trashedcabs
Enthusiast
Long story before I start, feel free to skip!
I managed to get an incredible deal on this pair from a seller in Canada, who previously got them from CHQ in Burnaby BC. One was sold as working, the other as a project cabinet. We also got 5 OK Baby candy cabs... but those are a project for a different time.
As you'd expect, they are fairly dirty and need a full refresh. I did power on the "working" cabinet and confirmed everything worked. Normally I don't power on my projects until they've been fully disassembled and looked over, but the peanut gallery in the shop that day wanted me to power up the project cab to see what happened. The monitor stayed on but other things shut off and there was a nice electrical smell. Very cool. It's probably going to be a while before I power them up again anyway.
First task was to disassemble and vacuum, and blast all the crap out with an air compressor.
Someone tried very hard to break into one of the coin doors. We'll see what a hammer and some wood can do to fix it.
I tried to regrain the stainless floor panels under the seat since I had to clean them anyway. It came out OK, a bit streaky. I might redo this eventually. I've never had amazing success with doing this.
Anyway, I'll be working on this all through the end of the year. See you next time!
In 2014 I bought two crappy wooden US-model MT2 cabs for about $700 shipped from California to the east coast. The seller knowingly lied to me about the condition and they arrived in horrible shape. I spent 2 years and thousands of dollars converting them to run 3DX+ and restoring every inch of the cabinets. At the time, 3DX+ was still being played in Asia, so parts were expensive. The official manuals online were incomplete (no wiring diagrams) and there was no information available online about the conversion process.
In the end, the cabs were perfect. New old stock Kortek KT-2914DF and a no-burn D9400. NOS MT3 art set on both with repro 3DX+ marquees I made, paint touch-ups on the whole cab, fresh white T-molding, LEDs all around. Two brand new shifters from Namco when they were selling them on closeout for $100 each. They were truly amazing to play on.
I had them placed at a business partner's arcade for a while. Around late 2016, the business ran into some serious issues and I was worried they would not survive. I lived with my parents at the time, so when I took the cabinets home they were not very happy and I felt forced to sell at a loss. I regretted it ever since.
Many years later, I had some shared workshop space and wanted to see if I could find them and buy them back. I got in touch with the person I sold them to and was able to track them down to a barcade in North Carolina. I talked to their technician and sadly he informed me the cabinets were thrown away. Even though I expected it, it was heartbreaking to hear.
Since then, the old non-HD wangans have been getting increasingly difficult to find. I always wanted the Japan/Asia cabinets as they're entirely folded steel and massively better quality than the wooden junk we got in the US, but distributors in Japan simply don't have them anymore. You can get them from China, but the price is too high; many have been thrown away, or converted into other games. Parts are now harder to find as well.
In the end, the cabs were perfect. New old stock Kortek KT-2914DF and a no-burn D9400. NOS MT3 art set on both with repro 3DX+ marquees I made, paint touch-ups on the whole cab, fresh white T-molding, LEDs all around. Two brand new shifters from Namco when they were selling them on closeout for $100 each. They were truly amazing to play on.
I had them placed at a business partner's arcade for a while. Around late 2016, the business ran into some serious issues and I was worried they would not survive. I lived with my parents at the time, so when I took the cabinets home they were not very happy and I felt forced to sell at a loss. I regretted it ever since.
Many years later, I had some shared workshop space and wanted to see if I could find them and buy them back. I got in touch with the person I sold them to and was able to track them down to a barcade in North Carolina. I talked to their technician and sadly he informed me the cabinets were thrown away. Even though I expected it, it was heartbreaking to hear.
Since then, the old non-HD wangans have been getting increasingly difficult to find. I always wanted the Japan/Asia cabinets as they're entirely folded steel and massively better quality than the wooden junk we got in the US, but distributors in Japan simply don't have them anymore. You can get them from China, but the price is too high; many have been thrown away, or converted into other games. Parts are now harder to find as well.
I managed to get an incredible deal on this pair from a seller in Canada, who previously got them from CHQ in Burnaby BC. One was sold as working, the other as a project cabinet. We also got 5 OK Baby candy cabs... but those are a project for a different time.
As you'd expect, they are fairly dirty and need a full refresh. I did power on the "working" cabinet and confirmed everything worked. Normally I don't power on my projects until they've been fully disassembled and looked over, but the peanut gallery in the shop that day wanted me to power up the project cab to see what happened. The monitor stayed on but other things shut off and there was a nice electrical smell. Very cool. It's probably going to be a while before I power them up again anyway.
First task was to disassemble and vacuum, and blast all the crap out with an air compressor.
Someone tried very hard to break into one of the coin doors. We'll see what a hammer and some wood can do to fix it.
I tried to regrain the stainless floor panels under the seat since I had to clean them anyway. It came out OK, a bit streaky. I might redo this eventually. I've never had amazing success with doing this.
Anyway, I'll be working on this all through the end of the year. See you next time!
