High Score Saved Again

A little more love was given to the Pole Position II today.  I replaced the ghetto fabulous score saving cordless phone battery with a Dallas Semiconductor nonvolatile SRAM.  Now my dismal hi-scores will be saved for all posterity.

This chip replaces a socketed ram chip about three spots north of the old battery location.  Previously I was using a rechargeable battery to maintain the scores, but found it to be a bit unreliable.  This is a much better solution, and should last a good long time.

Pole Position Cockpit Topper

This most excellent item arrived months ago and I only recently got it installed.  Kudos to Phet for having the dream and making this happen.

I don't have any memory of ever seeing one of these back in the day.  It is however, in several drawings in the owners manual.  To get the story of how this was made you'd have to be following it on KLOV.      Here's a link to the two threads:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=45723
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=187749

Gravitar Final Pictures

Just a few before and after pictures of the Gravitar.

More water damage repair

The two back corners of the Asteroids Deluxe have water damage.  It's pretty common, and often I just let it go, and don't actually worry much about it.  Other times the damage is too great, and it simply wont hold the t-molding any longer.  In this case, it's time to try and patch or replace the corner section.

I'm not planning on replacing the side art on this machine.  My plan is to peel it back and glue it back down after replacing the corner.

Here is a pic of the corner with the bad section cut away.  I used the front corners to make a copy using the tracing bit and a router.  I then cut that new piece to fit on the back corner.  To hold it in place, I used glue and a biscuit joiner.

Once this is dry and feels solid, I'll reattach the artwork and route a groove for the t-molding to go around the outside.  This should clean up really well.

More WWF Superstars

Not much to talk about here. Just a little clean up and it's ready to go.

This cabinet isn't in the best shape.  It has some water damage, but nothing major.  I added leg levelers, chrome t-molding and an inexpensive pair of Happ 8 way controllers.  In my opinion it looks much better.  For a moment I considered attaching a sheet of black laminate to the front lower section, to disguise some of the water damage, but I ran out of time.

Anyway, here it is.  I enjoyed playing it.  It really is a fun game.  I hope the gang down at the laundromat can get some use out of it.

Asteroids Deluxe Facelift

I'd like this cabinet to look pretty nice when finished.  Unfortunately it doesn't have much going for it.  Ok, the Side Art isn't terrible, but that's about it.  Last time I worked on this, I completely replaced the bottom section.  The front kick panel of this cabinet has numerous chips and nasty swollen water damage.  So I'm going to remove the front half and the coin door, cut a matching piece, laminate it, and put it all back together.

Here is the old front section.  Using a tracing bit, and my router, making a copy was relatively simple.

I already had a nice piece of black laminate and after gluing it down it was a simple matter to once again use the router and trim the edges smooth.

Here's the finished product.  Not bad, seriously it was worth the effort.  I used a few scraps of wood, some wood glue, and my cabinet clamps to get this in place and solid.

The coin door didn't look that bad, so a light coating of satin black and it was ready to go back on the machine.  Here is a shot of the final product, minus the chips and cracks.  It's a much cleaner edge and finish, a look worthy of an excellent classic game.

WWF Superstars

Last Wednesday a friend drops by and asks, do I have any games I'd like to place at his new laundromat.  The short answer, not really.  The first thing that scene brings to mind is, vandalism.  Since I actually enjoy the look of most of my games, I opted out.

Instead, I asked on the local forum, and did a quick look on Craigslist for any potential so-so games that could fill the role.  I found a cheap and clean, well, somewhat clean, WWF Superstars being sold in Largo.

So after talking to the owner, I decided it wasn't that bad of a deal.  The game wasn't working of course, but the sounds were playing and the cabinet looked to be in decent shape.  I decided to fix it up a little, and offer it up to the local laundromat crowd.

The monitor was toast.  A fuse on the deflection board was blown, and after replacing it, and powering up, there was a nasty burning smell and a small amount of smoke.  Wow, nice!  My answer at this time, just pull it out, and set it aside.  I have three working spare monitors, so simply swapping in a good one seemed like the right thing to do.  After this, the game came up and played fine.

It's actually a fun game.  I like that it has the original WWF members, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, etc.  The game play isn't half bad.  You can play single player vs. the computer or tag team against the computer.  It also offers two player vs. mode, so it has plenty of replay value.

The cabinet looks rather dull, and one of the controllers is pretty much shot.  I placed an order with Twisted Quarter for some new t-molding and a couple of new Happ joysticks.  That should give it some much needed bling.