Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle
General Chat => Arcade Lifestyle => Topic started by: smarty on August 31, 2013, 10:29:57 PM
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Hey All, I've got a Fire Truck restoration on the go. I'll update the thread as I make more progress but here's the story so far...
Well a few years back now three (yes THREE!) FT's were up for auction on eBay UK, I had an itchy finger but never bid on them, no one else did either and life moved on until earlier this year when I was reminded about the FT's and found out someone local to me had actually picked them up after the auction ended. After some gentle persuasion I was Offered one of the cabs, still in the same untouchecd condition as below. Photos from the original auction.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2NWvwdKqzOM/USu7C5kAQ5I/AAAAAAAAAUQ/usNOZoLoeiY/s1000/Firetruck+1.jpg)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dp7Z8CHMhJQ/USu7C9UJHCI/AAAAAAAAAUY/1V7y7bnBGI0/s1000/Firetruck+10.jpg)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zlPVnObdBnI/USu7D1Ge6TI/AAAAAAAAAUk/1FuTaGZ_9mA/s1000/Firetruck+3.jpg)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8aX68Kb6vHI/USu7EQLP4aI/AAAAAAAAAUs/wgzQVGAtkQA/s1000/Firetruck+4.jpg)
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Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Fire Truck in the house! :)
Thanks to a very kind fellow arcade collector, I am now the proud owner of an Atari Fire Truck cabinet.
So here it is, Atari Fire Truck. Serial Number: FT-394
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kvptiluwgZA/UWRpZXGZnsI/AAAAAAAAAaY/3z9rOWgeCJ4/s1000/2013-04-06+16.29.01.jpg)
The owner who originally sold all three had them in storage for years, the collector who I bought it from had also never tried firing them up. The main casualty of the cab is that the monitor tube had been 'necked' and removed. Other than that the cab was complete but very dirty! and of course totally untested. Here's a few more photo's from when I unloaded it after making an unusually short round trip of 15 miles to collect it!
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WwpBUNVqD2g/UWRrU3uwMuI/AAAAAAAAAak/rx_2K1iPlX4/s1000/2013-04-06+16.30.54.jpg)
Very tidy side art on this side. unfortunately the other side is not half as good.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3xcseKCQc50/UWRrk5lB-LI/AAAAAAAAAas/-YIH1HSw4d4/s1000/2013-04-06+16.30.07.jpg)
Front view
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lpndfffoQsw/UWRr0ylXipI/AAAAAAAAAa0/xh5TDWDIgw8/s1000/2013-04-06+16.31.18.jpg)
Around the back! Power supply and Main PCB enclosed in its RF cage.
Items I've noted about the cab so far...
* The seat is made from Plywood whereas the main cab is Chipboard, Its a great shame Atari didn't use ply for both as I expect the main cab would be in 8/10 condition.
* All the artwork is made of some type of laminate which was glued onto the the cab. In places around most edges the laminate is flapping loose. This will need some contact adhesive to stick it back together.
* The two player button on the rear CPO is broken, so I'll need to find a replacement.
* One of the main sides of artwork is in a pretty poor state, I'm not sure if it was exposed to cold air or sunlight, but the paint has turned flakey. I'm not sure about the plan for this, It will probably be one of the last items that gets attention.
* The back door sheet which contains the self test and dip switch info had been tucked up behind the RF cage, It has small rips where it was once stapled to the back door.
More updates to come soon, I need some good weather so I can get the cab outside and give it a real good clean.
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Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Fire Truck fired up.
After getting itchy fingers, I just had to find out if the cab was a worker or not. 20+ years of unknown history would the game fire up or maybe catch fire! I wasn't sure what parts would work and considering the mains cable had been chopped short at the back of the cab it didn't give me much hope..
I unplugged all the connectors gameboard, psu coin mech etc, and verified that they were clean and had no bent pins, I had to straighten a few pins on the interlink loom between the front and back half but nothing major seemed wrong here.
I rewired the mains lead, checked the on-board fuses. The main power switch at the back of the cab had been a casualty over time, at some point it had become good friend with wasps or bees and had become completely destroyed. so I have temporarily used some terminal block to have the cab wired in a permanent 'on' state. The back door interlock mains wiring had also worked free from the connector so this needed re-connecting.
With the gameboard disconnected, I fired the cab up and got the distinctive hum for the mains transformer, no smoke, sparks or pops. Good start! All the Power brick voltages checked out against the schematics which was good.
