Puckman, the Italian Bootleg restoration...

[orion]

Well if you are going to play any of the games on the 48 in 1 on it other than 4 way games, I would go with a mag stik plus just for the ease of switching it from 4 way to 8 way. I can tell you though that playing any of the pac man games on my 60 in 1 with the mag stick is a totally different experience than playing Pac man on my dedicated Pac... it sure does feel different then those old leaf switch joytsicks (Wico's I'm assuming) and is just not the same. You didn't say how you were going to use the 48 in 1 (all games or just some) because that will dictate what kind of joystick and how many buttons you are going to need.

[Level42]

Yeah, I was on the brink, but since Spyridon kindly will send me a real Pac Joystick, I think I will opt for 4-way only games. At least frogger would be playable and that's one game I need to have playable.....

The other option was installing one of the Suzo Inductives I still have around. It's easy to set it up so you can switch 4/8 way electronically, but I guess it still wouldn't give the "real" Pac joystick feel.

Need to figure out how to install the pac joystick on that metal CP. And I really don't need any more holes in there. Was thinking about some wood behind the panel.

[orion]

That's pretty cool of Spydron, he's a class act for sure! So the Puck man didn't have the wood underneath the metal control panel... that's interesting. Pac Man has it just like Galaxian. I wonder if someone removed it when they swapped out that joystick. I would guess that the holes are already drilled in your control panel. Didn't you say earlier that some looked like they were original holes? Another option you could do is to buy a Ms pac/ pac control panel in addition to your original panel and set it up with the typical 48 in 1 layout. That way you could swap them out when ever you wanted that authentic pac feel... I mean it would be a shame not to play some 1943!

[Level42]

It's not pretty cool, it's ultra-extra-ordinary cool !  

No, no wood at all and it doesn't look like it was ever there but who knows 

Check out the included pic, the holes I marked are the original holes that were now not in use. Just a bolt and two nuts through each of them holding nothing at all.

The others were the extra drilled holes for the current joystick.

The orignal holes are a pretty weird set-up for a joystick. I'm sure it's nowhere near the Midway Pac set-up at all.  I guess I'll have to figure out a way to get some wood under the CP to mount the Pac stick.

I doubt very much that an original (Midway) CP will fit this cab. Compared with the Galaxian I've got (which should be about the same as a Midway Pac) the CP on the Puckman is much larger and is mounted differently. But I agree, it's a shame to be not able to play 194x, but I can always do that on my Mame cab (once I find the damn keys.....)

[orion]

Oh yes, well excuse me, ultra-extra-ordinary cool he is indeed.... I think that might even classify as uber cool! Your right, those bolt holes are not even close to the pac man configuration. The Galaxian and the Pac Man control panels are the exact dimensions. Knowing all that, it makes me wonder what kind of joystick the Puck man had originally. Good luck fining your Mame cab keys... don't tell me your one of those people who always looses their keys. Personally I would have taken a drill to the locks by now. But then again, I am not the most patient person in the world.

[Spyridon]

Need to figure out how to install the pac joystick on that metal CP. And I really don't need any more holes in there. Was thinking about some wood behind the panel.

You'll have to play around with the joystick when you get it to determine the best way to mount it.  In the original Pac-man, the joystick was mounted to the wood panel and then the wood panel was mounted onto the metal control panel.



You can still mount it without the wood (height would be correct), but the holes won't match up with what you already have.  You might be able to mount the joystick to some wood and then use the current holes to connect the wood.  Not sure if that would work or not.

[Level42]

The Pac joystick is on it's way 

Big thanks and  to Spyridon !! Good picture, thanks !! Didn't find that before (only the hole dimensions on the repro Pac stick).

The plan was indeed to mount the wood to the CP using the (4) original holes. (I'd like to close the extra holes, but that will also depend on how I could restore the CP artwork.) However, the holes are all in the area of the metal base plate of the stick so I may have to change plans. Best I have a look when the Pac stick is here.

I've removed the CRT of the old Hantarex MTC90 that was inside the Puckman and installed a Hantarex MTC900 in it's place. Monitor works, but needs a good degaussing and the picture is wavy at the bottom part of the screen. I bet a capkit will do much good for this one.

