First of all I hope you all had a good Christmas Day, our family day went really well with no issues, and today is round two at someone else’s house so at least the washing up won’t be left for me today.
All time favourite automobile? Now I’m not really a petrol head and to me an automobile is purely a way to get from A-B. I’ve owned some right old bangers that I’ve really loved, but to be honest as I’m having to choose favourites, one is a toy and one is real.
The toy:
1970s I was brought a Tonka crane that was my absolute pride and joy. I was probably about 8 years old when I was brought this but to this day it’s still there in my memory banks as just something special. Knowing my love for anything retro I will probably one day look at obtaining one, much to the wife’s dislike.
A 70s Tonka Crane
The real thing:
When I was diagnosed with Kidney cancer a few years back I went out and treated myself to Landrover discovery 3. God I loved that car, it was like sitting in your favourite arm chair and a beautiful car to drive. It cost an absolute fortune to maintain but was worth every penny. Just like everything in this country though, we pay too much tax and because big diesel drinking vehicles fell out of fashion the grabbing government decided to tax these out of every day affordability. I loved that car and must admit I shed a tear the day it drove off our drive for the last time. I’d buy another one in a heartbeat, I loved it.
Doris – my old trusty Landy
We currently have a new car that serves a purpose but is as basic as you can get. That said, I’d rather walk anywhere within a reasonable distance than take the car.
I was a product of the 60s and the only choice we had back in my childhood was 405 or 625 lines B/W Tv. Once turned on you had to give all the valves good time to warm up until a picture appeared, in truth you could probably go into the kitchen and make a snack before the ghosting even started to appear on the screen.
An old 405 lines tv
Back then we only had two channels, BBC and ATV, that was the forerunner of ITV.
No Adverts and only a few hours scheduling a day meant that you were more likely to see the test card transmission than any real TV program.
To be honest I probably listened more to my little transistor radio, or tranny as it was known then, nowadays I’d probably be pulled up by the PC brigade for even saying that.
We spent most of our days outside playing and exploring so TV never really factored into my formative years, I can’t really pinpoint specific programs I did watch however one really stuck in my mind as a funny moment. That used to be when we would watch a program called “Pot Black” it was a snooker program. However it was hard to determine colours of the balls on a black and white screen. It was funny when the commentators mentioned a coloured ball that they would refer to as “the grey looking one in the top corner” In fact they all had this colour as they were all just shades.
Aye, what with all your 1080, ultra HD 4K super duper vision you have now, you’ve never had it so good. But back in the day when it was a new technology it was truly ground breaking. I remember my old man saying “it’ll never take off”, how wrong was he?
FAULTY no power, NOT WORKING for Spare Parts or Repair.
TEST NOTES: Does not power up, no further testing, unable to check any functions. Battery leakage with corrosion in and around battery compartment.
Ebay
The unitYes…there is corrosion
Another low priced item that I fancy getting working. And as is standard with me it has corrosion. This item is from 2003, it is a self contained game arcade system that plugs into the tv. It has five games installed including classics such as Galaxian and PAC Man, so compared to some items I’ve purchased of late, at 21 years old this one is a relative baby.
Well, we now await its arrival where we can give it a good look over and assessment. Hurry along now delivery person…..
It’s arrived.
It’s in pretty much perfect condition, all stickers are in place and it hasn’t been previously opened.
I’ve put in 4 new batteries, and damn it. It powers on. It’s working.
It switches on
I’ve plugged it into the back of a television and it also plays.
Damn, it works
Yes there is a little corrosion on the battery springs but I’ve seen a lot worse. I’ll give these a little clean just so I can say I’ve done something.
It’s quite rare these days to get a bargain off of EBay, and for the seller to be truthful in his description, in fact he’s been exceptionally honest, just writing it off without testing. A big bonus to me.
As the saying goes, if it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it.
Makes a boring post though, sorry about that. A bargain, yes, and another one kept from the tip and will be used at home in the garden pub, the wife will love this as she’s a big Pac-Man fan.
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?
I miss the stores such as Maplins (aka Radio Shack). When I used to go into town with the wife at the weekends she would go do her thing and I would go into and spend a lot of time in Maplins. For her it was like a kind of Man Crèche as she knew where she could easily find me ( don’t forget this was in the days when mobile communication was in its infancy)
Here you could buy individual electrical components, it must have been murder doing a stocktake. But I loved it. All the kits, all the ideas, and all the boys toys you could dream of.
I really miss Maplins.
I’d also love to have a store where you could get hold of good quality retro games, and equipment at a reasonable price, not at rip off prices that are currently being seen on auction sites. People really do have inflated ideas of the worth of items only a few decades old, they really are becoming the new antiquities.
So maybe the shop I’d like to own would be a mix of Maplins and a quality second hand store of memories. Somewhere the hobbyist or dreamer could walk into and spend a good while reminiscing, and maybe buying some stuff.
We have tried a few batteries but the unit does not power up so beig sold for spares.
EBay
I obtained this for a very reasonable price considering the amounts being charged these days for similar battery operated 1970’s items.
Bambino gameLooks tidyNo Corrosion Bambino Kick the goal soccer game
This unit was assembled in 1979. From initial pictures a few things are pleasing. It looks fairly tidy, the battery cover is supplied, there appears to be no corrosion and the labels appear intact. However actual delivery and when it appears in my own hands may prove otherwise so I’ll await its arrival to give a final judgement.
