produced makes use of a translite for the marquee.  It has become the norm.  But there's one notable difference -- the artwork now doesn't tend to fade much, if any.  The polycarbonate material put into use now is higher quality, having a certain level of UV protection.  However, the current translite material still suffers from becoming brittle over a relatively short period of time.  Overall, translites are still inferior when compared to glass marquees and even acrylic marquees.

If Atari had screened the Major Havoc marquee artwork onto glass in 1983, it's a given that every surviving marquee in 2009 would have vibrant colors which looked just a nice as the day they were produced. Too bad they didn't go this route, but they had legitimate reasons for the decisions they made.

Around the latter part of 2002, Tom McClintock (a well known arcade hobbyist) had a small run of reproduction marquees made.  He went with a continuous tone print onto a translite material.  Actually, he did his homework and discovered a more durable version of the material called Ilfochrome Classic (AKA Cibachrome).  While standard duratrans/translite material has a lifespan typically rated in months, the Cibachrome lifespan is measured at 2-3 years of constant backlighting.  However, even Cibachrome is no match for sunlight.  That said,  the marquees turned out quite nice.  However, it was not screen printed AND it was done on thin film material -- both of which helped to create a part unlikely to withstand the test of time. 

We intend to screen this artwork onto tempered glass and seal them with an acrylic clear coat.  This should create a superior product which will retain it's color indefinitely.  We're going to do it the way Atari would have done it if they had not been dealing with trying to save their company at the time.

Construction Progress

	06/01/07:  This is the original Major Havoc marquee we started with.  Just glancing at it, you can see how horrible the colors are.  The entire part is faded and yellowed.  It's a very common example of what the marquees look like after 26+ years.
	06/01/07:  Further, this piece of art had become brittle and cracked in half at some point before we got our hands on it.  Someone also went to the trouble of taping the two pieces back together.  It was a valiant attempt, but it's too far gone for any collector to have interest in using it.  Luckily, we can see beyond these problems and find a use for it.  This is the basis of our reproduction marquee.
	09/17/07:  After a few months of on and off again work, we were able to create brand new vector artwork for the major havoc marquee.  We scanned in the original artwork (above) and recreated every line, every curve by hand, using Adobe Illustrator.  The final piece is six layers, not including the white "float" layer.  A larger version of this artwork is at the top of the screen.  The colors in this file are not matched -- only there for reference.  It's hard to believe that this was derived from the original faded artwork!
	09/17/07:  Here's a close-up of Rex.  As you can see, every last detail has been captured.
	06/19/09:  After almost two years of being on hold, this project is alive and kicking!  To the left is a nice 4-color screen press.  For small production runs (200 or less), this will be perfect for our smaller artwork items (marquees, control panel overlays, etc).
	06/19/09:  Pictured to the left are the prototype films we're using to make screens.  Upper left is the YELLOW film.  Lower left is the GRAY film.  Upper right is the BLUE film.  Middle right is the RED film.  Lower right is the BLACK film.  Each color has to be applied separately, so we need to make a screen for each color.  We produced these films straight from our Illustrator file with great ease.
	06/19/09:  This is what the screens look like, straight from the films.  On the top is the BLACK screen - this will allow the application of the black ink to the marquee glass.  On the bottom is the RED screen - this will allow the application of the red ink to the marquee glass.  The dark area of the screen will not allow ink to pass onto the glass, the lighter area is where the ink squeezes through.
	06/19/09:  Here's another shot of the RED/BLACK screens as attached to the screen press.
	06/19/09:  Here's the very first color (BLACK) applied to tempered glass to see how it turns out.
	06/19/09:  Here's a closer shot of REX with only the BLACK ink applied to tempered glass.

Updates

06/01/07 - This project has been started as of today.   We have a horrible original sample marquee in hand, but it's enough to work from.  This was obtained from a local collector who was kind enough to let us borrow the artwork.  We're starting the process of vectorizing this artwork immediately using industry standard Adobe Illustrator.

09/17/07 - The artwork has been vectorized and is complete.  We are searching for color matching information.  In the meantime, the project will be put on hold.

06/19/09 - After nearly two years of being on hold, the Major Havoc dedicated marquee project has been restarted as of today.  We have the screen press and all of the films are ready to go.  We're making the screens and testing them on our production material of choice: tempered glass. So far, we have red and black screens ready and have already tested the application of black ink.  All testing has turned out perfect.

06/21/09 - Pre-orders for the Major Havoc dedicated marquee is now open.  Again, the marquees will be SCREEN PRINTED onto tempered glass and sealed.  These are going to be high-end reproductions.