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WTB Sega New/Astro City (Anybody have experience with Chinese importers??)

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Compilefan

Compilefan

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Hello, I hope this is the right board to post this on as i'm seeking some advice.

I've been on the quest to secure one of these cabs for 3 years now, but it seems like every time one comes up for sale within 1000 miles every few months it sells within 5 minutes, and I don't have the time to be at a computer screen 24/7.

It would seem like the only viable option is to import a cab from China or Japan. To that end, does anybody here have experience with importing a cabinet from China (particularly JCL games and Tomo arcade) or via Buyee.jp? The Chinese importers seem risky requiring bank transfer payment.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out ;)
 
Adding my own experience. I bought a blast city from a seller in China last year. So far I had to recap the power supply and sound amp, replace the control panel, undo and fix some questionable wiring, and replace the chassis. Overall I'm more knowledgeable on how to fix something if it does break but only owning the can for less than a year this is ridiculous. Maybe others experiences are different but yeah I would just keep sticking to the grind of trying to find one anywhere but there.
 
Knocking on wood here, but I got both my candies (U4-25 and a NAC) from JCL games and it was a straightforward and easy experience. They were great with communication (mostly email, good English, detailed videos and pics along the way) and the bank transfer went smoothly.

The cabs themselves have been great, with very little issues. They do a nice job with the refurb (paint, cable/wire management, new repro CPs, etc) and they were basically ready to go right out of the crate. The buttons/sticks they use aren’t ideal, but that’s a pretty minor thing and a really easy upgrade. They also did a recap of the MS29 chassis in my NAC before shipping it, which was unexpected. The U4 was re-wired for JAMMA/stereo (not the four slot), but this was disclosed to me up front.

As far as shipping goes, it was fairly quick for the U4 (got it about 2 months ago) taking about a month from when it was sent out. My NAC was purchased towards the end of the pandemic, so the process dragged on for about four to five months as China as a whole was locked down on and off those days.

Both cabs were packed very well and crated and all shipping was arranged on their end. I got every piece of tracking and delivery info along the way. They used a different freight company (can’t remember either, sorry!) for each delivery once it reached the east coast (I’m in Florida), but both companies gave me a call to set up a drop off time days in advance.

YMMV, but it really wasn’t as big of a deal as most people make it. I think there’s a lot of bad taste due to the importers of the past (KC, Yaton, etc) that have burned a lot of people, and rightfully so. As far as I can tell, JCL is legit and I’ll eventually pick up an Aero City from them if they ever get a new batch.
 
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Thanks for the testimony! What was the cost to you with shipping for each candy from JCL?
 
GhaleonUnlimited said:
Thanks for the testimony! What was the cost to you with shipping for each candy from JCL?
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They’ve gone up a little since I purchased the NAC, but the NAC was around $1900 and change and the U-4 was $2500 (they took off $200 from list price because they couldn’t include a four slot MVS board). This was all in, shipped to Florida.

Edit: including some pics of both cabs when they arrived. Please forgive the Instagram extras, I screen capped these from my page)
 

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kayzp4ul said:
Adding my own experience. I bought a blast city from a seller in China last year. So far I had to recap the power supply and sound amp, replace the control panel, undo and fix some questionable wiring, and replace the chassis. Overall I'm more knowledgeable on how to fix something if it does break but only owning the can for less than a year this is ridiculous. Maybe others experiences are different but yeah I would just keep sticking to the grind of trying to find one anywhere but there.
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thats kind of the standard procedure no matter where you get your cabs from, importer or private sale. always wanna recap everything.
 
I can report only good things here with Rklok, sign up for his mails, good things will come to those who wait. (And be first to buy lol.)
 
imbord3rlin3 said:
thats kind of the standard procedure no matter where you get your cabs from, importer or private sale. always wanna recap everything.
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Lol I know this now. I was just expecting to get at least a week in before I had to fix anything lol.
 
d00mdrew said:
Knocking on wood here, but I got both my candies (U4-25 and a NAC) from JCL games and it was a straightforward and easy experience. They were great with communication (mostly email, good English, detailed videos and pics along the way) and the bank transfer went smoothly.

The cabs themselves have been great, with very little issues. They do a nice job with the refurb (paint, cable/wire management, new repro CPs, etc) and they were basically ready to go right out of the crate. The buttons/sticks they use aren’t ideal, but that’s a pretty minor thing and a really easy upgrade. They also did a recap of the MS29 chassis in my NAC before shipping it, which was unexpected. The U4 was re-wired for JAMMA/stereo (not the four slot), but this was disclosed to me up front.

As far as shipping goes, it was fairly quick for the U4 (got it about 2 months ago) taking about a month from when it was sent out. My NAC was purchased towards the end of the pandemic, so the process dragged on for about four to five months as China as a whole was locked down on and off those days.

Both cabs were packed very well and crated and all shipping was arranged on their end. I got every piece of tracking and delivery info along the way. They used a different freight company (can’t remember either, sorry!) for each delivery once it reached the east coast (I’m in Florida), but both companies gave me a call to set up a drop off time days in advance.

YMMV, but it really wasn’t as big of a deal as most people make it. I think there’s a lot of bad taste due to the importers of the past (KC, Yaton, etc) that have burned a lot of people, and rightfully so. As far as I can tell, JCL is legit and I’ll eventually pick up an Aero City from them if they ever get a new batch.
Click to expand...
This is great to hear as I have a NAC on the way from JCL right now and plan to order a second one soon. They’ve been pretty great to deal with so far, hope the cabs arrive in as good of condition as yours did. 🤞
 
Nice! I’m sure the cab will arrive just fine. And yes, they always responded to my emails within 24 hours, most of the time sooner.
 
how's the "paint job"? i feel these would be decent, but id rather get unrestored than painted over as i worry about the quality and adhesion/feel.
 
Paint sucks, I never had to repaint any of my Klok cabs, makes you wonder how nasty they were under that paint.
 
yeah, candy cabs are pretty resilient. id be more likely to remove the paint and do it myself, then have it sprayed over with who knows procedure. id like to see some super up close shots.
 
JCL shared some pics of the paint process with me, I’ll see if I can find them. It looks like they blast the parts and paint w the type of car pain that needs to be heat cured so id think it would be better than a rattle can job
 
hopefully its cleared as well? if you go the auto paint route, clear is mandatory to gain some gloss and protection - unless you're restoring some hot rod. then again, a true gel coat is proper for candy.
 
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