Original Hantarex tube:



MTC900 installed:

[Level42]

Ding-Dong.....mail-man with a nice package from the US:



 

 


 

Big thank you to Spyridon !!! This will clean up very nicely. Even the player 1 and 2 leafs are included and the wiring.... It ways a ton and so shipping cost was pretty expensive. Can't thank you enough for this extremely nice present !

[Spyridon]

Wow, that got there quick!  It's got a bit of rust on it, but looked like it could clean up okay. 

[Level42]

Yep, I keep telling lots of US people that mail to our country is usually very quick and hassle free.

Hey, it's totally free, you're not going to get any complaints from me I know what they go for usually then the shipping....no worries, I will have this one look like new when I'm done with it

It already feels great !

[Level42]

OK...there's been a little progress that I didn't document yet.

First, I scanned the CP:


(YES, I am using a PC notebook here.....I can't help it, boss refuses to give decent laptops).

Well lucky me ! Under the buttons, believe it or not, there is still some protective foil that has been there to cover the CP at one time. The good thing is that under that foil there is the original unfaded colors, an ALL of them ! 




Ok let's have a closer look at the original Pac joystick that Spyridon so kindly donated to this project !














Well, even though the grommet still feels OK, there's a tear starting so I'll be ordering a new one with my next order of parts from the US.

Yes there's some rust all around, but nothing that can't be fixed ! Already simply cleaning things with soapy water improved a lot of parts (esp. the non-metal one's).

Since the bolts that hold the leafs are also rusted AND the biggest part of the metal frame is very hard to sand inside I decide to remove the rust the "Darth Nuno" way, so using "Roest-oplosser" from HG:



Basicaly this is phosphor acid and some other (nice) stuff. Have to mix 5:1 in water and leave it standing for a couple of hours ( I did overnight and it turned out that it not only removed the rust but also all of the paint.
I also included a single one of the chrome bolts. My advice: don't ! It's all black now. I guess the chrome has been eaten away. This is strong stuff !

I will upload some pics of how the parts look after the bath somewhat later.

[Pacman83]

Hi Level42,

Reminds me of the condition of my joystick on the Pac 'Mini' cab project. 

If you can, try and get a 'used' grommet in good condition as I used a new one at Funspot on the Pac Man cab and had to get Gary Vincent to change it as it was VERY hard to move !

I've got another one on it's way from the U.S, which is in better condition than mine. I'm using the steel from the original joystick (because it's been shotblasted & powdercoated) then using the better leaf springs & gubbins from the other one.

[Spyridon]

Here is where that joystick started it's life:


As you can see, the rust was not limited to just the stick.

Hope it cleans up okay for you.

[Level42]

No worries at all !

This will look like new very soon !

Pacman83: I guess the rubber needs to be "kicked in" ? Actually the grommet seems to work fine and feels great. So maybe I just shouldn't replace it

[Spyridon]

I will upload some pics of how the parts look after the bath somewhat later.

So...how does it look?

[Level42]

At this moment I have to spread my free time between restoring my yard/garden and the practices of the drum/marchingband I'm in. We're practicing for Dutch national championships in which we will compete next saturday.

So I have very limited time to do any cab work.... 

[Level42]

Coming weekend we will work on the yard. It should be completely finished in that weekend which will make it possible to:

a) start working on the hobby again
b) plan the official opening

[Level42]

Yahoo !! The dad of a guy in my marching band is a really good metal worker and we talked about the Puckman CP and the bolts etc. and he's going to weld some threaded studs on the CP. He said it would show on the "good" side of the CP, but that will be replaced in due time anyway with hopefully a fully photoshopped and vectorized fresh CPO I should get the panel back next tuesday.....

He told me he can also have parts sandblasted and powder coated ! Yihaa

[Level42]

 

[Spyridon]

Looks nice.  How does the top side look?

Any status updates  on getting the overlay reproduced?

[Level42]

You can see that the CPO has come loose at the welding spots. I removed the top left one to see how the metal was. Completely flat, may need some light sanding.

No updates yet but I know he's working hard on it

[Spyridon]

That's going to look nice without the bolts detracting from the artwork.

[Level42]

 



 

I'll tell the whole story later, but this is the marquee that originally belongs to my Puckman !

And it will be coming my way soon !

[Spyridon]

...this is the marquee that originally belongs to my Puckman !

And it will be coming my way soon !

Interesting.  That one seems to match the control panel really well, but the one you have in there now is a perfect match to the bezel.

[Spyridon]

...this is the marquee that originally belongs to my Puckman !

And it will be coming my way soon !

Interesting.  That one seems to match the control panel really well, but the one you have in there now is a perfect match to the bezel.

Wait, nevermind.  I was looking at the picture you posted a few posts into the thread.  It wasn't yours.  Now I see that the bezel matches as well.

[King Nerd]

Wanna hook us up with some high-res (or scans) of that artwork for vectors and reproductions?
I'd hate to say it, but I like the artwork from Puckman better than Pac-man.
Nice find on the marquee!

[Level42]

King Nerd: I already scanned the pac man logo on the side of the cab but according to Zorg who was going to do the vectoring my scans were not focussed enough. The problem is that I cannot lay my scannner totally flat to a large surface because the hooks for the lid are "bumps" that keep the scanner up a little bit.

I can do the marquee though. The CP I've already scanned. The bezel can be done too.

Anyway, you'll have to remember that this is a bootleg cab from Italy. It's definitely NOT a NSM-Namco licensed cab.

The story is that I was contacted through another forum by a guy from Italy who said he was interested in seeing my Puckman cab. I e-mailed him the link to this thread and he replied that he used to own exactly the same cab.
He told me it was probably a bootleg by an Italian company called Gewin. (Never heard of....)

Plus he told me that the marquee on my cab was not the right one. He e-mailed me these pictures of his cab:





Totally the same except for the marquee indeed. The artwork on the marquee also matches the other artwork much better than the NSM-Namco marquee on mine.

He also told me he had the same PCB in there and that the monitor and PCB are "inverse video" just like the Nintendo machines.
He tried a Midway Pac Man PCB in there and it looked like this:


Following that he had to repair the original PCB.

The best news came a day or two later when he mailed me that he still had a spare marquee ! Well I didn't have to think long about this as this is probably a once in a lifetime chance to get my hands on it. The marquee is glass so I asked for some very safe packing ....

Anyway, I still love the wonders of the internet and forums like these..... brilliant that he contacted me and this came out of it !

Notice that the joystick on his machine had been replaced too. Apparently the original joysticks were some POS stuff

[King Nerd]

Anyway, you'll have to remember that this is a bootleg cab from Italy. It's definitely NOT a NSM-Namco licensed cab.

If that's true, then are the ugly black/green cabinets official?
I really like the white cab better. Just personal preference, really. Not so much the maze on the side, but the rest is nicer.

That's a shame about the scanner, I really hope one day I can get this artwork. I really appreciate your efforts. Thank you.

I'll be watching this resto with baited breath. I'm very eager to see your work on it.
I can't wait to have a Pac/Puckman of my own.

Good luck!

[Level42]

Anyway, you'll have to remember that this is a bootleg cab from Italy. It's definitely NOT a NSM-Namco licensed cab.

If that's true, then are the ugly black/green cabinets official?

Definitly:

I really like the white cab better. Just personal preference, really. Not so much the maze on the side, but the rest is nicer.

I agree !!

So, with some (intentional) delay because of our holiday in the Dordogne, France, a very nice package arrived at my home today:

Also, this is a good example how to package a glass marquee !!

First outer box filled with something like chips or in this case newspapers.


This has the advantage of getting a bit up to date with the local news, in this case the beautiful city of Milano, Italy     :


Then inside, a second box, here wrapped in loads of bubble foil:


....and removed:


...inside.....lots and lots more bubble foil:


And there it is, a totally safe, unbroken lovely bootleg Puckman marquee 


....that travelled safely over 1000 km.

So after a little bit of cleaning:


It looks G-R-E-A-T !!! Much, much, much, MUCH better than the NSM one. It's a clear match in artwork and color setting. 

I am very pleased that I was lucky enough Stefano contacted me about this. The odds of finding a marquee of a cab that no-one even seemed to even ever have seen (let alone owned once) are slim, very slim, but I guess that once again, The Force was strong !!



Oh, and I've got an ORIGINAL, OFFICIAL NSM-Namco Puckman marquee for sale ! Extremely rare, mint condition (the lines you see are a reflection).


....or should I keep it and make a wall decoration from it..... ?

[Mauzy]

....or should I keep it and make a wall decoration from it..... ?

Thats a neat marquee. I'd use it as a game room decoration. I've kept all of the marquees I've pulled off of machines and hung them around my game room as trophies of past conquests. Granted none of them were "back light-able" anymore so there was no real value behind them. Nonetheless, keep it and frame it or just hang it on the wall as is.

[Spyridon]

That looks really nice!  It's the same artwork, but I wonder why the did the shoes different colors on the bezel and marquee?

How is the CPO progress going?

[Level42]

I bet the marquee factory was out of green More likely is that the could only screen a couple of colors I guess ?

Did you notice the production error, the blue spot above the C ?

It all screems "bootleg"

The fun thing is that they indeed tried to copy the original Namco Japanese cab.

Dexter has been really busy moving house in Australia over 1000's of km's so I guess it got delayed a bit. He promised to finish it within about a week or so.

I just saw a picture of a Namco Puckman (this minty fresh looking one is at Namco's headoffice in Japen) and I noticed the yellow ball top and yellow t-molding.



What do you guys think ? I could go with the yellow balltop (if I could find one that fits on a Midway stick). I really like the yellow T-molding too on that machine. However, that wouldn't be original for sure but it contrasts so nicely to the black inside of the cab. The original joystick on my bootleg machine can only be guessed about because the only 2 machines I know about had them replaced.

[Level42]

Just wanted to copy in this picture of the original Puckman marquee:

[polaris]

i reckon a yellow ball top as the original would make sense

[Level42]

I think that would require a complete handle because I think the ball top is not removable on a Midway Pac Joystick. It's not a big thing....just maybe something to do.

I've also received some parts from good old Bob. I had ordered his two different "colors" of yellow buttons. First I couldn't even see a difference and thought he had send two same buttons. But he explained the "pale" yellow one is only 8% (!) lighter than the regular yellow one.....We'll see which one fits best with the CPO when it's reproduced. The button will be mounted for the extra games. I'm still planning on running a 48in1 in it and hope to make it switchable with the original PCB, which I will give a JAMMA adapter.

Also got a brand new joystick grommet.


According to Bob these have been made stiffer on player's request. Copied from his site:

Since the NOS Pac grommets were at an age where dry rot was setting in I had a new batch made & they have arrived 6/12/2009... finally! Taking the advice of several gamers I had them made a little stiffer for a quicker return to center & a better feel when in use.

One of the welcomed benefits is after all expenses were covered we've lowered the cost to $10 each.

Indeed, it feels _much_ stiffer than the original.....I hope it's not _too_ stiff actually......

[SavannahLion]

Wanna hook us up with some high-res (or scans) of that artwork for vectors and reproductions?
I'd hate to say it, but I like the artwork from Puckman better than Pac-man.
Nice find on the marquee!

Ditto. I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to figure out what was bootleg and what was not. I have a vague recollection many many moons ago of a once seen Puckman in the wild. I saw it while I was hanging around but didn't pop any quarters in. Next time I came by a month later, the location was closed and empty. Never thought about the cabinet until I saw your photos and the dredges of a long dead memory came back.

I'm not sure what I would do with the Puckman art though. I managed to obtain a Ms Pac-Man board and that will probably take precedence.

[Level42]

Woohoo progress !!!

After waiting for about half a year on someone who promised to work on the scanned files of the Puckman CPO and not receiving anything but empty promises, I noticed this thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=96410.0

So, I figured I'd take the opportunity and asked if GuyDanger could work on the Puckman CPO.

After only a short waiting time, he came up with these great files !

Fantastic work IMHO !!! Big thank you to GuyDanger !!  


The EPS version is attached for those interested.

[Level42]

So, I finally got the joystick base back from the powdercoating so time to re-assemble it. The parts looks fabulous:



Now I neatly put all the parts into a plastic bag and into a box so not to loose anything. The thing is this time: I have MORE parts than expected. At least I have more parts than the manual shows:




First of all part 3 seems to be not as long as the one I have but I guess it still goes in that spot.
But more important: Once assembled I still have a white plastic ring that is not shown anywhere on that drawing. I checked all my pictures but I can't see it....anyone have a clue where it should go ?

[Level42]

Mmmm...this pic shows a ring shaped area.....maybe it should go there .....let's check....

[Spyridon]

Is that the white disk in the center of this pic?



P.S. Time for you to change the main title of this thread.  Every time it pops to the top, I think you sold it.