Time to remove the main game board from the RF cage...It turns out the board is in a very tidy condition, and looks like its never been repaired.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DMnRy0d8VwY/UWXMtT0M1oI/AAAAAAAAAbY/NIJ1lu_CJ8A/s1000/2013-04-06+16.38.56.jpg)
Fire Truck main PCB
A visual inspection didn't show any bent pins on the underside of the board, I gently removed and re-seated all the IC's that were in sockets, and after that put the board back in the cage nearly ready to fire it up.
Before turning the cab on I need to improvise a monitor and the original on in the cab was missing. The video signal from the game was standard composite video so without too much fuss I moved in a little test monitor I have and made some temporary wiring to connect it to the original loom.
Time to turn the cab on, and here's what I got...
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3a029ZMeTvA/UWXOEQk9WBI/AAAAAAAAAbk/ZQQwqy6SYWo/s1000/2013-04-08+20.09.39.jpg)
Cab fired up for the first time in 20+ years
Wee the cab fired up, I got a good solid video image but something wasn't quite right. I had a loud tone constantly coming out of the speakers, and the the main playfield graphics were messed up. The game coined up, but the game wont start properly.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m3keaWGNysA/UWXOuQNmH8I/AAAAAAAAAbs/yuyAr_pOPs8/s1000/2013-04-08+19.50.47.jpg)
The above photo gives a better indication of what is being displayed on screen. Not great but in truth this was a better result than I had expected. I need to confirm all the cab wiring is correct at some point in the future. I tried the test mode switch which is supposed to show some gradient bars and confirm RAM and ROMs are in working order, but this doesn't seem to work. At this point I'm guessing its a game board fault, but due to the unknown state the cab has been in, I will be doing continuity test on the looms when I next get some time to work on the cab.
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Saturday, 20 April 2013
Fire Truck. Rear control panel overhaul
I decided that I would get the seat section of the cab completed first, leaving the main part of the cab for a bit later in the year when the weather is better as I definitely have some woodworking to do on this section of the cab and my space indoors is limited to say the least. Anyway I thought a good place to start was on the Control panel, below is a photo of how it currently looked.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ejzMP5EsenM/UXLnNGvjLMI/AAAAAAAAAcA/cWm0a6kJjCM/s1000/2013-04-13+14.05.45.jpg)
Original rear CP condition.
As you can see, it was pretty grimey and one of the buttons was missing a cone and it was also broken. The steering wheel also wouldn't freely spin.
Below is a close up of the wheel showing the surface rust that had built up on the wheel over the years in storage.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-61pVEG1kBWk/UXLuem2ev0I/AAAAAAAAAck/m00ThEddBxI/s1000/2013-04-13+14.25.56.jpg)
Steering wheel before a clean up.
The steering wheel cap showed how clean the wheel could be and would have originally been. After a good scrub with a metal scourer and some metal polish I found in one of my old tool boxes it now had a very nice shine!
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IvaZLbaedb8/UXLuwBgVPWI/AAAAAAAAAcs/h4yYijrz3qQ/s1000/2013-04-13+15.00.37.jpg)
Steering Wheel with a shine!
The wheel has cleaned up lovely the Control Panel is clean but does have some signs of rust coming through, there's not much I can do about this, but hey the machine is 34 years old so its allowed to show some signs of age.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--SEgne35CY0/UXLxMcZkKCI/AAAAAAAAAc0/jDZZbA4oBxo/s1000/2013-04-20+20.47.14.jpg)
Rear CP after being cleaned up.
As you can see I've replaced the broken button and put a cone on it, but I will be replacing all three so they match before the project is over. I'm assuming the front Control Panel will come clean up into a similar condition. More on that when I get to the main cab.
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Saturday, 20 April 2013
Fire Truck. Rear seat clean up.
First up was the leg levellers on the cab, they were only threaded with a single nut on either side and as you can see below weren't very straight anymore they had sunk into the plywood under the load of someone heavy playing the game in its past life!
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Jx06a5-3G4/UXL1h8XHLgI/AAAAAAAAAdM/oNt1Ywm8jcE/s1000/2013-04-20+12.26.12.jpg)
Original leg levellers bent up.
My solution to this was to put some large flat washers either side of the plywood to spread the load over a greater area. Photo below, hopefully this should now do the job better than the original.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ecIBl-urnEQ/UXL2ZyPzRkI/AAAAAAAAAdU/pGaK5w4fFNs/s1000/2013-04-20+16.36.10.jpg)
New washers on the leg levellers spreading the load over a greater area.
