After Burner Commander type

pat9000

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I thought I'd share a couple pics of of the AB Commander type (aka: Commando.) It's one of the cooler cabinets Sega ever dreamed up, in my opinion, and I had been looking for one of these forever; R360 seems to be more common these days.

It's in surprisingly good condition, works perfect, and still has the 100 Yen coin entry. The only real problem with it is that red & green strobes mounted under the seat have expired -- I'm trying to convince the manufacturer to sell me a couple, as they are only available in Japan.

Have any of you ever seen one of these in the wild?

Now I just need to track down a Galaxy Force middle type (aka: City.) ..and I should probably sell my AB deluxe..

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Damn that's pretty cool. So is this one a lot more fun to play than the AF Deluxe? I would have thought that the cockpit feel from the Deluxe would provide a more immersive experience.
 
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I love sega cabs and this is a new variant. It looks like they took the skeleton of a sit down AB and mated it with the top half of the upright. Thanks for sharing with the group!
 
oops, pics fixed.

and yeah, the deluxe is certainly more of an "experience"

I just think this cab looks a lot cooler..
 
Strobes shouldn't be that hard to find take a bulb out then search eBay or something for one that has similar dimensions. Might also want to take a multimeter and see the voltage the bulb takes when its operating.

Looks like a space saving game compared to the AB cockpit I have.
 
Strobes shouldn't be that hard to find take a bulb out then search eBay or something for one that has similar dimensions. Might also want to take a multimeter and see the voltage the bulb takes when its operating.

Looks like a space saving game compared to the AB cockpit I have.

it's a self-contained xenon strobe with an intermediate base (called a FlashBoy) sealed into a plastic case that operates at 100VAC. They are still made in Japan so I'm just trying to get the replacement first -- they're only sold there because of the voltage. If that falls through I'll just try to cut them open and replace the flashtube and the cap(s). The lamps are not designed to be replaced.

It's not really much smaller than the deluxe, I have one of those too (somebody buy the thing from me.)
 
here's a video.

It's basically the same L/R motion as the DX.

 
it's a self-contained xenon strobe with an intermediate base (called a FlashBoy) sealed into a plastic case that operates at 100VAC. They are still made in Japan so I'm just trying to get the replacement first -- they're only sold there because of the voltage. If that falls through I'll just try to cut them open and replace the flashtube and the cap(s). The lamps are not designed to be replaced.

It's not really much smaller than the deluxe, I have one of those too (somebody buy the thing from me.)

Dude

I had the same issue with my Namco Starblade, both the Flashboys had expired. The problem is though, the Flashboys you can get now from Japan come in two variants, standard screw in type and another which bolts in. However, both of these are designed to fire the strobe automatically via an integrated timer and use of constant power supply. Hence, these strobe available now only have two inputs going into the Flashboy and these are for power.

If you unbolt your Flashboy and look at it, you will see that it has four wires going into it, Red & Black (for Power) and Green & Yellow (for strobe trigger). These variants are no longer made, plus the Flashboys available now are 4500 Yen, not cheap.

Therefore, I took the liberty to dismantle one to look at it, and found it uses a linear shaped standard Xenon tube. There is a large 330v cap in the circuit which builds and stores the charge required to drive the Xenon, and a Trigger Coil to fire it when it gets the command from the game pcb.

Using a Dremel and cutting disc, I cut all around the outer reflector, just below where it is glued to the base. Do not try to prise it off, you will crack the reflector.

I found on my Flashboys that all the components on the PCB were in good order, so I unsoldered the Xenon tube;

imag0108.jpg


I found a replacement here;

http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tubes.html

I went for the FT-L4045 model as it was the right length, works brilliant (literally!)

Don't forget to reuse the wires on the Xenon tube from your Flashboy (see image above), as these have silicon based insulation to prevent arcing, also make sure you re-silicon the long wire where it is soldered to the PCB to prevent arcing. You will know which one as it will have silicon on it when you take it apart.

Remember to use latex gloves when handling the new Xenon tube, as oils from your hands could shorten the tubes life.

If you need anymore info let me know dude.
 
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Yeah I'm familiar with these things and that's what I was planning on doing -- replacing the tube & cap -- if I can't get replacements.

I actually have a pile of the MU90A flashboys (NOS & used pulls) as spares for Galaxy Force since it uses 4 of them.
Thankfully Starblade only pulses them every so often so they always worked in my machine.
Ded Irritating Maze also uses 4 of them.

you can see the green one from AB there, it's much smaller, with a E17 base. If I can get them new for ~$30 I'll just go that route, I was bugging Ushio Japan today so hopefully I'll hear back soon. They still make them but the part number apparently changed after they bought Tokyo Xenon.

Are you familiar with a Japanese retailer that carries these?

flashboys.jpg
 
Not familiar with the name no, I was in Akhibara last June and found a shop on the main stretch that sold all the bulbs in the world,

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Anyway, I was just trying to help but I don't think you need it.
 
Anyway, I was just trying to help but I don't think you need it.

I know, much appreciated! cool pic too -- unfortunately flashboys are only sold in Japan since they operate at 100v :(

120v replacements for the 9W MU90A's are around, but there doesn't seem to be anything similar to the small 2.5w one used in AB.

I've rebuilt strobes/power supplies for aircraft before so I'm familiar enough with them, and as you found out, these things are just a pain since they're glued shut.. Hopefully I can just purchase a couple so I don't need to bother breaking out a dremel.
 
Dude

I had the same issue with my Namco Starblade, both the Flashboys had expired. The problem is though, the Flashboys you can get now from Japan come in two variants, standard screw in type and another which bolts in. However, both of these are designed to fire the strobe automatically via an integrated timer and use of constant power supply. Hence, these strobe available now only have two inputs going into the Flashboy and these are for power.

If you unbolt your Flashboy and look at it, you will see that it has four wires going into it, Red & Black (for Power) and Green & Yellow (for strobe trigger). These variants are no longer made, plus the Flashboys available now are 4500 Yen, not cheap.

Therefore, I took the liberty to dismantle one to look at it, and found it uses a linear shaped standard Xenon tube. There is a large 330v cap in the circuit which builds and stores the charge required to drive the Xenon, and a Trigger Coil to fire it when it gets the command from the game pcb.

Using a Dremel and cutting disc, I cut all around the outer reflector, just below where it is glued to the base. Do not try to prise it off, you will crack the reflector.

I found on my Flashboys that all the components on the PCB were in good order, so I unsoldered the Xenon tube;

imag0108.jpg


I found a replacement here;

http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tubes.html

I went for the FT-L4045 model as it was the right length, works brilliant (literally!)

Don't forget to reuse the wires on the Xenon tube from your Flashboy (see image above), as these have silicon based insulation to prevent arcing, also make sure you re-silicon the long wire where it is soldered to the PCB to prevent arcing. You will know which one as it will have silicon on it when you take it apart.

Remember to use latex gloves when handling the new Xenon tube, as oils from your hands could shorten the tubes life.

If you need anymore info let me know dude.

Thanks so much for this post! I need to rebuild both of my Starblade Bulbs and this is just the information I was looking for!!! Now if I could find an un cracked monitor reflection mirror ;)
 
This is very cool, never seen one before.

I would love a cockpit or even this to be honest but frankly these things are huge and heavy!

Thanks for the pics on this though -- good to see them.

Greg
 
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