ACLBandit's Capcom CPS-II "Big Blue" restoration

[aclbandit]

Finally got most of my midterms out of the way and had some time and money this weekend to put into the cab.

The wheels have FINALLY been added. This behemoth will be SO Much easier to work on now.

Also, the front has been painted a nice, paint-matched blue (I'll post the color specs as soon as someone tells me how to read this sticker on top) and the light and starter have been replaced in the marquee.

I broke the power supply a little -- one of the cables that connects the (obviously-really-broken) power jack into the PSU came loose. The spark that came shooting out there on first powerup had me really worried, but I worked it all back where it goes (CAREFULLY) with a pair of rubber-handled pliers. It boots again

Also got my Street Fighter Zero board in the mail, so I can't wait to get this thing fully painted and put back together so I can play it a little.

Pictures of the terrifying power supply (see what I mean by "looks like a fire hazard"?) and my caster wheels (with BRAKES. Wewt.), as well as their large boltage, shall follow. As always, images are clickable for a higher resolution.

 

[aclbandit]

Wow, I think I forgot to continue updating this thread.

Well. If anyone still cares, the thing is pretty much restored, save for the lack of a proper monitor chassis since mine blew >.<;

I'll take pictures sometime soon.

 

[SMMM]

Oh, I didn't see those last couple of updates there - but I am extremely interested in what else you did to restore and what it all looks like - since I'll be doing much of the same to my own at some point.

 

[aclbandit]

Sure thing.

I ended up removing the wheels; they made the machine wobble a bit during a hadouken, which is unacceptable.

To avoid the problem of having to move the 350 pound machine each time I wanted to change games, though, I came up with a solution that did not involve wheels: I put the boards under the control panel, halfway back under the monitor so that the center control stick didn't scrape my boards. I don't know that this would work for a 2-player CP, but it was a great solution for my 3P. If I want to change the game, all I do is lift the CP, just like the Neo.


I also ended up exchanging the coin doors from the Neo and the CPS2 -- I wanted the coin return buttons to match (neither machine's did: the Neo's were amber, and the CPS's were red), and I could only find blue coin returns for Happ doors.

Not that you can tell from the picture, but the coin returns are a nice blue. I will need to replace the light bulbs behind the coin return buttons still.


I sanded down all of the bowed-out edges of the marquee (all of the corners stuck out, perhaps from being stored somewhere humid?) and repainted until it looks like new:


And I don't think it's any different than before, but here's the CP again:


I also replaced the power supply, so I don't think my house will catch on fire while I play street fighter now. I replaced a good portion of the t-molding, and the rest is here waiting to be installed. Both coin doors and the back panel have actual locks now, so things stay shut.

All-in-all, this thing looks WORLDS better than it did before.

EDIT: Also, it's the first picture where you can see the blue front, which was (for some unknown reason) black when I got it.

 

[SMMM]

Any idea of what color blue that is and where you got it? Should be painting mine sometime soon.

 

[aclbandit]

Any idea of what color blue that is and where you got it? Should be painting mine sometime soon.

I actually took the marquee off and took one of the two circles that sit between the marquee and the top of the machine to have it color matched, so it should be fairly accurate.

I don't have a clue how to read this, but I think that all the info you need is on the sticker on top.

However, my camera is awful and that looks illegible, so the numbers are as follows:
OZ 1 0 0 0
384th 332 338 6 186

Base:1753

The combination of the picture and the numbers should hopefully tell you what you need. If not, let me know.

You'll also wanna make sure you get the right paint -- my neo is painted with this crap that peels right off (it was my first project); the CPS2 has some much nicer paint. The "Behr Premium Plus Ultra" that has paint and primer in one has worked wonderfully.

 

[Electric Grave]

What I did for my BB was make a shelf beneath the monitor and then I could swap games and take them out by opening the CP and swinging the game vertical as it comes out. I also rerouted the poswer swtich on the PSU and added a credit button underneath the CP to keep it hidden. I also added a service panel with a test button, service and volume knob for Jamma, I was fixing to install my Q sound amp (my BB is the real deal, the original BB) but I never got around to it before I sold it. I miss my BB

Just to throw it out there, so eons on eBay is soling a BB in OK with a Tetris game in it for like 40 bucks, someone should grab this and do it proper.

 

[aclbandit]

What I did for my BB was make a shelf beneath the monitor and then I could swap games and take them out by opening the CP and swinging the game vertical as it comes out. I also rerouted the poswer swtich on the PSU and added a credit button underneath the CP to keep it hidden. I also added a service panel with a test button, service and volume knob for Jamma, I was fixing to install my Q sound amp (my BB is the real deal, the original BB) but I never got around to it before I sold it. I miss my BB

Just to throw it out there, so eons on eBay is soling a BB in OK with a Tetris game in it for like 40 bucks, someone should grab this and do it proper.

Test and service and volume buttons are already in mine, but mine is a later model than yours was, I think.

I also keep the boards in the CP so that they're easy to swap out -- moving the damn thing to get 'em outta the back just sucks.

Where was the power switch on yours? Mine's on the right side toward the back.

 

[aclbandit]

At some point, I'm going to have to re-wire this cabinet entirely, though.

It appears to have been wired in its entirety by retarded koalas. It works, but it's ugly and tough to work on (on the inside, at least).

 

[Electric Grave]

Same here the wiring was pretty poor. Yes the power switch is on the right hand side but I rerouted it to the service panel I added which is right above the coin box for ease of use, just like the MVS and many other woodies.

My setup was pretty sweet, you could swap games from the front by opening the CP, eSy in easy out, you could see what you were doing but after a few swaps it was really nothing. The A board was attached to the shelve so I was only swapping B boards, but you could still put another A board on top if needed just in case you have some gray Asian board action going on.

My BB was the real deal, it was a hyper fighting BB so it was the first model that was also used for Captain Commando. This can uses the official 15" x 27" marquees and it had the official Capcom seal on the back. I know dynamo made it for them and after the second revision they went generic and dynamo sold this cabs for just about any game until they came out with the third revision which was Capcom exclusive like the first revision.

 

[aclbandit]

Same here the wiring was pretty poor. Yes the power switch is on the right hand side but I rerouted it to the service panel I added which is right above the coin box for ease of use, just like the MVS and many other woodies.

My setup was pretty sweet, you could swap games from the front by opening the CP, eSy in easy out, you could see what you were doing but after a few swaps it was really nothing. The A board was attached to the shelve so I was only swapping B boards, but you could still put another A board on top if needed just in case you have some gray Asian board action going on.

My BB was the real deal, it was a hyper fighting BB so it was the first model that was also used for Captain Commando. This can uses the official 15" x 27" marquees and it had the official Capcom seal on the back. I know dynamo made it for them and after the second revision they went generic and dynamo sold this cabs for just about any game until they came out with the third revision which was Capcom exclusive like the first revision.

that's a really convenient idea, putting the power switch there. I'll have to consider moving mine.

It's only luck that mine happened to be the AvP control panel -- I don't think the boards would fit under one of the two-player CPs the way that I do 'em.

One nice thing about the first CPS2 revisions was that the CP doesn't go wider than the machine itself -- fits real nice with the ones next to it.

Also, I would absolutely LOVE to have the ceiling clearance to get one of the full-size marquee boxes up top. If someone had one for sale, I'd buy it just to have ready for when I get my own place. My marquee box is currently (and unfortunately) the "short style."