Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair
"Fighter Pilots Needed In Sector Wars... Play Astro Blaster Restoration"
yotsuya:
Back in Chufftember, I had the opportunity to pick up one of my most-sought after games, Sega/Gremlin ' s classic Astro Blaster. When I was a kid, I remember hearing the game and it's synthetic voice calling out across the discount store as my grandmother and I went shopping. If I was lucky, she'd give me a quarter to play the game while she paid for her purchases.
I've always had a soft spot for the game, and recently had a chance to acquire a non-working one that was missing the monitor and front bezel. Everything else was there, including a nice marquee and a cardboard bezel that had warped over time.
I had a spare monitor that needed to be fixed, so an expert on KLOV took care of that for me. Gamefixer on KLOV, who is both a scholar and a gentleman, fixes these boards, and he repaired the CPU board as well as the video board. When it came back, it still wasn't booting, but the power supply was somewhat suspect so I ordered a replacement G-80 power board replacement. This allows you to use an ATX computer power supply instead of the original Sega supply. It took two weeks since they build them to order, and it showed up today.
I plugged everything in (I had since installed an ATX supply inside the cab and tapped 12v on it to add lights to the reject buttons, which weren't even wired when I got it). I fired it up... success!!!
He's some photos. More text in a bit.
This is how I got it.
Bringin' it home...
Rough boy..
yotsuya:
Monitor repaired and installed...
New back door (2 pieces) cut and installed...
Crap, doesn't boot. Boards sent to Gamefixer...
New plexi cut and black surround plasma cut out of steel, hit with hammered black and then satin black...
yotsuya:
Black areas all repainted. I also fixed the warped bezel. I glued a piece of 1/4 MDF to the back that at flattened it out and firmed it up. Perfect..
Found this in the school woodshop while looking for some braces. Gotta love high school kids..
Gamefixer had the board back to me i a week. VectorLabs board came in two weeks later (today). Plugged it all in....
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!
yotsuya:
Put in in its spot in the Casa de Yotsuya gameroom...
Put a custom aluminum strip to hide water damage. This actually matches the metal strip that comes factory below the control panel.
Really clean marquee...
Custom coin reject inserts, just because...
yotsuya:
And that's it! Game plays, I'm chuffed. The old Yot would have tried to go the minty route, but I have grown to love and embrace patina. Damage should be fixed, but wear and tear... it's history, it's age, it's battle scars. The game sat in a warehouse on the Arizona/Mexico border for a decade... the stories it could tell...
Glad to add it to the gameroom!
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