Sega Dino King to mini Ghouls n' Ghosts Conversion

[muddymusic]

Some of you will have seen this cab at Play but not the conversion details so thought I'd post it here for you to see how it started out.

I had seen a couple of jamma conversions done and thought they were lovely little cabs and would be ripe for a full dedicated artwork conversion so when I managed to snag one I got to work quickly.

I wanted to make it a single player game as the cp is so small, ideally 2 buttons, 1 stick & 1 start, and also something I had the pcb for and also high res artwork so settled on Ghouls n Ghosts.

A quick mockup of how it might look before I got started made me sure it was the right choice of game for the cab.

Cab Arrival and test.

Front stuff

Front stuff removed

Rear stuff

Rear stuff removed along with the entire loom which comes out in one piece!

Little mains splitter cable for the card dispenser that kept causing my RCD to trip. Removed 2 pins and all that cable comes out.

This leaves the main input, line filter, isolation transformer, monitor + degauss button cabling.

Some of the bits left over after all unnecessary stuff has been removed.

Check the pcb I want to use fits on the shelf.

That's a pretty tight fit, but it's on there no probs

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Thanks for bringing this over mate. Did your Dinoking have the chip in it still ?

 

[muddymusic]

Side art removed

Loom prepared

All power wiring done, switcher screwed to the mounting board and 240v tapped from the line filter using a couple of splice connectors.

It's really easy to make the wiring nice and tidy in these as there are loads of cable clamps.

Jamma loom has been fitted, just 1 player needed so cut down the need for a lot of wires. Fed the service & test buttons to the original panel and the audio runs straight to the speaker on the front door.

Fired up the cab for the first time on the new wiring and all running fine.

These little monitors give a gorgeous picture, it's just a pain in the ass to make adjustments. I have a set of trimming tools but it's still tricky to get at the pots.

Side art arrives

Design for bezel

Design for control panel

Then I'm going to finish the cab off with a 3mm rigid topper graphic, similar to the original one on the cab but a little smaller.

Side art on the cab. In retrospect I'd have gone much bigger with it as I now know how to do die cut stuff. I might revist it in the future as a full side would look much better.

Rest of the artwork arrived -
Topper, I also had another done with the same graphic as the side art.

Cpo

Bezel/marquee

 

[muddymusic]

Thanks for bringing this over mate. Did your Dinoking have the chip in it still ?

It had 2 chips but both were expired - however there was a big stack of cards still in it as well as £30 wedged in the coin mech so it was a good start!

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Yeah, them chips seem to be a real PITA

, still £30 ain't bad

 

[muddymusic]

To do the bezel and control panel I needed to have 2 pieces of Perspex for each made so I could sandwich the artwork between them. FrancoB has done some stunning work on custom plastics and luckily he agreed to make these bits for me. His work really is first class, and all the polishing is done by hand. Real craftsmanship.

So here they are ready to have the artwork applied.

First up is to get the control panel done.

Used the new base piece as a guide to cut out the overlay. Being very careful as I won't get another one anytime soon!

Trimmed and applied to the perspex

Top perspex layer added along with stick and buttons. I'm extremely pleased with how it's come out!

On to the bezel now. Thought I'd take a few shots of the application method.

I used the original bezel as a template to cut the form as the artwork was square cut. Print side face down and cut slowly using a craft knife with a new blade, it just slides through the vinyl.

Once the artwork was ready I sprayed the perspex with some water and squeegeed it off - this gets rid of all the dust etc that sticks to it. Then give it a good spray with more water, this helps you to move the print about to get it perfectly positioned.

Once the artwork is in the right place squeegee out all the water from under the print working from the inside out. It's easy to get out any lumps and bumps doing this and you can use quite a lot of force as the vinyl is nice and strong.

Once all the water is out you'll have a nice flat bit of art. Here's the finished piece next to the original. I must say FrancoB's perspex work here is absolutely first class

 

[muddymusic]

Bezel & Control Panel fitted, and we're done!

Fully finished cab.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

I take it you use a proper camera for these arty type shots? they look too good to be phone done

Awesome work as always mate

 

[chubsta]

Beautiful cab, really good quality conversion and the theme is very well done, was thinking of doing one myself but I would be embarrassed to put pictures up now...

 

[IDCHAPPY]

I was thinking about a double dragon or final fight on.... I'd need to squeeze 2 sticks on it though

 

[muddymusic]

It's a squeeze with a 1p setup as it is, I don't know about fitting 2 people round the cab! Probably just about ok for kids.

 

[AndyGeezer]

Speaking to some Sega guys on friday, apparently they've skipped a few.

Even though Franco and I went down to try and get them all.

 

[chubsta]

Speaking to some Sega guys on friday, apparently they've skipped a few.

Even though Franco and I went down to try and get them all.

great

god bless our wonderful tax system which makes it better for stuff to be stuck in landfill than sold...

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Speaking to some Sega guys on friday, apparently they've skipped a few.

Even though Franco and I went down to try and get them all.

Arseholes

 

[muddymusic]

Was this part of the same great move where the dumped all their artwork in a skip as well?

Somebody needs to be chucked a few quid so you can know when to go and raid the skip. It's bloody crazy, I'm sure you've tried everything possible to get them Andy, and even with money on the table they chuck them. And it's more stuff just going to landfill in these 'Eco aware' times.

 

[AndyGeezer]

Was this part of the same great move where the dumped all their artwork in a skip as well?

Somebody needs to be chucked a few quid so you can know when to go and raid the skip. It's bloody crazy, I'm sure you've tried everything possible to get them Andy, and even with money on the table they chuck them. And it's more stuff just going to landfill in these 'Eco aware' times.

Seems this was over a year ago.

There is still loads out in the wild, but most are owned by Sega, operators where given them and the conditions are they buy the card packs.

Now the card packs are discontinued I'd imagine a lot will be skipped.

My inside guy left last year so not much hope of me snagging them. Real shame.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Can the chip not be bypassed or duplicated?

 

[aeroflott]

Ah man - good work.