Aero City Buying Advice

[Spectrexcwk]

Hey all,

I saw a craigslist ad (https://lasvegas.craigslist.org/vgm/6140623912.html) pop up with a few aero city's and a Naomi 2 World Series baseball. I've never bought any arcade equipment before. I have yet to inspect the machines in person.

- I'm mainly interested in the Aero with the neo-geo 1 slot inside. Seller wants $300

- Can the weird light gun and racing conversions be brought to normal (2 joysticks) for fighting games? Can I just swap in a normal control panel?

- What's a reasonable price for the Naomi 2 World Series baseball? I understand I can use a Naomi 2 for multi game setup with a raspberry pi.

-He wants $800 for the four linked Indy 500's but I have no idea where to put them. Anyone know if there can these be converted to Daytona USA? I've read they use different steering systems.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! I don't know a damn thing about this but I'm really excited to put in the work and have my own candy's.

Thanks!

[geotrig]

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=35798

Same link ???

Iirc you are right Indy 500 and Daytona are not interchangeable.

The Astrid in theory from the pics only need cps and maybe looms /power supplies who knows what monitors it running.

[mirkvid]

I got him down to $175 for that Aero but it seemed a little shady. The seller pointed me to a friend who had the storage key, who was hard to track down.

That Aero had had electric work done to it, the power plug is not original. The speaker box is bent out of shape, and you're going to need a new CP and a Marquee if you want to go stock.

He also has a junk Domy jr.

That said, it may not be a bad project cab if you are willing to fix it up. I'm wrapping up an Aero restore now and there are plenty of us that can answer questions.

[Hellfromabove]

I got him down to $175 for that Aero but it seemed a little shady. The seller pointed me to a friend who had the storage key, who was hard to track down.

That Aero had had electric work done to it, the power plug is not original. The speaker box is bent out of shape, and you're going to need a new CP and a Marquee if you want to go stock.

He also has a junk Domy jr.

That said, it may not be a bad project cab if you are willing to fix it up. I'm wrapping up an Aero restore now and there are plenty of us that can answer questions.

You pick anything up?

Been talking to them for a month. Going by tomorrow, I'll give info as needed. However, after speaking with them for the past month, these cabs might not be ideal for anyone. They seem to have gone around the block once or twice...

[mirkvid]

No, i thought about it but don't need another project. Might be a good score for the monitors if they're in good shape. Good luck!

You guys in Vegas?

[Hellfromabove]

No, i thought about it but don't need another project. Might be a good score for the monitors if they're in good shape. Good luck!

You guys in Vegas?

Used to be, moved back to SoCal a few years back. I come by every month or two. We should all have a get together .

[Spectrexcwk]

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=35798

Same link ???

Iirc you are right Indy 500 and Daytona are not interchangeable.

The Astrid in theory from the pics only need cps and maybe looms /power supplies who knows what monitors it running.

- yep same link

So I stopped by yesterday. Wtf man this setup is insane. Apparently the owner of the cabs is in Thailand. The guy with storage unit access is an acquaintance who knows NOTHING about arcades tasked with collecting payment. The pictures on craiglist were taken by the moving company BEFORE they stuffed them in and underneath a ton of garbage. There is no power outlet to plug anything in. We had to borrow a lightbulb to power socket thing from the folks in a neighboring unit :/. Mr Thailand is also under the impression all the cabs are in great condition - because he hasn't seen the damage caused by the moving company.

World Series Baseball -
The cab is actually in great shape! Further research leads me to believe this game is a naomi 1 title, not a 2 like he indicated. I'm guessing I can't open this up to check without a key right?
Anyway I plugged it in and heard a pop and storage guy said he saw a spark. I looked down and saw this
https://pasteboard.co/CCeBNfqJ.jpg
the fray was perfectly covered by another cab.

Any guesses as how much damage I may have caused? Thai guy wants 350 for this. I called him insane, I can't even see if anything works.

Lightgun Aero
https://pasteboard.co/CM6DrKq7.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CMwgk25h.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CN0iixeZ.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CNEjJnoD.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/COQ7ocT6.jpg

I plugged this in and monitor appeared to light up. No video though. The (I assume) pc inside didn't spin up. I can't access the back of this so if maybe i need to hit a switch in the back?

