Neo Geo MVS 2 Slot restore project

[payment_due]

After deciding to postpone my MAMEcab build (well it's technically cancelled) I decided to focus on my 2 Slot 'Big Red' Neo Geo MVS cab.  I found this cab on Craigslist a few weeks ago for $200. I offered him $100 and he asked for $150 so I went and checked it out. The monitor is in surprisingly good shape, but I think it might have been replaced.   Typical for an arcade operator, he painted the entire thing black.  And this doesn't make sense to me, either. Usually ops will paint a game black so they don't have to worry about side art, and thats because they are morphing Game X into Game Y, but this guy left the MVS as it was, so there was really no point in painting it black. He even painted over the memory card plate.

Here's a pic the night I brought it home:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq134/payment_due/MVS/IMG_0784.jpg

I've stripped one side and the front and am currently in the process of patching imperfections, such as the holes left by the anti-theft bars, and so on.  Here's a picture of it stripped.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq134/payment_due/MVS/IMG_0814.jpg

And the front, stripped and having some repairs already done.  That patch of Bondo you see up top still hasn't completely set so I'm leaving it overnight.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq134/payment_due/MVS/strippedfront.jpg

[Mauzy]

When you said strip you weren't kidding! Neo Geo restores always do well. That red is pretty easy to match. I know a few members here have paint codes you could use. Good luck!

[SirPeale]

It could have been painted black to make touch-ups easier.  Much easier to have one can of black around to touch up gouges than a bunch of different colours.

[payment_due]

When you said strip you weren't kidding! Neo Geo restores always do well. That red is pretty easy to match. I know a few members here have paint codes you could use. Good luck!

Yeah I saw that someone on NeoGeo.com posted some paint codes. I'll definitely grab one of those when I'm ready to get the paint mixed.

[payment_due]

Well I've got the cab completely stripped at this point and I'm still sanding and getting everything silky smoove for priming/painting.   I have a question though, I need to take the monitor out before painting and I'm almost positive it's been replaced.  What I can't figure out is how it was done!  The back of the cab comes off in 4 sections. A small section with the screen/vent above and behind the monitor, a larger 3x2.5 section RIGHT behind the monitor, and two more below.  My problem is that I can't seem to figure out a way of removing these piece of wood without destroying them!  Anyone here with more experience on removing a monitor from an MVS?  The two smaller pieces do have screws in them so the come off real nice and easy.

You would think it was designed to have several pieces removable via screws, so what I'm thinking is that this arcade op (I met him, he was really weird and.. well.. weird) just stapled in the other two pieces when he replaced the monitor.

Any help is appreciated. I guess I could just rip the pieces off and replace them with 3/4" plywood pieces, but I don't want to risk hurting the rest of the cab. Help!

Edit: I just had an idea... I wonder if the monitors on MVS cabs come out of the FRONT?  Anyone know?

[Mauzy]

Well I've got the cab completely stripped at this point and I'm still sanding and getting everything silky smoove for

Edit: I just had an idea... I wonder if the monitors on MVS cabs come out of the FRONT?  Anyone know?

All of my cabs are like that. That way (atleast on mine) you can take off ALL of the bolts, then pull it out. No balancing a heavy ass monitor while struggling to get that last bolt.

[payment_due]

Hey all. I still haven't gotten around to removing the monitor, but only because of two things. Laziness and bad weather that prevented me from working on the cab.  But I got some nice 70 degree weather today so I decided to do a little more work. I've begun the reconstruction of the bad pieces of MDF.

Not sure if I've posted a pic of the bottom right-front corner of the cab, but you can see the damage even though I've already made the first incisions.


Here's the piece removed:



I still need to fill some of the lower part with some bondo putty to make sure it's level. 

Here's a pic of the new piece that I hadn't cut out yet.



Once I've got that filled in and ready for replacing, I'll glue it down with some woodglue, and then secure it with some countersunk wood screws.  Here's the CP damage



This one might be tricky because there's damage further up that you can barely see up toward the top curvature.  I don't have a router so replacing this one will be a challenge, I think.  I probably won't get started on this one today though since I have some other things I need to take care of today.