As I've mentioned before, the artwork sides of the cab are actually a laminate which is stuck to the main plywood cab. This has now come loose and the sides are 'flapping' about. I need to glue these back on so I don't damage them when moving the cab about. This will hopefully be done in the next update.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CK_qrvh--Q8/UXL3mRwU3nI/AAAAAAAAAdc/t0s94CML9bA/s1000/2013-04-20+17.20.27.jpg)
Laminate side coming away from the cabinet.
As for the actual cab clean up, I decided to go down the T-Cut route which is a polish for cleaning cars. It turned out really well, I'm very happy with the results. Photos below:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CD-uIFaVTxs/UXL4poC2e4I/AAAAAAAAAds/vGw_zqJLIfM/s1000/2013-04-20+18.18.06.jpg)
Front view, CP and coin door removed.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5H07k2u8sOE/UXL4asgbeDI/AAAAAAAAAdk/CQKDCYb5q-8/s1000/2013-04-20+18.18.14.jpg)
Oh yes! This is clean.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UW0Qqw_srJo/UXL5EWOYjoI/AAAAAAAAAd0/F-3_YrTzEI8/s1000/2013-04-20+18.17.54.jpg)
Bad photo, but more of the same.
I really have to look into getting some new T-Moulding now as this is going to let the cab down as it is pretty heavily marked. I don't want to stick the side laminate back on without removing the T-Mould so this would be a good reason to go for new and make the cab really stand out.
Also as you can see from the photos, the coin door is removed and the metal plate that connects the seat to the main cab has also been removed. I will post updates when I have cleaned and re-sprayed these items. More to come soon if the sun keeps shining, I've had a great day today working on the cab, thanks for reading.
EDIT 2. small photos now. EDIT. Sorry the photos are so large, I copied them straight from my blog which is hosted on google and they're massive. Usually I can copy my posts direct from google but that doesn't work with this forum software so I've had to do it manually.
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More updates coming soon :)
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Love Firetruck !!!!!!!!!!!!
Hurry up, we need it at Eurocade/ Retro Game Experience ;);););)
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Fantastic cab! I likr it! :spaceace:
Where are the other 2?? :lol:
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What an old & rare one! Must be saved, great job so far! :) :spaceace:
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That is beautiful loking! Nice save sir.! :spaceace:
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Great resto, keep us posted :)
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WOW, massive overhaul
Great work man !
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Great game, I think that it's the only on with 2 players in this configuration.
Nice looking cab :)
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That resto is on fire!
G_R_E_A_T job and cab!
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good ;) Cooperative games are great and fun
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Nice! Looking forward to the updates ;D
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Absolutely great, to me Fire Truck is one of the most awesome cabs in existance, congratulations!
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I am definitely following this resto. Im loving your work so far!
Cant wait to see more!
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Thanks for all the comments. Glad you like what I'm doing with the cab ;D
Hopefully I'll have another update this weekend. I've spent a few hours this past weekend doing a few more bits, the seat is almost complete.
Cheers, Mart.
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Fire Truck. Rear seat Complete.
I have a couple more items that I've completed in this update. The rear seat now has new T-Moulding, and I've refurbished the coin door metal work along with the bracket that links the front and rear unit together. First up are the brackets that link the two halves of the cab together.
Before. Tardy, rusty paintwork.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-42Maj3_a8cA/UX1miNcG7TI/AAAAAAAAAe0/xmclsBHC-mI/s1000/2013-04-20+17.18.15.jpg)
With the help of my small hand sander, I got things looking like this.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3eqOeYDcm9o/UX1m1CC8DMI/AAAAAAAAAe8/qQsKObvul7Y/s1000/2013-04-24+19.09.53.jpg)
Primed up in a matt finish.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-39ZH5U4cpb4/UX1nTBr-GLI/AAAAAAAAAfE/BinQ3LFobeA/s1000/2013-04-26+19.45.34.jpg)
Completed Item ready to fit back onto the seat.
I have also give the coin box a covering in the direct to rust primer, and I think I'm going to leave that in the matt black finish as it looks pretty good.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eFtjpreqesE/UYa9rA8nMWI/AAAAAAAAAgU/ZeLiGvprl0k/s1000/2013-05-04+18.36.32.jpg)
Coin box painted
Because the laminate sides has lost their stick to the main wood sides of the cab, I decided I would put the cabinet on its side, remove the T-Moulding, glue the sides back on and then refit the new T-Moulding.
