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Midway SAMI parts on the way!

cnlmoore — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:05:16 +0000

Scored a couple of needed parts from a parted out Midway Invaders off eBay today, cheap! The parts are identical to the pieces I need to repair on my Midway SAMI EM game. I hoping the spares will make things a little easier. That and a good contact cleaning and I hope to have this classic EM game up and running again soon.

Midway Wild Kingdom bezel glass scanned!

cnlmoore — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:24:37 +0000

I’ve been so busy with school that I just haven’t had much time to devote to the hobby. I keep telling myself that I only have about 15 months to go, just hang in there! Ugh. I was able to scan the bezel glass from my Midway Wild Kingdom EM shooter. The glass is in pretty nice shape and another collector was looking to get them reproduced. I hope it works out as I’d like to see it done right.

Midway SAMI step rebuild

cnlmoore — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:41:35 +0000

Midway’s SAMI, or Surface to Air Missile Interceptor, is an electro-mechanical game from 1970. It’s also one of my recent acquisitions. The game has received a lot of coverage recently, with at least two nice examples showing up on eBay and an EM game feature in the July issue of GameRoom magazine. I couldn’t be happier with my example, but it does have a few issues, including a missing step. You can see the step (or platform) pictured in the promotional flyer below.

SAMI flyer" />

Due to its massive size and height, a missing step makes this game pretty tough for little kids to play. I would need to recreate the step so my boys could enjoy the game and with Fall quickly approaching I wanted to get this done ASAP! I had nothing to start with other than some basic dimensions from the void at the front of the cabinet, but a request for help out to fellow collectors yielded great results.

Another collector and SAMI owner, “lostarcade” on KLOV, had access to his game and was kind enough to take a ton of pictures of the step. He also worked up a quick drawing for me to reference. Thanks! This is exactly what I needed to get started. I quickly cut the needed parts from some sanded surface plywood and a 2×3 I had on hand.

I positioned and mounted the front panel blocking with glue and staples, adding some extra blocking just in case as it wouldn’t be visible anyway. I used a biscuit joiner and biscuits to add a little strength where the two pieces of cut plywood join. Then plenty of glue and staples to hold it together, with clamps in place while it dried overnight. The blue tape is holding some small pieces of plywood I glued back into place after they lifted from stapling.

The next step was patching, sanding, priming and more sanding before I gave the front and bottom a nice coat of black oil base rustoleum paint. I opted to only paint the edges of the top panel because I would be gluing on rubber matting anyway. This would prove to be a minor mistake later.

Once the first coat of paint was dry I gave it a light sanding, wiped it down and painted the final coat. Once that was mostly dry, I sized the rubber matting a rough cut the shape. I then used a straight edge to clean up the rough cut edges. Next was a thinned down coat of contact cement to both surfaces. After it dried out a bit I carefully matched up a corner and rolled the mat onto the plywood. With a pair of work gloves on, I rubbed out all the air bubbles. I used a large flat piece of MDF and clamps to clamp the surface and allow it to set overnight. I’ll need to wipe off the excess glue and touch up the edges (that I should have painted black!), but I think it turned out great. I’ll install the two leg levelers and the step will be ready to bring SAMI back into the game for my kids!

Special thanks to The Arcade Flyer Archive for the use of the Midway SAMI flyer image. Take a minute to check out the site, tons of info.

Midway’s White Lightning EM

cnlmoore — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:00:32 +0000

Here’s another promotional mailer, this one from Midway about their electro-mechanical (EM) game called White Lightning. This particular card is unused and in great shape with a vibrant yellow background that really sets off the game.

Most EM games are big, monster games, that are a ton of fun. I’ve never played White Lightning before, but what isn’t fun about shooting steel balls at an unbreakable Lexan target? I’d love to have a nice line up of EM shooter’s in the house, but I’d need some more floor space. Dining room’s are highly overrated I think

Wizard of Wor Mini restoration @ COSP

cnlmoore — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:07:57 +0000

CoinOpSpace is running an arcade game restoration contest with prizes from some of the best vendors in the business, so I’m motivated to dust off those long neglected projects and get moving on the restorations! My first entry into the contest will be my Wizard of Wor mini’s. Yep, two of them.

To learn more about the contest or even to submit your own entry, visit CoinOpSpace. To follow my Wizard of Wor restoration progress, you can check out my WoW blog on COSP. I hope to have both machines up and running very soon.

Midway Prototype control panel

cnlmoore — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:24:29 +0000

I got a call from my friend Jeff about a Mad Planets game that was for sale in my general area. He got real lucky and was able to secure the game, even though the ad had been up on craigslist for several hours. (Read the full Mad Planets story.) I agreed to go pick it up ASAP ~ you can’t wait on a good deal.

I arrived at the storage unit to meet Scott (the seller) and chat with another local collector, Joe M, who was there to buy a Taxi pin. After a few concerned moments that involved the seller utilizing bolt cutters (!), we got access to the unit and the treasures inside. The Mad Planets was in great shape, so I paid for the game and loaded it up. Included in the deal was this wild looking prototype control panel. Scott is a former Midway employee and when he was looking for a suitable joystick to repair the Mad Planets, he was given this sample control panel to pull parts from.

Scott didn’t have much to say about the panel, it was just a prototype. I guess that means the game never made it very far in the development cycle or perhaps changed to require a different set of controls. The control has a gorf style flight stick with elliptical buttons arranged to match up to each finger. The layout makes me think “space shooter” for sure, but who knows, it could have been anything.

As cool as this panel is, I have no use for it other than parts for the Mad Planets repair. So, if you love the panel and happen to have a nice, complete MP joystick laying around, drop me a line, quick!