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Star Wars Cockpit - Project..? Time will tell


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  • Super Moderator

I'm reluctant to start this thread because chances are it will never be complete, I'll get the shits with it all and pass it on to the next person.. But anyway, if a start has to be made then this is it..

 

So I acquired 2 x Atari Star Wars Cockpit Cabs late last week, I'm sure anyone here, regardless of their expertise in electronics and restoration would have grabbed them, they are iconic. Anyway, sadly I lack in most areas that would be required for a restoration but with all the resources out there in AA land and on the interweb, there is more than enough help and knowledge for me to get started and into trouble..

 

So here they are:

 

50699430_Cabsx2.jpg.fd4019d8f3d7098dffdb44142b33fd05.jpg 382214998_Cabsx2_2.jpg.073b938b9d2b428171c5a15d8445f460.jpg

 

So today I had a little bit of a poke around inside to see what could be determined, the good with the bad..

 

On closer inspection they cabs are a bit rough, but looking @oota goota thread HERE there is hope for the cabinets. There will be a fair bit of work needed to be done in terms of fixing up the blown out bloatwood (particle board).. But I'm sure that Otta Goota won't mind disclosing his bog mix forumla for me to maybe use. Failing that I'm sure a good tin of car bog will do the trick. None of the bloatwood blowout has extended past the black border around the cabinet so any repair work undertaken can easily be masked and blended into the black border.

 

The main thing is, the cabinets are complete, but unfortunately the perspex canopy on both have been damaged. There is enough of one with the correct curves to hopefully sometime down the track get a couple of canopys made up.

 

 

Testing today netted the following:

 

Now please feel free to input and comment on anything because the testing i do is rudementary at best < input needed

 

Both tubes glow (both machines have the original A63AAX00X 25" tubes in them)

Both Amplifone Deflection boards seem to work to an extent

Only one Amplifone High Voltage board seems to work (HV board coupled to each of deflection boards resulted in neck glow)

Both motherboard sets produce the startup sound - 'The Force Will Be With You' - 'Always'

 

One board set coupled up with a HV board and Deflection board produces an occassional flash of 'vector colour' on the screen.

 

791662087_Vectorflash.jpg.b20a491b4bbd8d40bf8857fcccdb789f.jpg

 

One power transformer block seems to be working fine

One power transformer block is not producing 12V to / from the Regulator Audio board which results in no +10.3VDC UNR (unregulated..?)

 

845536318_ARBoard.jpg.c6f56ed339688b30977a3694f41b3df2.jpg

 

No matter which one of the RA boards used, the result is the same so the issue must stem at the transformer block

 

I've got 5 in total Regulator Audio boards, 3 of which I've determined to be ok, and the other 2 failing some where..

 

 

So thats where I'm at for the moment.. Not even scratched the surface yet.

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Hi John,

 

On power up and after pressing the service button 4 times I get 'The Force Will Be With You' - 'Always'

 

If I twist the yoke to top left (no screen remember) and hit the fire buttons It 'almost' starts a game, 'Red Five (or whatever) Standing By'.. And thats it, normally it should then go into the game play with music etc, but it dosen't.

Edited by WOKA
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By the way WOKA, don't use that ARII board pictured, as it's missing a Capacitor (C10), plus has had a bunch of caps wired in parallel to make up for a 3300uf cap that should be in position C9

 

Regards,

 

Johns-Arcade.

 

 

Thanks John..

 

That one was determined as dead anyway.. I hooked it up to power in and checked the TP's, and as you would expect - dead.. ;)

 

 

WOW....How did you get 2? Whats the back story please? How much did you pay?

Great Score!!!

 

Hey Jango.. A bit of a story here..

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Hey WOKA that's awesome! wow man TWO cockpits!!!

 

Yes please feel free to share the bog/ resin mix. I've done a few pieces now I'm really happy with the results.

 

Basically you add enough resin to the bog to turn it into a pourable medium rather than a paste. Then it's just a case of making a wall around the piece you want to fix so it can hold the mix while it cures. I found brushing a bit of resin into the particle board helped a lot as it soaked into the wood and it gives the resin/ bog mix something to adhere to.

 

Oh yeah make sure you use the MEKP catalyst that you get with the resin and not the hardener you get with the bog.

 

Good luck and MTFBWY!!!!

 

Unfortunately I've been flat out since I picked up my cab from Ben so have had no time to do any more resto

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OK, cool, sorry John, wasn't sure. Oops :redface, Ben bought one from you, but you kept the best one, that's right

 

Yeah I still have mine, provided the termites haven't got to it. No, the second cab I had belonged to someone else (friend in Melbourne).

 

Regards,

 

Johns-Arcade.

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I don't recall Jeff having one though..?

