MVS-U4 Candy Cab restoration!

mikejmoffitt

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For a pretty cheap deal I've picked up an MVS-U4 candy cab from the nineties, in pretty banged up shape with a crappy control panel modification.
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Got it home safely, and the loudest rattling of all time tells me that there is about five dollars worth of quarters rolling around in the bottom. Sweet!
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The control panel's pretty gross. Happ stuff everywhere, with aftermarket bolt holes drilled in to the CP. Despite that, the CP itself is original. The memory card board is nowhere to be found.
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This CP has had quite a history to it. Obviously the wrong sticks and buttons, but this overlay is aftermarket as well. It's starting to peel off, but the top metal layer is pretty warpy too.
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The CP comes in two pieces: the lower piece mounts the joystick, while the upper piece has holes for buttons. The joystick holes have been widened, and four bolt spots for shitty Happ sticks are there alongside the original ones. Bizarrely, the bottom joystick piece is upside-down.
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mikejmoffitt

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Looking more at the control panel, some of the overlay has peeled away, revealing some blue underneath. A keen observer will notice that the peeling overlay reveals a muted blue paint, which itself looks like it's covering the original art seen in the lower-left corner.
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Sure enough, the blue spraypaint covers the original vinyl art in better shape than expected. Before I go ordering a new panel, I may try some citristrip to save it.
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mikejmoffitt

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The cab has no monitor! A little craigslisting, and i'm on the way to do some monitor hunting.
So many choices! I picked two nice wells-gardner monitors that had no burnand clean chassis. All were untested, but the price was right.
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Ah, except I'm a moron, and managed to pick out two medium-res-only monitors: 25K7501 monitors! Shit! They appear to work, but are absolutely useless to me.
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Threw those up for sale as-is on KLOV.
 

mikejmoffitt

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In the meantime, back to the control panel. This worn front edge tells stories: The original white paint is underneath the same muted blue paint, and on top of that is a rather poor white paint job again.
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It appears someone made it a daily routine to pour soda and coffee on this machine to make sure it's ruined, and they were doing well. Underneath the start buttons decal was a sight:
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The front is pretty gross as well.
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A little scrubbing did reasonably well to help, with just the corroded rusty bits remaining. For a nicer cab, a proper strip and power coating would be the best choice, but I'm not dumping a ton of money into this thing.
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mikejmoffitt

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ALRIGHT let's go get another monitor, and the correct one this time.
Found a K7191 with a good tube. Still untested / as-is.
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Pulled the PCB to give it a clean and look-over, and there's a big burnt hole in the bottom of the board. I'm not powering that on until I do some work.
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I don't know what happened here. No components upstream or downstream look so upset, but C38's leg has been blown half off. C38 appears to still work, which is interesting.
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I've ordered a new flyback, voltage regulator, and HOT (which appears to be shorted). Some cleaning, reflowing, and trace fixins might see this chassis working.
 

Electric Grave

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Great work so far. I got the file for the CPO, will hook you up if needed, just LMK. I'll show you pics of it later, good luck!
 

fenikso

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Good luck with your restoration. Shame about the shitty paint jobs over the original paint/decals.
 

Heinz

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I would kill for an MVS-U series cab even in this condition, nice going so far anyway. You will make it :)
 

mikejmoffitt

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For a nicer cab? Kidding?

This cabinet is in pretty rough shape, and I'm not keen on dumping a lot of money into it is all.


Meanwhile, turns out a standard 25" US arcade monitor will not mount in this cabinet. Eyeballing it, it looks like it needs a 23" or 24". Now that I have this 25" monitor it is also useless.
 

Flinnster

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Keep at it dude - it'll be worth it when it's all done! (even more so, given the hassles you'll have overcome at that point!) :D

Gross muck comes off with a load of scrubbing and surface wipes, some gentle magic-erasering too. My current project cab had a coke explosion inside that was never cleaned by the arcade operator. So that's 5+ years of warm etched in coke acid that I'm slowly working out of the thing!
 
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NEO G-TRON

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So the 25" wells gardner does not mount properly in this cabinet.

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure someone told me Candy cabs typically monitors are different in size then US cab's monitors. Be sure it's intended for a Candy cab.

Your doing great so far, keep at it bro! Looking forward to seeing her up and running soon!
 

Electric Grave

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MVU4 uses a 24.8 CRT. The Aero City which also uses a 24.8 can be retro fitted to work with a 25" monitor. I know 'cause I've owned both cabs and done the retro fitting. All you need is to adjust the CRT frame accordingly whether it needs new holes or needs some shaving.

Edit: The thing with the MVU4 is that it has the proprietary Hitachi or Toshiba CRT frame set off center, in other words if you notice the hole for the monitor has a side that goes deeper than the other. You have to move one side or "leg" of the CRT frame towards the center until it can fit and then secure it proper.

TLDR; McGuyver the damn thing!
 
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mikejmoffitt

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Well, the funny thing is that the off-center area on the top does perfectly match up with the K7191's mounting brace perfectly. I'll take a picture of how it (fails) to mount later. If I have to jury rig it with some angle-grinding and bracket-making, so be it, but it would be great not to!
 

monads

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Keep it going mikejmoffitt!! I just hope you get the right monitor/hooked up before you yourself end up with a bunch of CRT's like the graveyard photo!
 

mikejmoffitt

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Someone on KLOV has contacted me and has a monitor. He's in Los Angeles, but it might be worth the drive considering how hard these are to find.
 

mikejmoffitt

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I'm trying to see how I might jury rig this 25" US monitor to fit, while the cabinet is really designed for a 23" US monitor.
 

NeuroticMoose

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Where is this place with all the monitors? I've looked on craigslist for that general area and nothing is popping up, any idea if the guy had any 27 inchers?
 

mmsadda

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MVU4 uses a 24.8 CRT. The Aero City which also uses a 24.8 can be retro fitted to work with a 25" monitor. I know 'cause I've owned both cabs and done the retro fitting. All you need is to adjust the CRT frame accordingly whether it needs new holes or needs some shaving.

Edit: The thing with the MVU4 is that it has the proprietary Hitachi or Toshiba CRT frame set off center, in other words if you notice the hole for the monitor has a side that goes deeper than the other. You have to move one side or "leg" of the CRT frame towards the center until it can fit and then secure it proper.

TLDR; McGuyver the damn thing!

Building on this, I found a CRT for my Aero Table project from an operator who was parting out a couple cabs locally. I believe I got a Nanao MS8-25 (May have the name wrong) but anyhow, it was a proper monitor for an Aero City. So I believe there are MS8-25s that were used in the US *edit* after some thinking/research, I'm 95% sure it came out of a Manx TT Superbike, maybe Manx TT twin (Originally thought maybe Die Hard/STV Trashcan cab or Namco Suzuka 8 Hours)

tl;dr: Don't give up on finding a PROPER monitor just yet

Cool project, casually following this thread!
 
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mikejmoffitt

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Where is this place with all the monitors? I've looked on craigslist for that general area and nothing is popping up, any idea if the guy had any 27 inchers?

He had a few. He's up in Napa and his username on klov is 8bitnintendo.
 
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