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I recently picked up a Thunder Blade DLX which was stored in a garage for a number of years. I never thought I'd find one in NZ, so was pretty happy when it arrived!

 

I know most people don't have space for these units but I have fond memories of playing them back in the day. To me, they were the pinnacle of the arcade experience.

 

Obviously it's filthy but pretty much all there. The throttle cover is missing (they had an ice cream container there lol). It's going to need a full strip down.

 

I usually don't document my projects but thought this one was worth it. I'll do my best, I don't claim to be a professional but it should look pretty nice when complete.

 

Cheers

 

 

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Tested the cabinet fuses, all good. Disconnected the PCB and switched on the game - its fires up! PSU putting out 5.32v.

 

Reconnected the PCB and switched it on. Monitor seems OK though PCB has issues, comes up with a glitchy red screen, so it will need repair as expected.

 

Couldn't help myself, started stripping it down. Better get onto it before I buy something else and lose motivation..

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Some more pics so you can see how the machine goes together.

 

I was surprised that there is no motor, purely mechanical movement with the joystick. 2 pots provide feedback to the PCB

 

So many rusted bolts that stripped, it was a pain!

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Now the machine is fully stripped. The metal parts (x29) will go off to the shop for sandblasting and powder coating - satin black

 

Wiring looms will get a clean in the dishwasher

 

Seat has cracks in it, that will need fixing, which I don't have a lot of experience with but it shouldn't be too bad

 

Might be a bit of a delay from now till the next update

 

Let me know if anyone else has one of these or recalls playing back in the day?

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Looks like you're going full on with a repair, hoping to see it looking brand new at the end of this!

Let me know if anyone else has one of these or recalls playing back in the day?
We've got one, bought it from Magic Mountain back in the 90s, cosmetically ours is a lot worse due to Magic Mountain being on the beach, everyone would have a swim and then sit on it, so the salt water had its fun with the metal bits!

 

 

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Thats awesome :)

 

Ive powder coated mine and got all the plastics repaired and painted......just got to get around to apply the new decals (one day)

 

Do your tail flasher work? As far as I know, the 110v flasher globes are no longer available :(

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Do your tail flasher work? As far as I know, the 110v flasher globes are no longer available :(

 

Pretty sure mine are both blown as well. I think will have to be some sort of LED solution, guess will figure it out towards the end :-)

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Great game, good pick-up! I too love this era of games and the large machines. Sega was so ambitious. I guess there's not many around due to not fitting into most loungerooms. Wish I'd had a flat bed truck at some of those fire sales.
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Love it. I share the exact same sentiment as @Mick80

 

I have a couple of repair threads for Afterbuner that may be of help with your board. I also have a test program that can be used to trouble shoot the board to a limited extent.

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Nice pickup!

Look forward to seeing its transformation :rolleyes

I have a original Sega manual for it including schematics I’m about to list for sale if your interested.

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Love it. I share the exact same sentiment as @Mick80

 

I have a couple of repair threads for Afterbuner that may be of help with your board. I also have a test program that can be used to trouble shoot the board to a limited extent.

 

Thanks mate, I'll check out your threads re After Burner. The test program will be a great help!

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Nice pickup!

Look forward to seeing its transformation :rolleyes

I have a original Sega manual for it including schematics I’m about to list for sale if your interested.

 

Thanks for that, I have already printed a manual off the net but will let you know if I'm keen. The printed version's schematics are pretty poor.

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Thanks for that, I have already printed a manual off the net but will let you know if I'm keen. The printed version's schematics are pretty poor.

 

No problems :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got all the parts back from the powdercoaters, makes such a difference.

 

The seat section just got sandblasted as it has a large bearing in the center I couldn't remove, I'll need to spray paint it.

 

Then to figure out how the whole thing goes back together...uh oh

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Some more pics so you can see how the machine goes together.

 

I was surprised that there is no motor, purely mechanical movement with the joystick. 2 pots provide feedback to the PCB

 

So many rusted bolts that stripped, it was a pain!

 

So is that true then that no Thunder Blade cabinet has a shaker motor? I've connected my PCB to the After Burner cab and no shaker action whatsoever! I suspected fault with the PCB, but maybe there was no shaker to start with...

 

Correction, there was a shaker motor - it definitely was on the upright cabinet. Maybe only the DX version did not have one...

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So is that true then that no Thunder Blade cabinet has a shaker motor? I've connected my PCB to the After Burner cab and no shaker action whatsoever! I suspected fault with the PCB, but maybe there was no shaker to start with...

 

Correction, there was a shaker motor - it definitely was on the upright cabinet. Maybe only the DX version did not have one...

 

Yeah I thought only the upright had a shaker. Seems SEGA did that with Afterburner and Outrun uprights too

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