New Project - Galaxian Conversion

[Dire Radiant]

Wow, that staining turned out a lot nicer than I expected from the pics of the first coat.

[SirPeale]

Actually the picture makes it look better than it actually is.  It's not nearly that dark (I wish it was, though.)

It's not terribly bad, it looks 'antique-ey'.

Still need to polyurethane the sides and front.

[Buddabing]

Is the stick a 2-way or a 4-way?

I show about 120 unique games in MAME which can play with a 2-way,  but twice that with a 4-way.

I guess the question is moot if you're running Vantage.

[SirPeale]

What's on there right now is a two way.  Running VAntAGE at the moment, soon to be replaced with DOS Mame .95 (which just came out)

[SirPeale]

Hooked up the keyboard hack.  Had to change around a *lot* of keys, since I'm using a non-standard layout.

Glad I'm not going to be using VAntAGE eventually, I can't play Galaga at all.  The machine is just too slow.  So I'll use it to play Space Invaders and Galaxian for a while.

The other problem with VAntAGE is that you can't set up multiple keystrokes for an event.  So if I want P1 start + P2 start = exit, I can't do that.  Even though ArcadeOS is supposed to do it for you as a 'wrapper' it doesn't work (or I haven't figured how to get it to work).  So if you want to change games you have to reset the machine.

[AlanS17]

Good job on the machine. It looks good that way. I have a Galaxian in similar disrepair, but I'm gonna (hopefully) be converting it to a Galaga. Mine has sideart hiding under sheets of yellow formica. I'm pretty much already chalking it up to a loss.

I'll likely have to replace the monitor. Last time I played it (when I got it to test it out), I smelled something burning and then I lost picture.

Either way, I won an auction on Ebay a long while back for a working original Galaga board and full reproduction sideart (sides, front, and CP) for something like $350. As soon as this broken finger heals, I'm gonna try to get that up and running. I've got 14 machines taking up space in the garage that I need to restore and push out.

[SirPeale]

Issue: no red showing on monitor:

Finding: poor solder joints on neckboard, particularly on the tube socket.

Repair: reflow/add solder to  joints on socket.  Works much better now.

[SirPeale]

Not done - never done, of course. 

I had it outside on my porch for Halloween.  One kid said that our house was the coolest house he'd ever been to in his ten years of trick-or-treating.

Today we re-arranged the house.  I said "hey, let's bring the cabinet into the house" and suprisingly the wife agreed.

Luckily, I have a hand truck.  A really good one.  Unfortunately it's solid steel, not aluminum, so it adds a ton of weight to whatever you're moving.  When you're on a flat surface, it's not that big a deal.  But when you're trying to move it upstairs with your not-so-strong wife...

Luckily it made the journey intact.  Almost didn't, I thought she was going to lose it.

Keyboard hack got bounced around a bit, one wire came off.  Quick touchup with the soldering iron put that to rights.

Still need to do a little tweaking in software.  Lock down ArcadeOS and get a few more games in there that will run on the hardware I have in the cabinet and with the controls that I have.

One idea I have is getting some translucent leaf buttons for the P1 and P2 and getting the LiteMite.  They'll blink in Galaga/Galaxian, and that would be cool.  Would also be relatively inexpensive.

[SirPeale]

I never took pictures of the inside.  Find some here:

http://www.pealefamily.net/tech/arcade/?p=363

[saleem]

Still need to polyurethane the sides and front.

would you recommend polyurethene for putting the shine to paint.

i wet sanded a cab,so now its all hazy,its smooth as hell!but,hazy.i need to put the shine back once i have prep'd the paint by cleaning residue of it.so would it do to give me a lovey smooth shine?
 

[SirPeale]

I never did poly the sides.  I may one day.

I don't know enough about paints to give you an answer.  Instead of poly you might want to go with a gloss clear.  *shrug*