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Multi Boyz Litigator
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Multi Boyz
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So I found this guy battered and bruised on Craigslist so badly you could hear it screaming for help through the listing page. Stripped to bare metal, painted silver, then painted over again in black. I couldn't help but take it home, and after chatting with the seller a bit knew I had to be the one to restore it to its former glory.

Fortunately everything seems to be present, and the flimsy monitor bezel is pristine (though covered in grime).

PvdIBzO.jpg

E8DKmWy.jpg


Not sure what they used to paint it, but both layers peel right off!
UmVT4Ia.jpg


It had these crazy things in it:
bYeCOyn.jpg


Thanks to @ekorz and @twistedsymphony for finding out these are "Universal Joysticks". Well, let me tell you, they aren't universal, the CP has giant off-centered holes drilled in it to accommodate them. So to the trash they went, along with the warped, drilled out panel.

It came with a Combatribes PCB (that was plugged in backwards to the harness, and sure enough, doesn't sync a picture correctly or make sound when plugged in the right way now). I'm assuming it's so far from an easy fix it's not worth salvaging. If anyone thinks otherwise, let me know?

To find list:
- Sega 5380 key/locks (thanks to TwistedSymphony I'm at least bidding on these at present)

- 2-Player 6 button CP (Contacted Yaton and they have many, they're going to put them up in 2-3 days after pulling and cleaning them up)

- New Joysticks/Buttons

- Carriage bolts for the CP

To do list:
- Continue stripping paint away. Get some citristrip for the remnants of white here and there under the silver.

- Paint it white! I plan to use Rust-OLeum Epoxy Gloss White Appliance Paint - #7881830. I've only painted one other cab in my life, and this stuff was pretty much fool-proof. Leaves a super nice glossy shine like on a range or fridge without having to wet-sand or spray a sealer over.

- Find a graphics printer for the readily available vectors already on-line (AO wiki has most of them, self-reminder to put the link to the rest here). Also going to get the side-art for my Neo-19 done at the same time.

- Rewire with a higher-quality JAMMA loom, this one works but is hacked together.

Have done list:
- Pulled the monitor, ordered a cap kit, took out the caps that the kit replaces.

- Dismantled the entire cabinet, cleaned off all the gunk, and peeled about half the paint off.

Things I'm unsure about:
- Re-painting the CP surround. It's plastic, and painted with the same god-awful black paint.
 
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I found this guy battered and bruised on Craigslist so badly you could hear it screaming for help through the listing page. [...] I couldn't help but take it home, and after chatting with the seller a bit knew I had to be the one to restore it to its former glory.
I swear this is my reason for buying most of my cabs. I don't think I've ever bought a cab that didn't need a complete overhaul and un-fucking from what was done by previous owners. :thumbup: Looking forward to see where this goes.
 
Bless you for saving this, I took one look at the pics and said "nooooope!" :D

For the carriage bolts, I assume it uses the same ones as the Astro Cities?

I can tell you what to order for those if so, think I used Mike's Arcade, or I can give you my old ones from one of my games if you want to stop by Torrance, since I have enough new ones to replace all of mine on my Astros, just haven't done it.
 
I swear this is my reason for buying most of my cabs. I don't think I've ever bought a cab that didn't need a complete overhaul and un-fucking from what was done by previous owners. :thumbup: Looking forward to see where this goes.
I tend to buy cabs with monitor issues. People usually sell them really cheap because they think all is lost, and I find monitor repair an easier side of the hobby in most instances.

I got an AWSD a couple years back for $250 because the degauss button wasn't plugged into the chassis and the image was super colorful. This one was no different, he claimed vertical collapse, but it was just Combatribes being plugged in backwards.. It's just a 1/4 height super scrambled white/black image. It does the same thing on my other cabs.

Bless you for saving this, I took one look at the pics and said "nooooope!"
Honestly I thought the worn-through-to-metal bits on the side were worn down to the original white (the flash made it questionable). Figured if I could just strip the black off the top it would be an easy fix. I was going to walk away from it but we came to a too good to pass up price. It's a hard one to justify because Aero's aren't worth a whole lot even when they're in nice condition.

Also, I had no idea how small these are compared to an Astro or Egret. Holy cow, 3" in monitor size makes a BIG difference in cab size.

