Fresh Paint and new T-Molding

This Galaga is in great shape.  With a little effort it could look even better.  Some folks on the forum have replaced the black t-molding on the Galaga and sometimes Galaxian cabinets with a bright green.  I like the way it looks and ordered mine from  www.arcadeshop.com.   The black areas on the inside of the cabinet have been worn down over the years and could use a fresh coat of satin black to clean it up a bit.

Oh Yeah, looking good!

Cap kit and Power Brick

This was the result of one of those things you do when you're in the middle of a task.  After discharging the monitor and unbolting it from the cabinet,  I decided to place it on top of a small shop stool that was nearby.  Then I grab the can of compressed air and thought " I don't want this dust in here" so I wheel the whole thing out into the driveway.  Shortly there after I notice people gawking and pointing.  Yes folks I'm a dork.

I don't need to go into details here.  Suffice it to say that I replaced the capacitors on this monitors chassis.  Not particularly difficult, in fact, it may have been one of the easiest so far.  It was very dusty, obviously hadn't been touched since the early 1980s.

Here's a shot of the chassis of the Matsushita TM202G layed out on the workbench ready to have all those little capacitors unsoldered and replaced with fresh ones.  This also gave me a chance to wipe away some of the accumulated filth and dust.  If you're doing this, be sure to familiarize yourself with the various on board controls, they're very hard to see once you put it all back together and mount it in the cabinet.

Okay, one last shot of the monitor and you can forget about it for another 25 years.  Notice how clean it looks now.  Nice.  I know some of you folks like to take a water hose to these and get them squeaky clean.  I haven't been able to bring myself to that yet. 

Now on to the power brick.  These are almost always nasty.  This one looks pretty good.  Bob sells a kit that comes with the various fuses, a new fuse block, crimp connectors, bridge rectifier, and a new Big Blue capacitor (http://www.therealbobroberts.net/).  It really doesn't take long to clean this up and replace the parts.  If the base is nasty, clean it up with some sandpaper or just remove everything and give it a good coat of rustoleum bronze spray paint.  This one was pretty nice, so all I had to do was wipe down the wires with some simple green and dust it off good.

Ching! Sparkle, sparkle.  That's better.  This puppy will now be throwing out proper voltages, and looking stunning all the while.  I then replaced the busted, tired old power cord with a brand new one, complete with a proper ground pin.  A lot more vacuuming in the base of the cabinet, and then I replaced the second Big Blue.  I find a few more tokens that Kylie missed in the base of the cab, and clean out what looks to be spilled Coke that must have seeped in from the cockpit area 20 years ago.

This is perhaps the best thing I've found so far in a cabinet: An out of order sign from the early days of desktop publishing, half eaten by mice.  I can just remember using these kind of graphics and printing things out on a dot matrix printer, it sucked, but sure looked better than a handmade note. That wraps up this order of parts.  I still don't have a working game.  The monitor now does an excellent job of displaying a screen full of garbage that only looks remotely like the original game (ah someday ).  Next up, the AR boards. 

Once over and order parts.

Same as always here, I break out the Simple Green and the Magic Eraser and remove 25 years of spooge and bubble gum.  It cleans up nicely and would be A+ if not for the few places with torn or missing artwork.  The coveted shifter is still intact and the steering wheel is in great shape.  All the important parts are there and in great condition.  Inside it has the usual finger board burns and has had a switching power supply installed to provide the 5V.  The monitor is the original Matsushita TM202G.  The original power brick is still intact, with two Big Blue capacitors and a nasty looking fuse block.

I ended up by ordering a cap kit for the monitor, the Atari Power supply rebuild kit, and an extra Big Blue from Bob Roberts.  I know some of you wouldn't bother, but I always like to start with the power and work my way up.  Seems to work for me.  Besides, once the voltages are correct, most arcades just seem to work happily.

My daughter, Kylie, finds almost 5 dollars worth of tokens in the coin box and in the bottom of the cab.  Later that day we drive over to the now modern and updated Family Fun Center in Lakeland and play some laser tag and spent the tokens playing games. =) 

Prepare to Qualify

This was one killer score.  I was looking at ads placed on craigslist for a couple of games, I think they were Buck Hunter and Bowling something.  Neither of which I gave a crap about.  But none the less I was looking at the post and noticed this Pole Position cockpit in the background of one of the photos.  That got me excited so I wrote the guy back asking if he'd sell the Pole Position.  Weeks went by without a response, so I tried again.  After perhaps a month or so, the guy finally made me an offer, sweet!