There's no really much to show, but I used some spray contact adhesive on the wood of the cab and the laminate sides then after a few minutes the parts were pressed together. Once the glue had cured I then moved onto the T-Moulding. Starting with the underside of the cab to avoid any joins showing it was a case of using a mallet to guide the T-Mould into the existing slot, I did cut some of the groove out on the tight corners to make sure it pushed home and was a nice tight fit. The same process was repeated for the other side.
I've also stripped and resprayed the coin door, this looks really nice now and I'm happy with the results.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mvp1mQVRmAA/UijXyPhcwtI/AAAAAAAAAms/FSlHbOBePPI/s1000/2013-09-04+20.01.15.jpg)
Below are a few photos of how the seat looks now. At this point there's not really a lot more that I'm going to do to the seat other than fitting a lock to the coin door and a bulb holder for coin door light. The next update will be when I make a start on the main cab.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-drlunEa-aCU/UijXkPzqRGI/AAAAAAAAAmc/vrVakOSKeLI/s1000/2013-09-05+19.24.14.jpg)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f3HsAcliYlM/UijXj3PZ8aI/AAAAAAAAAmY/0eqbtfuR4SM/s1000/2013-09-05+19.24.30.jpg)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hcrghiLCu_4/UijXj_BZXvI/AAAAAAAAAmU/tuD_6AzRdX8/s1000/2013-09-05+19.26.11.jpg)
Since the last update I have also resprayed the bolts that hold the 'Horn' button in place as well as the rounded head bolts that go through the control panel, even though the Control Panel isn't in great condition these items looked out of place in their original condition.
Finally, Andy from Andys-Arcade.net (http://Andys-Arcade.net) is in the process of looking at the game board. Hopefully it won't be a too painful repair for him, I'm really looking forward to making progress with the main cab now.
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holy malony :shock:
great work :spaceace:
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Looks totally awesome !!!
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Sssssssssweet 8)
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03/10/13 Fire Truck. Main cab, Work begins...
Moving on from the rear seat, its time to get the main cab on the road so it can put out some fires! Work carried out so far in no particular order.
1. Cab stripped out of all components and thoroughly cleaned.
2. New Leg levellers fitted and the cab had none, no doubt this had caused some of the damage around the bottom of the cab.
3. Laminate sides glued back on.
4. Small repair to a bottom section of the cab that broken off.
5. New T-Moulding fitted.
6. Top and rear section of cab re-fitted back into place with glue and original nails.
7. New power switch fitted as the last one had been home to some wasps and I think they ate most of it!
8. Wire loom had a bath and some new connectors fitted as the plastic had become brittle and snapped off the locking lugs.
9. Power brick stripped and cleaned. All five fuse holders replaced as the old ones had gone brittle, both the internal metal and the plastic cases broke off when opening the holder to check the fuses.
10. Steering assembly stripped and cleaned.
Time for some photos...
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QsCcyn9glY0/Uk21BCp1jNI/AAAAAAAAAnM/7xlLYB7nyOI/s1000/2013-09-07+19.04.29.jpg)
Empty cab full of grime.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RVtGV2-2tyw/Uk22OKqy1rI/AAAAAAAAAnc/rYYc9Cwct3Q/s1000/2013-09-07+19.00.53.jpg)
All the innards.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PC8Hk2yowv0/Uk22ZJldvwI/AAAAAAAAAnk/ZnDZQAax58w/s1000/2013-09-08+14.27.59.jpg)
I thought about taking the whole cab to bits but decided against it!
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DwxTQ3epW5Q/Uk23qJ7Gk-I/AAAAAAAAAn0/TbFORKrohBc/s1000/2013-10-03+18.35.26.jpg)
After a clean up with paint on the transformer and new fuse holders
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8QcZ63mVZSc/Uk24JJimjYI/AAAAAAAAAn8/5-oHeENWkNA/s1000/2013-09-08+16.32.14.jpg)
Damage to the laminate side. New screws adding strength to the base.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j4fSEu6_Kw8/Uk24mp41tfI/AAAAAAAAAoE/bgJLOP1hvgw/s1000/2013-09-09+19.24.21.jpg)
More T-Cut applied to clean the sides.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LrnlPfRlZ-4/Uk246OI6hAI/AAAAAAAAAoM/1OX0tfs50iQ/s1000/2013-09-28+15.28.01.jpg)
Steering assembly stripped for maintenance.
There's plenty more to do but things are moving on nicely, more soon.
09/10/13 Fire Truck. Gas pedal clean up.
