Just got 4 cabs....need help and direction...(with NEW PHOTO FLAVOR!)

[garnerb350]

Man, ole man...I am tired guys...I am still recooperating from yesterday...
Here's the story:
A guy on craigslist was giving away 4 arcade cabs for free...and i did a spur of a moment to rush and see and maybe get the cabs...Ive been itching to do another project (this will be my second) and I lost out on a chance to get a DK cab ( Severdhed got one why cant I ? )

The guy lived 2 hours away. Got to the guy's house and he had 2 Universal cabs ( Lady Bug, Mr.Do) and two generic Namco cabs... They had the monitors and coin doors, but the owner was unsure if they had everything else...he never turned them on and you could tell they were missing other parts...
On a scale from 1-10...i'd say 3-6, with the Ladybug cab condition being 6...

The attachments are the photos i took ( crappy cell phone) of the Universal cabs when i got home with them...I took the Namcos and they are sitting in an old tobacco barn my family owns.

My main goal was to strip the cabs and use the parts....but that lady bug body looks like it can be salvaged and converted...

Well the cabs had locks (with no keys) so i took a drill and got them loose...The Ladybug was empty...The Mr.Do however had EVERYTHING...I plugged it in and it works...but I think there is some issue with the monitor...its like the screen wants to pucker toward the bottom ....

Right now I am trying to decide what to do before i dive into the abyss...should i mame it?...should i convert it to another game of my liking?... or strip it bare and use the parts on another stratch build...
I am so tired from hauling those cabs...

( sorry if i sound like I'm rambling, I am excited over this, plus having lack of sleep,and no mountain dew to keep me company)
 

[Dr Zero]

First off congrats! 

Fix up Mr. Do then sell it to pay for another project.

You have other cabs you can put boards in that is not an issue no need to mame a working game. I am of the notion that if the games plays and is not some off the wall hack job then why mame it there is someone who might like it.

What are in the namco cabs?

Oh and congrats again! 

[garnerb350]

What are in the namco cabs?

Not for sure...it was late in the day when i got home...and i was going off the notion from what the giver was saying ( he said that he thought they were empty)....Now on the monitors they had severe burn in....one monitor was either a Pac-man or Ms.Pacman...I could see the names of the ghosts...plus one had a werid looking marquee ( looked bootleg) of the pacman maze with ghosts being chased by a Popeye the sailor head...(serouisly)  when i get home from work later today, I am going to stop by the barn and do a more indept look into those namco cabs...

I'm thinking that its going to be hard to find Mr.Do parts...With my lack of internet at home and everything...I'm going to take it real slow and I know that the cabs will  need a repainting...
It just sucks because I have no guidance or company on what to do really(all alone in NC) ...except for this forum family...

[surface tension]

Wow, 4 free cabs. Well worth the 2 hour trip by the look of it.

I'd certainly try to get the Mr. Do and Ladybug up together. I played on these two a lot on the coleco when I was a boy.

I wish the UK Craigslist has stuff like this. A crappy old shell over here would cost silly money.

[RayB]

Wow, I was just saying a couple weeks ago about how we rarely ever see Lady Bug cabs and here you get one AND a rare Mr Do! I would definitely keep Mr Do.  It's dedicated, complete(?) and has that neat color wheel thingy in the back. (Is the bezel missing?)

As for the popeye game, that's a Pac Man bootleg. The game has the head of popeye eating dots, and the power pills are spinach cans, etc.

What do you mean when you say 'Namco' cabs? Do you mean the classic MIDWAY ?

[garnerb350]

What do you mean when you say 'Namco' cabs? Do you mean the classic MIDWAY ?

That what i was unsure about...It blows my mind how you guys here can tell what cab went with what game...( I guess years of experience)...The guy who i got the cabs from ....his exact words were "generic Namco cabs"...When he said namco...i automatilly thought, pac-man, galaga, etc...( the old block style cabs )
but when i got there to pick them up...they looked like old frogger cabs...( that side panel design and wood grain lamanmate...

The only thing I was able to notice was that bootleg marquee...the burn-in on the screen....and one red balltop joystick...the other cab had a bezel art...something like missles launching from both sides...

