Revitalizing my Blast City cabinets (PIC HEAVY)

[FrankCastleAZ]

NOVEMBER 2011 -

I know I'm new here, but I thought this would be a perfect place to document my revitalization of what used to be two Sega Bass Fishing cabinets into beautiful dedicated fighting game Blast City cabinets and perhaps get some tips along the way.

I bought the first one earlier this year (April 2011) and the second one less than a month ago (Nov 2011) from the same seller locally in AZ.

Both were in good condition structurally besides nicks and dings in the paint but the side art on both was scratched to hell.
(Photos of 2nd cabinet)


There was a 50cents sticker on the control panel and scotch tape was all over the coin slot on the 2nd cab
(Photo of 2nd cabinet)


THIS POST here on AO by user "digitalsystemsdesign" was extremely helpful in getting the lock open on the 2nd cabinet in November.
Unfortunately the post hasn't been made yet on the purchase of the first cabinet in April and I ended up drilling the lock and ruining it.

Before and after the first cleaning inside the control panel
(Photos of 2nd cabinet)


Considering both of these cabs will be running CPS2 games, I had to pick up wiring harnesses for them which I purchased from Excellent Com
The one I purchased for the first cab earlier this year, was new and spent about 120 USD shipped.
The 2nd one I purchased a few weeks ago and is in the mail now was used and I spent about 65 USD shipped.


I purchased both 2L12B panels from Lizard Lick.
The first was earlier this year and the other should be shipping soon.


Here's where some of you would potentially want to kill me (Don't worry I'm not making a MAME out of them)
Because they'll be used for my video gaming service business (and potentially in a B&M store of my own someday) I wanted to keep the same graphic layout on the control panel as we have for our 16 console arcade sticks we use at events.
Examples:




And I had come up with this based on "Blast.City.2Player.Panel.Scan.pdf" that's everywhere on the net including here in forum and on AOwiki.


But the button alignment did not work with the Lizard Lick ordered panel I ordered.

So I did one without any button alignment borders-


And here it is-
(Photo of 1st cabinet)


More to come---

-FrankCastleAZ

NOVEMBER 2011 #2 -

Now I know this custom control panel art is blasphemous for a lot of you purists, but please don't get all on me.

Due to a relaunch of the name and url of the my business later this year and the graphic being a test in the first place I decided to redo it.
Instead of putting the logo on the top left of the control panel, I've decided to put it in the instruction glass instead and I've redone the graphics-

For 1st Blast City


For 2nd Blast City



And the marquees-

For 1st Blast City

Example of original vs recreated-




For 2nd Blast City (And yeah I fixed the CAPCOM logo on bottom right of logo)

Example of original vs recreated-




-FrankCastleAZ

DECEMBER 2011 -

Received in the mail from Lizard Lick.

Sanwa sticks, Sanwa buttons, 2 player control panel.


Will be getting graphics for both MvC1 and SFA3 printed today.

-FrankCastleAZ

DECEMBER 12TH, 2011 #2 -

Alpha 3 control panel redone.


Move lists for both games printed



-FrankCastleAZ

DECEMBER 2011 #3 -

I've decided how I'm doing the wiring for the cabinets.

Because in the future I might want to hook up a PS3, 360 or other systems I wanted a system where I could easily swap out Molex connectors for wiring instead of having to remove and place quick disconnects.

I decided on 15 pin Molex connectors seen HERE. I could have done 12 (4 joystick, 7 buttons, 1 ground) but picked up what was available at my local electronics store (Fry's Electronics) and it leaves me room for expansion if for some odd reason I'll ever need it.

I did a schematic on them to keep for future records and I'll probably also print it out on a FedExOffice LamiLabel and place it inside the cabinet next to the other stickers labeling what is what.



I've done a lot of padhacking and arcade stick mods in my time so the ability to later add a padhacked 360 fightpad/brawlpad and an Toodles MC Cthulhu with multisystem support would be godlike!

