Front Line

[Spyridon]

Picked this one up last year but finally got some time to work on it.  Actually, I was forced to work on it because the joystick stopped working.




Overall in excellent shape.  Stencils are available if I wanted to repaint this, but really, it's too nice to bother.  Some scratches here and there but not enough to justify a full repaint.

It looks good next to the green one:


Believe it or not, this was the game that I considered my Grail.  It was the game that took the most quarters from me back in the day.  Probably out of location mostly as this and Super Cobra were in the motel lobby right near my house.  Actually, they were outside under a covered roof.  Not a game I see come up for sale often.  When this one was advertised locally at an auction for a place that was going out of business, I was all over it.

Overlay is the only real problem.  It's been torn up and someone tried to touch it up with some paint but it doesn't look too good.  I was able to track down a new overlay.

It's an inkjet overlay, but it was done by Archer Maclean and the quality is top notch.  Not your typical inkjet work.

There are a few of these still available, so if anyone needs one I'll pass on the contact to you



I also picked up a NOS fire button decal as the one on the game was completely faded.  It's an important piece as you need to know what direction you are firing. 

[Spyridon]

Now back to the issue I mentioned with the joystick.  Acutally, it's really the aim/fire button contraption that was the problem.  It's a unique controller in which you turn it 360 degrees to choose your firing direction and then you puch it in to fire.  Takes some getting used too to be efficient with it.  It turned fine for me, but would stick when pushed in.  You had to manually pull it up to release it.  Made rapid fireing an impossibility.

I pulled the control panel to see what was going on.  Here is what the unit looks like:


and once removed from the control panel


I think it just needs a good cleaning and some lubrication.  Time to disassemble it.


I found out the hard way that there are two ballbearings in the shaft shown in this picture. One on each side of the spring mechanisum

Unless you need to replace them, don't turn the spinner with all the screws out as these pop out and are a PITA to get back in place.

I used some white lithium grease to lube this thing up



Put it back together and tested it out.  It returned back to the correct position when pushed in.  Now that it seemed to be working correctly, I installed it back into the control panel.

Played a game and it is working great!

[TOK]

Looks great! This is one of my favorite games as well. We used to play it in the lobby of a diner near where I grew up.
I've tried a couple of times to get a decent control compromise working in MAME, but never did anything I was happy with. Maybe someday I'll get a push spinner so I can play it right.

[Spyridon]

Looks great! This is one of my favorite games as well. We used to play it in the lobby of a diner near where I grew up.
I've tried a couple of times to get a decent control compromise working in MAME, but never did anything I was happy with. Maybe someday I'll get a push spinner so I can play it right.

Yeah, I tried this one in MAME as well.  Totally unplayable.  Let me know when you want to make the 2 hour drive (maybe a little less) to come up and play it.

[cw]

Loved this game as a kid.... loads of fun and the replay value is very high in my book.   

[TOK]

Yeah, I tried this one in MAME as well.  Totally unplayable.  Let me know when you want to make the 2 hour drive (maybe a little less) to come up and play it.

Thanks Spyridon, thats a very nice offer! 

[RayB]

Looks great. Can we see a screen shot too?

This is one of those games where being 10 or 11 years old, I just got ---my bottom--- blown within seconds. Is it very fun? How does the game progress?

[Spyridon]

Looks great. Can we see a screen shot too?

This is one of those games where being 10 or 11 years old, I just got ---my bottom--- blown within seconds. Is it very fun? How does the game progress?

Only ones I had available right now:


From KLOV:


This game is very fun and challenging.  You have to get used to the control mechanism.  There is also some strategy.  Do I jump in the slower big tank that can get hit twice before exploading, or do I take the quicker, more nimble small tank that can only take one hit?

After you compete the first level it starts over but at a higher difficulty.  I'm guessing if you got good enough it would become repetative, but I'm nowhere near good enough for that.

[Spyridon]

Finally getting some time to work on this.  Time to replace the old control panel overlay.

First step is to remove the panel

Remove all the controls


Heat gun and a scraper makes quick work of the old overlay



A coating of Citristrip will take off the adhesive that was left behind.

Next up is to remove any rust and prime the panel.  Carriage bolts will need to be sanded and then I will paint them brown to match the panel.  This will be my first use of an ink jet repro so we'll see how well it goes on.

[HanoiBoi]

This was one of my favorites as a 'kid' too and as a matter of fact, just tried it in MAME today.  It doesn't look to be configurable for a spinner.  I guess because the original was an 8 way click spinner?

I tried setting it up so that my left joystick controlled my movement and the right joy controlled my aim (similar to Robotron).  I configured the two closest buttons to the right joy (aim) to be fire/grenade.  Not ideal, of course, but I was able to finish the first screen on my 2nd attempt.

I imagine a trigger joy with at least 2 buttons would work as well, assuming you don't have the push spinner.

BTW, I'm in PA too, about 45 min. from Philly.  Maybe we can carpool?  

[Spyridon]

This was one of my favorites as a 'kid' too and as a matter of fact, just tried it in MAME today.  It doesn't look to be configurable for a spinner.  I guess because the original was an 8 way click spinner?

Yeah, not a real good way to set this up for Mame.  Do a search as I think I remember a post from someone who developed a way to replicate the spinner.

BTW, I'm in PA too, about 45 min. from Philly.  

What town?

[isucamper]

Just wanted to add this game plays pretty well in MAME with a rotary joystick and a GPWiz40, even though it's not authentic.  Only problem is your aim reseting in between rounds and when you die. 

[HanoiBoi]

This was one of my favorites as a 'kid' too and as a matter of fact, just tried it in MAME today.  It doesn't look to be configurable for a spinner.  I guess because the original was an 8 way click spinner?

Yeah, not a real good way to set this up for Mame.  Do a search as I think I remember a post from someone who developed a way to replicate the spinner.

BTW, I'm in PA too, about 45 min. from Philly.  

What town?

Skippack, near Lansdale

[Spyridon]

Skippack, near Lansdale

Cool, you're only about an hour from me.  One of my classmates from Wharton lived there.  I used to drop him off on my way home.

[HanoiBoi]

Skippack, near Lansdale

Cool, you're only about an hour from me.  One of my classmates from Wharton lived there.  I used to drop him off on my way home.

As they say...it's a small world.   

[Spyridon]

Okay, back on this project   

Control panel was striped down and painted


I'll be working with an ink jet overlay which is new for me.  This is still a very high quality reproduction.


It's not die cut so lining it up took a little patience.  I cut sections of the holes out so I could line it up correctly


Once applied, I used an exacto knife to trip away the remaining hole sections and the spots for the carriage bolts


Next, I used a wire brush attachment on my dremel to clean out the crud in the crevices of the spinner control.  After that, it was time to remove the old faded direction label


I was surprised to see that underneath the label was also marked with a directional indicator.


Add one NOS label

and now you can actually read what it says


Controls added back in and three new white buttons


Installed on the machine

[Spyridon]

Comparison of the old and new control panels

[IG-88]

How do you think that inkjet print will hold up to sweaty hands and such?

[Spyridon]

How do you think that inkjet print will hold up to sweaty hands and such?

It seems just as tough as some of the screened prints I've used.

[Superully]

great job i love those taito cabs next to each other