cabinet found

[abzman2000]

I recently applied for and got a response from a craigslist poster about some cabinets he had.  I think some may be conversions and I thought I could get some answers here.  I am going to pick up two of these cabinets tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone can give me some rudimentary analysis from these pictures.  I plan on taking the golden axe one and the ninja gaiden one, but he just refers the golden axe one as an atari cabinet.  I chose the atari one because of how he referred to it, but also because it would allow for a mammoth control panel conversion (a mame project I will be revealing shortly) and the ninja one because he referred to it as a williams cab, so I assume it ts a conversion, or a common cab style (so I can make a control panel swapping cab for driving controls / yoke).  I didn't choose the vangaurd cab since it looked pretty intact, and I wanted a cab that could be easily converted to play standard resolution mame games (don't convert what can be fixed).  I don't want to convert what could be restoration projects so I thought I'd ask, if you think I made some bad choices please tell me why I should leave one of them for another.  If anyone wants the parts out of a cabinet I am  going to be converting to mame after I choose witch ones to get, and whether or not they can be saved/are worth saving pm me. 

-Evan

older post of his in which 2 of the cabinets are shown (the vanguard is not shown and the champ is not part of the offer I asked him about)
http://detroit.craigslist.org/tag/666747370.html

[TOK]

The Golden Axe is a Xenophobe... Not particularly valuable, but it is distinctive. If you wanted to keep it original, the "pod" actually limits the monitor size you can use. I have a different version of the same cab called Power Drive. It has exact same base but a standard top. Was also used for Rampage.

The Ninja Gaiden was a Defender.

The Vanguard appears to be dedicated. Thats a Centuri cab. Its the most restorable of the 3. If you MAME that one, just don't hack it up. 

[abzman2000]

how big of a monitor would I be limited to if I took the Xenophobe cab? and is defender that distinctive? it seems generic to me (not that I doubt you) and what do you mean by centuri cab, is that the game that originally resided in that cab, or the style of cab?

[TOK]

I think the largest monitor Bally was using in Xenophobe's era was a 19". All of their late 80's games I can think of used 19's.

The Defender is distinctive... Shallow control panel, cut in at the base, diagonal slice out of the back. When you look at cabs long enough, you start to recognize profiles, and Defender is an easy one to pick out.

Centuri was the manufacturer of Vanguard. They used that same style cab for other games... Phoenix, Pleiads, Time Pilot and others all have that distinctive fat, squared off look at the top.

[abzman2000]

so far I have no problem converting the defender cab to mame (heh maiming it heh) and I like the Xenophobe cab but even though it is unique I don't think I have the resources to restore it.  Unless someone can come up with a reason for me to get the Vangaurd cab I think those are the ones I will be getting.  if someone wants to trade me something for the working ninja gaiden board, and whatever else is inside pm me, I will post more detailed pics when I get them. 

edit: keeping the coin door

[leapinlew]

edit: after some random luck it looks as if the golden axe cab is actually a Xenaphobe cab as seen here http://www.pealefamily.net/tech/newmame/index.php?cat=9 is it rare, or valuable?

Thats a heavy heavy cabinet...
Here is a decent conversion: http://lowerhell.com/mame/

Here is one I "converted" (I literally made it a convertible)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55021.0

[abzman2000]

That mame cab shows me just what amount of potential awesome I am working with! Your conversion is a novel way of dealing with a unique cab but not my style, I don't have that much depth where I am planning on putting it, I admire your wiring job though, very professional; the diamond plate and back light look cool too. 

edit: just how heavy, like 2 guys going down stairs with the thing is just not gonna happen? what about 3? keep in mind it has no monitor. 

[Havok]

That's a great score for $100 - love the Vanguard, used to play it quite a bit back in the day. Must be my age, but I actually like the woodgrain look...

[abzman2000]

I love it too, I just had to make a call and I don't have the space for more than two

[GAJoe]

I'm pretty sure that's the Defender bezel on the Ninja Gaiden as well.  I see the swirly galaxy thing on the left side.  I love the Williams cabinets because when people strip the top coat of paint off they sometimes find intact side art, and that's like arcade archaeology to me.

[abzman2000]

that it is, nice call, now I'm really exited

[abzman2000]

revision: I now intend to get all 3 if the guy has not promised the other one to anyone else, and I want to mame it to play all the portrait mame games I can find on an original monitor.  (made more room yay!)

edit: have not been able to contact him yet

I have a sneaking suspicion that delta88 is the seller of these as in previous posts he refers to having items for sale in plymoth MI (where the guy on craigslist is from) and his profile says northville (adjacent to plymoth) and the pic from this post looks to be taken from approximately the same angle http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=71721.msg737200#msg737200
if he is, does anyone know another way to contact him?