Small update from my last few evenings work...
The gas pedal on the cab looked in a pretty bad state, plenty of wet shoes and cold storage had caused the surface of the pedal to to turn a lovely glowing rust colour. I wasn't sure if I would need to spray this black to 'hide' any damage but as things got this has turned out nice :)
The metal backing plate was also sanded back, primed and sprayed in black, I with I had shares in black spray paint as I have used lots of it in the past year or so.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tX5QkgBNgc4/UlW2lTJdXkI/AAAAAAAAAok/Rgk48cXRyZg/s1000/2013-09-07+18.10.20.jpg)
Pedal ass'y as found on the cab
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PZ8CnMj_lkI/UlW2lZNjYtI/AAAAAAAAAoo/R8tQkI8XiNg/s1000/2013-09-28+14.35.17.jpg)
Eek! elbow grease required, anyone got some!
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nHFC-LBGwh4/UlW2kijXcVI/AAAAAAAAAog/Apsu1RQyJVQ/s1000/2013-10-06+17.08.07.jpg)
A good bit of cleaning and polishing later...
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xAAPITboW-I/UlW2mb2P7HI/AAAAAAAAAo4/o8D2htc2kCw/s1000/2013-10-09+18.50.01.jpg)
Gripped up, with metal plate sprayed. Mmmm.
That's all folks! Only a quick update as time permits, the next update will hopefully be of the cab cosmetics complete, minus the monitor which will require a lengthy post as I've got some work to do retrofitting an LCD monitor ;o) a CRT monitor to replace the missing 23" Black and White which would have originally been installed.
Thanks, Mart.
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Very nice but could you use a bit bigger pictures ? They're so tiny, and I'm old ;)
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...could you use a bit bigger pictures ? They're so tiny, and I'm old ;)
Done.
Still living in the '90's thinking posting a photo above 640x480 is bad web etiquette. :) All photo's in this thread are now larger.
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Fire Truck. 1st power up
Well after the game board came back from repair, I couldn't hold off and wait for everything else to be completed so decided I needed to power it up and see what would happen...
The video is a genuine 1st power up once everything was plugged back together:
http://youtu.be/cihTlt3UVis (http://youtu.be/cihTlt3UVis)
It turned out pretty successfully, with only a couple of LED's on the Control Panel buttons having failed, I have since swapped these out with some working ones, the image from the monitor is poor in the video but I can assure you that's a temporary measure and will be rectified in the future before I declare the cab to be complete.
The rubber matting was completed when I made my last post, but I forgot to add a photo.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RUiIhqHVI7g/Unab-609QII/AAAAAAAAAqE/Pvnl6m8TxwY/s800/2013-10-13+17.15.00.jpg)
Since the above video was made I have put a 19" temporary video monitor in the cab and have been busy play testing it. :)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJRiJbVNi30/UnaUqenVJ0I/AAAAAAAAApg/idPC40u-Udo/s800/2013-11-03+12.17.38-2.jpg)
I have also fitted a 'non invasive' credit button which is activated by using the coin reject button on one side of the coin mech. The left side is for 'free' credits and the right side still take 25 Cent coins. I've also fitted a bulb holder to replace the one that had been cut off so the 25 cent sign is now illuminated.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IFm6veUPsgM/UnaTxSp9SsI/AAAAAAAAApY/imw94DtLJi4/s800/2013-11-02+17.28.28.jpg)
After having some fun playing I decided to have a look at the monitor mounting framework that was part of the original monitor. It turns out that some woodwork was missing from the cab, I made a new part and fixed it to the cab, which is highlighted in the image below.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DP_pcXLXaOc/UnaWYmgoOHI/AAAAAAAAAp0/r8lSG6GPy-U/s800/2013-11-03+15.36.31_mod.jpg)
The monitor (that I don't currently have!) will now sit in a wooden framework that attaches to the two pieces in the image above.
Sorry for the slow progress, I'd have liked this resto to have been finished a while back but I've wasted a few days trying to get some colour monitors to work unsuccessfully with the game, I really need an original black and white CRT if anyone has one laying around spare?
Next time... The cab will be completed. Remaining items to completion are as follows:
Find, fit and test a suitable monitor.
Make a new back door for the main cab, paint it or cover it in black vinyl.
Make a cardboard monitor bezel to fit the cab.
Fit locks to the main coin door and the back door.
Once the above are complete I'll make another, better produced video and post up some quality photos of the finished cab.
Until next time, thanks for reading, Mart.