Also thank you for the offer on the carriage bolts. I've got to wait for shipping from Yaton anyway, so I'm not in any real rush and am just going to order some from HKLegend.

In other news, I've been outbid. Not sure how badly I want to put original locks all the way around on it, and I'm not sure at what point of bidding to go "Now that's just unreasonable". Strangely enough this is the first candy I've ever bought that didn't have original locks on it (and a key).
 
"Holy cow, 3" in monitor size makes a BIG difference in cab size."

I think that those Aero cabs look so cool, even if they are smaller and cheaper.

I am looking forward to seeing the end results. I do not have the skills set to repair anything so I am looking forward to reading your updates:)
 
Aero's aren't worth a whole lot even when they're in nice condition.

Also, I had no idea how small these are compared to an Astro or Egret. Holy cow, 3" in monitor size makes a BIG difference in cab size.
That's it right there... the smaller monitor and smaller, "non-standard" control panel turns a lot of people off.


In other news, I've been outbid. Not sure how badly I want to put original locks all the way around on it, and I'm not sure at what point of bidding to go "Now that's just unreasonable"
it depends how common/uncommon those locks are and if you need the special cams that are also included (those are often more difficult to find).

I know on my E29 it took me longer to source the locks than it did the cab... I'm still 1 lock and 2 specialty cams short and I've never seen another listing. I do see A LOT of Sega Locks around, just not sure how common that particular number is.

Also since the coin-box locks are usually different, rarely original and rarely worth sourcing i've got in the habit of moving the service door lock to the coin-box and then getting a "keyless" lock for the service door. Like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-8-Keyless...795008?hash=item3ceb2f7a40:g:zukAAOSwGhZZufC-

Then I setup a hook to hang the original key inside the service door. The result is that I don't need to find the keys to pop open the service door and turn on the machine to play and the key hanging on the inside can open anything else on the machine.
 
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That's it right there... the smaller monitor and smaller, "non-standard" control panel turns a lot of people off.
I love the monitor size, games look great on it, but the control panel is way too small for 2 player controls, I can barely stand them on Astros. If you ever get to play linked Aeros though it's really nice.
 
the control panel is way too small for 2 player controls
I was worried about this with the E29 since the panel, while bigger than the Aero panel is a good deal smaller than an Astro panel. The few times I've played 2-player on it though it was fine.... going from that to the nice wide panel on my kraylix cab is like moving up from flying economy to first class.
 
the control panel is way too small for 2 player controls
I was thinking maybe I'd use this cab for all the non-standard control panel games. Spinners, the sweet baseball bat panel, maybe pick up a cheap mahjong panel for it.

The 2L6B blue and white panel is just so perfectly matched to the cab aesthetic though it seems a shame not to have that be the go-to. I haven't seen a 1 player blue and white panel, but I've seen the SSF2 ones.
 
I swear this is my reason for buying most of my cabs. I don't think I've ever bought a cab that didn't need a complete overhaul and un-fucking from what was done by previous owners.
My pickups from Japan weren't exactly proper fucked but I got cancer wiping off the gallons of tar and rust.
 
Curious on how much that cost. I wouldn't pay more than 100 dollars for a fucked up cabinet like that lol
 
Curious on how much that cost. I wouldn't pay more than 100 dollars for a fucked up cabinet like that lol
You'd be passing up a money making opportunity just parting it out at $100. The monitor's worth more than that for sure. Nevermind the doors (don't know why so many people always need Aero doors), coin box, speakers, speaker grills, the topper, the "Aero City" marquee, monitor bezel that's cracked in most Aero's, etc.

If you didn't care at all about saving the poor thing, you'd almost have to be a fool to not pick it up at $100.

That being said, it's white in 95% of places underneath the black/silver! :D

kUxCP9k.jpg


I'm also *hopefully* taking a trip to Vegas this weekend to pick up a ton of parts from a user on AO, including a spare monitor! Still no CP though.
 
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Nice work so far dude, looking forward to see how it turns out.
I dont think I do, but I will check my storage for a CP for it, you never know :)
 
Nice work so far dude, looking forward to see how it turns out.
I dont think I do, but I will check my storage for a CP for it, you never know :)
Thanks!

And I appreciate it!
 
I dunno, to me it just seems like too much elbow grease and new parts needed to want to pay more than $100. I mean can't you get a decent looking one of these for less than 500?
 
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