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snake_eyes_ex

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Hi everyone,

This is going to be where I chronicle my Astro City restoration.

I've been inspired by so many forum members here, but special shout out to @stringbean, @Mrhide, @Softdrink, and @BumbleChump.

I was able to pick up my cab locally in Hollywood. Sadly I didn't have a board to test it, but the pics on OfferUp had recently showed it playing a game and the seller seemed trustworthy. It turned on and the monitor fired up. I was told it was already recapped as well. It's a little beat up, but these have been hard to find and it was a fair enough price to me. It fit easily in the back of my small SUV with the seats down. I took it home and eagerly awaited delivery of a PCB to play.

Once I got my Marvel board, it went in quick and turned on immediately. Everything works and we're off to the races. It's time to clean this guy up.

A bunch of parts have already arrived, or are on order, including:
  • Marvel vs Capcom (all-in-one Japanese region board)
  • Sanwa buttons screw-on (6 green, 6 pink, 2 yellow)
  • Sanwa ball tops (1 green, 1 pink)
  • Set of Sega 5380 locks (an original key was inside the cab, yay!)
  • Kick harness from @Lemony Vengeance (works great, thank you!)
  • Japanese arcade stools x2 (link)
  • Logitech z-5500 speakers (pair)
  • LED light bar (link)
  • Hone Orbital polisher (link)
  • Drill brush scrubbers (link)
  • Stanley torx hex bit (link)
  • Grounded replacement power cord (link)
  • 3m rubbing compound
  • Metal polish brush
  • Simple Green spray
  • Krud Kutter spray
  • MiSTer (DE10 nano, 128MB ram, WiFi, USB, I/O board)
  • Antonio Villena's JAMMA adapter for MiSTer
What I'm going to order:
  • Replacement 2L12B control panel
  • New stereo amp
  • Color lighting gel filters
  • Cable management clips
  • Sega ash tray
  • Replacement Astro City stickers
  • Replacement rear stickers
  • Replacement control insert
  • Upper marquee art panel
  • Coin slot
  • ¥100 sticker
  • Some kind of bass/subwoofer upgrade
What I'm missing:
  • Casters/wheels
  • Levelers
  • Lower metal kick panel (I haven't found this anywhere)

IMG_4409.jpg


Cab is a bit dirty... it had one lock (with the key!) but was missing the latches.

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I haven't done anything to the screen yet. Looks pretty good, but the corners need some love.

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Love it.

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Definitely needs some love.

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Curious to see how this buffs out, but some paint is missing for sure.

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Not sure the full story of this cab, but it has some holes on both sides. Maybe it was fastened down for security?

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Doors are a beat up, but they all fit. Just need locks.

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Control panel locks are missing too.

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Coin mechanism is a bit dirty, but overall in great shape and working.

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This seems like one of the lower coin counts I've seen on this forum. I'm very curious about the story of this cab.


More to come...
 
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I mean, I had to check, right?

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My one lock. Thankfully it had the key.

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My first board sitting there (kick harness came right after this).

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This side is a bit worse off than the other.

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More strange holes. Looks like something was attached there for awhile.

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Marquee is faded, but in good shape. I'm hoping to restore it.

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Back side is pretty decent. But I'm missing the casters :(

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Curious if anyone knows the serial number range of these and what the story of this cab was.

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Also super curious about this control panel. Start buttons are in a weird spot and the art is different. Is this an older revision? It actually has the protective film.

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I'm going to see how well the coin slot buffs out, but I think it will get replaced.
 
Great pick up actually. That cab was for sale for a while so it was Definitely meant for you. Looking forward to seeing it properly cleaned up!
 
Disassembling today and started with the monitor.

Right off the bat I noticed there was a deeper scratch than I had seen before.

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This one didn't buff out with the 3M compound + Fast Orange (soap). I'll probably have to try something a bit more abrasive to get this one out.

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Other than that deep scratch this thing is a mirror now. It looks gorgeous in person.
 
The picture looks great! I too have to work on my candy I picked up this week. A gouge in the body I think needs some bondo. Wondering what I should do about painting it. Taking it to a body shop might be in order for us. Keep us up to date.
 
Congrats on the cabinet, glad to hear my worklog was inspiring!

Cab needs some work for sure, but should clean up nicely. WRT the large holes - I've heard that some cabs that were imported into the US had big metal straps installed to go over all the front doors, to prevent people from picking or breaking locks and getting access into the cab. This seems like it could be related.

The control panel looks like it might be a River Service panel to me? They made replacement panels for Sega cabs for a while and sometimes offered different layouts.

Keep in mind that both the PSU and monitor chassis have caps that might need replacing; did the seller mention which parts specifically had been recapped?

