Popular Post Kid A Posted October 14, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted October 14, 2019 (edited) So a buddy of mine calls me up and asked me if I wanted his non working Ms Pac-Man cab. The deal was that if I fixed it, he could play it whenever he came down, which I had no problem with. This is what the cab looked like when I got it. The cab was pretty beat up. Just running my hand across the sides made the paint fall off of it. Someone had painted the entire cab black. As you can see the cab was in pretty bad shape. So even before I tried to make the thing actually work, I painted it black. I primered it first before doing so. At this point I actually tried to make it work. I found some wires that looked like they were spliced into. I figured these were the connections for power. There was no power plug when I got it. I got a PC power cable, cut the end off and spliced it into the existing cuts in the wiring. When I plugged it in, it powered on...however with some problems.. The screen was all distorted. I had found 10 different knobs in the back of the arcade. I turned all of them to see if it would fix it. Nothing did. I thought maybe they all have to be dialed in perfect. After 3 days of messing with these knobs, I was getting frustrated. I was staring at the back of the cab when I saw this metal bracket with a hole in it. I shined a flashlight through the hole and I saw a potentiometer with a screwdriver slot on it. I grabbed a screwdriver and turned it clockwise and it made it worse. So I went counterclockwise all the way and it made the screen totally clear! ...with some minor distorted on the right part of the screen . Just had to slightly turn it back clockwise to get rid of the distortion After that I spent a few minutes to dial in the colors properly. At this point, I got a proper power cable for the cab and installed it. The control panel overlay was pretty dirty and torn so that got replaced. Put some new buttons too. When I got done with that, I wanted to go all out. I ended up getting a repro glass bezel and installed it. The repro is very high quality. Very happy with it. My friend had got this thinking if he couldn't fix it, he was going to keep the Marquee and get rid of it. Knowing that I got this machine for free, I got a new Marquee and gave him the original. Got a high score save kit as well. Last thing I got was the panel art and new T molding. When I got the art in, I realized that if I were to install the front part as is, the coin door chop off the forehead of Ms. Pac-Man. So I had to raise the coin door 4.5 inches. I also was able to hide the bolts that hold the coin bucket in place below the surface of the wood so I didn't have to shove them to the front of the artwork. Once that was done I installed the art along with the new t molding. When I installed the cab was finally finished! I wish the color of the panel art was a closer match to the control panel overlay, but in the end, I think it came out pretty awesome. I'm forever grateful that my buddy gave me this arcade. It's definitely in my top 3 favorite arcade games of all time. It was a lot of work putting this thing together Here's a side by side of the before and after! Edited October 14, 2019 by Kid A RickR, CrossBow, StormSurge and 10 others 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 14, 2019 Report Share Posted October 14, 2019 I love this so much. Great work! Justin and Kid A 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 14, 2019 Report Share Posted October 14, 2019 That's nice! Another arcade saved from sudden doom. Nice work. I keep hoping I'll run across my favorite cab to restore someday but I haven't found one yet. Kid A and Justin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted October 14, 2019 Report Share Posted October 14, 2019 Wow, quite the restoration! Looks great! Kid A and Justin 2 Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DegasElite Posted October 14, 2019 Report Share Posted October 14, 2019 It is a marked improvement from its pre-restoration state. Looking spiffy! Kid A and Justin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted October 14, 2019 Report Share Posted October 14, 2019 When I first saw this thread I thought "ugh-oh" ..... it turned out exactly as I imagined. super - nice :) Justin, Kid A and Atari Creep 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted October 15, 2019 Report Share Posted October 15, 2019 DUDE!!!!!! Amazing work bringing her back to life. WOW! Justin and Kid A 2 Quote Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 15, 2019 Report Share Posted October 15, 2019 Dude that is so sweet! That's just to cool! Tremendous job!! 🙌 Great to see you breathe new life into this beauty! Kid A and Atari Creep 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btbfilms76 Posted October 15, 2019 Report Share Posted October 15, 2019 Wonderful work! We need more of this and less of the mini arcade movement. Let’s keep these machines alive and kicking. Kid A, Atari Creep and Justin 3 Quote Host of The Jag Bar • Lynx Lounge • 7800 Avenue Watch now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrhPvmALbHpBUqrbBOms5Vw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted October 15, 2019 Report Share Posted October 15, 2019 8 hours ago, btbfilms76 said: Wonderful work! We need more of this and less of the mini arcade movement. Let’s keep these machines alive and kicking. YES!!!!! Kid A and Justin 2 Quote Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted October 15, 2019 Report Share Posted October 15, 2019 That is AMAZING!!! Great job!!! One of these days I will have a cabinet. Kid A and Justin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 15, 2019 Report Share Posted October 15, 2019 5 hours ago, StormSurge said: That is AMAZING!!! Great job!!! One of these days I will have a cabinet. I'm with StormSurge. Once of these days. Galaxian is what I'm after but I'd settle for any decent one...even if it has to be restored. That would be the fun part. StormSurge, Justin and Kid A 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid A Posted October 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2019 Thanks everyone! Restoring was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing another one. Hopefully I find a beat up Galaga cab soon! 😂 I'm so excited to add this cab to the collection. I'm really happy with the way it came out. I wonder why arcade1up doesn't make full size cabs? Yeah, obviously it would cost more but I think it would be worth it. StormSurge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauber Posted October 16, 2019 Report Share Posted October 16, 2019 HOLY COW!! That is frickin' amazing! Thanks for sharing! Kid A 1 Quote Supernatural, perhaps...baloney, perhaps not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted October 16, 2019 Report Share Posted October 16, 2019 4 hours ago, Kid A said: Thanks everyone! Restoring was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing another one. Hopefully I find a beat up Galaga cab soon! 😂 I'm so excited to add this cab to the collection. I'm really happy with the way it came out. I wonder why arcade1up doesn't make full size cabs? Yeah, obviously it would cost more but I think it would be worth it. It would probably take a while but I don't see why you can't build one from scratch buying used parts (motherboard, monitor, etc.) and such. It would take a while longer but the end result would be about the same thing...wouldn't it or am I wrong? StormSurge and Kid A 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid A Posted October 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2019 4 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said: It would probably take a while but I don't see why you can't build one from scratch buying used parts (motherboard, monitor, etc.) and such. It would take a while longer but the end result would be about the same thing...wouldn't it or am I wrong? Well, if it's pre built, the convince factor is definitely there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted October 17, 2019 Report Share Posted October 17, 2019 I’m going to have to end up paying top dollar for one since I’d be lucky to know how to plug it in let alone build or restore one. I’m extremely jealous of your skills!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 (edited) Nice job, Kid A. The coin door being lower has me stumped, though. I posted some photos on KLOV and they said the cabinet was originally either a Galaga, or the front panel was changed at some point, because the coin door is one that Cinematronics used. Edited December 16, 2019 by Scott Stilphen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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