Crus'n Aero Exoitica ( i think)
https://pasteboard.co/CRXVGm2X.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CSij6NEP.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CSFrx0Ae.jpg


He has a few setups with racing wheels. One has clear damage to the monitor. I don't think I was able to plug the one I photographed in.

Neo Geo Aero
Buried under a ton of stuff and underneath the heavy indy 500 marquee. I told storage guy i'd bring a friend wednesday and try to get to it. I can't see the condition at all. I imagine its been crushed by the weight of everything on top of it.


Indy 500
Covered in crap. There are a total of 4 linked machines. I can only see 2. The other 2 are covered in too much stuff. One can has a monitor that appears to be separated from the bezel. The other unit has a properly mounted monitor. The area around the pedals looks super rusty. Overall a lot of rust. Side art is actually in good condition imo considering the age. I'd love to peel it off and make it a poster or something. Storage guy said $450 takes all 4 linked Indy 500 cabs. I would love to give these the love they deserve like this (http://baptisteh.com/Blog/?project=sega-daytona-usa) I wouldn't know where to begin with a project like that though . Might be worth it for more knowledgeable folk.


MIsc
https://pasteboard.co/CTeypdAq.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CTyKGH6j.jpg
https://pasteboard.co/CTOON1VN.jpg
one unit in the front has severe monitor damage. another with a control panel with no joysticks or buttons has a cut power cable. The monitor in that unit is really small too.

---
my questions -
1. world series baseball still worth it for the naomi inside? ( i said $150) There are several Naomi games I want
2. lightgun and racing setup worth it if monitors work? I've googled and people seem to have a hell of a time finding control panels for aero citys. My goal would be to lowball him for these, and keep one for vertical shmups, and one horizontal for beat em ups.

[Shadolf]

He said 450$ for a the cabs? Or what do you mean with 4 units?
In case 450$ for everything, I would try to get the price down, but take it anyway.

[mirkvid]

Thanks for the recon, these look like fires waiting to happen. I wouldn't power these on in my home without completely gutting and rewiring them.

Too bad.

[Spectrexcwk]

He said 450$ for a the cabs? Or what do you mean with 4 units?
In case 450$ for everything, I would try to get the price down, but take it anyway.

I edited the post to try and make things clearer. I was told $450 for 4 linked Indy 500 cabinets.

[Hellfromabove]

Don't go for the Indy's he was trying to push all 4 on my for $350. I told him there's no way I'd ever pay that. Last auction out here, a set of 4 working Indy 500s went for $50. He was trying to tell me he had a deal to sell them for $4000 but it fell through . Keep in mind, one of those Indy 500s is missing a chasis.

These do seem to be in terrible condition. Funny, I wanted cabs that were not in the best of condition to restore them, but these seem to be insanely big projects... Will have to think about it...

[Hellfromabove]

Got a bit to say about this. I'll post up later. For now I'll say that out of the many many Craigslist experiences I've had, this had to easily be the worst. Giving you all fair warning.

[Spectrexcwk]

Got a bit to say about this. I'll post up later. For now I'll say that out of the many many Craigslist experiences I've had, this had to easily be the worst. Giving you all fair warning.

looking forward to this.

[Hrvat9]

For the love of Japan someone save those candys! lowball for the candys, show up with a way to take them all and cash and I'm sure they wouldn't say no..beside you're freeing up space for the other cabs to get sold if I wasn't in Ontario Canada I'd take an aero for 175 as those NEVER come up

[NoAffinity]

As for the sparking power cord, where did the pop sound come from? You likely didn't cause any damage to the cab, and the pop was whatever few strands of wire were touching that then sparked and burnt to the point they weren't touching anymore. Had a sparking power cord in my Jaleco Lo Pro when I bought it, didn't realize it til I had my face 4' from it and plugged it in. I cut a replacement from a spare computer power cord I had on hand and replaced it pretty easily with no damage to the cab, electronics, etc.

