Sega Astro City Clean-Up

[mattsoft]

I've been looking for a Sega Astro City for ever, and one finally popped up on Craigslist. Not the cheapest, but it was local so no shipping, so I jumped fast with cash in hand and a truck to take it home. These go within hours, so you have to move fast!

The cabinet is in nice shape, but has a number of issues:

• Missing barrel lock
• Missing back panel
• Faded marquee
• Rusty control panel
• Mis-matched buttons
• P1 and P2 wiring loom fubar'd
• Dirty AF
• Original monitor is missing and replaced with a Makvision 29"

I've already done the following:

• Cleaned the cabinet thoroughly. Overall, it's in nice shape and I have no plans to paint it.
• Removed rust from control panel, but it's still in rough condition. Will need to order a replacement.
• Need a new instruction space insert too, this one is damaged.
• Ordered new buttons and sticks.
• Sorted out the wiring loom. It was a rats nest with lots of electrical tape! Need to get a kick harness as I'll be using 6 buttons/player.
• The marquee is faded, I've already ordered a replacement off of "overcomearcadeparts" on eBay. It looks good in the pictures, not sure on the quality tho.
• I've recapped the PSU and replaced the original 2-prong cord with a 3-prong cord and grounded the cabinet to it. PSU is outputting good voltages, cabinet lights up, speakers work.
• The Makvision is a flat CRT so it doesn't look right in the cabinet, but it's what I have so I need to work with it. it is the tri-sync model, so better than an LCD. The CRT has some geometry issues so I'm recapping it right now -- hopefully that will fix the majority of things. Once that's done and working, I see that Japan River Service sells a filler for flat screen CRTs and the Astro City so I'll get one on order so it doesn't look at janky. Then I'll be on the prowl for a proper Astro City monitor.

Anyway, here is the cabinet as of today:

 

[mattsoft]

Makvision 29 recapped and I have an image! Did a quick degauss and the image looks 1000x better, but still have some funny geometry issues. Will need to see what call can be adjusted on this monitor, but I suspect that magnet on the tube may have come off at point because there is tape on the tube in spots with nothing underneath. UGH!

 

[bnr32jason]

Congrats on the Astro City. I'm in the Seattle area too and I would love to connect with you. I have a Blast City that works great overall but has some obvious geometry issues, I want to do all the typical stuff like recap and have convergence issues dealt with, but I don't have the knowledge, tools, nor really the time to do it. You want a side job? Haha.

 

[Yarcade]

I too have recently purchased a sega astro city and going to carry out a full refurb, my whole cabinet needs a paint.. Following this with interest keep progress posted

 

[mattsoft]

Fortunately, this cabinet is in pretty nice shape in terms of paint and artwork. It just has the usual faded marquee and rusted control panel. As I'm waiting for a bunch of parts to roll in (new control panel, marquee, wire harness, buttons), I decided to focus on what's going INSIDE the cabinet which will be a MiSTer with the MiSTercade board.

Setting up the MiSTer is super easy, only took a a few minutes to setup and copy over the setup from another MiSTer. But now I can see how the Makvision monitor is going to look with the MiSTercade and it does indeed look pretty OK. The CRT still has some purity issues in the top left and right side. I've degaussed and played with the purity rings, but this is about as good as I can get it. I played around with some fridge magnets on the back of the CRT and was able to get a good picture, so I have magnet tabs on order for a more permanent solution. The Makvision is sort of crappy monitor, IMHO. Of course being flat is going to be a problem in the Astro City cab. I have ordered (and received) a filler strip, but haven't tried to fit it yet.

Anyway, here is a picture of the MiSTercade hooked up to the Makvision (w/o fridge magnets) running at 15kHz:

 

[mattsoft]

Congrats on the Astro City. I'm in the Seattle area too and I would love to connect with you. I have a Blast City that works great overall but has some obvious geometry issues, I want to do all the typical stuff like recap and have convergence issues dealt with, but I don't have the knowledge, tools, nor really the time to do it. You want a side job? Haha.

Hey there, send me a PM. Happy to help where I can. I'm no expert on any of this stuff, just a novice hobbyist trying to figure this out from others who have gone before me.

 

[MissionFailed]

 

[Yarcade]

Fortunately, this cabinet is in pretty nice shape in terms of paint and artwork. It just has the usual faded marquee and rusted control panel. As I'm waiting for a bunch of parts to roll in (new control panel, marquee, wire harness, buttons), I decided to focus on what's going INSIDE the cabinet which will be a MiSTer with the MiSTercade board.

