STARBLADE from Namco !!! Road Trip inside...

[DarthNuno]

...Wednesday, the 27th of  april...

... like most of Road Trip, it starts very early...



... a little bit cold, and the sky is still dark at 6:41am, but I'm in the state 'RoadTrip', so I'm cool ;-)

For that game, I need a truck !!!



Of course, I cannot do this roadtrip alone, so I call one of my best friend 'Burt'



He's ill, the picture don't show that, but I assure you he's Ill !!! Thanks for him for being there anyway... Burt, you rock :-)

So we start to drive to France ( Remember, I'm from Belgium )



This is the first time I'm driving such truck..

After two hours of driving, a little pause, and I take  an other picture of the truck :



On the road again... again...



Hey, the cops are there...



No stress, there no game inside the truck... yet :-)

After 3h30 of driving...



... here we are, at Meyenheim near Colmar... 350km from home  

The seller 'Philippe' is very cool... here's his room :



The STARBLADE  is there !!! But there is also a Virtua Racing and a Road Drivin' cab

Ok, let's prepare it for loading...



... it takes times...



Start to load it  

Loud Loud Loud !!!



Loud Loud Loud !!!

All is loaded  



Arghh, time to pay for it...   :cool:



Closing the door... and one more StarBlade saved ;-)



Argh, now we're hungry

Jesus Christ, a MacDo there... "Abemus Papam"



Well, no wasted times, I've to bring back the truck before 18:00



... We must pay for driving on the french highway  



Few hours later, the Belgium border is near... near... near ;-)



Well, the real job start here... How to get in this monster into my house ?

Hopefully, I've got some help ;-)



...pull of the seat...



... the main part... hopefully we're four of us !!!



Yeah, there are wheels ... it helps ;-)



How to put in the main part without destroy the border's door ?

There is the key  :!



Nice idea, isn't it ? ;-)



Showtime... ;-)



YEAHH, it's in  



Good general state; but it need to be washed up

There is the monitor... very loud



Let's put in the seat + fligh yoke...



I've no more space in the room, So I pull out the Virtua Fighter



... so loud:roll:    



Ok, the seat now !!!



After unloaded all the 3 pieces :



I've to clean it up, then I'll assemble it & PLAY IT        

Stay tuned for the preparation :-)

[SPACE HARRIER]

Nice cabin you got! I own a copy for the PLAYSTATION  
Have you played GALAXIAN 3 also?

[DarthNuno]

Nice cabin you got! I own a copy for the PLAYSTATION  
Have you played GALAXIAN 3 also?

Hey Space Harrier,

It seems we like the same games    

I'm a die hard fan of StarBlade, but also Galaxian 3...  

At home, with now the full size Starblade arcade game now and also  on playstation :



I use to play Galaxian 3 at the Belgium coast (Blankenberg) since more than 12 years from now !!! I go there every 3 or 4 years, and it's still there and runing    HEre's the pictures from the last time, there are 10 month ago :










Next time, I'll ask if  Galaxian3 is for sale    

[DarthNuno]

3rd of may

Let's continue to clean up...

Here's the Main STARBLADE marquee :

before :


after :


The game came with ugly damaged german sticker, and without door lock &  keys :
 

I decide to fix that...


Stay tuned...  

[DarthNuno]

8th of may

Well, I can resist anymore... I've to play my StarBlade    So I put the cleaning process for l8ter, and decide to assemble all the parts  ( monitor + seat )  
To fix the monitor is the most thrilling moment... 3 guys are required for this operation (cfr the operators manual ), and I agree it's really heavy  

Here's the Starblade, partially assembled, but with enough parts to play it    



...and the game running :









Yeah    The game is like I remember it in my golden age : S PE C T A C U L A R  
Surround sounds, vibrant seat, giant screen, ... and FUN !!!

Next part is to assemble the remaining parts ( fixing bars, marquee, ... )... and of course PLAYING IT !!! It"s a great game... still great after all these years !!!

... so to be continue...

[DarthNuno]

... I notice a  problem on the flight yoke    One of the four push buttons doesn't work  
It's not a big problem when you play the game because all the four buttons on the flight yoke have the same fonction -> fire laser    ...
... but when you go to test mode, the non-working button allows to go back in all the menu, so it's important to fix it  

Ok, let's start to dissassemble the specific part on the flight yoke :



...and discover the 14 years old dust     ... Oh my good...



... and place all the parts to clean & examine closer :



I can't dissassemble deeper...



Ok, I see the problem : a metal part, very used can't make contact with anoter metallic part :x
Here's the ref of the full switch :  OMRON B3G-S
Of course, this 14 years old switch seems to be a discontinued product... So I can't swap my defect one with a new one    

I'll continue to search for new one on the web, but I HAVE to fix this one first !!!
I've to place something between the contact and the press button part... Something very small ... :idea:  :idea:  :idea:
I'll use a part of  floppy disk !



The floppy disk has been destroyed to get this tiny part of plastic :



I fix the tiny piece of plastic on the metal part ( contact ) :


and it's working great !!!        


But I'll continue to search for new switchs ...

So... stay tuned  

[DarthNuno]

9th of May :

Just received the   official    keyring      



... stay tuned  

[SPACE HARRIER]

Here you have a picture of a miniature version of STARBLADE

Here you have some more toys>>http://usi.main.jp/Musium/Garage/USI_Musium_Unchara.html

CHEERS!!

