The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: Maximus on January 07, 2014, 12:43:45 pm
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Finished this just before Christmas and never got around to posting it here, so here's the abridged heavy photo version of the story of a Missile Command I found in the storage shed of a used car lot 5 minutes from my house that I swoofed away for $60.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc001.jpg)(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc002.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc003.jpg)(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc004.jpg)
The machine had been left in an outdoor storage locker on a used car lot for the last ten years, but thankfully due to the San Diego climate the wood was still in excellent condition. The cab had been raided for a few parts, mainly the trackball mechanism and a couple of switches, also the back door was missing. But apart from these areas, the rest of the cabinet was actually in very good condition under 10 years of dust, dead spiders and cobwebs. (no rat ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- at least).
I offered the guy $60 for it, standing with the cash in my hand, he agreed without much care or hesitation, so we loaded it in my car and off I drove.
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After a little bit of troubleshooting it turned out that the 5V rail on the ARii was only putting out 2V, so that was surely not going to help matters, luckily I had a couple of spare ones hanging around so I swapped it out with a known good one, powered up the cab again and...
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc005.jpg)
A beautiful bright and colorful picture from the original Electrohome monitor, the game was running and sounding fantastic!!
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A generous KLOV member 'Bold69' mentioned to me that he may have a trackball for the cabinet and sent me some pictures. He wasn't sure, but thought it was for a Missile Command
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc005a.jpg)
After comparing the image to others on the net it certainly seemed to be the right unit. Bold69 let me have it for the price of shipping (Thanks man you rock!).
As soon as it arrived I gave it a quick clean and oiled the bearings then dropped it into the cab, the edge connectors fit the wiring harness perfectly so it looks like we scored the right part. Fired it up and took it for a spin (see what I did there :eek: )
Missile Command first play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29d9Xuri6Ns#ws)
The trackball and rollers themselves have seen better days so I'll do a full rebuild on the rollers and bearings and put in a new 4" ball.
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Now I have a fully working game I can feel confident in proceeding with tidying up the cab and really getting this puppy back on it's feet. The cab was coated in a thick layer of dust after all those years in storage so it really needed a good clean.
I wanted to be careful though as everything seems to be working just fine so I don't want to go tearing everything out of the cab just to clean it. I got myself a 2" medium bristle painters brush, put a skinny hose on my shopvac and went to town on the cab just dry brushing as much as I could.
I was pretty surprised how well everything came out once I got that layer of grime up, the cab wood really is in great shape.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc006.jpg)(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc007.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc008.jpg)(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc009.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc010.jpg)
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Pulled the marquee as the light wasn't working, looks like after the original one broke no-one bothered to even go back there to change it, as a result though, the marquee itself doesn't have a single scratch, it's perfect, just the odd bits of goo on the face and a little rubbing from the retainer...
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc011.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc012.jpg)
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Half of the cardboard shroud around the monitor was missing, so I used what I had to recreate the other parts of the shroud to make it complete again using simple poster paper...
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc013.jpg)
Fits nicely, I'll simply spray this with a nice flat black paint.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc014.jpg)
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Control panel arrived today and it sure is pretty. A big thanks to Yot for convincing me to buy this (NOW STOP SPENDING ALL MY MONEY!!! :cheers: )
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc015.jpg)
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Started breaking down the trackball mechanism this morning for the rebuild.
Everything dismantled
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc016.jpg)
The rollers have seen many years of good fun
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc017.jpg)
Everything dunked in a bath of 50/50 hot water and simple green
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc018.jpg)
20 Minutes later, pulled it all out, rubbed it down & dried
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc019.jpg)
I have to stop at the store tonight and find some bearing pullers, also pick up a little grease for the new bearings before I can reassemble it all.
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Made some decent progress this weekend.
new bearings in place
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc21.jpg)
new shafts
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc22.jpg)
new trackball
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc23.jpg)
unit assembled
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc24.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc25.jpg)
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Time for paint, I'm a huge fan of this Textured Black
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc26.jpg)
Bezel and bolt heads done
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc27.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc28.jpg)
Same texture on the coin door, looks great
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc29.jpg)
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The kickplate vinyl is in great shape, but there's a little damage right at the base and some fraying where it's been caught on things/feet over the years. I picked up some carpet trim to protect this area in the future
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc30.jpg)
Same textured black for the trim
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc31.jpg)
and on the button cones
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc32.jpg)
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Placing the zip tie anchors to match the original layout as closely as possible
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc33.jpg)
Harness, buttons transferred and rebuilt trackball bolted in
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc34.jpg)
CP complete and ready to go back in the cab
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc35.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc36.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc37.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc38.jpg)
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Coin door finished with new locks and bulbs
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc39.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc40.jpg)
Starting to put everything back in place, looking sharp
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc41.jpg)
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Replaced the old marquee lighting with a new unit, an 18" GE under-shelf flourescent, then reassembled everything up top.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc42.jpg)
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NOS Side art arrived, it looks fantastic for it's age, very very happy with it.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc43.jpg)
Added the new leg levelers
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc44.jpg)
Added our custom trim to the bottom of the cab. The flash on my phone's camera makes the vinyl look awful but it's actually in very good condition.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc45.jpg)
Time for the fun of stripping the vinyl. I know some people get lucky and are able to pull Atari vinyls clean off, unfortunately that's not me, I had the same issues with the Paperboy restore. I have found that warming the vinyl with a heat gun does make the job a lot easier, shouldn't be too bad.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc46.jpg)
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I'm quite chuffed you used the word "swoofed". :cheers:
Any thoughts on the bezel glass? Yes, SPEND MORE MONEY!!!! >:D
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Smooth as a baby's bum...
