Invader Stool

This stool is from http://www.rocketstools.co.uk/index.php/store.html 

They are made to order.  The quality and service is excellent, I’m really pleased with it.

Mugs and Key Rings

Many thanks to Red5 / Daz (Arcade Otaku) for these goodies.

New Arrival – Capcom Mini Cute – Yellow Edition

Here is my latest arcade cabinet – Capcom Mini Cute – Yellow Edition.  I’ve really enjoyed working on arcade cabinets this year and I was looking for a bit of a project – this fits the bill nicely! 

The Good

1. It’s a Mini Cute!

2. The cabinet body is in relatively good shape.  There is little rust and no dents or damages.

3. The screen cover is in good condition with no deep scratches.

4. All of the wiring is intact and original.

5. The cabinet has a full set of locks and keys.

6. The cabinet came complete with an original marquee and also has the two eye bolts.  I’m especially pleased about these as they seem to be missing from most Cutes.

The Bad

1. The monitor has some serious screen burn from the game Rygar.

2. The stock control panel has been replaced with a home made custom panel.

3. The cabinet body paint work has a lot of scratches and is in generally poor condition.

4. The Capcom side art is in poor condition with rips and tears.

5. The speaker grills are in poor condition.

To Do

1. Re-spray the external shell - cabinet front, control box and body. 

2. Add repro side art.

3. Fit new control panel, complete with new sticks and buttons.

4. Replace missing kick plate rubber.

5. Internal clean.  Clean all wiring.

5. Re-spray speaker grills.

6. Clean and polish screen cover and bezel with Novus.

7. Replace monitor.

I plan dismantling the cabinet and taking the parts to local car body shop (the same place that re-sprayed my New Astro City speaker surround).  They should be able to do a perfect colour match.  I already have repro side art and a repro coin entry sticker.  I have a control panel on its way from Japan to replace the custom panel.  If you have any idea what game the custom panel is intended for, please let me know!  Finding a suitable replacement monitor will no doubt be the biggest hurdle.

The cab is very tired and needs a lot of work.  However it should shape up nicely and I’m really looking forward to bringing this old unloved cabinet back to its former glory!

