I made some time to work on cleaning up Crystal Castles. I’m not going to try to make this thing look like new on the inside. Instead, I just want to clean it up. Here’s what I started with in the bottom of the cabinet:

I cleaned it out with the shop vac, and wiped the inside out with some Fantastik. Here’s a closer look at the power block:

As you can see, it was pretty nasty. It was covered with dirt and rust. I pulled the transformer partially off, and hit the metal on the base the best I could with some steel wool. The better way to do this would be to strip everything off of it, get it down to bare metal (or close to it), and then paint it. I thought of doing this, but just didn’t want to spend the time right now - especially for something that isn’t going to be seen. I may go nuts on it in the future but for now my goal is to make it presentable and less disgusting. This is the same goal I have for myself when I get ready in the morning.

The fuse block was cracked in half. I had saved another one from my Battlezone that was almost like new, and used it to replace this cracked one. I checked all the fuses, and found an 8A fast blow where a 4A slow blow should be.

Here it is after I cleaned it:

It’s still a bit rusty but not nearly as bad, and all the dirt and slime has been removed.

I put the power block back in the cabinet, and worked on the power cord. It was taped with duct tape and electrical tape in two places.

I replaced it with one of these bad boys from Home Depot:

I think the game play will be much smoother with this shiny new power cord. I used my pin extractor to pop the pins out of the old 3 pin connector:

They came out surprisingly fast (unlike Clay Aiken). I then crimped some new female pins on the new plug and slid them into the old connector. I hooked it all back up and it powered on without any major problems (phew!).

The monitor takes forever to warm up. I ordered a G07 repair kit for it from Bob Roberts. I’m hoping changing the flyback and fixing any bad solder joints will fix that. I had the same problem in my Centipede and that took care of it. The new caps should help the picture, though it’s not too bad as is:

Here’s an incredibly boring video of the attract screen:

The trackball is completely hosed. It barely moves. I ordered a trackball repair kit and a new ball as well from Bob Roberts. I wasn’t positive if the trackball in this game lights up, but was happy to see that it does - and at times blinks. Pretty cool.

While I’m waiting for the parts to arrive, I should be able to get the outside cleaned up. The coin door has a lot of rust, especially on the inside near the volume knob and test switch. I think it’s going to need to be sanded down and repainted at some point. I’m guessing someone spilled a drink or something down the inside of the control panel, as it seems to have a lot of rust directly below it.

Hopefully we will be able to actually get Bentley Bear whizzing around all over the place in a few days. WAIT … strike that. I meant “running” around. Whizzing will cause more rust.

I showed the game to the wife on MAME before we got it, and she thought it was pretty fast. I told her that I think the bear is far too quick for her sloth like reflexes, but she doesn’t believe that to be the case. We shall see, we shall see.