[DarthNuno]

Yo Space Harrier, thanks for that GREAT link      

I -of course- would like to buy the StarBlade ship miniature        
But I don't speak japanese  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

Any help around here        

[DarthNuno]

13th of may

Just receive the second metal stem, who maintains the monitor... repaired
 
It was a little bit bend, but now it's back to normal  

I can now fix the rest... the main StarBlade marquee :



Ok, I've to clean up more but... no enough time these days  

It's fully fixed now !!! I can active the Seat Vibration... the monitor won't fall onto my head while playing        



Stay tuned  

[yoalpster]

Hi everyone - DarthNuno was nice enough to post on the board that I post on.
http://forums.webmagic.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB3&Number=213004&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#Post231191

I recently got a Starblade in March and here is a pic:



There's more pics on my arcade page :
http://www.lifefrombeyond.com/gameroom.html

I have no manual, and the owner didn't know how to disassemble, so it was shipped on a truck from Pennsylvania to Kansas (890 miles/1433.7 Km)
2 pallets longx 1 pallet wide (48inches X 96 inches).  We had it dropped off at a lumber business and they forklifted it onto our trailer.  We drove it down the street to the garage and 3 of us got it off on one of the coldest March days imagineable.  freezing cold wind.  fighting big ugly machine.  We managed to tip it up, get the pallet out from under it, and use part of the pallet again as the ramp to get it off the trailer.  It nearly didn't fit in the garage, touching the garage door coming off the trailer, but we managed to get it off the trailer.  I bent one of the stabilizing feet, and broke off another, but we wheeled it in and shut the garage door.

The guy I bought it from said he purchased it from an amusement company for home use 5 years ago for $2100.  After years of wear and tear, the yoke was sticking to the right and not playing well, so he sold it on ebay, where I got it for the reserve price of $500 (I bid $512, and the buy it now was set at $1000).  Shipping was expensive, but not as much as the vehicle - first quotes wer $1200 for shipping, but I finally found a freight company who did it for $382, and that was below his  Buy it Now price, so I still think I got the good deal.  total cost, $882.

After playing the game all gimpy (bad yoke, plug it in right off the truck for the old "smoke test"), I decided to take off the yoke and give it a look.  It had some cracking on the plastic, but nothing a bit of glue couldn't fix.



His kids had managed to knock the teeth away from the bottom pot,making it stay to the right of the screen, and since the teeth were exposed, the teeth had cut through 3 wires.




I resoldiered the wire, bent the gear support back to where it was in the teeth and realigned the bugger.


For the guy to sell it for %25 of what he bought it for 5 years later because he was afraid to do a 3 wire and 1 bolt repair was just silly to me.  Bu t I'm glad he did

I'm still in need of the monitor top board (my monitor is bare to the sky) and my strobelights need repplaced - the monitor could use a bit of color and brightness tweaking and the coindoor fixed, but other than that - it works and I love it.   I'm so glad Darth invited me over to share my story of the Starblade game with you, there is NO INFORMATION ON THIS GAME ON THE NET OR ANYWHERE that I can find.  just a couple of lucky guys making their own documentation for the rest of you .

If anyone ever makes it to the US and Kansas for that matter, look me up, email me and maybe we can play some games.  I speak english and nothing else, cuz I'm a dumb american, but that doesn't stop me from hating the prez (not my leader) or having fun playing games!
Keep the arcades open!
Shawn aka Yoalpster

[DarthNuno]

Hey yoalpster,

Nice to read you here      

First of all, I've a good new for you : I've the full StarBlade manual    I'll scan it and post it here for download  

Wow, what a story... I still cannot image who to move that HUGE game assembled, like you did        Sad you did't take pictures  
StarBlade is not a common game, and in my opinion it'll become a rare game... Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to found spare parts   I've try to contact Namco America, but no sucess still now  :cry:
Hopefully my game works perfecly
Your StarBlade seems to have better side art quality than mine, congrats ;-)
The price you paid is approx the same than me... and It really worst it  

By the way, do you know other StarBlade private owners ?

[yoalpster]

Darth,

 No, Other than you, I know of no other owners - oh, that guy that had the japanese one that posted earlier.  That's it.

I'm gona have to move it again, and am debating keeping it together or disassemble it to move.  I'm not looking forward to it.

A copy of the manual would be great!  just give me a link to it and I'll download it.  I'm sure KLOV would like a copy of it as well,since they don't have it listed, then it would be available for anyone who has a machine.

You're right, I think there might be only 10 or so people that privately own a starblade, and probably only 100 or so arcade owners that have them in their possession, most likely in the back of some dirty warehouse.  we are a rare few and I'm proud of that fact. It is "worth" it, like you said. (you actually said worst, which is the opposite of best - but I think the english language sucks too, so don't worry - I understood you
   )
I gotta go, but I'll be around.  I get emails when people post to this thread.   Take care, and blast the enemy flagship!

Shawn aka yoalpster

[DarthNuno]

24th of September 2005  :

The StarBlade dedicated page is now... ONLINE  

Have a look here : https://www.dragonslairfans.com/outsidethelair/starblade/starblade.htm

 

[DarthNuno]

An old thing to do...


I fix the marquee problem  



... by putting a new neon system... Ok, easy I know :-)

It looks cool now