Now on to wiring!

-FrankCastleAZ

DECEMBER 2011 #4 -

Finished putting the art on the control panels and put the buttons and sticks in.




And I started wiring one of them for the Molex connectors.

-FrankCastleAZ

JANUARY 2012 -

I've wired one of the two control panels. You can see the Molex connectors I'll be using sitting on the bottom of the CP.
You can also see the sticker I made for the Molex labeling placed on the bottom of the CP.


I'll be ordering the marquees tomorrow from EMDKAY along with marquees for a few woody cabinets for NFL Blitz and Marvel Vs Street Fighter.

-FrankCastleAZ


SEPTEMBER 2012 -

So example pic of one of the two cabs done minus a bit of touch ups and waxing:



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second cab isn't done yet.

The 2nd loom I picked up from excellentcom.net turned out to have a major issue.


Turns out that P1 and P2 directionals, starts and coins were all snipped from the JAMMA connection point as well as the point that goes into the Sega Model 3 I/O board. :-/
I've had to manually solder wiring to all 12 points and lead them all directly to the control panel.

So only 1 of the 2 is up for now, i'll probably get the 2nd one done in the next week or so.

Crazy old bump. It's been 2 years since I've posted (just too busy) and I've lurked a bit, but I finished the 2nd Blast City about a year ago and recently got a 3rd Blast City and started working on it.
Will edit original post with info listed below for archive purposes.

FEBRUARY, 2013 -

Pics of both cabinets complete-


Things I plan on doing with them to fix them up even more:

1 - New Control Panel Overlay artwork
Since the Lamilabels of the original control panel overlays are now in **** condition, I'll likely be doing a polycarb laminate CPO from GameOnGrafix of the original Sega Blast City CPO even though I think it's ugly. Will redo it in Photoshop as best as I can before I get it printed. If anyone else has a better version of it instead of that old PDF scan please let me know.

2 - New balltops & buttons
I'll use the original colors that the Blast City came with (Pink & Green) on them via Paradise Arcade Shop.

SEPTEMBER 2014 -

Picked up a 3rd Sega Blast City


Will be putting in SPFIIT (yet another CPS2)


Started redoing the artwork to match the other two
The marquees and move strip scans that I had were in extremely rough condition due to:

-The age of the scans were likely pre-Windows XP
-The print quality back in 1996
-What looked like water damage staining colors on one of the move strips

I started the project about a month or two ago and have slowly made progress on them.

-----ORIGINAL MARQUEE-----


-----NEW MARQUEE-----


-----ORIGINAL MARQUEE IN DETAIL-----


-----NEW MARQUEE IN DETAIL-----


-----ORIGINAL MOVE STRIP #1-----


-----NEW MOVE STRIP #1-----


-----ORIGINAL MOVE STRIP #1 DETAIL-----


-----NEW MOVE STRIP #1 DETAIL-----


-----ORIGINAL MOVE STRIP #2-----


-----NEW MOVE STRIP #2-----


-

As you can see I'm still working on the 2nd move strip and it's the hardest one yet due to all the shapes and sizes etc.
Can't wait till I have finished product.

-FrankCastleAZ

[FrankCastleAZ]

OCTOBER 2014 -

I got a ton of parts in from Paradise Arcade Shop for all 3 Sega Blast City cabs as well as a bunch of arcade sticks I'm working on refurbishing. Thought I'd do an unboxing video for those who may be interested in ordering from them.


Definitely have my work cut out for me here. No doubt i'll have sore fingers from removing and replacing all the buttons in all these arcade sticks and arcade cabs.



NOVEMBER 2014 -

The old Lamilabels I put on the control panels back when I first got my original 2 Blast City cabs started peeling off since Lamilabels only last so long with heavy use. The designs on those Blast City CPOs were chosen based on making them resemble the graphics on all the arcade sticks we used at events and conventions for AZHP Gaming. Since those arcade sticks are all being completely refurbished with original designs for the general population's use, the artwork on the Blast City cabs wouldn't have any resemblance. Instead of doing something original again, I decided to go stock.

