Author Topic: I hunger... [finished!!!] (Read 19112 times)

OSCAR · « **on:** August 06, 2003, 11:23:55 pm »

Not a finished project, but starting...

Since I don't feel right if I don't have at least 10 things going on at once, I had my buddy Ed (some of you may know him as Delta88) on the lookout for an old Williams cab for my next project...

Well, it took him almost 24hrs to track one down (thanks again, Ed!!), so he is slipping a bit.

A short drive and $30 later, I had a pretty clean and very solid old Wills cabinet that had been converted to a Konami Kicker.

In a few places on the side where the black paint was scraped off, I could see some blue & red paint, so used a bit of paint remover to see what was underneath. Since Kicker is also a fairly old game (1985) and this cabinet had been in storage for a while, I was hoping that the original artwork would have been pretty well preserved. I was right, it seems.

Ahhh, a Sinistar... And the sideart is in fantastic shape! From what paint I have removed so far, I haven't found a scratch in the sideart yet. I'll have to touch up the original black in a few places, but hopefully that is all.

The conversion was actually pretty well done and they were even nice enough to keep all the original transluscent leaf buttons. No Sinistar joystick though, but that's to be expected.

MAME isn't in this cabinet's future, but I am planning to add a Multi-Williams kit to my Joust boards and house them in this cabinet. I'll document the rest of the cabinet restoration and Multi-Williams installation as I go. This should be fun project, wish me luck!

AlanS17 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 06, 2003, 11:41:29 pm »

Sounds like fun. I saw those multi-Williams kits. They look interesting.

Zeitgeist · « **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2003, 11:52:13 pm »

Sweeeet!
Gotta love those old Williams cabs.
Moon Patrol is on of my all time favorites - very similar to your Sinistar cab.
I'd love to get my hands on one of those.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #3 on:** August 07, 2003, 05:26:57 am »

Hee hee. Kind of ironic that you are using a Sinistar cabinet for your multi-williams, being as it is the only game on that hardware that isn't in the Multi-Williams kit.

3dmacman · « **Reply #4 on:** August 07, 2003, 10:34:33 am »

I hate you.

j/k

I wish I had your time and money, energy,etc.

Got to post pics when you're done

Edgedamage · « **Reply #5 on:** August 07, 2003, 10:40:29 am »

Ahh good man thank you for not maming a classic williams cab.

AlanS17 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 07, 2003, 11:07:26 am »

I wanna see a picture of that side art fully cleaned up...

OSCAR · « **Reply #7 on:** August 07, 2003, 11:55:24 am »

Yeah, I can't wait to see how the artwork turns out, too. It's turning out pretty nice so far, but I still have a long way to go. I'll be sure to post some better pics when I have the sides completely cleaned up.

Heh, paigeoliver, tell me about it... Figures I would end up with a Wills cab that *wasn't* in the MW kit. In a way I was thrilled that it was a Sinistar, but also a little miffed that it wasn't one of the 6 in a MW kit. Oh well, mine will be unique, I guess.

AlanS17 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 07, 2003, 12:03:33 pm »

Do you actually have all the boards to complete the set?

CitznFish · « **Reply #9 on:** August 07, 2003, 03:01:27 pm »

Beware I live! Run coward! Run!

Man I love Sinistar...

kspiff · « **Reply #10 on:** August 10, 2003, 07:36:56 am »

The multigame.com site says you only need a Robotron or Joust board for the multigame kit.. must be 'cause all the games ran on the same hardware (like the Pac multi kits).

dhansen · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2003, 01:21:32 am »

Nice Oscar, I love the Williams look. Classic. This makes me want to restore my Moon Patrol side art... hmmmm....

Doug

SirPeale · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2003, 11:18:59 am »

Quote from: dhansen on August 12, 2003, 01:21:32 am

Nice Oscar, I love the Williams look. Classic. This makes me want to restore my Moon Patrol side art... hmmmm....

You've got a Moon Patrol too? Did you MAME it?

CitznFish · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2003, 04:23:50 pm »

if i ever found a moon patrol I'd restore it. One of my favorite games!

dhansen · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2003, 09:47:49 am »

Quote from: Peale on August 12, 2003, 11:18:59 am

Quote from: dhansen on August 12, 2003, 01:21:32 am
Nice Oscar, I love the Williams look. Classic. This makes me want to restore my Moon Patrol side art... hmmmm....

You've got a Moon Patrol too? Did you MAME it?

