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modessitt

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Those in Central Texas probably saw these for the few hours they were up. Don't know if the Super Auction led to the little interest or perhaps the distance, but I snagged these two on Saturday:

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More on each in a moment...
 
When I got there, both games were sitting in a one wall barn (basically a glorified carport). Apparently a brother died a few years ago, and they found these in an enclosed barn, but moved them to where I found them last week while cleaning it out.

Asteroids (part 1):

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Asteroids (part 2):

Found 2 mouse nests and 9 mud dauber nests inside. After cleaning it out (thank you shop vac), I did an initial wipedown of the cab (it's a little cleaner now). Not too bad. The mice chewed some holes in the cardboard monitor bezel, so that will have to be replaced. I changed the cord end from a spliced on lamp plug to a good three-prong plug. Looked thru the game for any chewed wires or obvious problems. Replaced two blown fuses on the power brick. Not seeing anything else obvious, I decided to fire it up.

Both start buttons are blinking - indicating board is up and running, but there is no video (spotkiller on) and no sound. Pushing the start button makes it go solid for a bit (as the game plays) then back to blinking (at game over). I check the speaker, speaker wiring, turn up the volume - no sound. I swap in a known good ARI - no sound. Okay - I'll mess with that later. I'm sure the G05-802 needs work, but I just happen to have a working one on the shelf, so I plug it in and get this:



Hmm. Perhaps I didn't get all of that mud dauber nest off of the X/Y section. Oh, well, something to check tomorrow night....
 
Okay, Star Castle (part 1):

This cabinet has some issues. Back door tried to disintegrate as I dollied it. Top is crumbling, and will need a lot of wood hardener and a little bondo to make right. Bottom front has a little swelling also. Plus, side art is gone on both sides (except for a tiny spot where the tax sticker plexi was screwed on) and the control panel has a lot of cigaretter burns/warp:

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Nice! Whats the plan for them Mod? Full resto? Fix and flip? Parts?! Prob depends on what you paid I suppose.....
 
Star Castle (part 2):

A little cleaned up. Noticed that the colored plexi on the monitor has shifted. You can see the burns on the control panel:

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This one only had a couple mud dauber nests inside, and nowhere critical. I looked over everything and didn't see any burn marks on the monitor, the fuse was good, neither of the circuit breakers needed to be reset, so I though i might get lucky - and powered it up. Immediately SPARKS flew from the monitor chassis, and I shut it down. I unplugged the monitor power, then turned it on again, and I have sounds, gameplay, etc. Sounds like the Star Castle boards are working fine, but I have an issue with the monitor now, and probably the power supply (since the monitor has no fuses :rolleyes: :confused: and a bad power supply can blow up the monitor).

The cabinet can be fixed back up. I may end up tackling the side art vectoring so we can get a repro made. Wonder about the CP plexi art?
 
Nice! Whats the plan for them Mod? Full resto? Fix and flip? Parts?! Prob depends on what you paid I suppose.....

Asteroids is a keeper. I've been wanting one for a while. Star Castle probably not, unless I like it more when I'm done with it than the last time I played it. I know someone in Texas who was asking me about one recently. Whether it goes to him will all depend on several things: how much resto can be done, his wife, price, his wife, whether I'm willing to deliver, his wife - and most importantly - his wife...

BTW - I got both for $100 + gas to go get them...
 
I saw these on the local CL too, glad they went to a good home. Pity about the shape of the Star Castle. I wish whoever gets it luck bringing it back. My Star Castle came from Belton which wasn't quite as far as Temple. I've had a lot of PMs about my Star Castle, so it won't be hard finding a buyer.

I liked the ad on these: "we looked up the value, but that is not relevant because we don't know if they work because we haven't turned them on." Why don't sellers just say the games don't work?
 
Personally, I would send the Star Castle on to the next life. Not really interested in that game. I love Asteroids but I don't have much experience working on X/Y games. I could probably handle either a monitor or board problem but if you have both at the same time, its much more difficult to fix, unless you have an extra of either, which I would not.
 
Star Castle (part 2):
Sounds like the Star Castle boards are working fine, but I have an issue with the monitor now, and probably the power supply (since the monitor has no fuses :rolleyes: :confused: and a bad power supply can blow up the monitor).

Please post your repair process on the monitor as I'm in the same boat with one I picked up today

The cabinet can be fixed back up. I may end up tackling the side art vectoring so we can get a repro made. Wonder about the CP plexi art?
Repro side art would be nice. CP plexi is available at TOG
 
I got a star castle a few months ago, I have good side art, and a bad monitor as well, I wondering what I can put in it as far as a replacement, I may be interested in the boards I don't even know if mine works yet either...

Good luck
 
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