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Arcade Collecting => Restorations & repair => Topic started by: gdonovan on January 13, 2017, 07:59:15 am

Title: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 13, 2017, 07:59:15 am
Good morning!

I think I have a new project and really need to stop looking at Craigslist. Spotted an ad for a pinball machine and arcade game. The pinball is a Williams Little Chief (1975) and the arcade game was a Mr.Do (1983). Doing some digging around it turns out that the Mr.Do was a converted Moon Cresta (1980) by Gremlin/Sega Industries. The cabinet was in surprisingly good condition and had spent its last 15 years in someones heated basement.

After doing some research it looks like the Moon Cresta was converted to a Mr.Do around 1983, I found the original paperwork and manuals at the bottom of the cabinet!

Doing cleanup the last week I resprayed the black sections which were faded, polished the plexiglass window, replaced the cash door lock, made a replacement monitor bezel, swapped out the broken joystick, repaired the dead marquee lamp and did some general cleanup. One surprise was that the marquee was not very bright after fixing the lamp and much to my delight found that the "Mr. Do." marquee was actually a decal over the original "Moon Cresta" marquee which was mint!

At this point I decided to keep the machine and convert it back to a Moon Cresta unit as they seem somewhat rare.

The Mr. Do looks like a Universal Industries kit (one the of the first arcade conversions! but not JAMMA) and works fine and has a pile of paperwork with it.

I'm going to sell off the Mr. Do PCB and paperwork, pick up a 60 in 1 JAMMA board with just Moon Cresta enabled, get a new control panel overlay (available!) and see if I can get a monitor bezel printed up as the old one is beat but the side pieces are mint. I'm still on the fence about the installed joystick. The Gremlin units had only buttons, the Japan units had joysticks. 

The pinball I'm going to try and flip and recoup the cash back which would be nice. I'd keep it but room is tight in the workshop..

Gary
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: Titchgamer on January 13, 2017, 08:23:55 am
Cool! :)
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: behrmr on January 13, 2017, 11:03:22 am
Mr. Do! is not a JAMMA conversion it's a unique/Universal pinout unless you have a bootleg.  If it's not a bootleg be aware that you will have to flip your monitor's yoke since Mr. Do!'s image is "upside down" in relation to most other games.   Mr. Do! boards are pretty common and bring around $50-$60 for the Universal board. 
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 13, 2017, 12:18:20 pm
Mr. Do! is not a JAMMA conversion it's a unique/Universal pinout unless you have a bootleg.

Its a real deal Universal board.

Over on another forum or wiki it was mentioned that Universal sold 30,000 conversion kits. I assumed looking at the connector I have not touched yet it was a standard Jamma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Do

I'll post some of the paperwork and be careful to check the pin out before plugging anything in!!

Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 13, 2017, 12:25:21 pm
Looking at the supplied diagram I thank you for the warning! 
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 13, 2017, 05:15:20 pm
Speaking of purchases: Is this IGT Fun Casino worth anything?

It works great and has really nice picture. Its the cabinet I'm going to convert over to PacMan as a gift to a friend of mine.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 14, 2017, 06:20:46 am
Anyone use http://www.arcadeoverlays.com/ (http://www.arcadeoverlays.com/) ?

I need to order an overlay, if there is a board member that sells them please contact me with a price as I'd rather purchase from a member here as first option.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: IG-88 on January 14, 2017, 01:49:09 pm
The poker machines/boards aren't worth much. Parts mostly. Put the Mr. Do! in there along with the Pac. 2 pretty fun games...
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 14, 2017, 03:03:41 pm
The poker machines/boards aren't worth much. Parts mostly. Put the Mr. Do! in there along with the Pac. 2 pretty fun games...

Pity as the thing is mint, another home owned unit.

I'm going to pull the casino board, rewire for JAMMA, flip the monitor vertical, install a joystick and a few buttons and install a 60 and 1 board and do up some graphics so it looks presentable.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 15, 2017, 08:37:38 pm
Control panel overlay on order as is fresh buttons and spent some time in Photoshop working on the monitor bezel stitching together some photos. Going to call Staples tomorrow and see what they print on and sizes.