Yeah, it was my first project. It was pretty trashed when I got it and it didn't occur to me to restore the artwork. But it's never too late.

Doug

dhansen · « **Reply #15 on:** August 13, 2003, 10:34:20 am »

Quote from: CitznFish on August 12, 2003, 04:23:50 pm

if i ever found a moon patrol I'd restore it. One of my favorite games!

It was the victim of a poor conversion in the first place, it didn't have the original CP, artwork, marquee, boards, etc. Again, I didn't drill holes in the side for a cupholder so it can always be reversed

SirPeale · « **Reply #16 on:** August 13, 2003, 07:11:08 pm »

I've gone thru great lengths to make sure if I ever want to I can convert it back to a Moon Patrol. The cabinet was thru like four conversions when I got it.

OSCAR · « **Reply #17 on:** August 15, 2003, 03:40:45 pm »

I need to get more Goof-Off to finish up, but here is how it looks so far

pathdoc2 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 18, 2003, 05:15:00 pm »

What a great surprise under all that paint. Very cool. This will be a great project once you get it all finished. Again, strong work.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #19 on:** August 18, 2003, 06:52:25 pm »

This is so kick-ass. I'd love to do a MW cabinet, just because those games are so cool (not to mention that Defender's/Stargate's controls are so obtuse to map correctly on a generic "Street Fighter" control panel).

CitznFish · « **Reply #20 on:** August 19, 2003, 01:13:58 am »

pardon my ignorance, but what's a finished control panel look like for a williams MP

paigeoliver · « **Reply #21 on:** August 19, 2003, 05:54:37 am »

Quote from: CitznFish on August 19, 2003, 01:13:58 am

pardon my ignorance, but what's a finished control panel look like for a williams MP

Like a Robotron panel with Stargate buttons added.

OSCAR · « **Reply #22 on:** September 06, 2003, 10:04:01 pm »

A small update

Tailgunner · « **Reply #23 on:** September 08, 2003, 02:59:24 am »

Love the clean wiring job.

pathdoc2 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 08, 2003, 10:29:02 am »

Looks awesome. Great work.

hyiu · « **Reply #25 on:** September 08, 2003, 10:54:04 am »

wow...... VERY NICE !!!!!......

Brax · « **Reply #26 on:** September 08, 2003, 12:41:58 pm »

Beautiful job. I'm jealous, I wish I had the money to pull something like this off.

Karman · « **Reply #27 on:** September 08, 2003, 12:51:13 pm »

Oscar - does Darin sell Clay's kit with the eproms already loaded up?

By the way, for anyone looking to do a Multi Williams, Phoenix Arcade also sells a drop-in control panel. Its SWEET.

OSCAR · « **Reply #28 on:** September 08, 2003, 02:08:50 pm »

Thanks for the comments!

It's not so much the money, but the time, Brax. This has actually been a fairly cheap project so far:

Cabinet w/ ps: $30
Dead GO7: $20
Parts to resuscitate GO7: $28
M-W kit: $140
Artwork: $110
Wire/connectors/misc parts from Bob Roberts: $30
Paint & supplies will run about $30-$40, I'd guess.

Oh, and (1) working Joust/Robotron boardset, too...

Karman - Darin takes care of his customers.

I was going to use that panel, too, but Darin said that it only fit Joust/Robotron/Stargate cabinets. It definitely wouldn't have fit in my Sinistar since the Sinistar cabinet is about 2" narrower than the horizontal Wills cabs.

Karman · « **Reply #29 on:** September 08, 2003, 05:54:37 pm »

Quote from: OSCAR on September 08, 2003, 02:08:50 pm

Karman - Darin takes care of his customers.

Cool - I asked because I'm about to convert my Joust.

Quote

I was going to use that panel, too, but Darin said that it only fit Joust/Robotron/Stargate cabinets. It definitely wouldn't have fit in my Sinistar since the Sinistar cabinet is about 2" narrower than the horizontal Wills cabs.

Wow - I didn't know that! But then again, its been about 15 years since I've seen a Sinistar cabinet in person too.

What joysticks are those? Original Wicos?

You know, the more I look at this and the two cocktail threads, the more I realize that the collecting community needs a bulletin board (instead of, or in addition to the RGVAC newsgroup). Its much nicer being able to post pics directly in threads, etc.

OSCAR · « **Reply #30 on:** September 08, 2003, 06:16:00 pm »

Yes, those are Wico sticks. I had one left over from a Videoconnect order long ago, and my buddy Ed who located the cabinet for me had another NOS one still in the box.

