Blast City Club

[Westcb]

I'm about a week late in posting in this thread, but the used cab smell is still intoxicating!



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Is there a place currently sourcing marquees and/or other art?

Spectre makes blast marquees, and he takes on design requests.
I have not found anyone willing to make move strips except Alberto who made some for me and Codecrank for our forgotten world panels but I don't think that's something he does much of.

 

[grendelrt]

That gradius marquee is sweet! I have a couple from spectre, they are great quality.

 

[Yoshi]

Very nice. Thanks!

 

[dipindods]

If lemony is still busy and not making them hit up james (jnx). He made me some sweet rotary cables on the cheap. It takes me a stupid long time to make cables and I only got enough parts left for One more which goes to my candy bro Stellarola :-/ I can definitely help you order the parts if u want to make one, it's not difficult just takes time and about 140 feet of wire :-)

thanks i just messaged him i hope i can find someone to make me one soon. im not handy enuff to make one but if all else fails i might have to give it a shot. thanks again bro

 

[Spectre]

Hi folks, just a quick note to say anyone interested in my marquees for the Blast City should head on over to Arcade Otaku, I have a group order thread in the Business, Auctions & Member Services section of the Marketplace.

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=19380

I don't come over here to neo-geo.com very often these days and my brain would probably explode if I tried to spread the group order across multiple forums, so if you're interested in my marquees, best to post in my thread on AO.

 

[dipindods]

ok sent my request over there

 

[codecrank]

spectre's marquee's are the best you can get right now in case anyone's unsure. I have several and it beats any other alternatives.

 

[Yoshi]

What do people feel is the ideal MVS revision for a Blast City? Perusing the hardMVS matrix, it appears MV-1, MV-1F, and MV-1FS would work well, since stereo sound is readily available. Plus they have socketed BIOS. However, out of those only the MV-1 has any memory card support.

 

[Kid Panda]

I personally use a MV-1FS, it's a medium sized board and like you said, does support stereo. Also if interested, I make the stereo cables.

 

[Yoshi]

I absolutely will be, so thanks for letting me know.

 

[jambitboom]

2 Years ago I began this journey after trading a few games to a guy on craigslist for the empty shell of a Blast City. Since then, I've collected parts from the 4 corners of the world, been through many highs and lows, and experienced the woe that is finding a monitor and chassis at the right price. Now I can finally say that I have a working Blast City





Huge shout out to Eczangief, Chempop, and Jassin000 all of whom were a huge help to me at 1 or more times during my search for parts. Shout out to GrantSpain for some great advice regarding monitors. It's good to be an official member of the Blast City Brotherhood!

 

[Orrimarrko]

Very nice!

 

[Westcb]

Well it's taken awhile but weather was perfect blast city restoration weather today so this is what I did. This is a cab I got from a group buy Stellarola headed up last year. I had already washed this cab (literally) inside and out so it was ready for paint. I recapped the monitor and the sound amp. Installed new speakers, new old stock 1 slot neo board, new sticks, buttons, and coin slot (thanks to Alberto) Made new cp wiring harnesses, and custom cab artwork and control panel (thanks to Codecrank) and new marquee (thanks to spectre).
The cab was scratched up pretty bad which forced me into painting the whole thing because I wanted that sideart to pop against new paint. Still need one lock installed and a final wipe down (including polishing the metal plate along the bottom). I wish I had taken some pics of it while it was outside as there is no natural light in my basement and this cab looks really good now. Here's some poor quality pics of the final result.


I do have a metal slug move strip I may end up using as the matching art is pretty plain. Glad to finally get this one put together as I'll have another cab thats coming that's apparently next level over the top dirty and will be a great challenge for the summer.

 

[Chempop]

Woooooo Jambit I’m so happy it’s working! Sweet Panel, that thing is MINTY and you know I like the pink and blue
There have been marquee plexi covers on YAJ lately, or you could just stop being lame and make a WTB thread (you’ll probably get banned though...)

Westcb, did you clear coat it? Details man, details!

 

[codecrank]

glad to see this art set finally put to good use and the new paint looks great !

