First serious project i´ve gotten into... Sega New Astro City here i come!

Hello Arcade friends!

My name is Juan from Bogota, Colombia (South America).

I recently acquired a Sega New Astro city which is coming in the next couple of days to my place (imported from Ecuador) and i will like your help of how should i tackle this restoration, below are pics of what im getting into, what do you guys think i should start working on?

Inventory -

1- Sega New Astro City
Complete and with all original components (monitor, PSU, Buttons and Joysticks, Speakers, Jamma harness, coin mech and bucket .
2- Street Fighter Alpha 2 - A + B Board, with stickers untouched (need to replace the battery)
3 - Cps 3 naked Board
4 - CPS3 board with 2x 64 simm, 4x128 simm. New Generation Cart - SF3rd CD (no cd unit)

(mine is the arcade on the left)







Ive currently identified some stuff that are pretty clear:

1. Speaker part at at the top - Yellowing
2. Scuffs or sticker glue? at the right and left sides of the CP
3. Marquee LED light
4. Coin bucket door not opening (According to the guy that sold it to me)


I will keep you guys updated after i get it in my house for clearer pictures.

Thanks to all for your comments and help!

Hello Juan... I bought the other one :

Yo, congratulations on the cabinet and welcome to the hobby!

Sounds like you got some cool stuff all at once, should be a fun way to jump in.

1. Speaker part at at the top - Yellowing

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This part is plastic and I believe it can be retrobrited or repainted. I haven't done either of these myself; I think other members can give more details.

2. Scuffs or sticker glue? at the right and left sides of the CP

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It's hard to tell from the photos.

If this is sticker residue, hand towels, mild soap or multisurface cleaner, or maybe some Isopropyl alcohol if it's particularly stubborn would be my recommendations. Do not use abrasives like Magic Eraser, Scotch-Brite, or similar. It's hopefully just dirt or light surface scratches and will be resolved with a bit of cleaning. If it's a deep scratch it gets much more complicated, unfortunately.

3. Marquee LED light

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The marquee is actually a fluorescent fixture. Once you get the cabinet, open up the top rear panel behind the marquee - most likely the bulb is damaged/missing, or the starter is loose or bad. Both of those issues are pretty easy to fix (the starters aren't common outside of Japan but they can be obtained online pretty easily).

If the marquee light is totally messed up, it's also possible to replace it with LED fixtures. But it should be pretty straightforward to get it going again.

4. Coin bucket door not opening (According to the guy that sold it to me)

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Do you have the key for the cashbox door? In many cabinets the key for the cashbox is different from the other locks.

Otherwise if you *do* have the key but it's just a stubborn door, it could be rust - I noticed on my cabinet that there was a lot of rust around the cashbox door frame. It may also be an issue with a misaligned or stuck tang on the lock.

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Some other things to check based on these photos:

• It looks like the cabinet might be missing the side art? It's hard to tell from the photos, but it seems like the sides are a bit bare. If the side art is missing and you're looking to get some replacement art, @hursit has recently put together some replacement Astro side art that looks to be of excellent quality - I haven't seen this particular piece in person, but I have some of his reproduction posters and his work speaks for itself. You can find more info in his thread here.
• The Player 1 joystick seems a bit funky. The balltop color is unusual and the dustwasher looks to be a non-standard size. If it's just those two parts it's a very quick and cheap thing to replace!
• The instruction strip glass seems to be missing one of the brushed metal 'hold down' panels, on the left side of the cabinet. You can find spares of these on Ebay or YAJ occasionally, or maybe buy from someone here.
• The cabinet is missing a coin slot. Again, Ebay, YAJ, or members here.
• The cabinet is missing a 100Yen sticker. There are a few different reproduction stickers available; I'm not familiar with the pros/cons of each, but it shouldn't be too tough to source one.

Other stuff to look at with an Astro or New Astro in general:

• When you get the cabinet, check for cracking around the control panel (on the bottom, where it connects to the main shell). This area sometimes gets cracked if people sit on the control panel or mishandle it in shipping. From what I've heard it's usually possible to reinforce from the inside of the cab if caught early enough, but if the crack gets really bad it can be devastating.
• Check all the connectors inside before powering it on for the first time. Particularly make sure the main power cables are all connected to the PSU firmly, and that the connections for the monitor power/signal and the remote board are solid.
• Check 5V voltage before running a game in the cabinet and adjust if necessary.

Good luck, and again, congratulations!

Thanks to all for the comments! here is the second entry on this project:

The cab came last friday and so far im pretty satisfied with the condition here are pics of better quality:



1 - Top marquee is in good condition besides yellowing.






2 - overall paint is in so-so condition but not terrible, scratches all over the body is understandable.
Left art if missing



3 - I will need to get repro side arts for sure!




4 - No visible cracks on the cab after inspection is a good thing.



5 - back is in pretty good condition imo.



6 - CP is pretty good too, left metal part of the instruction panel missing and the original coin slot was replaced with a very ugly one, Yen sticker also missing.



7 - Only keys i got:

Locks:
CP Locks are there but do not work properly
PCB main door lock not working
Coin Mechanism is working and lock works
Coin bucket is unaccesible due to missing key






8 - Monitor was replaced with a Wey-ya sadly, had broken resistor that i replaced with a help of a technician and we added another one as it was getting too hot.
Monitor is now working but i would need to find a better one (trying to secure a wells garner atm)

Colors and geometry are acceptable, i only see a small issue of red color being washed out a little at the center of the screen.




9 - Original PSU (thank you jesus!) and pre amp in there

For some reason speakers are routed directly to the jamma (not the preamp).
Kick harness is included
Marquee light not working but tested the sockets and voltage is ok (ordered a new tube from amazon).

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After writing down everything that needs to be done i will prioritize the following:





Please let me know what do you guys think

Im very open to suggestions and comments!

