Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboys
This machine was as filthy has could be, but I am hoping it will clean up really nice. My father found this machine and a Six Million Dollar Man for me in Mobile, AL. They were located at an older auction house. The Captain Fantastic was sitting in a spare house with broken out windows. It was even stored with the glass off (and yes, I have already cleaned SEVERAL layers of dirt off the glass). I even found a mouse skeleton in the coin box area. Luckily he did not eat through the wires.
First time I tried to retrieve the machines and bring them home to PA I ran into logistical problems trying to arrange a U-haul trailer since it was around Christmas. I was able to get this machine at a later time, but the Six Million Dollar Man went to a different owner.
Current status of the project: I have checked all the fuses and a quick look at the wiring. The prior owners have some additional/replacement wires in place that I will need to address at some point. I have also started going through the score reels, adjusting those switches and cleaning some of the crud out to get them to spin. They will still need a REALLY good cleaning. At this point, I tried firing up the game -- and it does "start". A few of the score reels did need assistance to keep turning. The addition of my nearly working Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 have since taken priority. I also have some other fixes to the rest of the collection causes work delays. Also, there is the issue of no space to put this machine once it is restored. Likely it will replace Spirit of '76 which will have to go someplace else.
4/12/04: Got back to working on this. Did a good cleaning of one of the score reels and the player unit. All four players now work. Also checked the flippers. One coil is completely burned out and the linkage completely ruined. Progress is going to be slow due to other priorities such as home improvement and the future addition of child #3 (not due to October, but I am doing a lot more around the house.
Sept 04: I got some more work done. I still have to finish cleaning the score reels (got two done before now). I replaced the flipper coil on the burnt coil. Also checked the switches and they are HORRIBLE. A couple of them have holes burnt all the way through from where the peg was missing. Everything seems to be basically working except the drop targets at this point. They are not registering when dropped in single, but the entire series does register when it is completed. Could not see what was causing this problem. Closing in on a year that I have had this machine.
Dec 04: Got more work done... I disconnected some strange add on behind the chimes. Things still not working: Single drop targets not registering, right sling shot not scoring (but firing the solenoid), drop targets not resetting (solenoid fires, but does not get targets up -- probably from the worn linkage) and bonus not counting down at end of ball... I am sure there are still other things, but that's what I need to work on. At this point I will probably try and replace all the phone wire that was installed as wire replacements. Hopefully that will help me track a few things down...
Dec 05: I would like to think I accomplished something over the last year -- but other then shorting a wire and blowing more stuff out the time has been spent with Andrew. This and plenty of other projects will just have to wait for Andrew to need a little less attention.
Sep 06: Had some vacation time to use. I rebuilt the four flippers (much better) and rebuilt much of the drop target mechanism but that is still not always resetting properly.
Jan 07: Started trying to replace some of the previous owner wiring hacks in the machine, but it was such a mess I quickly realized I would not be able to trace it all out, nor did I have enough wire to replace what he had done so I let it sit and took care of other things.
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IPDB info for Captain Fantastic