Setting up the MiSTer is super easy, only took a a few minutes to setup and copy over the setup from another MiSTer. But now I can see how the Makvision monitor is going to look with the MiSTercade and it does indeed look pretty OK. The CRT still has some purity issues in the top left and right side. I've degaussed and played with the purity rings, but this is about as good as I can get it. I played around with some fridge magnets on the back of the CRT and was able to get a good picture, so I have magnet tabs on order for a more permanent solution. The Makvision is sort of crappy monitor, IMHO. Of course being flat is going to be a problem in the Astro City cab. I have ordered (and received) a filler strip, but haven't tried to fit it yet.

Anyway, here is a picture of the MiSTercade hooked up to the Makvision (w/o fridge magnets) running at 15kHz:

Mate thats fantastic..... You have given me a idea now as i was not sure what to put inside my cab when finished game wise, was looking at a mister but was on the fence about it and couldn't decide.....
Can you spare some details of how this install went mate or drop me a message please, id like to copy your idea if you don't mind but not exactly sure what involved..

Also i need new control panel decals and wouldn't mind new stickers for the side of the unit as well any idea where these can be bought from ? i looked on some chinky site but it didn't make much sense lol..

Thanks mate

 

[mattsoft]

Today is all about the lighted marquee!

Replacement arrived from eBay seller overcomearcadeparts. The quality looks good (see picture below), though I have yet to peel off the protective plastic. Still, the restored color is welcome.

Removing the old panel is a PITA. Remove the 2 screws, then use a heat gun to soften the miles of adhesive tape. The panel finally came off, but lost some of its black color in the process. Not to worry, as I won't need it with the replacement. I used Goo Gone to remove the remaining adhesive and gave the cover a good wash (see the before picture below). The plan is to put the new panel on this afternoon and will post pictures once done.

 

[mattsoft]

Well, unfortunately I cannot recommend this marquee (yet). On installation, I noticed that the left speaker grill was not cut properly. Instead of a straight cut, it has an arch or curve to it. I've contacted the seller to get a replacement. I guess the marquee replacement will have to wait another day...

UPDATE: seller got back to me quickly and has promised to send out a new marquee. Fingers-crossed!

 

[mattsoft]

New control panel has arrived! A week ago, I purchased a reproduction control panel, instruction space sheet, and locks from forum member alberto1225. With EMS shipping, it took only 1 week from Taiwan to Seattle (we are living in amazing times!). The quality of both the panel and sheet are excellent.

This cabinet came with faded pink buttons and nice, working Seimitsu sticks. I kept the sticks, but replaced the buttons with Sanwas from Paradise Arcade Shop, using the canonical green/pink combo.

So the panel is installed and looks fantastic. I have new wire looms coming from an eBay seller in Canada and still waiting on the replacement marquee.

The CRT is still on the bench, waiting on various magnets to help fix the convergence and geometry issues that cannot be resolved with the convergence and purity rings.

 

[Yarcade]

Hi mate good work

Quick question, I have a 3 button control panel and would like a six button. Can that chap supply me with all I need to make it a six player ?

starting to look amazing mate

 

[mattsoft]

Hi mate good work

Quick question, I have a 3 button control panel and would like a six button. Can that chap supply me with all I need to make it a six player ?

starting to look amazing mate

Hey there - I don't know if alberto1225 sells wiring harnesses, just give him a PM to see. The harness that came with my cabinet was pretty sad, so I ended up buying a brand new loom from some guy on eBay. I don't have the loom yet, so I can't comment on if it works or not. As soon as I get it, I'll post. But alberto1225 does a great job on the actual metal panel itself.

 

[mattsoft]

It's been awhile, but getting packages during this time of the year is difficult, especially when you have a freak snowstorm. Anyway, progress!

MiSTercade arrived and was easy to install. Plug JAMMA harness into MiSTercade. Done.

New wire looms off of eBay installed and controls work great. Needed an Astro City to CPS kick adapter to get those last 2 buttons for each player work. Adapter is in the mail!

The monitor has been a PITA. These Makvisions are not very good. I've degaussed, added magnets, moved magnets, adjusted purity and convergence rings, and I cannot get a decently straight picture, nor can I get rid of some of the color impurity. I'm pretty sure this monitor was in the presence of Magneto at some point and has been magnetized beyond help. In addition, because it's a flat screen CRT, it doesn't fit the bezel correctly and the bezel I was hoping to get working did not work out.

To make matters worse, when the CRT was installed in the cab, the upper cab would not fit. After some light reading, I see that people need to "back mount" these CRTs. So out it came and I did just that, mounted the CRT to the underside of the frame. With that done and installed, the top of the cab just barely fit. When I bought the Astro City, the guy didn't have the top screwed in, now I know why!

Anyway, everything is working enough that the cabinet can be played! Hurray!

Next up:

• Still wrestling with the eBay seller to replace the janky marquee he sent me
• Need to wire the monitor power into the Astro City PSU harness
• Need to replace the missing back panel (in transit)
• Need to add the kick adapter (in transit)

Some current pictures: