Q-Bert Bootleg Cleanup

[SirPeale]

I struggled with where to put this thread.  It's not a restoration, it's a generic cab with a bootleg Q-Bert board.  PA is for Mame cabs, so Arcade Misc it is.

I picked this up a year-ish ago.  Advertised on Craigslist as just "Q-Bert" for $25, I sent an email, figuring it was long gone.

They sent a reply back that I was the first to email, so it was mine if I wanted it.

It was an hour away, and they said I couldn't pick up until the next day.  No big deal there...

Driving down, I was going thru possible issues with the beast with what I'd read about Q-Berts.  They said there was no picture, but that could be anything.

When I finally got there, boy was I surprised.  I'll have to snap a picture tomorrow.  But it's a generic cab with a ton of classic arcade artwork.  Kaga monitor.  Beat, but serviceable.   They told me that it just stopped working.  I paid my $25 and loaded up.

I drove back to town, stopped at my storage place and put it inside.  It stayed there for about a year.  It killed me, never even got to plug it in once.

Fast forward to today.  I said "heck with it," went down and put it in the van and brought it back to the house.  I was dying to know what was up with it.

After making sure everything was in it's proper place, I fired it up.  Nothing.  Then I noted that there was an outlet on the bottom of the cab, and plugs were disconnected.  Plugged in the power supply...nothing...wait...hey, I hear Q-Bert jumping around!  Plugged in the monitor...it fired up!  I was able to play a couple games.

It's got the weirdest method for holding down a CP I've ever seen - a couple bolts thru the front into the front of the cab.  You have to unscrew them to remove it.

Also there's a bar that holds down the bezel, and someone drove wood screws thru it into the CP and the wood beneath the bezel.  I guess this works in practice - except they didn't finish the job!  The piece only has screws on the left and middle.  There isn't even a hole on the right to hold it down!

It's a turd, but I can polish it a bit.

[Level42]

So, is it true that the Q*bert bootlegs don't reproduce the audio 100%  ? I think I read that somewhere but can't really remember...

[SirPeale]

There's no voice synth.  I haven't noted any other changes, but I haven't played it that much.

Also the game decided it no longer wanted to go up and left last night.  I hope it's something easy, like the wire broke off the switch.

[SirPeale]

Picture of the side - before cleaning.



Picture of it quite disassembled. 



With the bezel on top.  I need to find some way of fixing this in place.



The destroyed plexi on the CP. 

[Pinball Wizard]

Your in for a big project with this one! Good luck on getting it to function AND making it look good too.

[SirPeale]

Note on that last picture the screw holes to hold the bezel in place.  There are only holes on the "center" and the left!  Center being in quotes because it's so far off center it's not funny.  I'm surprised some kid didn't get his fingers under there and bend it to hell.

Since these pictures were taken I stripped the inside out and sanded the heck out of it.  Vacuumed and now things look a lot better.  The coin vault is just a wooden box and had the top ripped off.  Since it'll never earn another dime on location (as far as I know) I put the top back on with screws instead of hard to get to nails.

You can see the P1 button is in an odd spot compared to P2.  I moved it over to the right side and moved the P2 button down.  That's when I discovered why it was like that.  The metal plate in the front bolts on from the front.  The right bolt was missing when I got it.  I slid the bolt thru the right hole and immediately met resistance - from the button.  So any replacement will have to be shorter.

The joystick mysteriously stopped moving up/left.  Turns out the tab on the leaf switch broke.    Yes, it's a Wico.  For the time being I have the wire soldered directly on the leaf.  Heck, I may leave it that way, better that than wasting a NOS switch on this game.

Screen and plexi cleaned.  Much easier to see!  The plexi is horribly warped.  I may try unwarping it, but I fear I may make it worse.

I found the original PCB mount in the bottom of the cab.  The PCB was mounted with screws/mounts, which was fine, but I wanted to use the wood mount.   A couple of screws with a washer backing put that back into use.

While the PCB was out I scrutinized the edge connector - it was horribly tarnished!  Once I took my fibreglass pencil to it and made it gleaming I fitted it back in and fired it up.  All the graphics glitches have now been corrected.

Washed the outside with a sponge to remove the dirt and mildew.

The right coin slot was missing a screw that I could not find in the bottom, but I did find all the other pieces in the bottom.  Somehow in the process I lost the return spring on the ground.  No amount of searching brought it back to me, so I'll have to get another.    I'm hoping I can find something remotely compatible at the hardware store.

That's it for now...I'm going to:

• Repaint the coin door - just an outside coat over the original, since it's not that bad.  
• Cut the marquee bracket down so you can see more of the Qbert artwork. - done!
• Put a bulb and starter in the fixture so you it will be backlit. - done!
• Wire the coin door so the rejects light up (there are bulbs there, but no lights).  
• Wire the coin door for two slots, not the way it's shared with one right now.  
• Paint the CP retainer semi-gloss black. - done!
• Cut a new wooden CP.  This one is swiss-cheesed. - done!

I think that's it so far.

[SirPeale]

You're in for a big project with this one! Good luck on getting it to function AND making it look good too.

Surprisingly, no!  This is easy compared to some of my other projects right now.  It's not horribly rusty or dirty.  And it works!  I thought I was going to have to rebuild this monitor, and it is working 100%.

The biggest hurdles for me will be finding a way to mount the bezel to the CP cleanly.  I could use a monitor surround under the bezel because it looks like crap - and I think I have one that will work, I'll have to experiment with it.

[THE POKER BRAT]

you dont see these pcbs too often,...i have a qbert bootleg,...prob just like yours,...i like that bezel,...i would buy it from you if you decide to sell it,...

