This was one expensive Major Havoc control panel !

[spidermonkey]

http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6144035152&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Man, Oscar really needs to move forward with his reproduction Major Havoc roller controller project because it sure looks like there's people out there (besides me) who really want these. Over 4 bills for a crusty used one with rust stains on the roller!

[paigeoliver]

Well that IS a dedicated Major Havoc panel. It actually looks like it will clean up to be really nice.

Also realize that people go loony for vector games. I bid $500 on a local Boxing Bugs recently (thinking that I was loony for bidding that high) and the sucker went close to $2000.

[Gunstar Hero]

Seems small... 

[Gunstar Hero]

I see. It's a ROTJ style cab.

I've never seen a Major Havoc like that!

[paigeoliver]

That is what the dedicated one looks like.

I-Robot, Firefox and Jedi also used that same style cabinet.

[spidermonkey]

The majority of Major Havoc cabs were converted Tempest cabs as Atari offered the game as a conversion kit. However they did release some dedicated versions but not very many. Thats the first actual dedicated Major Havoc cp that I've seen on Ebay ever. Usually they're Tempest control panels with regular Tempest spinners with just a M.H. overlay slapped on.

[Samstag]

That looks like something that you could put together like a nasty spinner.  Anyone have exact dimensions for the roller?

[Rocky]

Man, Oscar really needs to move forward with his reproduction Major Havoc roller controller project because it sure looks like there's people out there (besides me) who really want these. Over 4 bills for a crusty used one with rust stains on the roller!

[Stingray]

I guess the only one's I've seen were converted Tempest cabs. I've never played that game with anything other than a spinner.

-S

[Zero_Hour]

Weird,

Up until about a week ago, I never even knew that Atari had offered MH as a conversion. The dedicated cab was the only one I have ever seen or played. That Cab had a great look to it.

4 bills for the CP seems pretty extreme to me though.

On second thought, it could be worse, they could have wanted 8 or 9 hundred for a repro. 

[Will]

This is the first arcade cabinet in a while that I cant recall ever seeing in a arcade.Kinda of odd control panel, was this game any good and whats with that roller thing?

[NoOne=NBA=]

It's basically a 2-way trackball, which is why the Tempest spinner replaced it so easily on the conversions.

[spidermonkey]

I recently won an auction for a roller controller from a Stern Moonbase. I'm thinking about installing it on one of my cabs but its so much bigger then the Major Havoc one that I don't know how accurate it would feel. The roller for Moonbase is bigger then a hockey puck and is seriously weighted. Also there actually is a 2-way trackball which can be found on Midway's "Kickman/Kick"

[patrickl]

It's basically a 2-way trackball, which is why the Tempest spinner replaced it so easily on the conversions.

Isn't a roller more like a spinner on it's side rather than a 2-way trackball? That's at least how I would do it since a spinner has a codewheel connected to shaft and 2-way trackball would need a pickup wheel to read the ball motion (which makes the spinner much less prone to problems)

[NoOne=NBA=]

Isn't a roller more like a spinner on it's side rather than a 2-way trackball?

No.

The MH roller is basically a really big skateboard wheel, and sits cradled on two idler rollers, while driving a third roller that has an encoder wheel on it.
That is closer to the function of a trackball (input device sits on top of rollers, and turns them) than a spinner (input device is on the same shaft as the encoder wheel).

I did do a B.Y.O. proto of a MH controller awhile back, using a 3" caster for the wheel.
I ran a single shaft through it, with an encoder wheel on the end of it.
I wanted to see if you HAD to have 3 rollers to make this work, and proved that you don't.
The one I built was very similar to a spinner, turned on its side, as you described above.

[Chris]

I did do a B.Y.O. proto of a MH controller awhile back, using a 3" caster for the wheel.
I ran a single shaft through it, with an encoder wheel on the end of it.
I wanted to see if you HAD to have 3 rollers to make this work, and proved that you don't.
The one I built was very similar to a spinner, turned on its side, as you described above.

I'm willing to bet the built it this way because it would better stand up to the force of kids slapping at the controller.  The application of force would be across the drive shaft of a spinner, but having the forcd distributed across the idlers probably allows it to hold up better in a rough arcade environment.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I'm sure they did.
I just wanted to see if it HAD to be done that way.