Sega Naomi Sit-Down - New Net City Art – Part 3

 Work Done

1. New Sega Japan official Naomi SD cabinet legs and covers fitted.  New Net City side art applied.

2. Base cleaned, primed and re-sprayed appliance gloss white.

3. New Naomi front assembly fitted, complete with new monitor bezel, inserts, screw cap covers and light cover.

4. New control box upper fitted.

5. Instruction glass cover replaced with a new Japanese one.  The Japan version has a black border.

6. New instruction glass cover brackets and L washers fitted. 

7. New Sega coin reject button fitted.

8. Plastic coin slot replaced with Sega 100 Yen chrome metal coin slot.

9. Rear monitor cover cleaned.

10. All wiring cleaned.

11. New Sanwa sticks, ball tops and push buttons fitted. 

12. Sega extra button looms fitted.

13. New leg hoofs, levellers and end caps fitted.

14. New Net City CP overlay, instruction sheet, coin decal, and emblem added.

15. Coin box door and frame fitted – original missing.

16. New marquee assembly fitted.

17. Missing coin box replaced.

18. Monitor tube and chassis cleaned. 

19. Wooden Naomi mobo / PCB mounting board fitted - original board missing.

20. Earth wiring re-connected inside cabinet legs.  Missing earth wires replaced.

NOS Sega Parts Used

1. Sega Japan official Naomi SD cabinet legs and covers.

2. Instruction cover bracket [NOA-1419] x2

3. Instruction cover bracket L washer [NOA-1420] x4

4. Leg hoof R [NOA-1113]

5. Leg hoof L [NOA-1114]

6. Leg levellers m16x75 [601-5699X] x2

7. Nanao monitor bezel / mask [NOA-1502-01]

8. Naomi leg end cap R [NOA-1003]

9. Naomi leg end cap L [NOA-1004]

10. Naomi light cover [NOA-1503]

11. Sega extra button loom [600-6227-10] x2

12. Sega coin reject button assembly [250-5043]

13. Naomi front assembly [NOA-1501]

14. GCS lid [NOA-1505]

15. VMU lid [NOA-1506] x2

16. Screw cap cover [NOA-1006] x4

17. Control box upper [NOA-1402]

18. Instruction glass cover [HOT-1508]

19. Naomi marquee assembly [NOA-1300]

NOS Cabinet Art Used

1. New Net City 2L12B control panel overlay [NOM-2001]

2. New Net City leg decal R [NOM-1015]

3. New Net City leg decal L [NOM-1008]

4. New Net City instruction sheet [NOM-1409]                      

5. New Net City emblem [NOM-1507]                                   

6. New Net City 100 Yen coin decal [NOM-1412]                 

The Games

The monitor is 31KHz only so I will be using this cab for Naomi, Atomiswave and Taito Type-X systems.

At the moment I’m playing Zero Gunner 2 by Psikyo and I can see that staying in there for a good while!

Many Thanks

Daz / Red5 (Arcade Otaku) for the cab.

Andygeezer for the SD leg kit, NNC side art, Naomi / PCB mounting board, Naomi front assembly, control box upper, instruction glass cover and the marquee assembly.

Craig / Giz10p for monitor bezel, end caps, light cover, coin reject button, NNC instruction sheet, brackets and L washers.

Richy13 (AO) for the chrome coin slot.

Akihabarashop for the buttons and meshball ball tops.

BlingStix / FrancoB (AO) for the Jamma / JVS voltmeter.

Spectre (AO) for the repro marquees. 

And a massive thanks to Paulie (AO) for his excellent Naomi restoration thread and earth wiring connection info.

Sega Naomi Sit-Down - New Net City Art – Part 2

Monitor

The cabinet has a Nanao MS-2932-S 31KHz monitor.  The picture is very nice, the image sharp and there is no visible burn.

Normally I just use an air duster and anti-static brush to give the monitor tube and chassis a light clean, but this monitor was filthy and a more thorough cleaning was required. 

The back of the tube was caked with black arcade dust so I discharged the tube and I used IPA solvent cleaning pads to wipe the grime off.  However these pads contain water so I was careful to avoid the aquadag coating, which is water soluble.  The aquadag coating has a pencil lead appearance, and I just wiped around it.

These are the pads I used:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/precision ... 4E4F4E4526

I also find them useful for cleaning PCB edge connectors.

For the aquadag coating and the monitor chassis I just used an air duster dry air blast cleaner and anti-static brush.

For the cables / wiring I thought the solvent cleaning pads might be a bit harsh so I used some alcohol free anti-static PC cleaner wipes, which are suitable for plastics.

These and similar products are available from most stationary shops:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/precision ... 4E4F4E4526

After cleaning:

Earth Wiring

A couple of earth wires inside the legs weren’t connected to anything and some earth wires were missing.

Facing the front of the cab, the correct arrangement is as follows:

LHS Leg - 2 Earth Wires

1. Leg frame earth point – I/O tray (same position as the CP earth)

2. Leg frame earth point (bottom) – base earth point on the very left hand side, about 20cm into the cab.

RHS Leg - 3 Earth Wires

1. Leg frame earth point – lighting unit frame.

2. Leg frame earth point – monitor frame.

3. Leg frame earth point (bottom) - base earth point at the very rear right, near the transformer.

Sega Naomi Sit-Down - New Net City Art – Part 1

About The Cab

Well here is my Sega Naomi, which has been converted to a sit-down cabinet with New Net City art. 

Legs

The legs had been chopped by a previous owner, but because they had some deep scratches / gouges I decided to replace them with Sega Japan official Naomi SD cabinet legs.  The Japanese leg covers are bare metal, polished and varnished and look stunning, particularly with the New Net City reflective silver and black art, it’s awesome.

Plastics

The cabinet front assembly and bezel had been previously repaired with plastic steel and the light cover was damaged.  Also the marquee assembly was damaged and had a small part missing.  Getting hold of Naomi spares, especially plastics is getting increasingly difficult with many parts no longer available from Sega.  Over time I’ve managed to replace most of the old / damaged plastics with factory fresh new parts. This includes the Naomi front assembly complete with monitor bezel, inserts and screw cap covers, light cover, control box upper, and marquee assembly.

Sticks And Buttons

New Sanwa sticks, ball tops and push buttons have been fitted.  The ball tops are the “meshball” type.   