I go out to look at this thing and it's in killer shape, non-working, but looking nice.  Turns out it was from the local Family Fun Center, they had put it in the warehouse ages ago, when it stopped working.  I have fond memories of playing Pole Position at the old Family Fun Center when I was a kid.  So, this is the actual arcade I would've played at 11 or 12 years old.  Nice.

I finally get to meet with Scott ( a super nice guy ) the owner of said Fun Center and exchange old war stories. 

My Scratch Built Renegade

During the mid 80's, I would take my nephew to the old Lakeland mall arcade.  That arcade is long gone, and the mall is now a church!  Anyway, our favorite pastime there was Renegade.  It was the first "beat'em up" game I can remember playing.  If I were to ever own a stand-up, full size arcade game, it would have to be Renegade.  So that is how I got started in this hobby.

Renegade was never sold as a dedicated machine.  Story has it that in the waning years of the video arcade boom of the early 80's, game developers began providing conversion kits.  Operators were then able to convert an older game, something that was no longer earning them money, into a new and hopefully profitable game.  And convert they did.  Most cabinets were painted black to conceal their previous identity.  The conversion kit would come with a few pieces of art, usually a new marquee and control panel overlay.  It was around this time that game rooms began to look, well, shabby to say the least.

After researching this, and learning that poor Renegade was never actually sold as a "dedicated" cabinet, I decided to build one from scratch.  I located a working circuit board (PCB) for Renegade on Ebay and after several more months, located a few pieces of original art from the conversion kit. 

Having already bored you to tears with the "why", I'll spare you  the "how".  Just know that if you plan to ever "scratch build" an arcade game, that it will be a slightly costly and time-consuming endeavor.  Three tools that were very helpful were a "biscuit joiner", a router, and large clamps.  Without those tools, I cant see how I would've created a square cabinet.  The entire cabinet is held together with biscuit joints and wood glue.  It is extremely solid, no worries there.  I used only basic hand tools, and I'm quite happy with the final results.

Alive and well

Tonight I came home to find the conversion kit from Bob at the door.  Fifteen minutes later I was playing some sweet Galaga.  If you haven't installed one of these before, it couldn't be easier.  I think a 5th grader could do this one.  Bob includes instructions,  and the AC line is fed from the monitor power lead.  I made the extra effort to install the frame ground from the switcher to one of the legs of the transformer.  After powering up, I checked the voltages, and adjusted to right under +5.2v, but I could already hear the game playing, and could hardly wait to take a look.

This is perhaps the first game I've repaired that has a decent looking monitor.  I doubt it even needs a cap kit, it's clear, bright, and actually centered.
Of course I played a few games, right away.  Galaga is much more difficult than I remember.  Now I've got to get the marquee light working, it's missing completely.


This has been one sweet purchase.  I'll probably strip the parts out of the cab, give it a fresh coat of black paint on the inner painted surfaces, and replace the t-molding and control panel overlay.  After that this game will be in A+ condition.

Nice Score!

Naturally I wasn't looking for another game, this one was just too good to pass up. It was posted on e-bay, but pointed out to me by the guys on klov.com. From the pictures, and the description, I could tell this cabinet had potential. So I clicked the buy it now option and crossed my fingers.

Turned out to be one of the cleanest, best condition games I have purchased to date. There were the usual scratches, only much fewer. The control panel overlay is a bit worn, but still very nice. The side art, bezel, and marquee, are all in excellent condition. As it stands this game is an "A" and will soon be an "A+" on my VAPS page.

As always, with these old games, it had it's fair share of oddities. First would be the hacked power supply connectors. Wires were cut all about the cabinet and left hanging, as if someone had simply went wild with a pair of cutters. After repairing the wire loom damages and replacing the original connector (they were kind enough to leave the original in the bottom of the cab), I flipped the power on and it came up in test mode. I flipped the test switch to normal play, and the game came up, with sound, graphics, looking good! I stood there for a second or two in amazement, jaw open, and then the game just died.

Checking the voltages now (something I should have done first), the +5v that was needed at the PCB was fluctuating into the 12-13V range. Yikes! I shut the game down and unplugged the power going to the main boards. Upon checking further, the voltage could not be adjusted within a proper range of +5 to 5.2.

Bob Roberts to the rescue. I ordered his "switching power supply conversion kit". I plan to leave the original linear power supply intact and in the cabinet. I'll install the new "switcher" and rest easy that this one won't catch fire.

Lastly a big THANK YOU, to my bud Brian Rodocker for the loaner truck! And also for the "buy it" words of encouragement.