[Mauzy]

Space themed side art (that looks stragely cut off around the front cut outs...), bootleg-looking pac-man with race cars and space invaders-esque aliens with a bootleg Q*Bert board. What the hell?

[SirPeale]

Space themed side art (that looks stragely cut off around the front cut outs...), bootleg-looking pac-man with race cars and space invaders-esque aliens with a bootleg Q*Bert board. What the hell?

I know, right?    You can barely see the outline of art under that art on one side.  So whoever did one of the conversions just overlay that art over what's underneath.  They definitely could have centered the art better, but since I don't know how large a piece it was beforehand, maybe they did what they could with what they had.

you dont see these pcbs too often,...i have a qbert bootleg,...prob just like yours,...i like that bezel,...i would buy it from you if you decide to sell it,...

It's staying with the machine, but you wouldn't want it anyway.  It has a crack in it, and a decent sized scratch.  Doesn't detract from gameplay, but I don't like looking at it.

I went out to put a marquee bulb in it a few minutes ago.  My metal working buddy cut down the marquee retainer for me so it was perfect timing.  Unfortunately the fixture is too short - it's meant for an F14 (I think).  The good news is that the ends just screw into the wood and I can move them outward.  But I didn't have tools with me to do so, so it'll wait until tomorrow.

[Mauzy]

Space themed side art (that looks stragely cut off around the front cut outs...), bootleg-looking pac-man with race cars and space invaders-esque aliens with a bootleg Q*Bert board. What the hell?

I know, right?    You can barely see the outline of art under that art on one side.  So whoever did one of the conversions just overlay that art over what's underneath.  They definitely could have centered the art better, but since I don't know how large a piece it was beforehand, maybe they did what they could with what they had.

Oh there's art underneath the space scene? Is there actually Q*Bert art under there?

[SirPeale]

I doubt it.  I'm not tearing off the art to see what's underneath.  And it's only on one side.  It's a generic cab built for whatever kit you want to put in, hence the generic art.  I'm betting the art also came from the factory.  I found traces of old art package inside the cab, similar theme (generic arcade stuff) but completely different.

[SirPeale]

Unscrewed the old light fixture, moved the mounts apart and screwed it back down.  Unfortunately had to unscrew the ballast and starter fixtures as well since they were on a short leash.  But it works!  Plugged it in and it lit right up.

Still need to rewire the ISO so only the monitor is attached.  Currently EVERYTHING in the cab is.

[RayB]

I kinda like the bezel and cp... it's retro multi-game art that predates all this "multi-game" fad!

[SirPeale]

I thought I was going to be able to get away with just an outer coat of paint on the coin door as a "brightener".  When I finally got it all apart large flakes of the coating were just shearing off.  Looks like I'll be stripping this down and repainting.

All the other metal parts were fine.  A nice coat of paint and they look much better.

[THE POKER BRAT]

"but I don't like looking at it".
well peale,...if you dont like looking at it, (bezel) then consider to sell it to me at a fair price,..
come on man,...

[SirPeale]

It's horribly warped.  You don't want it, and I don't want to sell it!    Then I'd have to come up with another bezel, and that would be at minimum $30 plus paint to mask off the monitor.  Nope, this is staying with the cab.

[SirPeale]

I've been working on making a new control panel for this over the last couple days.  It doesn't help that I haven't done any woodworking in a few years now.

I picked up some 5/8" plywood @ a salvage place for three bucks.  I promptly made a sawboard as per Drew's instructions.  I went off memory, but it went pretty well until I made my first cut with it, and it was short.  I forgot that I needed to line up the sawboard and cover my work with it, not the other way around.

Lots of cutting, sanding, new hardware later I've got a reasonable facsimile of a control panel.  Pictures forthcoming.  I left everything on the cab and came to dinner, but wanted to update before I lost steam.

Still to do:

• Cover the plywood with black vinyl - done!
• print some fancy QBert artwork on photo paper via my local photo center - done!
• polish the bolts

[THE POKER BRAT]

pics when ure done

[SirPeale]

Pics of the replacement.  Pics of the original one of these days.

[SirPeale]

Finally able to rout out the last bits on this cp.



It looks like the plexi retainer is popped up on that picture.  It's not.

Here's a shot of the original.



And the "finished" product.  It's in quotes because it still needs tweaking.  But you can see what it's supposed to look like.  Pictures of it mounted on the machine to come.

[SirPeale]

Reinstalled the coin door and finished the control panel.  Sanded the lettering off the control panel bolts and sprayed them with a clear coat.  



I also rewired the cab since everything was attached to the isolation transformer.  While I was doing that I noted that this transformer had outputs for both 100V and 120V out.  The transformer on my test bench only outputs 120V, so when I want to power up a Nintendo monitor I have to drag out a Nintendo iso.  It's a big PITA.  I was considerably stoked to find this, I swapped the one in my test rig for this one and vice versa.  Now I've got to get a switch so I can switch voltages on the fly for the appropriate monitor, but that's a small price to pay for not having to drag out the Nintendo iso!



The monitor was /very/ blurry when I turned it on, of course it was a bit cold.  Once it warmed up it was just fine.  Played a few games, did not have the problem of hitting the diagonals like I did before.

[SirPeale]

Pics added!

[Billy_Goatfeet]

  Nice job, looks amazing!   

[SirPeale]

  Nice job, looks amazing!   

Thanks!  Though not a dedicated classic, I had a lot of fun with this project.

Next: to get my Galaxian up and running!