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I have also fitted a 'non invasive' credit button which is activated by using the coin reject button on one side of the coin mech. The left side is for 'free' credits and the right side still take 25 Cent coins. I've also fitted a bulb holder to replace the one that had been cut off so the 25 cent sign is now illuminated.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IFm6veUPsgM/UnaTxSp9SsI/AAAAAAAAApY/imw94DtLJi4/s800/2013-11-02+17.28.28.jpg)
Love it! :spaceace:
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Fire Truck. Pye update.
Well after being tipped off on the Jamma+ forums that a Black and White TV made by Pye had gone unsold on Ebay, I made no hesitation in getting in touch with the seller and striking a deal. After a 100 mile round trip one evening this week I had an 'untested' monitor which seemed to suit FT's needs.
It's a 23" screen, had already been modified with a composite video and audio circuit (not that I need the audio) and it has no screen burn, things were looking good!
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bf_0YlF7LkE/Un_cmQiMNYI/AAAAAAAAAqc/O49WSAXZUH0/s800/2013-11-07+17.34.38.jpg)
Crappy photo but this is the TV
First thing first, there was no fuse in the plug, an easy fix but I did wonder why it wasn't fitted, next up was to remove the back cover and see what was inside.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jG4hRt3mT38/Un_dj20WXPI/AAAAAAAAAqk/dtm8L2rVl34/s800/2013-11-07+17.35.43.jpg)
Back cover removed
Well nothing on the inside looked smoked or burnt, there was a bit of cable hackery going on for the extra circuit that been added, after 10 mins of checking the connectors were all seated, I plugged in a video feed from Fire Truck into the input on the back of the case, made sure it was switched to video input and powered up...
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hxpwcDz2suQ/Un_eiVJhDyI/AAAAAAAAAqs/zeRGPa7-ubA/s800/2013-11-07+18.07.03.jpg)
First power up with FT's video input
Well it was a good start, you cant tell from he image above but the image was rolling in horizontal and vertical directions. So at this point I powered off the monitor and discharged the tube, I needed to see what adjustments were going to be available to help me fix this issue. There were a few adjustable variable resistor's on the board but from the component side there were no markings as to what the were for, a bit more luck... on turning the board over to solder side there were some nice markings on the underside depicting what they should do.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-483RCaClQmw/Un_hDC0lEjI/AAAAAAAAAq4/18upda8xgOc/s800/2013-11-07+18.01.37_annnoted.jpg)
So after tentatively making these adjustments which the chassis back in place, I got a good solid image which filled the screen nicely. The next job was to de-case the screen and remove all the unnecessary bits which I didn't want cluttering up the cab.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fgp8v0ZBwvI/Un_iQbEM5eI/AAAAAAAAArA/TuWkjf03R1o/s800/2013-11-07+18.33.35-1.jpg)
TV innards removed
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_reZqDLaiWk/Un_irx1mAMI/AAAAAAAAArI/-RjfBxwgtDo/s800/2013-11-08+17.10.39.jpg)
Tube mounted in Original Atari frame and Pye TV chassis mount attached.
At this point I decide that I would power up the screen with the parts loose fitting and try and work out what parts I could remove to leave the chassis as lean as possible in terms of parts. This is an arcade machine and doesn't need to that tuning dials still attached.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XgqPzjg2bDQ/Un_j143PqRI/AAAAAAAAArU/Z0iO_UGheFc/s800/2013-11-08+17.15.29.jpg)
Mains transformer, video input board, and tuning dials laid loose to test
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Up6INJ2Dcdc/Un_kSbh_aQI/AAAAAAAAArg/lH6Na8ak1H4/s800/2013-11-09+16.55.40.jpg)
Mains transformer mounted, tuning dials gone, video board in process of being remounted
I was now in a position where the tuning dials were gone and I had removed the brightness and contrast adjusters from the original circuit and traced their wiring so they could be re-soldered onto a mounting plate that needed to now make.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8czY-9dEtpA/Un_lHChbkJI/AAAAAAAAAro/A1lHVioOTgE/s800/2013-11-10+14.34.06.jpg)
Video board with brightness & contrast being wired in
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-otuMQjL7MRg/Un_mHJhuaFI/AAAAAAAAAr0/CkeGa0Brz0E/s800/2013-11-10+15.12.55.jpg)
Video board all mounted
In the photo above the red wire is powering the video amplifier board, the left side mini coax is the video output which is wired directly onto the chassis circuit board, the other mini coax is he video input from a BNC connector which I mounted on the plate below the PCB with the brightness & contrast adjusters.
