I don't know where to start...3 new projects

whocares

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I'm a novice in pins and arcades and 3 new projects arrived for me today....

1st was an asteroids deluxe, plays but looks terrible...owner said he replaced mirror with glass and window film...not sure what was supposed to be there. Cardboard background was hanging down and the back door was falling off, none the less it did play. Set for free play and coin door is missing, some of the buttons light. Control panel is missing most of the design, side art is liveable, not good but not as torn up as It could have been.

Star Castle is the second game, I think the monitor is blown, black smoke residue on tube and back of bezel, huge burn in monitor. Can't get the back open so I have not seen inside. Side art is ok for it's age and does not have water damage. Owner said blows fuse as soon as power is applied.

Armor Attack is the 3rd game. I peeked inside the back and noticed a very poor cord repair. Owner said it's a fuse blower too...at least the tube looks better than Star Castle.

Are these machines worth fixing as part of my personal collection or good for resale?

I checked out some of the posts on the site about them....
 
Pics will help decide. All three of these machine's values are dependent on the condition of the cab and arts.
 
Wow, three of the top vectors in one shot. I've restored mine and sunk a lot of money into each one. If you don't want them, other collectors here will.
 
Am I in over my head? I have fixed alot of playstations and x boxes, a few HD tv's but I am worried about messing with the tubes on these...I'm just unsure...

I will take pictures tomorrow and maybe that will help me decide where to start.
 
The problem with Star Castle and Armor Attack is they use a very specific monitor. The game boards output digital signals instead of analog. I don't know much about it but apparently, that is a problem if you want to use another monitor type. I have heard that the power supplies are a PITA also. AD sounds like its worth fixing up, though.
 
Ok lets try some pictures
 

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A few more
 

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Asteriods Deluxe
Coin door trim can be bought from Bob to help with the coin door.
A new overlay would make the machine look a lot better too.

Armor Attack
Very nice, mine was much worse and was missing the monitor.

Star Castle
Intact art seems to be rare on this one and yours looks well above average.

Both are very savable if you have money and time. A standard black and white vector tube is fine. There was a member here selling them for $60 shipped I think. You would only need one if your current tube is not responding to the brightness knob after being rebuilt.

Read this. This person got my game boards back and running and he has parts lists to bulletproof the monitors.
http://www.biltronix.com/star_castle.html

If all of this is beyond you, don't junk the games. The titles you have are very sought after by a lot of members here (although a little less on Armor Attack).
 
Thanks for the input, I did give Star Castle a good cleaning and was suprised to see no water damage, I think the tube is blown, but it seems complete...Very dirty and neglected...

Armor Attack seems intact, and still needs a cleaning, unsure as it's supposed to be a fuse blower, seems it had the back off for a long time as there is lots of dirt in there...

Asteroids does play and I want to fix it up and maybe keep it, it fits next to ms pac man and they seem to get along.

I'm cleaning and inspecting them today and will get a better feel for them later...
 
yes like its been said and will be said many times i am sure in the future.dont remove the art off the sides of the star catsle as you will never get that art again.i have same and mine has art thats same condition as yours even i have monitor probs with mine.hopefully you will be more luckier than me and have a cab with all the original insides,unfortunately i was not so lucky.

mine only has the original gameboard,everything else is none original,power supply transformer/linear power supply board/monitor all homebrew on mine.so now that its got prob i wont be able to look at manuals like you will be able to as the wiring/parts are not right.
:(

nice score though (bloody wish i was an american)

for your asteroids you can get the vinyl from thisoldgame if you ever decide to tidy it up and need to replace torn bits.

i scored me a asteroids couple of weeks ago and needs replacement coin door/buttons and leg levellers other than that is been round the bloack (a few times) but,its the real deal.

once again.lucky bugger!
;)
 
Thanks for the input, I have been cleaning them today and mr clean magic eraser works wonders...

I am feeling better about my projects and this may be a good winter for me, I can stay at the shop and play...I mean work
 
Just my .02, the asteroids deluxe looks pretty rough from here. The other two look very solid, I"d focus on the other two and save the asteroids deluxe for last. By the time you get to it, you may decide to sell it or part it out.
 
if your looking to fix them and keep them, go for it.

if your looking to fix them, play them a bit and eventually sell them for a loss, then go for it.

if your looking to fix them and sell them fro a profit, your much better off selling them as-is than investing to fix them

asteroids deluxe looks beat.. you might be able to sell the pcb if it works for $100. Maybe another $100 for the rest of the parts (a little more if the monitor works and is zero burn). Buying a nice fully working AD can be had for under $500.
Your star castle and armor attack are both pretty nice. In the shape yours are in, they are probably much better than most cinematronics collectors games (most are missing side art). But they are also going to be extremely hard for you fix. So again, you might be better off passing them along to someone whop has the skills to fix them.

Finding a working AA and SC is not easy. But they also don't sell for much either. You could probably find them working for $500-$750.
 
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