There are forums for collectors over at KLOV. I've lurked there from time to time, but the atmosphere is much friendlier over here; especially for a half-breed mamer/collector/restorer such as myself.

Edgedamage · « **Reply #31 on:** September 10, 2003, 01:15:36 am »

Oscar here's a pic of the lamp holders if this is what you want PM me.

GSXRMovistar · « **Reply #32 on:** September 10, 2003, 07:36:04 am »

Looks great so far, very professional as with the rest of your work.

Quick question, where did you get those buttons from? They would suit another small project I have in mind.

OSCAR · « **Reply #33 on:** September 10, 2003, 01:28:54 pm »

Those are the original Sinistar buttons that were already in the panel. I had a couple extra light blue buttons for the P1 & P2 start that I ordered from Wico quite a while ago.

Karman · « **Reply #34 on:** September 10, 2003, 05:02:20 pm »

What are you going to use for the main wiring harness for the game boards, etc.? Are you going to make it?

Edgedamage · « **Reply #35 on:** September 10, 2003, 05:44:09 pm »

Also while we are on the topic of the game boards. Are you going to do the 4116 to 4164 ram conversion?

OSCAR · « **Reply #36 on:** September 10, 2003, 09:42:01 pm »

Quote from: Karman on September 10, 2003, 05:02:20 pm

What are you going to use for the main wiring harness for the game boards, etc.? Are you going to make it?

Already made. Well, mostly... Since this Sinistar was converted to a Konami, all the wills board wiring was stripped out. The only original wiring left intact was the marquee, speaker, test switches, and most of the coin door. The coin door lockout & slam switches were removed. I'm rewiring the cabinet with a jamma harness and I built a williams2jamma loom for the boards. I just need to ring it out and terminate the fingerboard. Here's a pic of the jamma loom so far:

Quote

Also while we are on the topic of the game boards. Are you going to do the 4116 to 4164 ram conversion?

No, not yet. The boards are working, so I don't want to mess with the ram conversion unless I have a ram failure. If I do, I have considered doing the 4164 conversion. Any major advantages to using the 4164 rams over the 4116 other than the 4164's seem to be more reliable? I admit I'm not real up to speed on the reason for the conversion other than reliability.

On a side note, I picked up another little gem tonight... I've had my eye out for one of these for a while, but they aren't too common.

It is 100% original and working. About the only thing I see wrong with it is where the cpo is cracked in a couple places and there are a few scrapes on the sides. A local guy had it on eBay with a BIN for $250, so I snatched it up. He picked it up from an Air Force base not too long ago (still has the AAFES sticker on the side) but didn't have room to keep it. He even threw in an extra working monitor and a second spare chassis for $30. Not a bad deal, I thought. Now I just have to keep from playing this one long enough to finish up my multi-williams....

Edgedamage · « **Reply #37 on:** September 10, 2003, 10:09:48 pm »

Cool score never seen that game before. As for the 4164 conversion the rams run a lot cooler. Where as the 4116's get nice and warm after a few mins. But I think a lot of ram problems come from the original power supplies and bad molex connectors. But keep in mind that in 92 I did a service call for a customer that has robotron / joust / stargate and what I did was install new molex pins/connectors and computer power supplies in all the machines. And I got in touch with him two months ago asking if he wanted to sell anything and he replied "Why would I want to get rid of my working games" he also said after I fixed the games he had no board problems again.

OSCAR · « **Reply #38 on:** September 10, 2003, 10:42:26 pm »

I'm not surprised you haven't heard of Mad Planets, it doesn't seem to be a very common game. The gameplay is similiar to Blasteroids, but much faster and more furious like Sinistar while using a Tron-style controller setup. Very fun to play!

Thanks for the info on the ram conversion, I'm going to look into it. I see there is a "how-to" at http://www.robotron-2084.co.uk/techwilliams4164.html. I just rebuilt the linear power supply with one of Bob Roberts' kits, so hopefully that will last me a while and I won't have any problems with it.

jakejake28 · « **Reply #39 on:** September 10, 2003, 11:18:03 pm »

Quote from: OSCAR on September 10, 2003, 10:42:26 pm

I'm not surprised you haven't heard of Mad Planets, it doesn't seem to be a very common game. The gameplay is similiar to Blasteroids, but much faster and more furious like Sinistar while using a Tron-style controller setup. Very fun to play!

wow.. coincidence: last week i saw this in my mame list and musta played it for 3 hours straight... its fun.


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