Sanwa OBSF-30 Black rim / grey push button	x12
Sanwa OBSF-24 White push button	x2
Sanwa LB-35-M “Meshball” - OG Mesh grey	x2

Capcom STATUS 25

About The Cab

Last year in Tokyo I was really happy to stumble across a Capcom STATUS 18 arcade cabinet in the awesome retro arcade at Decks Tokyo Beach, Odaiba.

Now I’m the proud owner of its big brother, the Capcom STATUS 25.  I love the design of this cabinet – the angles, the speaker / marquee assembly, the size, the hood, it’s awesome.  Appearance wise, the cabinet has a lot in common with the Jaleco Pony Mark III 25.  I also find the smaller 25 inch screen better suited for older jamma games than 29 inch. 

Here are some pictures of the cabinet before cleaning:

The cab is in nice original condition, with a beautiful zero burn Toshiba tube.

The sticks, ball tops and buttons were renewed and returned to stock by the previous owner.

The control box has been re-painted at some point and compared to the cab body it was a slightly brighter white.  Cleaning the cabinet shell with car wash shampoo and then giving it a T-cut made a massive difference, removing the nicotine and grime collected from its time in a Japanese arcade.  The cabinet was noticeably whiter, lessening the difference between the control box and the cabinet body.

Once I had the monitor out I gave the tube and chassis a light clean with an air duster dry air blast cleaner and anti-static brush. 

I detached the hood completely before removing the monitor to avoid the possibility of catching the monitor on the hood and make monitor removal a little easier.  The inside of the cabinet was very clean, but as it was disassembled I gave it a clean with car wash shampoo and cleaned the cables / wiring with some alcohol free anti-static PC cleaner wipes, which are suitable for plastics.

On the bottom of the cabinet base, paint had worn off and it had become pretty rusty / corroded.  This was no doubt instigated by a missing foot pad. 

There was also some rust / wear on the kickplate.  I like to keep things original where possible and didn’t think a full re-spray was necessary, especially considering how well the cabinet had cleaned up overall.  I treated the rust and then applied Hammerite direct to rust metal paint smooth white using a small foam roller purchased from a train model shop. 

I was very pleased with the result.  The remaining three foot pads were in poor condition so I removed them and fitted four new ones.

The kickplate rubber was quite tired looking, and my initial thoughts were to replace it.  However after a good clean with some PC cleaner wipes (the same ones I had used to clean the wiring) it was looking much better. 

The hood has been disassembled and all parts cleaned.  This includes the monitor glass cover, cradles for the glass, bezel, hood support bar and fixings.  The bezel is made of very thin plastic, and is secured to the hood by strips of Velcro.  It’s in perfect condition, which is pretty surprising considering its age and fragility. 

I used Steller stainless steel cleaner to clean all the rusty / corroded fixings.  This is great for removing rust and making parts shiny again.  Here are some before and after pictures of the side monitor cradle bolts:

Parts cleaned ready for refitting:

The cab was missing the STATUS sticker between the speakers but Spectre (Arcade Otaku) has kindly made me a most excellent repro.

Work Done By Previous Owners

1. Sticks, ball tops and buttons renewed, colours returned to stock.

2. Repro marquee holder fabricated.

Work Done By Me

1. Strip down / internal clean.  Cabinet shell cleaned.

2. Missing STATUS logo above the monitor between the speakers replaced with repro sticker.

3. Genuine Japan ‘1 Play 100 Yen’ sticker added above coin slot.

4. Coin slot removed, cleaned and polished.

5. All rusty / corroded fixings cleaned.

6. Four new feet pads fitted - one original foot was missing and the remaining three were in poor condition.

7. All wiring cleaned.

8. Speaker assembly disassembled and cleaned.  Support bars cleaned and polished.

9. Monitor tube and chassis lightly cleaned with air duster and anti-static brush.

10. Kickplate rubber cleaned.

11. Rust / corrosion on base treated and Hammerite direct to rust metal paint smooth white applied.

12. Hood assembly disassembled and all parts cleaned, including the monitor glass cover, cradles for the glass, bezel, hood support bar and fixings.

The Games

I plan to have this as my dedicated horizontal cab and I will mostly be alternating between Capcom (mainly CPS II) and Irem PCB’s.

At the moment I have Capcom’s awesome Alien vs. Predator mounted on the wooden PCB holder.