The issue with going stock, is the PDF of the Blast City CPO that's been floating around the web for the last 10 years was super low quality, and although I have the ability to recreate stuff in Photoshop (see Puzzle Fighter marquee and move strips on 1st post), the Blast City CPO would be extremely difficult to recreate. When looking around the web for resources and someone who was doing high quality recreations, I saw Jasen's Customs had one on his website and I had already seen some of his quality work with his line of Superguns and Panzer metal arcade sticks. I contacted him about getting a copy of his art to see if it was high enough quality for my preference. He was kind enough to send it to me (trusting that I wouldn't post it elsewhere and that'd I'd get it printed through him) and I was very satisfied with the quality of the print and his customer service.

So I purchased 3 of them and received them a few weeks ago. Finally over the last few days, I got a chance to peel off the old artwork, strip all the leftover sticky from the Lamilabel, and put on the new CPOs using the wet apply technique. I'd never done it before, but Jasen had a YouTube video on it and it was a lot easier than I thought.

Video on wet apply technique:


I'm very happy with the results:
Click HERE for high res


Click HERE for high res



When I first got the first two Blast City cabs they were absolutely disgusting and I only did a decent clean (see 1st post). I was too excited to get everything up and running to give them as much love as I should have. While waiting for the CPOs to dry, I started heavily cleaning the fiberglass control panels with general purpose cleaner, soapy water, disinfectant wipes and paper towels. I'll give them a nice wax before I put them back on the cabinet.

-Will post more once I've put buttons and sticks in.

[FrankCastleAZ]

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[FrankCastleAZ]

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[IDCHAPPY]

Hey Frank, as long as you don't MAME them with 100 buttons and 6 trackballs then your fine .
They seem to be in decent nick though

[backfield22]

hi there -

thanks for the interesting post. i have a pair of blasts myself. love them.
do your cabs have autosync MS2931 monitors?
mine both have the older MS2930 - and do neither 15kHz or 31kHz as well as dedicated units i've seen to be honest, wondered what you thought of the newer monitors.

personally i love your CP art. nice one.

[emphatic]

Nice work on the custom artwork (the revisions). There are many blast panels out in the wild, so doing whatever you want to your replica panels shouldn't raise any objections here, especially since you're converting them from Bass Fishing.

[FrankCastleAZ]

Hey Frank, as long as you don't MAME them with 100 buttons and 6 trackballs then your fine .
They seem to be in decent nick though

No FKing way sir. I won't pull anything that will be
I've seen your guys' "Gallery of Sh1t"

hi there -

thanks for the interesting post. i have a pair of blasts myself. love them.
do your cabs have autosync MS2931 monitors?
mine both have the older MS2930 - and do neither 15kHz or 31kHz as well as dedicated units i've seen to be honest, wondered what you thought of the newer monitors.

personally i love your CP art. nice one.

I'm unsure what monitors they're running at the moment but I do know they're tri-sync and have VGA inputs. 99% sure they're what originally came in the Sega @ss Fishing as they both have a bit of burn in. I'll check later and report back as it's something I want to document anyways.

Nice work on the custom artwork (the revisions). There are many blast panels out in the wild, so doing whatever you want to your replica panels shouldn't raise any objections here, especially since you're converting them from Bass Fishing.

Thanks. The artwork was a major pain. Continuing the brick pattern on the Alpha3 was much more difficult than I thought it would be and had issues with the bricks not lining up correctly on a full row and color differences between the middle of the logo due to shadows and the bricks elsewhere. I settled on doing a copy/pasta over the original, setting transparency low to erase whatever I needed to keep the background correct and then managing the transparency in between the original and new brick colored layers.

One funny thing about original - I had to get rid of it but always got a kick out of it: "ANIMATED VIOLENCE MILD" WTF?! Seriously, is that supposed to be a sentence?


Example of original vs recreated-





The Marvel VS Capcom was a similar challenge since I had to continue the space background. I ended up erasing the space background (minus a bit of empty black space here and there that didn't matter) and finding a high resolution image of space that would fit the theme on google images and putting it down as a background image. Not necessarily hard, but very time consuming. I just miss the space motion lines that were on the original I don't have on the recreation. It still looks clean though so I'm happy with it.

One funny thing about original - I never liked how the original MvC logo had one gigantic sharp end sticking out on the upper right side. It looks like it's going to poke Ryu in the eye.


Example of original vs recreated-




-FrankCastleAZ

[Rorsach]

Those poor, poor Bass Fishing panels.

[supergoose]

the character artwork on your newer panels seems to be a bit too far in the corner. keep in mind that about a third will be cut when you apply the cpo and what's left of the artwork will be partially covered by the bolts that hold the panel in place.

i don't think those cabs will be posted in the gallery of ****.

[FrankCastleAZ]

Those poor, poor Bass Fishing panels.

HA! I couldn't throw those away fast enough. Sega Bass Fishing PCBs and control panels must be one of the easiest games to find due to so many Blast City renovations.

the character artwork on your newer panels seems to be a bit too far in the corner. keep in mind that about a third will be cut when you apply the cpo and what's left of the artwork will be partially covered by the bolts that hold the panel in place.

i don't think those cabs will be posted in the gallery of ****.

I'm aware the characters will be cut off. I learned the hard way a long time ago to extend my artwork out, so much more is shown on the mockup than what's expected to be visible on the finished product.
The 2nd player 6th button on the control panel doesn't leave a lot of room for artwork so even if the 1st player side has a lot of room I had to keep it the same size.
Thanks for the heads up though.

-FrankCastleAZ

[Hewitson]

$120USD for a harness? Fuuuuuck me...

[FrankCastleAZ]

$120USD for a harness? Fuuuuuck me...

There weren't a whole lot of options at the time. It was the shipping that really killed the cost, as it was $35.

-FrankCastleAZ

[IDCHAPPY]

Just out of curiosity, is your avatar you? look kinda mafia

[FrankCastleAZ]

Yes it is me and if I told you anything else about me I'd have to kill you.

Here's a few pics of me that don't look as intimidating....




Feel better?

Don't take me too lightly now...





-FrankCastleAZ

[kamex]

Good to see some of those Bass Fishing cabs being put to good use.

[FrankCastleAZ]

Updated 1st post with new pics.

Alpha 3 control panel redone.


Move lists for both games printed



-FrankCastleAZ

[FrankCastleAZ]

I've decided how I'm doing the wiring for the cabinets.

Because in the future I might want to hook up a PS3, 360 or other systems I wanted a system where I could easily swap out Molex connectors for wiring instead of having to remove and place quick disconnects.

I decided on 15 pin Molex connectors seen HERE. I could have done 12 (4 joystick, 7 buttons, 1 ground) but picked up what was available at my local electronics store (Fry's Electronics) and it leaves me room for expansion if for some odd reason I'll ever need it.

I did a schematic on them to keep for future records and I'll probably also print it out on a FedExOffice LamiLabel and place it inside the cabinet next to the other stickers labeling what is what.



I've done a lot of padhacking and arcade stick mods in my time so the ability to later add a padhacked 360 fightpad/brawlpad and an Toodles MC Cthulhu with multisystem support would be godlike!

Now on to wiring!

-FrankCastleAZ

[FrankCastleAZ]

Finished putting the art on the control panels and put the buttons and sticks in.




And I started wiring one of them for the Molex connectors.

-FrankCastleAZ

[codecrank]

Finished putting the art on the control panels and put the buttons and sticks in.

Nice contrasting look, me likee !

about the swappable pad hack, if you get the extra button loom for your cab, you can do this.




I like to keep the inside of the CP neat and undisturbed.