Caught an ad minutes after it was posted on craigs list for this taito stratovox and monte carlo for $50 each. Made contact with seller by phone and said "I am leaving right now with cash in hand, consider them sold". When I arrived at the place I quickly realized this was an impromptu yard sale organized by the county judging by the large fluorescent stickers and pad locks on the doors. Met seller and she pointed them out down a hill and went and looked at em. Both games were complete and original, sadly the monte carlo cabinet had multiple forms of mold growing inside and out. I asked her if I could pay her for both games but strip the parts and leave the cabinet. She joyfully accepted as she went about her hell.... Loaded up stratovox and proceeded to strip the monte carlo of anything not wood (the neck was snapped on the monitor so that was left behind). The whole time the homeowner was going through drawers and other things throughout the property trying to gather family memories while constantly crying. There was sooooo much crap on the property, it looked like a bomb went off. Got home, unloaded and instantly jumped in the shower.
Monte Carlo cab parted out. That is a layer of fuzzy mold and not dust on the bottom inside the cab.
Monte Carlo parts that were collected.
To be honest I had never heard of stratovox til the ad popped up and did some searches and saw it was the dedicated cab and art for that game. We don't get rare complete games popping up on CL for $50 in the Chicago market and figured this could be a cool "low dough save a classic" project.
Initial pics while plotting my strategy. All interior guts are original but did not have any coin mechs, monitor is a g07 that powered up. The cab had an interesting wet basement smell, there was some swelling on the top. There was no base on it so I temped in a 2x4 on the bottom before unloading. I suspect the base stayed right where it was when they moved it, there is also the lower left corner of the cab that made contact with the ground and puffed up. Not sure what someone was thinking when they took a dump on the control panel.
Completely gutted cab for a full detailed scrubbing.
Sanded top down and sealed it with 3 coats wood glue.
After the scrubbing the cab I painted the top, interior and bottom with flat black latex paint.
Constructed, painted and attached new base.
During reassembly I scrubbed and wiped down EVERYTHING along with adding a new switcher and fuse holder to the power block.
Tried a boot with new monitor and power supply and got this. In an arcade irc channel I made contact with a guy that has 2 working stratovox board sets. We made a deal for the monte carlo stuff in exchange for the board.
There ended up being a sexy looking coin door under all that black spray paint. Makes me wonder why someone did it in the first place.
Needed to address this corner. I just wanted to make it solid again. It was at the point if it was sneezed on a layer would fall off.
Picked up a can of minwax wood hardener. Very thin liquid that soaked nicely into the mdf and clamped it for 3 hours.
Very pleased with the results. It's not as puffy and solid as a rock now.
Stripped the ass paint off the aluminum cpo.
Sadly the panel artwork is not to be found in vector or repro form. I don't have any desire to purchase a worn original one and figured I'd try finishing it with a can of hammered black spray paint. I like how it looks and it only cost $5.
Just waiting on new chrome tmolding, g07 cap kit and board set. This thing has cleaned up really well and doesn't smell anymore.
good day.
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Topic: Taito Stratovox rescue. (Read 5962 times)
