Atari 2600 Junior White Edition

[retromod]

Just finished the prototype of the Atari 2600 Junior White Edition.

A refurbished Atari 2600 Junior console painted in white with silver function keys and brand new brezel. Included is a RGB led built into the on/off switch only visible during power on. It gives a nice rainbow color effect. Internally the best AV mod (AV Plus) is built in and "Simple Stereo" for audio output. Offering a nice stereo effect (not this simple channel split as provided by NTSC versions of TIA chip).









The package included a nice box (see picture), an updated quick reference manual, one brand new black nunchuk controller fitted for Atari use (having a silver fire button according to console design). A bunch of popular Atari games is included as well together with a brand new power supply. Estimated price will be 99 Eur, there will be only 10 consoles available.

the highlight of this console is the brand new brezel manufacturer process which also allows to recreate original brezels of the consoles (without 3d Atari logo stamp of course). The old process was limited to plastic brezels only but this one also applies to metal and silver shining plates. It is also useable to repro Coleco console front plates (project already started).

[TrekMD]

Looks very nice!

[retromod]

box cover delivered to printing company.... nunchuk ordered and the mod is available in right quantity. Interest is amazing, got over 50 "likes" for it and many request for pre-orders.

[Greyfox]

A thing of beauty fella, if only Atari had access to your talents back then!!

[Akuza]

That is nice, though it doesn't beat original woodgrain :p it still looks great

[nosweargamer]

Nice!

[vandro]

Looks great!

[zapiy]

Very tidy.

[retromod]

On weekend I completed the boxes as printer service delivered in time. The painting of the housings and the simple stereo/AV plus PCB boards are completed. The scart connectors are also pre-soldered. Finally I must wait for the new power supplies (as we only deliver 5V power supplies I run out of stock of the rare 9V type) and the Nunchuk controllers.

Certificate and manual will be created and the mainboards fitted with the mod soon. The mod will be moulded in a special plastique housing. So if all went fine all consoles will be ready end of week.

[retromod]

Completed the preparation of the mainboards. The stereo on/off switch is now ready, the boards repaired/completed and passed extensively testing.

As I only use consoles having heavy scratches or broken housings for such projects (preserves good one) I noticed the available number of those consoles went quickly down. I currently own more "like brand new" Junior consoles with silver protection having not one scratch. I also found some very rare types which are fully socket for all custom chips having numbers on each component - so those will be kept as well. I currently count 4 consoles with sockets. Having sockets is nice as you are able to easily repair such console without dealing with a solder iron. Whereas replacing custom chips on dual layer PCB's is not fun specially if those having up to 24 pins. . Seems I must spent some time to repair them even it is economically not worth (a TIA chip is about $8, an used console $5-$10 plus spent time for repair).

Nunchuk controllers and power supplies have not arrived yet. So next step is to integrate the mod boards and run a burn in test to ensure all is working.
 

 

[retromod]

The mod board is now fully assembled and all cables attached. Pre-test of board already done.



The picture outlines the board prior molding. The firmware for the MCU (for stereo algorithm) was installed and next step is to use synthetic resin to integrate the PCB into the molding housing. Inside the molding housing is a metal plate which also shields the PCB. Finally there is no further installation needed as the mod is simple attached to the console shielding. A clean installation method which also prevents any shortcuts or cable bending.
 

[retromod]

Nunchuk and power supplies arrived....

[retromod]

Assembled all mainboards with the mod and all of them passed the verification beside one which seems to have some glitching issues with the power switch (if you move them left/right the console resets). So I will replace them today with a new one. I will also complete the housings and boxes so the consoles are finished by end of week.

[retromod]

all current development efforts are now available on our facebook website.