The owner got the cabs from somebody years ago, and he was going to try to restore one...but i guess his health went downhill and he didnt have time to continue working on them. I can see why, because I'm so sore from loading and unloading those heavy cabs...

Does anybody know where I can find any info on those Universal cabs? I'm searching but I cant find anything web wise...all I get is tickets offers for Universal Studios....

[RayB]

What info are you looking for?

PS: Don't MAME.

[THE POKER BRAT]

well just from my experience,..take the better (UNIVERSAL) cabinet,.
you can play both games on one cab, but just be sure to add the fire button or switch control panels (which is easier to do) take the other universal cabinet and sell / trade / donate /or junk the other,.
and begin phase 2 on the namco cabinets as well,...by the way,..what pcbs are in the namco's?

[garnerb350]

I just got back from the family barn...The Namco's and the ladybug cab only have the monitors/coindoors (which is what i thought)....the Ladybug cab is the one that is in best condition...I'm going to swap out the Mr Do & place it in the ladybug...
I bet the previous owner didnt know...he thought they were all empty...

But what is kicking my arse is trying to find repo parts to the specific MrDo cab...cant find no CPO art, bezels, nothing for sale...what i might end up having to do is to do a custom theme ( which isnt orginal!) arrrgh....

this is what the cab should look like....


I myself have never seen a Universal cab...are these fairly common or hard to find?
Ive seen plenty Mr Do cabs but never in a Universsal with the funky 70s type scheme....
I somehow have the urge to sit down and watch Flash Gordon....( one with the Queen soundtrack)

[CrazyKongFan]

I've seen that Pac-Man hack before. Local arcade had one back in the day. I think the marquee said "pop man" on it, or something like that. Never really saw the point of it. It think the only graphic changed was Pac-Man to Popeye. At least some of the other hacks (like Hangly Man, which I also saw a few times) had new mazes and a few twists (maze disappears during blue time, a free-for-all screen with no maze, etc)

Looking at that photo of the Mr Do cab, what's wrong with it? Looks pretty good from that one photo

[RayB]

I myself have never seen a Universal cab...are these fairly common or hard to find?
Ive seen plenty Mr Do cabs but never in a Universsal with the funky 70s type scheme....
I somehow have the urge to sit down and watch Flash Gordon....( one with the Queen soundtrack)

Pretty rare (at least I personally think so). Only Universal cabinet I've ever come across in my last 10 years in the hobby was Cosmic War. Now that one was neat in that the sides were a sort of laminated plastic or something like that. Really hard and scratch resistant, with the art protected under a clear-coat.

[garnerb350]

Now that one was neat in that the sides were a sort of laminated plastic or something like that. Really hard and scratch resistant, with the art protected under a clear-coat.

Both of them have it too...Ive never seen that type of lamanate before...but there are places on the cab where the clear coat is torn or missing...

[garnerb350]

Took some photos yesterday...If anyone would please, take a look at them and tell me what you think I should do...

Picture 001: This is the Ladybug cab...only thing I have done to it was remove the monitor tube, coin door, Control panel, marquee....Everything else is what you see with this cab....the body is fairly good...my gut is telling me to clean it, prime it, paint it...

Picture 002: The Mr Do! cab...this is the way it was when i got it...the marquee got a bad stratch...im probley going to redo it in Illustrator...the sides are beat up bad...control panel has cigerette burns, and the joystick is busted... that back bezel and the speaker console is in great condition...I'm going to swap it into the Ladybug cab....

Picture 004: The PCB board...looks nice...(noob question: there where it hooks up....Is that a JAMMA hookup or what do you call a "factory" hookup? Can it be swapped or improved? I just asking what possibilites do i have or should i do?

Picture 005: Power supply...Looks like something out of Frankenstein..."Fritz! more POWER!!!!"
Can anybody tell me what voltage that thing pushes...or model type?


Picture 006: Can anybody tell me what this is? Its located directly under the monitor...