[payment_due]

I am a carpentry MASTA! 

It's not 100% perfect, but for my needs, it will work great. Can't wait to see it painted so it won't even be noticeable! Now to work on the other damaged section.

[Malenko]

you can get both side art and mem card plate overlays from eccs19
Nice repair work on that corner. makes me miss my Neo-Geos

forgot to mention the monitor on both of my MVS came out the front. lift the control panel, take the glass out, remove the 2 free pieces of wood then take the screws out of the other pieces. Then remove the bolts or nuts from the front and the monitor slides right out.

[payment_due]

Yeah, I've got eccs19's name burned into my skull to remember that. The memcard plate will be a bit different though, the repro's he did were for the 4 slot machines. Mine looks like this. it's kinca small but you get the idea. The plate for the memcard reader is much larger on the 2 slot MVS cabs.



I'm not sure if eccs19 can make those. 

I just recently got the new sticks (happ compys) and buttons for the MVS machine. I had also ordered some Sanwa sticks and buttons for my Megalo/MAMEcab, from Lizardlick.com, but I ordered the wrong ones. The sticks weren't the ones I needed and the buttons, for some reason I ordered the 24mm rather than 30mm so I've got 12 teeny tiny buttons, lol.  Chad from LL is being gracious and letting me return them for credit though.

[Malenko]

I had one of those too, I liked it better then the 4 slot machine because it was smaller. Shame I MAME'd it but thats what the lady wanted, and I needed the money




http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84398.0

[payment_due]

Still workin on it. I've pulled the CP off and removed all of the buttons and overlay/plexi.  Now Ive started sanding it to get some of the oxidation off of it, but I'm definitely going to need a smaller sander. I have a Ryobi orbital right now and it works great but in order to get into those little corners and so on I'll need one of those Mouse type sanders, I believe.

I can't wait to get it all nice and shiny, then prime it and paint it nice and black then install the new sticks and buttons. I'm going to order a new overlay from arcadeoverlays.com, this one specifically and replace the one I have now.  Then I'll need to get some plexi or lexan to protect it.

[srarcade]

Hey great project, I really want to add a MVS cab like this to my collection! Question though- is there any special technique you use to strip off the old laminate?

[payment_due]

Hey great project, I really want to add a MVS cab like this to my collection! Question though- is there any special technique you use to strip off the old laminate?

Well, what I did was get a paint scraper, the one with the little barb on it like this: .

What I found REEEEALLY helped me was using a blowdrier, or if you're good with a heat gun, use a heat gun.  Warm up the laminate just a little bit, not too much and it peels off way easier.

[srarcade]

Thanks for the tips, I'll be sure to give that a try! Now to find a good local laminate source..

[payment_due]

Been forever since I worked on my MVS but I finally had a few extra dollars for some tools and paint so I went to work on the control panel.  Here's the original, sorry for the blur:




Stripped and ground with a drill/brush attachment:



First coat of primer. Still drying so I haven't sanded it.

[payment_due]

2nd coat of primer is now on and has been drying for about a day. I was informed that I should wait 7 days or so to let the primer cure completely before painting so I guess my plan to put the CP back together this weekend is not going to happen.  Oh well.

[payment_due]

Alright! The paint has been applied.  I'm sure a better job could have been done but since this is just a personal restore it's not that big of a deal. If I ever decide to actually make some money on this cab I'll just strip the cp and do it again.  you can see a bit of texture on the paint, and honestly I don't know why that is.  It's got 2 coats of primer, sanded after each coat and cleaned nicely with a soft brush and some windex after I let the primer dry completely. 

Then, it's got six coats of Krylon Rust Tough gloss black enamel.  I sprayed each coat lightly, and let it sit for about 3 or 4 minutes between coats, then let it dry overnight. It's still curing so I'm not going to attempt to apply the CPO yet. Probably won't do that until at least Wednesday evening at the soonest.  Here's a pic.

[bogard85]

sorry to post on an old thread... but how dis you remove the red vinyl formica? i cant get paint to stick so i think it needs to come off.