[paigeoliver]

Defender cabinets are hands down the easiest COMMON cabinet to mame. They are plywood, which means they are light, strong and durable. They have a monitor shelf, which is pretty easy to move up or down in the cabinet and the control panel is a flat rectangle of wood.

Don't try to bolt a frankenpanel on a defender though, it will flip right over (and it looks terrible).

[abzman2000]

I intend to keep a panel of approx the same size, but swappable (driving controls, yoke, other big things that would not jive well on my custom xenophobe panel) hopefully between all 3 cabinets there are very few things I cannot play. 

[paigeoliver]

In that case make them EXACTLY the same size where they hook right up to the original mounts. Absolutely no reason to trash the lines of the cabinet when you are having swappable panels.

I used to have a Defender cabinet with about 12 different control panels. The panel it comes with is big enough to hold the controls for any 2 player game you want to throw at it.

I intend to keep a panel of approx the same size, but swappable (driving controls, yoke, other big things that would not jive well on my custom xenophobe panel) hopefully between all 3 cabinets there are very few things I cannot play. 

[abzman2000]

just how I imagined it, as well as the xenophobe cab having the big panel and the vanguard playing those old portrait games. 

[GAJoe]

just how I imagined it, as well as the xenophobe cab having the big panel and the vanguard playing those old portrait games. 

The Vanguard is a great cabinet for that because you shouldn't really have to change anything about the CP. 
It already has four buttons, which covers pretty much every kind of single player vertical game I can think of.  Not to mention you can play VANGUARD!

[abzman2000]

and it has a supposedly working monitor, it's perfect

edit: ok, now I'm getting kind of worried/annoyed he hasn't responded to my phone message or e-mail in the past 2 days and the craigslist post is down. 

[TOK]

The craigslist post still works for me. The Vanguard is gone, replaced with a gutted Karate Champ.

[abzman2000]

different post, I removed the broken link and dug up another of his posts (older) for some of the same items. 

edit: second phone message left (not mad, but concerned)

[abzman2000]

ok, time for decisions.  I have not been able to get in contact with this guy since sunday (we were going to arrange something for monday or tuesday) and he has not responded to my (2) phone messages or my (2) e-mails.  I have called him at least once a day ranging from 2:30 pm to about 9:00 pm so far this week.  the choice is to keep trying him, or try this new guy: http://detroit.craigslist.org/for/681831778.html .  the deal is the same, 3 cabinets for $100 but this guy is about twice as far away from me (17 or so miles) and the cabs he has displayed are all horizontal uprights, as opposed to the xenophobe, and vangaurd in the other deal.  One of these monitors is working (the other deal the vangaurd one was working).  I would like to not flake on the guy I originally made a deal with, but I don't want to pass up this (slightly worse, depending on your perspective) deal.  what should I do?

I should remind you that the deal in the first post is not the one I applied for, rather an older one (for some of the same stuff) that has not been taken down. 

[Crowquill]

Sorry to hear about the first guy not returning calls. But as for the newer listing $100 for three solid cabinets wouldn't be a bad deal. It looks like the two shown are fairly complete. Have to wonder what the third is.

Just in case you're wondering about the history of the newer listing cabs: left one was probably Wizard of Wor, the one on the right was probably Joust originally.

If you're seriously complaining about driving 17 miles to pick up games, you've started into the wrong hobby. These things are scattered about in the hands of collectors and sometimes old warehouses.

[abzman2000]

I'm not complaining about the distance, it's just harder for me right now.  I expect to be able to go and get stuff much farther soon. 

edit: asked for a pic of the 3rd cab, and asked for this missile command one: http://detroit.craigslist.org/tag/694278263.html

[abzman2000]

got a cab, I will post a link to a project thread when I get it up

[abzman2000]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=80852.0
my escapades continue here

[miles2912]

My first experience with a MAME project was buying a stripped cab.  Turned out that none of the components I wanted to use would fit.  Monitor area was too small - cp was way to small.  Basically it would not work for me at all.  What I did end up doing is stripping all the hardware out of it.  All nuts and bolts, bezel latching mechanisms grills that allow ventilation.  Everything.  It really came in handy when I went to scratch build a cab.  All the small parts and pieces really add up.  The coin door assembly alone is close to $100.

If you can find a used cab close 20-50 it will probably be more than worth it just for spare parts.

Miles

[abzman2000]

right in that range, it cost me $40