
Cabinet: Thunder Blade
date: 02 november 2012
distance: 190 Km one way
Some month ago i contacted a guy that was selling an Operation Wolf. I asked him to send me some pic of the cab (not a dedicated cab but a convertion, unforutunately) and eventually a list of games he was selling. There was nothing i was really interested on... apparently.
Some week ago a “weird” over-priced Thunder Blade was listed on ebay: the cab was not the common mini often used for TB (the same used for Turbo Outrun) but the After Burner upright cab! Man, i was diggin for an After Burner since day one!
Then, noticed that it was the same seller that gave me the games list some week before, i recontacted him asking for that TB, and the deal was ready!
Well, not really a cheap deal considering that i paid TOO MUCH for that machine, but you know: sometimes we must be ready to pay a little bit more to be the first of the list …
So, here i am with a roadtrip to share with you

The dealer was located in Ravenna, less than 200 Km from my place. I know wery well the street because i go there almost every summer with my girlfriend.

The real problem was the car: my city car cannot load it... hey: there's a friend of mine with a 2001 FIAT Doblò! Removed the passengers seats and unloaded all the stuff he use to work, the car was ready to go... apart from the 300.000 Km it had just traveld … well, finghers crossed!
The guy could not come with me, but fortunately my bro was in! LETS GO THEN!
Some random pic of the roadtrip …
The weather was not that good at start, even if the sun was “somewhere there"




Then, the sun could break the fog (maybe he was asking how in the world those two guys where trying to travel 400 Km with that smashed-up car...)!





Almost there!


Without problems (with the exception of a orange light on the instrument panel indicating an engine injection malfunction O_O) we reached the seller place... nothing of interesting there... but a fully working After Burner Deluxe I had the opportunity to play with (maybe for the last time in my life … sad sad). Too big and heavy for me (my pockets and my place). Unfortunately it was hidden by other big cabinets, so i could take only few pics when inside.


Back to the object of this roadtrip! Some pic of the loaded cab …


Yes! It's a dedicated Thunder Blade, uncommonly like the After Burner Upright !
Paid the dealer (Ouch!) we headed to a very nice reastaurant 5 Km away, to eat something and take a look to the sea (Adriatic) in autumn... i am here almost every summer (for 3-4 days) but never come in autumn …






I'm hungry now! Let go to the restaurant and have a talk with the sponsor of the trip!

Here it is: “Quarto di Litro” !! A very known brand here in Italy (also “Mezzo Litro” is common, but not suggested for roadtrips

)

Risotto alla pescatora ...


...and frittura di pesce (fried fish) with fish caught the morning... no frozen food here. The sponsor is always there...


Some pic of Cervia's “porto canale”...




… then let go home,
FAST!!







Unloading the beast …


and, finally, some detail of the machine ...



The sides: they are dedicated graphics for the cab


The internal part: there are some badass hacks here

, but nothing that cannot be rolled back



the PCB, unfortunately, have the "dead battery" chip. Not a big problem being unprotected ROMs out there and for sure i have a MCM68000 CPU somewhere


... both flashing lights and vibrator motor are working ...
400 Km, a total of 10 hours spent "on the road", a beast of 120 Kg saved, a good
sponsor found: this roadtrip was a success!!