I think I might still have a spare 5575 lock... for next time you swing by.

 

[Westcb]

Westcb, did you clear coat it? Details man, details!

No I used 3 coats of hard enamel epoxy paint, like they would use on a oven. It's really strong and has held up pretty well for me on my Astros now for the last couple years. I use spray cans so there's no brush strokes but requires sanding between coats to keep it smooth. There is a very slight texture on some parts compared to a factory finish but it's so light it doesn't bother me. If I used a higher grit sand paper it would eliminate it completely I'm sure. I have tried to do a final clear coat in the past but I could never get the gloss levels uniform, and basically the heavier the coat the more different it would look especially under light. Unless you move your cabs a lot there is zero chance of scratching these under normal play. I know a auto body shop could do better, but it cost me about 12 bucks for everything so you really can't compare it to a 400+ paint job :-)

Codecrank: I'll be up that way in about 3 weeks, and I'll gladly take a lock if you got one for me :-)

 

[RoadBuster]

That paint job looks incredible, Westcb. I'm mortified to try something like that with mine.

 

[Westcb]

That paint job looks incredible, Westcb. I'm mortified to try something like that with mine.

Honestly unless the paint is scraped off you probably don't need to. Magic erasers and lots of hard scrubbing will really clean them up great. I have been playing lots of MS but it got pulled out the other night when I got my Taito G-net hooked up. It came with a handful of carts mostly vert shmups but also has super puzzle bobble which has a 2 player co-op mode which has been a blast for me and my daughter to play together since we are on the same team. I saw where you can flash a custom bios and load games off compact flash cards even games not designed for the board like G Darius and aero fighters special. It's probably old news but I just have never been exposed to this neat board.

 

[skate323k137]

glad to see this art set finally put to good use and the new paint looks great !

I think I might still have a spare 5575 lock... for next time you swing by.

I should have several spare 5575 locks, just no spare keys to go with them so I haven't sold them. If you or anyone else needs a couple, let me know.

 

[Westcb]

I should have several spare 5575 locks, just no spare keys to go with them so I haven't sold them. If you or anyone else needs a couple, let me know.

Pm sent!

 

[Kid Panda]

So ever since I got my Blast City, I've noticed when turning off the switch with the machine plugged up, the marquee light stays on. Any ideas of where I can see what is hacked or plugged in something the wrong way?

 

[ahcmetal]

So ever since I got my Blast City, I've noticed when turning off the switch with the machine plugged up, the marquee light stays on. Any ideas of where I can see what is hacked or plugged in something the wrong way?

Hmmm...assumming you always leave the main PSU on/off switch in the "on" position that's on the back of that cab and just turn the cab on with the on/off switch in the control panel...I would guess the most simple way for a person to alter the wiring to keep the marquee light on all the time with the monitor off would be to just pull the 120v directly off that line filter...

Open the access hatch and look straight into the cab and there should be the power wiring where the main A/C cord comes into the cab, then I think from the cord it went directly into a little black box for the line filtering, then out the other side of the line filter and probably to the main PSU...either way, all that should be 120v all the time even when the monitor is off...so somebody may have just taken the 2 marquee wires from in the cab and then jumpered it onto that line filter, because that be a pretty easy way to do it...

 

[ahcmetal]

So ever since I got my Blast City, I've noticed when turning off the switch with the machine plugged up, the marquee light stays on. Any ideas of where I can see what is hacked or plugged in something the wrong way?

...unless you're saying that the marquee light is still on even when *both* the control panel switch and the main switch on the back of the cab is off...in that case they must have tapped into the 120v between where the power cord and the main power switch is...

 

[codecrank]

So ever since I got my Blast City, I've noticed when turning off the switch with the machine plugged up, the marquee light stays on. Any ideas of where I can see what is hacked or plugged in something the wrong way?

my buddy's blast is doing the same thing.... did it use to be a bass city by any chance ?

 

[Kid Panda]

my buddy's blast is doing the same thing.... did it use to be a bass city by any chance ?

It was, well I traced the two wires from the marquee light all the way to the line filter. It's hooked with a molex plug so no hanky panky with the wiring that I am aware of.