After a few evenings work this is how it turned out, I'm very happy with how minimal it became considering it was once a TV sitting in someone's front room no doubt.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Gbk9lGta1k/Un_n0ZB2T7I/AAAAAAAAAr8/tOnJByXfyLE/s1000/2013-11-10+15.22.29.jpg)
Completely remounted.
Here's the parts left from the original TV
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u0_OL6sXoBQ/Un_oR9nmKYI/AAAAAAAAAsE/oqULVY-4OjI/s800/2013-11-10+16.42.39.jpg)
Leftover Pye...Case, audio amplifier, tuning dials, speakers and some wire
And finally...Mounted in the cab, and powered up :o)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0xX6jKG5rC0/Un_o1ZCmnRI/AAAAAAAAAsM/cSQrds34j0w/s1000/2013-11-10+16.40.16.jpg)
The way it was meant to be played! 23 inches of black & white magic
Thanks must got to Tony (tb2000) for making me aware of this screen, the seller for not binning it when no one bid on the auction, This has been a great week for me and the FT cab, the Karma gods have finally paid me back after what feels like a long absence.
Next time will end the rebuild with a new back door, locks and monitor bezel. Until then thanks for all the comments, its been great to have such enthusiasm for the cab shown. I'm looking forward to completing this now getting lots of plays on it, initial testing has put a smile on my face for sure!
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Excellent !!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
What an honor for such on old humble TV to get a brand new future like that ! ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Love every bit of it ! :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
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:spaceace: :spaceace:
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And it's a Philips tube too :) (Looks Philips owned PYE at the time this TV was manufactured. I bet it's a Philips TV outright....not a bad sign ;)
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I know I'm not a big poster here, not that I am anywhere, but I hope you like my final update to my Fire Truck project. :)
Fire Truck. Racing to the Fire's
Well this is going to be the last update in the foreseeable future of my Fire Truck. It is now as complete and working as I want it to be, but there are a few items that I will come back to in the future when space and time permits. I would really like to remake the top cab panel and the two rear sections above and below the back door position. Theses parts are made of chipboard and have become slightly swollen, I'd like to replace them with MDF as I have with the new rear door and cover them in some black vinyl, similar to what was originally fitted. All the wooden edges would then line up and really top the cab off, but I'm restricted with space and now being winter I cannot work outside on the cab.
Anyway below is a photo of the rear cab with all the monitor wiring complete, I tapped the 240 volts for the monitor from one side of the interlock switches so it now essentially getting its power direct from the mains input when the interlock switches are closed and the cab is turned on.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qvcdLY3mhHg/UpuXie7Y1PI/AAAAAAAAAxo/Z1Xu9eqpFKU/s1000/2013-12-01+12.58.37.jpg)
After being happy with the cab innards, It was time to make a back door to replace the rotten one that came with the cab. It had a big section missing and was in a really poor state. The main door is a single piece of MDF cut to size, with a small section which holds it in place at the bottom.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cVIQdLD2B-s/UpuXirXfAMI/AAAAAAAAAx8/Lel0tKbKCTo/s1000/2013-12-01+12.52.01.jpg)
Backdoor cut, lock hole drilled and edges sprayed
I was going to cover the door with some adhesive vinyl, but after seeing how the spray looked decided to cover the whole panel in spray and leave it at that for now. As you can see below the lock is fitted and the original Atari Information sheet was re-stapled to the inside of the door.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5tym2Ya0hqQ/UpuXiCvwZcI/AAAAAAAAAxw/_J4Uab9-eNc/s1000/2013-12-01+16.42.47.jpg)
Backdoor complete
This next shot is a big of a tight angle but shows the door locked in place on the cab.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlcAV0zwSus/UpuXjJ0FB3I/AAAAAAAAAyA/8tQK0P0sJlo/s1000/2013-12-01+16.50.58.jpg)
Backdoor fitted to cab
As mentioned above at some stage in the future I will replace the woodwork above and below the door along with the piece on the top of the cab.
The final piece of work needed to finish the cab off was to make a cardboard monitor surround. Even though my cab didn't have one, Phil who sold me the cab had one from the other Fire Truck cabs, so he lent it to me so I could make some replacements.