But, back to the topic, glad to see someone might rescue these. It looks like they will all be pretty intensive projects, but I hope to also be part of the team offering advice on the Aero restos.

[Spectrexcwk]

For the love of Japan someone save those candys! lowball for the candys, show up with a way to take them all and cash and I'm sure they wouldn't say no..beside you're freeing up space for the other cabs to get sold if I wasn't in Ontario Canada I'd take an aero for 175 as those NEVER come up

Ugh my soul hurts every time I think about the condition of those cabs. Although I think you'd really just be buying a poorly maintained shell for most of them. In addition, the owner is a complete jackass who wants unrealtistic money for them. To make that worse, English is not his first language, and the time difference makes communication difficult. He refuses to listen when I explain how **** the situation is. He's under the delusion that these cabs are all beautiful and 100% functional.

it's like a bunch of cute stray cats that I just can't realistically rescue - no matter how much the heart wants to.

snip

Thanks! - I am still trying to the get the World Series baseball for the Naomi 2 inside. The pop came from the cable I believe.

[Hellfromabove]

Alright, so my experience was not the best as I stated before. As others have stated you are note dealing directly with the seller, you are dealing with his friend that is there as the seller is currently in Cambodia. This makes matters a bit difficult as he's more doing this as a favor for his friend and doesn't care about the cabs. I went in to Vegas Saturday morning as I was scheduled to look at them that day. The seller assured me that his friend would get in touch with me and I had even talked to his friend the day before. I get a call later in the day saying that Sunday is better because this guy is in a poker tournament. I asked if I could swing by for 5 mins to see what I needed to be prepared for the next day, but the guy just told me it wasn't much. I was a little irritated by this as I was primarily in Vegas for these cabs, but oh well things happen.

I schedule the time for 10am with the guy to meet up at the storage facility. He tells me the cross streets, but will not tell me the name of the storage facility for some reason. I had to email the guy in Cambodia to verify the place. I'm there before 10am as my schedule is tight and this guy doesn't show up until closer to 11am. During this time I'm hitting up the seller to find out what is going on and he's telling me that I'm mistaken and his friend wanted to meet me at 11am when I clearly had a text saying 10am. His friend gets there and apologizes for being late which proves he meant 10am and the seller was just trying to pin something on me, no idea why. Get to the storage unit and the guy opens it up. Holy ****, this thing is packed with all sorts of crap. There was so much clutter on top of the machines I couldn't see anything or get to anything. His friend mentions right away that he's only there to show stuff off and I have to move everything to get to the cabs. Not sure if it was other people that came to look at the cabs that did this or if it was the guys who loaded the cabs in there in the first place. Mind you, prior to this I was told to just bring a dolly...

So I start clearing everything out of the way to get to the cabs and notice various problems. Most of the cabs have some hackjob wiring that is very unsafe. I wouldn't plug any of these in without rewiring them yourself. All the cabs have rust on various areas and were just covered in paint to make it not show up. All cabs have various holes drilled in them so if you want to restore those, you will need to do some serious bondo work. Some cabs have their power cords ripped off. All cabs service and coin box doors have been smashed and bent up. You will need to hammer these back to semi normal if you plan to restore them. Oh and NONE OF THE CABS HAVE MAIN DOORS. I was told by the seller that the main doors were there for all the cabs. I texted him telling him they were not in the area and he just texted back saying "yes they are, just look". The storage unit is FILLED with so much random stuff I couldn't move one thing without everything else falling over. I asked if I could plug in a cabinet to test something out, but the guy said that was not possible as the power in the storage units was not sufficient enough to power the cabs... So don't plan on testing anything here either...

I was interested in the Domy Jr, but after seeing that thing OMG. This thing had so many bolts drilled in to it you might as well call it Frankenstein!!! Bolts drilled from the CP plate down to the bottom of the CP area to prevent it from shaking as it was not properly secured. Had pieces of metal drilled in to the sides of the cab and on to the panels to prevent it from falling. These things had seen better days and you could just hear them whispering "kill... me..." with every breath they took. I had trekked out so far that I said **** it and had to grab something. I noticed he had a second Domy Jr but with like a 12" touch screen mounted on to it with an analog thumb stick, something really weird. However, I saw that it had a main door. So I grabbed my crowbar and forced it off of the cabinet without damaging it. Threw that in to my car and just paid it out.

