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Pelly

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Feb 20, 2017
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Whilst I have done many restorations in the past I have only recently become more active on this forum and I thought this game would make a perfect candidate to document my first restoration here :) Plenty of MVS-U4 fans as shown from my first thread on the topic.

So, this is what I am starting with:

mvs-u4_before.jpg



Upon receiving it I didn't have the keys so wasn't able to turn it on but was told it was all working. Now I thought I recalled the seller telling me it had a 4 slot board in it too but unfortunately that was not to be... :/ So I got around to drilling the locks the weekend just past and found that it just had a single slot PCB with Metal Slug 4 in it. (See pics)

Also, as I am in Australia it had already been converted to run on 240V so as expected there was a step down transformer in there (big circular thing mounted to the bottom back of the cabinet).

Anyway, since I had the front door off I was able to turn it on and thankfully it all fired up ok. Image seemed to have a minor focus issue, so hopefully that is just a minor adjustment on the chassis I need to make later...

Due to the state of the control panel I obviously couldn't play but could confirm the buttons worked.

Anyway see attached pics to give you an idea of the state the cab is in...
 

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The restoration:

I have decided to give this the full treatment. I am going to fully strip it, get it sand blasted back and re-powder coated :)

In my excitement I have already ordered (and received) a complete set of Seimitsu buttons and sticks, which were what the cab would have had originally. The buttons in there now are Sanwa's and are the wrong colour obviously.

As much as I would like to get a replacement CPO that is silk screened like the original, cost and difficulty wont permit it unfortunately. I will get a new overlay printed and apply it over my existing CPO. Additionally I will get all the other art colour matched and re-printed to go on post the body work being done.

I have only done a minor bit of tear down so far and will finish the rest off over the coming weekend hopefully.

Decided to pull and give the old memory card/headphone jack board a bit of a clean... it needed it!!!!

Just soaked it in Simple Green then rinsed it off under the tap. Blew off the excess water and left it in the sun to bake for the afternoon. A lot better now :)

Before and after:
 

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Finally getting back to this... a friend has done an awesome job reproducing all the artwork for me as well as creating a reproduction of the CP. Hopefully within the next week I will take this off to a professional to get it stripped and powder coated.

new_decals_3.jpg


new_decals_2.jpg



new_decals_1.jpg
 
From your perspective with this cab, what do you think the most challenging item to restore would be? Have you found that you can buy new or repro almost everything? (Ex. top game card lightbox thingy, control panel, etc).
 
From your perspective with this cab, what do you think the most challenging item to restore would be? Have you found that you can buy new or repro almost everything? (Ex. top game card lightbox thingy, control panel, etc).
Well the fact that the artwork and control panel have been reproduced for me is great. Thankfully you can still buy exact reproductions of the buttons and sticks. Noting else concerning at this stage. Once i get it all back from the powder coasters, i will have to re-assemble it all, I guess.. hopefully that isn't too painful.. Will see how we go.
 
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