This was done using some heavy duty card from the Hobby Craft chain of shops and was carefully cut using multiple sharp blades, I disassembled the original monitor surround, drew round the pieces, cut them out and made the folds where necessary, finally I used hot melt glue to hold it all together.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oCAVz6DTF5s/UwutknWOWZI/AAAAAAAAA9k/RKUUqWEp4Vs/s1000/2014-02-24+10.52.03.jpg)
Old bezel ready for templating
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elJsX1Rxlew/UwutkI5qKFI/AAAAAAAAA9g/n2KkOfKqfXM/s1000/2014-02-24+12.36.49.jpg)
New pieces cut
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z_GTqLQrPAw/UwutjR8ExaI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/xyGF3Z0cQJE/s1000/2014-02-24+14.50.48a.jpg)
Did I mention I made three of these today :)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4UI4_hGOjpU/UwutlmfnAEI/AAAAAAAAA90/Mck58YFqFsA/s1000/2014-02-24+15.48.52.jpg)
My bezel, glued ready for fitting in the cab
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4a8ry2IHEdE/UwutmH4uQ_I/AAAAAAAAA98/BUj2EJmTi-A/s1000/2014-02-24+15.54.49.jpg)
New sticker with part Atari part number and a new custom revision.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--J5K7osPy1s/UwutoGOGiHI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/cmv2npOtvA4/s1000/2014-02-24+16.10.27.jpg)
In the cab. Nice!
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kJV7XkKC0PI/Uwuut1104qI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/pVjQuYQHurU/s1000/2014-02-24+16.15.40.jpg)
Plexi glass installed, slight Vertical sizing adjustment need to be made.
Finally a few shots of the cab taken with a real digital camera and not my mobile phone.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pWD2fGuGrLg/UwuyVqMnjBI/AAAAAAAAA-0/hh05fKZxGDE/s1000/SANY1001.JPG)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zNI1m1K8Zxg/UwuyVhh2xXI/AAAAAAAAA-8/TmrqGzlMLjE/s1000/SANY1002.JPG)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eP-NtGSzERQ/UwuyVtW5KeI/AAAAAAAAA-w/HUpFOQ4AhWM/s1000/SANY1003.JPG)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZoaIdGWO0P0/UwuyWm0ooqI/AAAAAAAAA_E/Zfx2oSOw1oU/s1000/SANY1004.JPG)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-os9bO4Smb5k/UwuyW85y6pI/AAAAAAAAA_M/39yoJI9clSk/s1000/SANY1006.JPG)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zw1n-p9sIwc/UwuyXFAk8sI/AAAAAAAAA_U/Fi_5YZycBp0/s1000/SANY1008.JPG)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IzQk1FXfVxs/UwuyX2L0klI/AAAAAAAAA_c/FpglOhfuZyA/s1000/SANY1009.JPG)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nO-tpZ95zpg/UwuyYDWmxII/AAAAAAAAA_g/B4SsFdXi8J4/s1000/SANY1010.JPG)
Thanks for reading, and a bigger thanks go to Phil for letting me have one of the three cabs he picked up all those years ago.
FT-394 is ready to be played...
Enjoy, Mart.
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If that doesn't make any Atari/Arcade fan's heart beat faster than I don't know anymore......
LOVE IT !!!!
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Wow, very nice machine! Never saw one of those.
You should get a Fire pinball next to it, the artwork really matches up.
:)
(http://mirror2.ipdb.org/images/859/image-1.jpg)
(http://mirror2.ipdb.org/images/859/image-2.jpg)
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WOW, just WOW, Thats well worth every effort you did !
Great work, wonderfull resto :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
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About that TV: did it have a composite video input on the back ? That's pretty amazing for a BW one....on the other hand, it's pretty amazing it has a toroidal transformer too...those are pretty expensive compared to regular one's and also relatively modern.
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Oh, I read just now it already had the video input modded when you got it.
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Awesome....congrats on the completed resto!! :)
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Nice detailed report, love it
I really have lots of respect for the commitment you have for this project
thumps up :spaceace:
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Thanks all, glad you like the results. :)
Ooh. Like the pin. There was one on eBay Uk a while back but it got pulled before the end of the auction.
I think the part that's really made this resto was finding a 23" black and white display. I was going to put a temporary colour monitor In, but did have a 19" B&W lined up, this would have been ok but the monitor in there is perfect.
I may have another b&w cab coming sometime in the near future. I've a soft spot for them just not much space left!
Cheers, Mart.
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Very impressive restoration :o I love it!
Another cab saved!! ;)
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wow :spaceace: I hope to have the opportunity to play to that game one day
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Very nice outcome! - Like Andre said, if that not makes the pump go a little faster, I dont know what will... Beautiful!