 

 

Now I don't claim to be anything other than a bit of a bodgy bastard, and I haven't used bog since the days of the old Mitsubishi Sigma back in the late 80's.. Bitashitty = lots of bog..

 

Anyway, lets give it a go.. Following are the pics of CAB#2 rear lower kick panel (for want of a better description), you can see its pretty rough.

 

52743765_Backdoorbottom.jpg.b6a2c4aa5d2d1ed3f103cf1417749fca.jpg

 

Hit it with the orbital for a little while and surprisingly is shapes up quite nicely.. 10 minutes or so with some 60 grit paper and this is what we're left with

 

1390742775_Backdoorbottomsanded.jpg.67e012fd5891ec9212d0b991ce193dc5.jpg

 

I sent old mate Prowler a PM regarding the type of bog that he uses, fortunately he obliged and revealed to me one of his secrets, however if I pass this info on, I'm a dead man.. So using an old door as a base to work from I screwed the panel to the door and formed it up with some Aussie duct (cable trunking).. Aussie duct is great, I use it for everything and I think it will be bang on for when I need to bog up the machine edge curves because its flexible and will follow the original line of the machine easily - here's hoping anyway. All formed up, bog mixed up and lets slap it in. I'll get the ratio right with practice, but this shit goes off quick.

 

1341842024_Backdoorbottominnitialbog.thumb.jpg.0940e47b323bb838679f8d28a46fb876.jpg 633813604_Backdoorbottominnitialbogunderside.jpg.83b8266c66220ad29124462bd2ceb56c.jpg

 

Let it cure for a while, hit it with the same 60 grit, bog some more, rinse repeat.. Anyway, the pretty much finished panel is as below, whilst its not a master piece, I'm relativcely happy with it. Its the least seen piece that needs repair, so my thinking is that things can only get better.. Fingers crossed.

 

Its late, the neighbour is old so I'll have a closer look and a but more of a finish tomorrow, maybe.

 

753441435_backbottomdoor_3.thumb.jpg.56e2fa26ca4204eabb18b3b5109885bf.jpg 606519872_backbottomdoor_2.jpg.e7920f51b5c8f9a69ec7af5e15bf824f.jpg 493862844_backbottomdoor_1.thumb.jpg.9af517f165b1417cc34a9b622118a04a.jpg

Edited by WOKA
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Hey WOKA ... made my day reading your previous thread about finding the twins! Hope the restore goes well. I saw on ebay someone in VIC selling the Start Wars PCB ... Strictly pickup only so you'd have to rely on someone to grab it for you. Good luck.
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Hey WOKA ... made my day reading your previous thread about finding the twins! Hope the restore goes well. I saw on ebay someone in VIC selling the Start Wars PCB ... Strictly pickup only so you'd have to rely on someone to grab it for you. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the heads up..

 

So who lives near Kingsville Victoria and could maybe help out with postage..?

 

 

TIA

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How many SW C/Pits belong to AAers now?

 

Benwah

Oota Goota

Me

Hoopstar

Woka 1

Woka 2

John's arcade :D

Rocky2

daveb

 

Total 9 . .

 

Any more out there?

 

Great question Dez! That's a pretty impressive number considering how few must have made it to this part of the world....

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Nice work Woka funny that's the first bit I had a go at too

Edited by dezbaz
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Super Moderator

So I won the auction for the Star Wars boardset last week, put my high bid of $111.11 and won it for $110.50 odd, very happy - just sniped it. Big thanks to @dragonlee for organising the pickup and postage, much appreciated, top bloke.. Send me the postal costs and your details please so I can fix you up. :)

 

Anyway, got the boards home today, WTF, plug them in and lets see what happens.. First thing I hear is the Vector ticking - I'd forgotten about that noise that a WORKING boardset with a working tube and chassis will produce. Had I remembered that noise I would have realised earlier that likely my boards were the issue, hence no picture before.. Low and behold Cockpit 2 WORKS..! Didn't have any X axis movement on the yoke, notice a broken wire, twist and tape for testing puposes, X axis now works - played a game :) Another score - working Atari SW boardset for ~ $110.00..!

 

Monitor needs some adjustment, will research that later, unless someone drops some hints here, but the screen image could be stretched vertically a few inches.

 

Anyway, pictures for the win, excuse the quality, and what a blast to have a working game. :)

 

896003370_2013-12-1020_08_22.jpg.1879962f17f348e33d461e894643888e.jpg

 

582426743_2013-12-1020_07_12.jpg.d5b63d2c49c6de906bdec1786b9996d1.jpg

 

2083926339_2013-12-1020_07_32.jpg.00e9c97b7bb9ef71714491d8fcebce51.jpg

 

1615310992_2013-12-1020_08_08.jpg.27476fed7548cce4c2f6caf3d69756cf.jpg

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