His friend just wanted to throw everything back in to the storage unit, but I had such a horrid experience I told him that it was best to organize everything. So I placed everything in the unit properly in the back and brought the cabs out to the front. I told him it would be a much easier experience for him and others that came by to see and move the cabs around.

Btw, it was 116 F that day and I burned my right hand pretty badly on the Indy 500 metal marquee he had inside the storage unit. Never thought it would be that hot. Anyway, worst CL experience ever and the cabs are in really bad condition. This Domy Jr I got is in horrid condition to the point where I will have to refab some plastic parts for it. Definitely an experience I won't forget.

[mirkvid]

**** man, sorry you had to drive all the way out here for that. I was going to look at the cabs a few weeks ago during lunch, but got blown off by the sellers friend. I have zero tolerance for chasing people down when I'm trying to give them business, so I told him I wasn't interested anymore. Sounds like I saved myself a trip.

Good luck on the domy.

[Hellfromabove]

It is what it is. The Domy Jr is a pretty rare cab so at least I was able to save that. It does seem that a lot of people have gone by for these cabs according to the guy that was in Vegas, just no one pulls the trigger. Either they aren't able to get the prices down to a number they are comfortable with or I think they just get overwhelmed by the amount of clutter that is in that storage unit and say "**** it" since they don't want to deal with it. I think he has sold one cab which was an Extreme Hunting. Guy went down there and tried to plug it in and it wouldn't come up so the guy in Vegas told him to knock $100 off so he got it for like $150 or $200 (still too expensive in my book but I'm a cheap **** lol). Needless to say, the seller in Cambodia was apparently not too happy with that and apparently went off on him about checking with him on things first.

Oh, another thing. The seller wanted like play by play updates on exactly what was happening. As soon as his friend gets there, don't talk to his friend about anything and message him the questions, etc. When I wouldn't respond to him for a bit he would get **** "you still there, what is your decision" etc and I was just moving **** around this whole time. Why do I need to play telephone with these guys, I'm not his friend's keeper that I need to tell him what he's doing and it's a pain in the **** for me to tell him exactly what I'm doing at every point during the transaction...

[Spectrexcwk]

It is what it is. The Domy Jr is a pretty rare cab so at least I was able to save that. It does seem that a lot of people have gone by for these cabs according to the guy that was in Vegas, just no one pulls the trigger. Either they aren't able to get the prices down to a number they are comfortable with or I think they just get overwhelmed by the amount of clutter that is in that storage unit and say "**** it" since they don't want to deal with it. I think he has sold one cab which was an Extreme Hunting. Guy went down there and tried to plug it in and it wouldn't come up so the guy in Vegas told him to knock $100 off so he got it for like $150 or $200 (still too expensive in my book but I'm a cheap **** lol). Needless to say, the seller in Cambodia was apparently not too happy with that and apparently went off on him about checking with him on things first.

Oh, another thing. The seller wanted like play by play updates on exactly what was happening. As soon as his friend gets there, don't talk to his friend about anything and message him the questions, etc. When I wouldn't respond to him for a bit he would get **** "you still there, what is your decision" etc and I was just moving **** around this whole time. Why do I need to play telephone with these guys, I'm not his friend's keeper that I need to tell him what he's doing and it's a pain in the **** for me to tell him exactly what I'm doing at every point during the transaction...

I was there during that extreme hunting transaction! The folks in a neighboring unit had a power cord light bulb socket adapter. That's how he and I were able to plug in a few machines. The buyer said he was somewhat familiar with cabs but played stupid with the poker guy. The monitor wouldn't come on - it just made a noise. Marquee lit up though and we heard a fan. The atomismwave inside looked immaculate. Not a speck of dust iirc. Sadly the guy just wanted to put mame in it

Hell from above - were you able to check the neo geo aero fighters machine? This one -https://pasteboard.co/2j6E6HEHE.jpg

This looks like the only redeeming aero. I imagine in person it's a pos though.