TEMPEST by Atari.. One of my favorite classic vector games.. This is the 3rd game of 3 in the group buy with Defender and Battlezone. This was spotted in the far corner with other games in front of it. Plugging it in after dragging it out from where it sat for many years, it just sat there DIRTY and lifeless. I figured that i would buy it anyways as i wanted a good project to work on, as well with the others that day.
The control panel and monitor bezel were covered with about an 1/8 inch of filth. The sidearm was a bit grimy, but nothing in any comparison to the front. Also.the monitor Plexiglas top metal bezel bracket was rusted pretty good. The front coin door lock was gone, but the backdoor was present with original lock, but no key. I really wish i had taken pictures of this before i started cleaning it up so one could see the time i spent in cleaning it up some.

Below are a couple of shots after it was cleaned up alot.

The inside was not to shabby as the back door was still on. Just some minor vacuuming in here has necessary. I put a new AR-II kit on the "Audio/Regulator" board and got it working. It had some things on there that were toasted and it was putting out around +12/15 volts. It should be more like +5. That fixed that problem. I finally got it to power up and in the self test mode it told me that it had some bad ROM's. Also, the "Spot Killer" was on. I was crossing my fingers that the monitor was not also screwed, as these are pricey and take some more work than normal to get going again. I had my board fixed by Dick M. and put her in there. I powered up and WHAM.. TEMPEST.. It was a good day.  The game also had a chunk broken off of the original spinner knob. Fortunately, the guy i got it from had a extra used control panel laying around so i managed to get that from him. I wanted it, for the original spinner knob that was in prime shape.. I swapped the spinner knobs so i have a "fresh" spinner knob.

Below is an picture of the back of the monitor..

Here is a shot of the AR-II "Audio/Regulator" board and the main PCB boardset to the right.

Here is a shot including the main Power Supply which is located at the bottom of the cabinet. It was working fine, but i cleaned it up a bit as they like to attract alot of gunk also.

Shot of the control panel after it was cleaned for awhile. Sorry about the quality of the photo. I used "Soft Scrub" cleaner and a wash cloth and alot of elbow to get the colors to come out. The white lines were BROWN.. This was also followed by a cleaning with some natural Orange Citrus Cleaner. Switching back and forth between cleaners seemed to work as everytime some dirt was coming out.. The bottom of the control panel has the usual wear on the corner bends over. I may eventually replace this overlay, but it is not important to me right now.