 
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 21, 2017, 05:03:35 am
Just a quick update--

1) Had a bezel printed up at Staples but the file from Mr. Do's the colors are off. Might import the file into photoshop and adjust or run with it.

2) Buttons are here! New plexiglass for screen here!

3) Control panel overlay is in route as is new game pcb.

4) Lower marquee trim fabricated!

5) One of the coin mechs was non-functional. Disassembled last night, cleaned and adjusted and is now working. Spent time cleaning and polishing that unit, will do the other one tonight and pull door for refurbishing.

Have a plan for mounting the joystick in such a way that unit can be converted back to a button without holes in the control panel. Time to get the welder out!

Friends "Pac Man machine" will be done on Monday if all shows up. I ended up pulling the control panel and re-doing the plexi, ordering a 4 way joystick (I didn't like the action of the 8 way) working on the coin return mech, ordering the yellow t-molding and mounting and wiring a service switch in the cabinet.

Gary
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 24, 2017, 04:44:50 pm
Went to town on the cabinet today- Pulled the CRT out (works fine but want to replace with LCD) stripped out the control panel and coin door and frame, pulled the plexi-glass, pulled one side panel art so I could scan the colors in photoshop, pulled the speaker panel over the monitor so I could replace it (some damage to the wood) picked up an 22" LED strip lamp from Wal-mart (432 lumes) and stripped and painted the coin door and frame.

Also refurbished the other coin mech and repaired some wiring.

The plan is to leave the old wiring in place and tied back and drop in a new JAMMA harness I have lying about the shop. Getting excited as now that my friends project is done (and he loves it) I can finally get moving on this one.

Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 25, 2017, 10:54:24 am
Picture of coin mech installed.

After poking around and some consideration I'm just going to pull all the wiring out. After all there isn't much hooked up at this point and the Mr. Do. board will be worth more if it sells with the harness.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 25, 2017, 04:20:35 pm
Made up the panel for the LCD to be secured in at the proper height, test fitted with the old bezel, pulled all the old wiring out and did some other tinkering today.

Progress!
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: yotsuya on January 25, 2017, 06:07:13 pm
Why'd you pull the CRT if it works fine?
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: IG-88 on January 25, 2017, 06:09:06 pm
I was kinda wondering the same thing...
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 25, 2017, 07:54:35 pm
Why'd you pull the CRT if it works fine?

Sounds odd but I actually like the way LCD's look, energy savings (I'm going to have it on the same circuit as the shop lights so its going to run alot) and reliability. I'll have it tucked aside if I ever sell or trade the game.

If desired, it would be very easy to slide the original CRT and frame back in. Take about 15 minutes tops as everything related to it is still there. Having the 25" CRT fail in my Blitz machine left a bad taste in my mouth regarding CRT's. Since I'm going through the cabinet anyways it makes sense to me to drop the LCD in at the same time.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 27, 2017, 06:50:04 pm
Today... was a mixed bag.

Finalized the cabinet wiring. The isolator I left in the cabinet but disconnected power from it. The LED marquee lamp (which looks gorgeous) PCB and monitor are all on the same circuit now and powered up at the factory switch. Wired up the coin mechs but then had to fiddle with one as the switch would get stuck. Wired the joystick (more later) but not installed. Made most of the wiring neat and loomed in place. Installed the two cardboard side panels in the monitor area. Locked down the monitor with an aluminum bracket.

Painted the lower "kick plate" area. Minor touch ups all over. Fabricated new "speaker panel" painted and installed with speaker and LED light wiring and installed LED light.

Took the control panel and stripped it. Sanded down till it was shiny. Welded up joystick mounting holes and at the same time welded 4 studs to the underside. For the moment I'm going to leave a Wico joystick in place but wanted the ability to revert back to stock without buying another overlay. This way it is easy peasey to unbolt the stick and pop the fire button in place and change the wiring which has been all pre-marked. Even have a spare white button to leave in the cabinet.
 