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc47.jpg)
You can see where the solvents from the ink have tinted the sealer on the wood, seeing this I would feel confident in assuming that the white vinyl was applied to the pre-cut panel and then the whole thing went to screen printing.
One side down, one to go.
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Any thoughts on the bezel glass? Yes, SPEND MORE MONEY!!!! >:D
I plan on picking one up from ToG at some point but my garage conversion and Xmas have sucked the bank accounts dry right now so I'm going to have to hang off for a little while for refuelling.
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Time to put the vinyl on this side.
I have a decent amount of experience with vinyl but it doesn't matter how many times I do it, I still get nervous, especially with art this old.
Basic positioning and rough trimming to leave about an inch of bleed around the perimeter of the cab
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc48.jpg)
I always hinge my large vinyl pieces, sticking down one half at a time with a very light spritz on both surfaces of water and dish washing liquid mixture (single drop to 32oz of water).
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc49.jpg)
Top half stuck in place, now just do the same to the bottom half
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc50.jpg)
And it's all down, I roller it pretty hard with a laminate roller to push out the small film of water and any air bubbles
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc51.jpg)
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Trimming flush to the edges on this one, sometimes I wrap to the edge of the T-mold groove, depends on the job and the vinyl I am using. Because this stuff is already very old and quite brittle I dont want to attack it too much with a heat gun on the edges/corners so I'm going for a flush trim.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc52.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc53.jpg)
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc54.jpg)
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My own personal addition, orange T-Molding, I wanted something that pulled the colors up out of the artwork and into the lines of the cab, personally I really love it, what do you think?
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc55.jpg)
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On the home straight, made a new door for the back of the cab, nothing special but gets the job done, birch pine because, well, that's what I had in the garage.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc56.jpg)
Stapled the original service sheets back inside.
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc57.jpg)
All painted and in place, a candidate for the coveted 'Arcade back door of the year award' ???? :D
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc58.jpg)
And we're done...
(http://www.arcadeicons.com/images/mc/mc59.jpg)
The only thing missing is the screen printed glass. I'll probably pick up the repro from TOG at some point, but for now this classic is going into my lineup where I it will stay for good.
Thanks for watching.
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Really nice work !! :applaud:
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Very, very nice. Love the t-mold too
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Yup, beautiful work. :applaud:
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Nice work......now get started on breaking the new world record of 100M. :P
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Nice work......now get started on breaking the new world record of 100M. :P
HA! I need some tips for sure as I can't seem to get past about 17k
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Nice work......now get started on breaking the new world record of 100M. :P
HA! I need some tips for sure as I can't seem to get past about 17k
Do you use the toxic cloud technique?
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Nice work......now get started on breaking the new world record of 100M. :P
HA! I need some tips for sure as I can't seem to get past about 17k
Gets easier in time -- remember to use the side bases first and save the center base for those times you need a faster hit. Usually a well placed spread across the screen for the first wave from one of the side bases will get rid of the first wave then it's just a matter of cleaning up from there till you get to the later waves with the smart bombs that take a bit of practice. Also it will only kill 3 bases per round so concentrate on the ones headed for the bases if you run low on ammo.
Brings back memories of playing for hours and hours on a single quarter at the college rec room -- Once you hit 880K you get an abundance of bases due to the programmers thinking no one would ever reach that so they set it as a testing score to make testing easier with pretty much infinite bases for several hours of play. (EDIT : Just checked the WIKI and they say it was actually 810K and was 176 extra bases - so a minimum of 58 rounds from there)
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Man that is a great find and you done an awesome semi-restore. I got to say though, that monitor is crisp and bright for being as old as it is and being in storage for that long.
Awesome find man, congrats!
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Wow! Great job. I'm with you, the Rustoleum Textured black is the real deal. I have had luck top coating it with various colors and even satin clear.
BTW, where in the world did you find the NOS side art??
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Yeah bamboo the monitor is very nice for it's age, it has some burn but otherwise works flawlessly.
Looks like I'm going to have to get my strategy on and start learning some of these ninja techniques.
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BTW, where in the world did you find the NOS side art??
eBay, Eldorado Games
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Very nice work! :cheers: I would probably had with black t-molding though.
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That side art went on super-sexy like. I'm impressed. The colored T-Mold is great as well.
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Another awesome restore! I like the color choice on the t-molding.
I feel lame for asking, but what company is "TOG"?
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Another awesome restore! I like the color choice on the t-molding.
I feel lame for asking, but what company is "TOG"?
This Old Game (http://www.thisoldgame.com/)
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eldorado games is nice... got a dynamo control panel from him for my cab project.
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Very Nice! I love Missile Command, great game. This is the nicest one I have seen. Great Job! :applaud: