John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

Hey all.  

I thought seeing as I've been on here for a while, it might be time to introduce myself; or rather my (very small) retro collection.  

I have two arcade cabinets, one generic Jamma two player upright and a 1979 cocktail table.  I have acquired a few PCB's, that I hope to find cabinets as soon as, but this will depend on convincing my wife it's a good idea.  :P   I also have a 7' (ft) pub (bar) pool table with a slate top, that's on free play.  Although, I'm trying to find a new home for this.

The cocktail cabinet is an early monochrome Space Invaders cab, proceeding the colour (color - I'm british) monitor distribution.  It has a rainbow panel that sits on top of the screen to give the illusion of colour.  The game it currently runs is Lunar Rescue; although it has heavy Space Invaders burn-in.  So, it has a 13" mono monitor, as apposed to the 14" colour that came later.  The issue I have with it, is that the flyback smokes when switched on.  Suffice to say, I don't switch it on.  All the schematics I have found on this cabinet/monitor show a new model monitor and chassis.  This makes finding any information quite hard.  The question I have is, do i replace the CRT for a newer model or keep trying to find a way to fix the issue?  My preference is to keep trying.  Any advice or information on where I might go with this would be greatly appreciated.  

The Jamma CRT also developed some issues.  But I have a reasonable idea how to go about fixing these.  Mainly the black turned red and there are raster horizontal lines scrolling up or down the screen.  

The PCB's I own currently, in no particular order, are:

• R-Type II
• Shadow Warriors
• Armoured Warriors
• Lunar Rescue
• The Main Event
• Phoenix
• Street Fighter II
• Tekken II
• Virtua Fighter II

 

My most wanted (for an affordable price) PCB's (cabinets too if found) would be any of these:

• The New Zealand Story
• Rainbow Islands
• Space Invaders
• Pac Man
• Joust
• Double Dragon
• Gauntlet II
• Ghosts 'n Goblins
• Star Wars (yeah, I know - like that's going to happen - but still)
• Golden Axe
• Altered Beast
• Dynamite Dux
• Donkey Kong
• Bomb Jack
• Power Drift
• Hard Drivin
• Toobin
• Robocop
• Computer Space (pfft, yeah I wish - but I really do)
• Frogger
• Mortal Kombat (any version)
• Lode Runner
• ...And this list keeps growing! =D

If anyone would like a great home for any of these... let me know =)  :P

I also have a thing for retro computers (from my childhood) and the old handheld "arcade" machines; like the Donkey Kong that John was given.  I love the old BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, ZX80/81 and the Atari 2600, etc.

As for me, I'm a Computer Scientist, working as a Software Developer.  I have experience in embedded systems and IoT devices, with a specialisation in system integration and communication protocols.  

I have a lot to learn about arcade maintenance and am attracted to the whole repair process, thus the love for the John's Arcade channel.  

I hope to get to know more of you on here.     Please feel free to drop me a line anytime, and if anyone want's know know anything about me, just haller.

DrTopCat.