Only major issue us some spots appeared on the overlay after installation  ??? ??? ???

I took pictures and forwarded to the vendor to get their input, always something.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 30, 2017, 05:35:07 pm
Busy weekend!

Game is up and running, I have to say I really like this Wico joystick! Really nice feel to it.

Cut the new plexi to size and drilled mounting holes.

Painted carriage head bolts for bezel

Painted plastic bezel as it was looking shabby even after a good scrub

Re-did Moon Cresta bezel image in Photoshop correcting the colors so they matched my side pieces and corrected the skewed left side "support" in the image. Went to Staples to have them print it up and should be done in an hour.

Made a new board backing for the bezel print. Made and installed some "stand offs" so they would not droop on the sides like the originals.

Tinkered around with the wiring a little more and board settings.

If all goes well should be wrapped up soon. Need to wait on the new board overlay decal to show up and install. Very exciting.

Today I spent most of the day working on the Williams pinball game and was able to get the play selection relay functioning correct! Someone long ago installed a stop switch upside down! After fixing that and a little lube and a eraser to clean the contacts it works flawless.

Gary

P.S. and the table is running!
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on January 31, 2017, 03:26:17 pm
Glued the print to the backing, trimmed to size, installed plexi and trim ring, installed print, rear upper door, new lock in lower door, made a bracket for power switch and test/service switch behind coin door.

Just waiting for new overlay decal, thumb lock for coin door and have to make dust cover for joystick.

I'm fairly happy with results.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on February 08, 2017, 07:22:40 am
Still plugging away on this- New overlay came in, stripped panel back down to steel, made dust cover for joystick and played the hell out of the game while waiting. Forgot how tough it is! Have my eye on original PCB and I'll post if I pick one up.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on February 08, 2017, 07:46:45 pm
Overlay installed- With and without joystick
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: DeLuSioNal29 on February 13, 2017, 06:24:10 pm
Cool resto!  Kudos for converting it back.

But I'd re-think the LCD to make it legit.  Plus, that cabinet has a slim profile and becomes top heavy with an LCD.  If not, I'd be interested in the CRT monitor you took out since I'm in CT too.  :-P

Nice job though, love the CP.

DeL
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on February 13, 2017, 06:36:34 pm
Cool resto!  Kudos for converting it back.

But I'd re-think the LCD to make it legit.  Plus, that cabinet has a slim profile and becomes top heavy with an LCD.  If not, I'd be interested in the CRT monitor you took out since I'm in CT too.  :-P

Nice job though, love the CP.

DeL

I think that the CRT is going to go with the unit, if I do obtain an original Moon Cresta PCB then I'll go ahead and go through it with all new caps and convert the machine back. The hardest part will be finding an unmolested machine and having the owner take a few shots for me so I can get the details right!

Gary
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: IG-88 on February 20, 2017, 02:35:43 pm
Hey Gary. Maybe I missed it but where did you get your bezel and cp artwork?

Machine looks sharp!  :applaud:
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: gdonovan on February 20, 2017, 02:42:01 pm
Hey Gary. Maybe I missed it but where did you get your bezel and cp artwork?

Machine looks sharp!  :applaud:

Bezel is artwork from Mr.Do MAME page I color corrected, sized and had to redo the strut on the left side in Photoshop as for some reason it was skewed. From there I went to Staples with the file and had them print it on banner vinyl.

The CP is from www.arcadeoverlays.com (http://www.arcadeoverlays.com) Top Notch guys!

I'm looking for a Moon Cresta original Gremlin/Sega PCB if someone has a working board for sale. If I can lay hands on one I'm going to put a CRT back in the cabinet and get it as close to original as possible.
Title: Re: Moon Cresta
Post by: Ian on February 22, 2017, 12:03:21 am
 :applaud:

Good work!