What would a dedicated Altered Beast have looked like?

nice work. judging by the first few pictures, i figured the cabinet would have been beyond repair.
 
Awesome job! Big fan of the red.

I've been wanting to move my Altered Beast into a Dynamo. Right now its in a Mach 3 cab. The blue sides actually look nice.
 
I got my overlay from Rich! Here it is next to the extra panel I bought, which is the one I scanned for the repro. You can see all the extra holes, cig burns, and faded labels that will go away.

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I wanted to get rid of the plexi to give the panel a cleaner look, which meant I needed to fill the extra holes left over from Zaxxon. Why did Zaxxon have three fire buttons, anyway? In terms of weapon deployment, it was quite an embarrassment of riches.

I welded electrical knockouts in the holes with the MIG. (Out of argon, had to use flux core which is messy.)

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After cleaning up and grinding flat, they look like this.

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I also needed to remove the bracket that held the old harness plug. I removed the spot welds with an endmill, then pried off the backet bits.

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Your machine looks fantastic! What kind of joysticks will you be using? I hate the ones that came on my Altered Beast game and am looking to change them out with Happ Comp sticks I guess.
 
Your machine looks fantastic! What kind of joysticks will you be using? I hate the ones that came on my Altered Beast game and am looking to change them out with Happ Comp sticks I guess.

Don't use happ comps. Use IL Eurosticks from paradise arcade shop. The happ sticks are licensed copies of the Spanish IL sticks, but made completely from PVC, whereas the IL sticks use white nylon for the actuator and the bushing it rides on. The happs used to be made this way, but when they moved production to China they went cheap. The actuators will bind up cocked on the happ sticks.

Besides if you get the IL sticks they come with a color matched dust washer. The happs are all black, and you have more colors to select from than Happ sticks.

Did I mention that the IL sticks are cheaper too?

http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/323-il-eurostick-joystick

$12, they come in white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple. The purple seems to be out if stock at the moment.


Now regarding the control panel. It looks fantastic. Although my only thought is I would have changed the button layout since you were welding the holes. That layout is just whatever the operator decided at the time. I would have done three in a row with the left most button about half a button diameter lower. Like a candy cabinet layout.

Also I would have moved the start buttons to the top of the panel.

But you did an awesome job and I don't want to take away from that.
 
Your machine looks fantastic! What kind of joysticks will you be using? I hate the ones that came on my Altered Beast game and am looking to change them out with Happ Comp sticks I guess.
I'm just using the sticks that were in there. They are black microswitch sticks with a ball top. I was hoping they were the ones that came in the Altered Beast kit, but I haven't ever been able to definitely figure that out.
 
Now regarding the control panel. It looks fantastic. Although my only thought is I would have changed the button layout since you were welding the holes. That layout is just whatever the operator decided at the time. I would have done three in a row with the left most button about half a button diameter lower. Like a candy cabinet layout.
Weird layout for sure, but it is correct. The layout is defined in the manual.

Panel.jpg


Also I would have moved the start buttons to the top of the panel.
Probably should have moved them. To be correct, they would be at the top of the panel as you suggested, and as shown in the manual. While I was looking this up, I just realized that I DO have the correct joysitcks! They are shown in the manual too.
 
Don't use happ comps. Use IL Eurosticks from paradise arcade shop. The happ sticks are licensed copies of the Spanish IL sticks, but made completely from PVC, whereas the IL sticks use white nylon for the actuator and the bushing it rides on. The happs used to be made this way, but when they moved production to China they went cheap. The actuators will bind up cocked on the happ sticks.

Besides if you get the IL sticks they come with a color matched dust washer. The happs are all black, and you have more colors to select from than Happ sticks.

Did I mention that the IL sticks are cheaper too?

http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/323-il-eurostick-joystick

$12, they come in white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple. The purple seems to be out if stock at the moment.


Now regarding the control panel. It looks fantastic. Although my only thought is I would have changed the button layout since you were welding the holes. That layout is just whatever the operator decided at the time. I would have done three in a row with the left most button about half a button diameter lower. Like a candy cabinet layout.

Also I would have moved the start buttons to the top of the panel.

But you did an awesome job and I don't want to take away from that.

Thanks for the tip, Tighe. I have red ball tops currently and they sit very low in the CP and I can't stand it. Also the second player stick is very loose feeling. Works, but loose. So are the sticks supposed to be black or red?
 
Weird layout for sure, but it is correct. The layout is defined in the manual.

Panel.jpg



Probably should have moved them. To be correct, they would be at the top of the panel as you suggested, and as shown in the manual. While I was looking this up, I just realized that I DO have the correct joysitcks! They are shown in the manual too.

Cool, I think I might have a hard time playing with that layout. I would have to try to know.
 
I got the control panel populated and wired up. I'm quite pleased with the result.

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Edit: By the way, the button colors from from the manual. Three red and three blue would not have been my first choice :)
 
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I'm finally out of things to do--it's finished! :D

Bask in the glory of the beast which hath been altered!

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And just for fun, a side-by-side before and after.

beforeafter.jpg


Thank you everyone for your comments and support. I think I'll take a short break before I tackle my Joust cocktail :)
 
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And just for fun, a side-by-side before and after.

beforeafter.jpg


Thank you everyone for your comments and support. I think I'll take a short break before I tackle my Joust cocktail :)

Sir, that is pretty bad-assed. Fantastic work, not just on the restore but in going the extra mile to design the rebuild in the first place. It really does look like it could have factory shipped that way.

Well done!!! :D (clapclapclapclap)
 
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