"Dedicated" Aladdin's Castle conversion cab restore!

ifkz

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"Dedicated" Aladdin's Castle conversion cab restore!

....Or the de-conversion of my former MAME cab back into a horizontal JAMMA cab.

The sad story of this cab...
About five years ago I was just starting out in the hobby and had just gotten my first two arcade games, Centipede and Xybots. Centipede was becoming an arcade game again and it needed a monitor. Lacking any real options, I started browsing my local Craigslist for a donor machine, which was this Aladdin's Castle conversion cab. Here is how I found it:

mame.jpg


I robbed the monitor from it and gutted it. No real loss though, it had already been converted many times and the inner wiring was a mess.

So, I had this empty black cabinet, what to do with it? MAME it, of course! So, I turned it into a MAME rig for several years:

HPIM1559.jpg


Years past, new games came into the collection and I ran out of room. I turned to PCB collecting and I eventually thought it would be a good idea to ditch the MAME and turn this into a horizontal JAMMA running Street Fighter II: Championship Ed. I've been getting parts together for it and yesterday was the day to start down the (long) restore process.

It's a colorful...cab, has front PCB access, and the profile is unique. Worth saving and I feel like I am righting a wrong. Progress so far, detailed after this first post:
HPIM1592.jpg
 
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Time to Citistrip! The best option with the stuff is to let it sit, gently go at it with a plastic putty knife and finish it off with a Dobie pad. It needs touch up (obviously) but off to a good start. I started on the lower left and goudged it a bit before I got the hang of it.

Left side art, before:
HPIM1562.jpg


Left side art, after:
HPIM1564.jpg
 
Time to Citistrip! The best option with the stuff is to let it sit, gently go at it with a plastic putty knife and finish it off with a Dobie pad. It needs touch up (obviously) but off to a good start. I started on the lower left and goudged it a bit before I got the hang of it.

Left side art, before:
HPIM1562.jpg


Left side art, after:
HPIM1564.jpg

That's awesome!
 
Finished the left side, it took all day for both sides, but no major problems came up. The stripper softens the vinyl artwork underneath, I was always nervous of a major tear or rip.

This side is not as good, notice the large amounts of bondo this cab needed to get it straight again. Poor cab.

Thanks for the positive responses so far. I'm not sure where this fits with collectors so I really appreciate knowing what everyone thinks about it.

I'll be touching it up removing the small bits of black paint, going over the white with a magic eraser, and probably using some Kilz for the bondo areas.

Before:
HPIM1565.jpg


After:
HPIM1566.jpg
 
I have one of these, but the sideart is peeling. How are you looking to restore it? Is there replacement art out there? I was just going to paint over it...kind of the opposite of what you just did! :)
 

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I have one of these, but the sideart is peeling. How are you looking to restore it? Is there replacement art out there? I was just going to paint over it...kind of the opposite of what you just did! :)

Why in the world would you just 'paint over it? That side art is awesome and part of history. Not sure how many of those cabs survive in the world, but I've never seen one. If replacement side art isn't available, at least try to color match and touch it up.
 
I was thinking of doing that, but it peels off like wallpaper. I wouldn't know the first thing on how to proceed on it. Which is why I'm interested in seeing what ifkz does with his.
 
I commented on these cabs awhile back in a thread. Pat @ Star World's Arcade has 2 of these babies in real nice shape. Love the dancing marquee light!

I do recall seeing these at our local Aladdins. As I mentioned in the other thread as well, that these always housed some sort of Taito jamma game. Come to find out, someone told me that the A.C. chain and Taito had some sort of agreement on these kits...

Have to admit, seeing these cabs again does make me sad. Knowing Aladdin's is no more.... RIP Aladdin's Castle in Spring Hill and St. Charles Mall.
 
For peeling side art, I always use wall paper adhesive "wall paper seam repair" is the stuff.

I'm going to go for a light touch, right now I just plan to fill in the white areas and leave everything else alone.

This originally had Taito's Final Blow in it. I haven't seen one for sale yet, maybe I'll pick it up in the future. I think it was in use at the chain from 1988 (when Final Blow came out) until at least until 1993 when Namco bought them. I found tokens from both eras of the company in the bottom of the cab when I cleaned it out. The tokens are under the control panel plexi for posterity.

Some pics:

The Bally Aladdin's castle serial number tag. Survived many conversions, MAME, and my paint stripper. It was all black until yesterday.
HPIM1567.jpg


Back tag.
HPIM1571.jpg


My marquee light. Does anyone have a picture of the insides of their cab? I would like to know how this worked, maybe if I can make it a working part of the cab again.
HPIM1572.jpg
 
3M Super 77 spray adhesive.

I will have to try it out.

Mine came with X-men Vs Street Fighter (CPS2), although the wiring from the CP seem to run through a fingerboard and then out to the jamma harness. I will have to take a pic to show you what I mean.

As for the pic of the inside of the cab, did you want a pic of the marquee area? I can try to get at it tonight.
 
The marquee light connector seems to end into Pic 1. Sorry it's a bit blurry, the camera I was using isn't very good with close ups. Should be able to take a better one tomorrow. This little board is screwed into the back of the cab, just below the bottom of the back door.

Pic 2 is of what I was saying about some sort of fingerboard. I have never come across that in my other cabs.

Hope this is a start.
 

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I rewired my cab and removed the small pcb form your second pic. It seemed to make my voltages drop or go missing from time to time.

Mine never had the dancing lights part but I have another cab by the same company (not painted A.C.) that does have the marquee still. Just wired for all the little lights to come on at the same time.
 
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