The STRANGE "Generic Namco cabs"

Picture 007:  Here is one of the werid bootleg cabs that the owner gave to me ...the second one is behind it...I dont know who Mike Mercer is...The marquee really scares me...The only things these cabs have are the monitors, coin doors, speakers...The sides are in great shape...but there is some pretty bad spots where the pressboard had water damage...I think I can replace them with 3/4 plywood...These two cabs would be great for Mame projects...

Picture 008: photo of the monitor in the back of the cabs...

[RayB]

Oh that poor Mr Do.

I'm not a big fan of printing up marquees to replace originals. If you are patient enough and look in enough places (ie: set an Ebay alert; get word out to other collectors; post here, check online vendors, etc) you will eventually find a marquee in better condition.

Example: http://www.quarterarcade.com/Search.aspx?s=mr+Do

And to identify that weird popeye thing, go to www.klov.com  and search by manufacturer for "Sega/Gremlin" and "gremlin" games and see if you can find one that matches the bezel artwork. The cab definitly looks like Sega/Gremlin style from Frogger era, although there were a lot of generic knock-offs using the same shape and woodgrain finish.

[garnerb350]

Oh that poor Mr Do.

I know...tell me about it...I thought it was a shot cab...but then i saw where the back was locked and the owner didnt have a key...( he orginally got the cabs because he was going to restore, but he diecided not to, i guess because he didnt have time).. I took a drill and busted the lock and saw everything...It makes me wonder what happened to it to get into the condition it is now...

I was just wanting some old cabs for mame projects...low and behold, i'm going to do a restore... 

Those bootleg cab...I'm eventually strip what parts are on them...replace/repair the damage and see if the monitors are good or better condition than what is on the MrDo...clean up the coin doors and probley mame those sumbeyotches...

[Dr Zero]

Get it restored so you can sell it to pay for your new DK cab!

Ive still got a eye out for one down here for ya.

[garnerb350]

Do you think Severdhed might do a trade? 

(I hope he sees this)

[mvsfan]

Man, ole man...I am tired guys...I am still recooperating from yesterday...
Here's the story:
A guy on craigslist was giving away 4 arcade cabs for free...and i did a spur of a moment to rush and see and maybe get the cabs...Ive been itching to do another project (this will be my second) and I lost out on a chance to get a DK cab ( Severdhed got one why cant I ? )

The guy lived 2 hours away. Got to the guy's house and he had 2 Universal cabs ( Lady Bug, Mr.Do) and two generic Namco cabs... They had the monitors and coin doors, but the owner was unsure if they had everything else...he never turned them on and you could tell they were missing other parts...
On a scale from 1-10...i'd say 3-6, with the Ladybug cab condition being 6...

The attachments are the photos i took ( crappy cell phone) of the Universal cabs when i got home with them...I took the Namcos and they are sitting in an old tobacco barn my family owns.

My main goal was to strip the cabs and use the parts....but that lady bug body looks like it can be salvaged and converted...

Well the cabs had locks (with no keys) so i took a drill and got them loose...The Ladybug was empty...The Mr.Do however had EVERYTHING...I plugged it in and it works...but I think there is some issue with the monitor...its like the screen wants to pucker toward the bottom ....

Right now I am trying to decide what to do before i dive into the abyss...should i mame it?...should i convert it to another game of my liking?... or strip it bare and use the parts on another stratch build...
I am so tired from hauling those cabs...

( sorry if i sound like I'm rambling, I am excited over this, plus having lack of sleep,and no mountain dew to keep me company)
 

Usually if the lock has a number on it, you can get a key cut for it. much less trouble than drilling it out.

[garnerb350]

Usually if the lock has a number on it, you can get a key cut for it. much less trouble than drilling it out.

Where can I go to get a key made ? A locksmith? reason why is that i manage to get ahold of a Space Invaders 2  cocktail table and I dont have the key for it either...I know the locks say "7900"

[severdhed]

Do you think Severdhed might do a trade? 

(I hope he sees this)

not a chance...sorry.  DK is by far my favorite arcade game.  as much as i had to argue with my wife to get this thing in the house, it isn't leaving.....sorry.

nice find though

[garnerb350]

 

I thought you get a kick out of that comment...DK my fav also...
And I remmeber what you went through bout your wife when you got that cab...