Thanks!!

Juan

If it's a normal Astro or New Astro amp, the speaker amp is for stereo games (which have non-amplified outputs, like RCA connectors for example), and you'll need to move the 4-pin speaker connector over to the JAMMA passthrough for JAMMA games (which use amplified outputs; the amp is on the PCB itself in the JAMMA spec, so the Astro wires the speakers in mono series when connected in mono mode).

So when switching between stereo and mono you need to move the connector back and forth.

If it's a non-standard amp setup though it could be done totally differently in terms of wiring, but it's still worth being aware that different games may handle audio differently!

If you take a picture of the internals that could help identify what's going on.

When you say that the CP locks "don't work", what do you mean?

Softdrink said:

If it's a normal Astro or New Astro amp, the speaker amp is for stereo games (which have non-amplified outputs, like RCA connectors for example), and you'll need to move the 4-pin speaker connector over to the JAMMA passthrough for JAMMA games (which use amplified outputs; the amp is on the PCB itself in the JAMMA spec, so the Astro wires the speakers in mono series when connected in mono mode).

So when switching between stereo and mono you need to move the connector back and forth.

If it's a non-standard amp setup though it could be done totally differently in terms of wiring, but it's still worth being aware that different games may handle audio differently!

If you take a picture of the internals that could help identify what's going on.

When you say that the CP locks "don't work", what do you mean?

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Sorry for the late reply @Softdrink:

Here it is:



Thanks!

Juan

Nice, it's got the stereo amp in it!

looks like you're having fun with the restoration process, that's essential. i'm glad you were able to get such cool cabs in Colombia!

3rd Entry:

So yesterday i received my new joysticks and buttons kits that i ordered from amazon (Sanwa JLF),i went for green and blue as the pink kits are sold out and buying separate will come out more expensive...for now im ok with that as the colors are very nice.







Buttons and joysticks snapped perfectly in place!


I also received the FL tube that i ordered from amazon but it did not work, the sockets were tested and voltage is running but im out of ideas on how to make it work.

Tube https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CZ57Z4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1








Thanks!!!

Juan

KaPH33n said:

Nice, it's got the stereo amp in it!

looks like you're having fun with the restoration process, that's essential. i'm glad you were able to get such cool cabs in Colombia!

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Having lots of fun @KaPH33n thanks for your appreciation!

Yeah i'm glad that the original PSU and amp are there.

You are missing the fluorescent starter, that’s probably why it’s not working.

juanking99 said:

Having lots of fun @KaPH33n thanks for your appreciation!

Yeah i'm glad that the original PSU and amp are there.

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Hey Juan, I made an adapter for the same amp, it works great! pinout is ( R- R+ (top row)
L+ L-) (bottom row)

Yeah it looks like you have the original stereo amp, so it should be just a matter of locating and moving the 4-pin speaker connector (a 2x2 pin AMP-UP) when you want to switch between stereo and mono games. I'm not sure what the input side cabling for stereo looks like since I don't own an original amp myself.

And as @KaPH33n said, it looks like you might be missing the starter. You want the FG-1E starter for the Astro (and many other Sega cabs).

technically the starter has to match the bulb. they'll be rated like for 12w or 15w bulbs etc. or a range. and the bulb can vary but I has to be a F15T8. unless you go LED or something else which is another story.

4th Entry -

So, overall project is going well as of today i have the cab set up to run cps2 and mvs with a good image and sound.


Current stages -
1 - I've been trying to find a better monitor as there is a wey-ya currently installed, but havent had any luck yet.

One guy told me he have this Wells Gardner but i don't know the model.

No control for the CP as the guy told me.




2 - trying to find a starter for the lamp.
3 - Fixing locks - the one for the coin bucket will be tough as i need to bring a locksmith to try an open it for me.

Thanks for your help!

Juan

I wouldn't recommend giving up on your monitor.

If your not comfortable recapping the chassis you can have it serviced by someone else either here or try Sharp Image Repair in Vegas.

The stock Nanao is stunning when properly calibrated.

Even if you did find a Wells. you would have to wire in the AC inline to an Isolation transformer and adapt the RGBSG to your harness.

hoagtech said:

I wouldn't recommend giving up on your monitor.

If your not comfortable recapping the chassis you can have it serviced by someone else either here or try Sharp Image Repair in Vegas.

The stock Nanao is stunning when properly calibrated.

Even if you did find a Wells. you would have to wire in the AC inline to an Isolation transformer and adapt the RGBSG to your harness.

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he said there's a wei ya installed... which are ok but not great. Wells will be difficult to fit in the same space. I would probably still recommend trying to fix what's there too.

KaPH33n said:

he said there's a wei ya installed... which are ok but not great. Wells will be difficult to fit in the same space. I would probably still recommend trying to fix what's there too.

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Thanks for the comment, i will upload some clear pictures of what its buggin me right now with the image so you guys can share your opinions.

5TH Entry.

As previously stated i have some issues with the current geometry and colors, here are some examples:

1 - Red colour wash out in the middle of the screen, off course this is only very noticeable when a full red color occupies the middle center screen in a circle like shape and stays long enough for you to see it.





Color bar shows good colors but the red does not takes the spot were the wash out happens.






2 - Geometry.

Overall is ok but i would like to fill the entire screen.

Mostly noticeable at the bottom and all four corners.





What do you guys think!?

Thanks.

Juan

recap the monitor first and then we can try to work with the settings... otherwise you are doing the setup in vain. make sure you b+ is right too before moving on to more settings.

KaPH33n said:

recap the monitor first and then we can try to work with the settings... otherwise you are doing the setup in vain. make sure you b+ is right too before moving on to more settings.

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Thanks for the comment man! im little versed in this topic, what do you mean by b+?