[Road Trip] Space Invaders rescue on Appennini

[Frame]

..I was a litte embarrassed to write this mine road trip...cause I know it's not so well documented like the DLF usual standard.

Anyway I decide to write my little contribution to this, never dead, wonderful forum.

The story start in the middle of this African summer, when an advertisement had caught my attention ...
Some time further, I decided to contact the advertiser, but with the upcoming holidays in August at the start, and the pressing work of closing the season, I could not combine anything concrete, except a little safe " ..we'll take an agreement after holydays .. ".

..finally that moment came for real, and the first weekend in early Fall was the day!

Let's start the ROAD TRIP!!

September 26, 2015, Saturday



... as usual mine Roadtrip starts an early morning, with a good espresso..



..the "Cab-mobile" is Ready



..for "no surprises" I do the full, immediately



..this is the trip: over 250 Km for arrival ... and the return, maybe even more ...
.. I have warned my friends of Reggio Emilia I'm in the nearby and we make a lunch meeting together towards the 13.00..I'll hope to get all, on time!



... Obviously part that dawn has not yet come ... I will see the light Km later



.. Direction Bologna: motorway straights comfortable 3 ... and than 4 lanes!



..a mirage after about two hours of non-stop driving...it's the sunrise!



...not so far from destination...but I will be back here (and not by motorway) for lunch!



..this clouds in the sky worry me...anyway : still exit Modena reached!



..I do drive by the navigator ...I'll start to climb the Apennini !



The sky is clearing for luck, and the view is very beautiful, the fascinating panorama
... But I have the impression that the Navigator is in the grip of some bug in the system ..



..and fact these roads that I wanted to go I do not seem the ultimate in comfort ...
..I hope only not to hole a tire on these streets..
..from now on driving it is very tense and I will not touch more room for photos ... except to say that:

TA-DA !!!
Here's what to expect at my destination!




..the Space Invaders by Model Racing !! ..one of my favorites Italian "brand"!



... Load the beast itself was not simple thing ..
.. however, having already loaded it's cousin "Lunar Resque" I just know it's possible to charge ..



..charge it for some mm, of course!



..and almost driving with legs crashed.



..and I regret for this a little: the hotel on Modena's Appenini... a fine structure, fell into ruin ..
The Space Invaders, came from there: the little games room ...
I wonder how many kids at the time, went beyond to make vacation and play games all afternoon or evening closing, before getting into the room, with the last "100 Lire" for the last day play in the pocket, before going to sleep ..
Although I can not stop the decline of modern times, however, I believe that, at least a piece of this "lost world" was saved by this catch...



..it's time to go back to the north, and to relieve the hardships of the day with a tasty lunch with my Arcade's friend in Reggio Emilia.

..unfortunately, as often happens to me in the back, a little fatigue and Km, I have not properly documented the total Km (about 600) and the discharge of Cab ...

..anyway I hope you enjoyed this road trip sharing...

[level42]

 

[Andreas_AUT]

Nice roadtrip!
So the arcade works fine or do you have to repair something?

[level42]

Oops.......beginners mistake there:

Arcade = a place with a lot of big machines with (video) games.
Arcade game  = a machine with a game that used to be inside an arcade, or a bowling alley, or a roller skating ring or a cafeteria...etc.
Collectors usually refer to these machines with "cab" or simply "game"

Oh, and welcome here Andreas, nice name

[anunaki]

Cool trip and a lovely cab

[DarthNuno]

Thanks for the ride, Frame 

Model racing? I think it's the first time I see that Italian brand here!  Interesting!
It's funny, that Italian cabinet has the look of the Taito SI model, but the control panel is like the Midway version, with buttons to control the ship (it's a white joystick commonly used on the Taito version if I remember well...).

I wonder how many kids at the time, went beyond to make vacation and play games all afternoon or evening closing, before getting into the room, with the last "100 Lire" for the last day play in the pocket, before going to sleep ..

Yeah, each time I'm asking the same question... our cabinets have so many stories to tell... 

[lesoleil70]

Great write up. Also nice to see another Zac Dodgem in the wild.

 

[xadhoom]

Wow Nice roadtrip. Maybe we can do some bigger one together .. Let us know if it works.
Ciao

[Q*ris]

Nice: finally the Christmas fairy tale I was waiting for.
Great catch!!!

[Etienne MacGyver]

Nice trip, Thanks for sharing ! 

[Digimon]

A classic! And a nice roadtrip.

Congrats.

[Laszo]

Thanks for sharing, I love to see all those different space invaders version!

[Frame]

Many thanks for the feedback, boys (Etienne, Chris, Andrè, Laszo, Dean, Digimon,..) !

Model racing? I think it's the first time I see that Italian brand here!  Interesting!
It's funny, that Italian cabinet has the look of the Taito SI model, but the control panel is like the Midway version, with buttons to control the ship (it's a white joystick commonly used on the Taito version if I remember well...).

Yes Bruno, I'm trying to rake same information about the story of Model Racing..but it's difficult for lack of information about..
 
Probably, this factoy obtain the offical Taito's license for a lot of game, for Italy between end of '70 and early '80.
The PCB inside it's a genuine TAITO. So it's the only official one for Italy, I think.

Zaccaria "The Invaders" (a great quality Cab..like all Zacc cab), very close to this and original too, it's a bootleg (and also the other famous, very different cab,  Sidam "Invasion"... like many other bootleg from little handcrafted factory).

 

Wow Nice roadtrip. Maybe we can do some bigger one together .. Let us know if it works.

Yes, I'd like.

So the  ̶a̶r̶c̶a̶d̶e̶  cab works fine or do you have to repair something?

The Cab need care: it's out of service now.. my first problem it's the lack of time for a costant work on it, and the place of storage the cab, now spread a litte here, a little there... but this will be a long terms hobby..and I'll work on it

[Q*ris]

I found a generic Model Racing once.
Check the pictures, it was written "MR" on the coin counter PCB.
https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=1976.0
There was a sticker with an Italian phone number on the machine, if you feel like calling them

[Superully]

some nice pics in there - thanks for sharing your roadtrip with us!