Aero City - flooded, forgotten, found.

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Another Aero City restoration here, but why not. I bought this online on Aussie Gumtree about a month ago. It was for sale for a good couple of months at least. You rarely see these in Australia and although I was taking a break from restoring machines (the Cyber Lead was a mission) I got too excited about this one to not look into buying it.

I would have expected something like this to be snapped up earlier, but considering the cost of living pressures and the fact that there are probably less than 20 active Candy Cab collectors in Australia, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.

After swapping a few messages and trying to pre-plan the usual pickup and delivery logistics I made an offer down from $2700AUD to $2000AUD. A fair price I’d say in the current Aussie market for rare machines. Delivery was a rare treat with the go-to company surprisingly available to pickup the next day in Brisbane and drive direct to my rural home town in Orange for $300. The planets had aligned

A pretty standard Aero. The cabinet body was straight which was great.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Talking with the seller he said the machine had been brought into Australia for World Expo 88 - to be sited at the World Expo Park which was the amusement park next door to “Expo”. I had some doubts but later on got in touch with the original buyer who said he bought it from Expo Park when they closed down a year after opening. He said the machine would have been brought in from Japan to showcase the latest technology in arcades. I’m still a little sceptical but one supporting piece of evidence is that it had an Asahi $1 AU coin mech in it. So just maybe it’s true - becasue that’s certainly an unusual thing to see here.

One other thing I knew about the guy who sold the machine to the seller (about 2011) was that he had a bunch of machines affected by the 2011 Brisbane Floods. My machine was definitely one of them. Dried mud in the bottom and a “high water mark” inside the cab.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I was impressed at the lack of rust. My Exceleena’s that I suspect were in the same flood rusted in the base, but this Sega was very resilient. I’ve even seen the original buyer on an old TV spot saying how flooded machines once dried out are good to go.

So begins the dismantling of the machine. Believe it or not I’d love it if I could just give the thing a vacuum and wet-wipe clean and away we go - but this was too far gone - so I’m going full-resto with this lovely metal cabinet.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

In an attempt not to bore people I will FFWD to the dismantling of machine. I gave it a wash just to get a baseline perspective of where it was at.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Other than a step down converter for AU voltage I suspect this machine was original - or correct buttons and joystick parts that replaced originals. Dismantling the machine and filling or covering every thread with sacrificial nuts and bolts took an entire day.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

What’s next?

I’ve ordered a 1P4B panel from @alberto1225. I’ve also scanned all of the decals I removed and sent them to Mikonos at Zona Arcade (Spain) who has been a real trooper in reproducing all the Sega original stickers that ship with the machine. He’s helping me to get the little stickers done as well as the side art, control panel and control panel surround done as well as possible. He works fast and his updates are excellent.

This is a restorers dream.
https://zonaarcade.forumcommunity.net/?t=63237781

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I’ve also ordered some decals from Gate90 which look fine - but the serial numbers are generic and the set is incomplete. He doesn’t do the side decals or CP and surround anymore etc as far as I can tell.

I’ve also ordered the Sega Aero City backlit marquee Perspex as well as the marquee holder from arcadeartrepro. To roll the dice I also ordered their control panel overlay and surround. I’ve double up here but wanted to get them on the way in case Mikonos didn’t come through. Disappointingly arcadeartrepro is dragging the chain but hopefully he’ll send my order soon. I was hoping a couple of days - not a month or more to ship. Basically he doesn’t stock everything advertised on his website and has to fabricate to order. That’s life and I’m grateful for his service - just keen to get the order on the way.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

To do:
Clean all wiring - scrub and air blast.
Tidy up nasty crimps and wiring hacks (few)
Clean monitor and chassis - bath and air blast.
Clean speakers - paint grilles
Clean and partial paint of lighting box

I’ve ordered a set of new joysticks and some sexy alternative buttons from @cqbarcade. He is - dead set - a fantastic vendor that supports the scene like no other.

Challenges - I’ve glued the cracked corners of the monitor bezel with araldite but deliberating whether to spray paint the whole thing. I might use vinyl die.

I’ve also purchased a headphone board repro but am looking at designing the elusive headphone transformer board in kicad.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

The machine works fine but since it’s in pieces I’ll get the power supply cleaned and serviced. I’m at a point where I could probably recap and change other components myself but for the price of an expert to do it I’m happy to pay the $. I dismantled and cleaned up the PS. It looks nice. I’ve since received it back from JOMAC in Perth as well as a refurbished MS8 chassis. Approx $400AUD for the PS service and MS8-26 refurbished (not my original).

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I gave the speaker grilles a top coat in satin black - just to seal in a few areas where paint flecks had come off and left bare metal.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

I colour coded the wires with some cable ties before dismantling the power supply base. I then gave it all a good clean and sanded the wood smooth again. Before and after pics.

 

[d00mdrew]

Loving it!

Aeros are pretty easy cabs to work with and there are a good amount of parts out there.

You’re killing it with the restore so far. Yours was about in the same shape as mine when I got it; now she’s very fresh. The MS8 is beautiful.

I also have an Arcade Art Repro marquee installed. Don’t worry, it’s pretty much perfect compared to the original. I also have a 1L4B panel from Alberto. It’s the best layout/panel for this cab IMO. The blue is slightly off but it’s Alberto quality.

.

 

[PASTBLASTER]

Solid progress so far. I've always admired the Aeros. Really cool to see this one starting to come back!

 

[West]

Love a pic heavy resto thread. Beautiful work man, keep it up.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Loving it!

Aeros are pretty easy cabs to work with and there are a good amount of parts out there.

You’re killing it with the restore so far. Yours was about in the same shape as mine when I got it; now she’s very fresh. The MS8 is beautiful.

I also have an Arcade Art Repro marquee installed. Don’t worry, it’s pretty much perfect compared to the original. I also have a 1L4B panel from Alberto. It’s the best layout/panel for this cab IMO. The blue is slightly off but it’s Alberto quality.

.

Thanks for sharing. Yours looks great. Lovely room setup too.

Solid progress so far. I've always admired the Aeros. Really cool to see this one starting to come back!

Thanks mate. I’m picking up the powder coated bits today so things will move faster now.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

@Mrhide was it you that got a decal in place of paint on the glass?

 

[Mrhide]

@Mrhide was it you that got a decal in place of paint on the glass?

Unfortunately not. I don’t even own an aero city but would really love one! Love your thread and work man!

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

Unfortunately not. I don’t even own an aero city but would really love one! Love your thread and work man!

No worries. Thanks for the interest.

 

[Ziggy Cheetos Dust]

The speakers cleaned up quite nicely. No perishing like the Blast City ones. They’re cheapo paper cones but I don’t think I need new ones - although I’d be interested to see if there were higher end ones with the same stud mount dimensions. I added the little plastic terminal shrouds for that premium feel

 

[opt2not]

@Mrhide was it you that got a decal in place of paint on the glass?

That’s @hoagtech. I bought one of those decals for the underside of the glass from him.