Did that move strip come with the cabinet? Ketsui is certainly an uncommon game these days, surprised to see it. If it's original it could be worth a surprising amount!

Did your cabinet come with the marquee holder?
 
Congrats on the cabinet, glad to hear my worklog was inspiring!

Cab needs some work for sure, but should clean up nicely. WRT the large holes - I've heard that some cabs that were imported into the US had big metal straps installed to go over all the front doors, to prevent people from picking or breaking locks and getting access into the cab. This seems like it could be related.

The control panel looks like it might be a River Service panel to me? They made replacement panels for Sega cabs for a while and sometimes offered different layouts.

Keep in mind that both the PSU and monitor chassis have caps that might need replacing; did the seller mention which parts specifically had been recapped?

Did that move strip come with the cabinet? Ketsui is certainly an uncommon game these days, surprised to see it. If it's original it could be worth a surprising amount!

Did your cabinet come with the marquee holder?
Thanks for the comments.

The monitor chassis was supposedly recapped, but the PSU was not mentioned. That is something I will likely do.

The move strip was in the cab. It looks like it's been there forever.

Sadly there is no marquee holder. That's something I intended to replace.
 
Looking good! Glad our threads helped out.

Looks like your cab is from the same arcade as mine. I've got the same holes drilled out for a security bar, and 25 cent coin mech. I found a bunch of these barred-up astro cities were sold at an Anaheim auction. Dunno which arcade they were from though.

https://www.google.com/search?q=captain's+auction+warehouse+astro+city&tbm=isch&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS844US844&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjBxdGcza7wAhXTiJ4KHQWVDioQBXoECAEQNQ&biw=1051&bih=481

8VHwInR.png


Edit: There was also this one that got restored, same security bar deal, sitting in someone's warehouse.

https://imgur.com/a/ZkqtcnK
 
Looking good! Glad our threads helped out.

Looks like your cab is from the same arcade as mine. I've got the same holes drilled out for a security bar, and 25 cent coin mech. I found a bunch of these barred-up astro cities were sold at an Anaheim auction. Dunno which arcade they were from though.

https://www.google.com/search?q=captain's+auction+warehouse+astro+city&tbm=isch&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS844US844&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjBxdGcza7wAhXTiJ4KHQWVDioQBXoECAEQNQ&biw=1051&bih=481

8VHwInR.png


Edit: There was also this one that got restored, same security bar deal, sitting in someone's warehouse.

https://imgur.com/a/ZkqtcnK
Thank you for sharing that.

I assumed there was some story behind those holes. Did you get yours filled?
 
Thank you for sharing that.

I assumed there was some story behind those holes. Did you get yours filled?
Mine came with bolts already in the holes from the security bracket so I'm just leaving them in there for now. Bondo and repaint is quite a bit out of my budget for the time being.
 
It's been awhile since I've had an update. Progress continues on the Astro City. I did have the distraction of a Blast City (link) I just picked up (I'll add a project showcase for that soon).

Lots of parts have arrived or are on the way, but the main thing lately has been taking this apart and cleaning it up, as well as doing a recap of the PSU.

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A bit dirty inside, but not too bad. It will be cleaned thoroughly soon.

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A PSU itself was in surprisingly good shape. But I figured I'd recap it while it was out.

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Cleaned up and decapped.

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New caps are in.

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I was pleased with how this came out.

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Good to go!

More updates coming soon.
 
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Real life has gotten in the way of me updating, but I did get some new parts in last week and I finally got to install some of them.

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Deliveries from @Rbtamanini! Some fresh panels and marquees.

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Fresh and clean! Very happy with these.

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A bit of a difference in the font, but the colors pop so nice on the new one.

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Night and day difference.

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Extremely pleased with these.
 
A bit of a difference in the font, but the colors pop so nice on the new one.
I fixed that for him. But I guess he’s still selling old ones. Maybe he already had them printed.
 
Some minor updates on my Astro.

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I swapped the OG speakers for the Logitechs like many others have done.

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I also put in this Kinter stereo amp. I didn't do much of a permanent install, for now, but it does the job. It definitely sounds better.

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And (this was a bit ago) the MiSTercade arrived. This thing works great.

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I also tracked down a latch I was missing and installed that. Now I have a full set of keys, latches, and locks.

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I'm happy with my Astro City. It could be a bit cleaner, it could be a bit newer looking, but it works great and I use it a lot.

Eventually I should recap the MS8 chassis and calibrate the screen more, but for now it's my daily cab so I don't want to mess with it anymore.

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Now I need to finish that damn MS2933 chassis on the Blast City.
 
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