Well the item has arrived and considering it’s 45 years old it appears to have had a good life. A few small knocks and scars, no more than what you would expect….lets get some batteries in and see what occurs.
A few cold solder joints needed re flowing45 years old and clean as a whistleGame pads all to cleanButtons to clean
Inside is amazing, no LED screen just a tube that looks like an old Cathode Ray tube that you’d have on a TV. (Actually known as a Vacuum fluorescent display) Thank god this isn’t damaged as it would be game over. Wiggling a few contacts and I can hear the speaker crackling, closer inspection shows some cold solder joints so I quickly reflow these and it all springs into life. Excellent.
Lovely old display- more like a cathode tube
I’ve decided to take it all apart and give the parts a good deep wash in some soapy water.
Bath time Drying off
I’ve cleaned the two switches with a contact cleaner, I’ve cleaned the screen membrane and all buttons and their attached membranes as well.
Looks stunningAssembled and workingNice and clean
The whole shell has also been cleaned in all the nooks and crannies, and it looks superb.
Before and after
Now assembled it is in full working order, everything works as it should and the display is bright. The batteries are a tight fit but that’s not so much of an issue. Once you get into the game it’s quite addictive as single player mode is a right challenge as the computer is a great goal keeper 😂
Just can’t score – computers goal keeper is too good
Again it’s been quite a simple fix but an enjoyable one. It’s always good to see something that is about to be disposed of brought back to life and saved from the landfill. I paid a total price of £12.71GBP for this unit, and items of a far worse condition are currently selling in excess of £40GBP on EBay. However this is going into our games box in the garden pub for use by the family, especially the kids who I hope will appreciate the height of technology we had in the 70s.
VINTAGE COMPUTER BATTLESHIP MB ELECTRONICS GAME FOR SPARES / REPAIRS APPEARS TO BE COMPLETE BUT THE GAME IS NOT WORKING WHEN TESTED WITH BATTERIES HENCE BEING SOLD FOR SPARES / REPAIRS
Ebay
And here’s some info around it:
In 1977, Milton Bradley released a computerized Electronic Battleship, a pioneering microprocessor-based toy, capable of generating various sounds. Electronic Battleship was designed by Dennis Wyman and Bing McCoy.
Wikipedia
Now this is another toy from my childhood that I had envy over. This game is the one that coined the phrase, “ You sank my Battleship” as seen on many TV ads towards the end of the 70s. This time my nephew was brought one of these games for his birthday back in the late 70s when I was about 12 years old. I’ll be able to give a more accurate date of the unit when I get to see the main board inside. I suspect I’m looking at something around the 1979 timeline. Man this toy was the bees knees, again early computer technology at its finest. Here I am approaching the sixth decade of my life and I’m having another menopausal moment just as I did in this post a few months back: Big Trak CE3962 restoration
Computer Battleship
This is going to go in the games box in our garden pub / Man cave. I’m confident I’m going to get it working. I’m not too bothered if there are any small parts missing as there seems to be plenty of spare parts available online.
Let’s have a look at what has turned up.
Original boxOriginal packaging
Well I’m impressed. This game is in its original box with original packaging and is in pristine condition. It comes with the original instruction manual and all parts listed in the contents section are there. In fact there are more of the red and white pegs than required so to be honest it looks as if I have bagged a bargain here.
I’ve paid a grand total of £19:96 GBP for this game and that includes the postage, by far the best price that was on offer for any similar advertised games that I could see at the moment of purchase. Considering this game is now somewhere between 45-47 years old, a bargain you might say, if I can get it working.
I’m thinking that all the capacitors on this board as a matter of good practice should be removed and replaced. Let’s face it they are almost the same age as me, could fail at anytime (if they haven’t already) and are as cheap as chips so what’s the point of just replacing a singular one when there are only two of them on the board. I think I will do this, test them all and report back.
I know that this unit is a 70s creation but it is interesting to get some facts on capacitors and problems that they have caused over the years, especially during the 90s and early 2000s. See this old post on capacitor plague: Capacitor plague
Board removed One side of board
I have removed the board and there seems to have been some pre work done where all the wires are relayed through a connector block. This was a dangerous situation as the work that had been done diverted both negative and positive leads through this dodgy connector to the negative side of the board, causing a short that caused the batteries to heat up to a point where I thought they were going to explode as they were so hot. You may as well of just connected the two batteries together…childish mistake. I was testing for voltages and was suspicious that I was getting no readings, just as well I went straight to the battery when I did. Lesson learned for me.
Bad wiring
I have checked the speaker is working, this is a 32ohm speaker and it was indicating 31ohm so there were no issues there. I have removed the two capacitors and checked them and they are both within tolerance, hence I will leave these in place.
Speaker is fine
The batteries are separately wired on this board. The two negative wires go to the negative side and the positive wires go to the positive side, straight forward wiring, I don’t know why the previous clown wired it as he did. These four wires now soldered in place with new leads and connections allow me to attach the batteries and check voltages, all is good and reading as it should.
New leads made
I clean all the switches with contact cleaner, I clean the board with IPA and clean all the contacts. A good suction and polish of the frame and all is good.
I can confirm the board indicates that this unit is week 24 of 1979 as per the writing on the main board. That puts this particular unit at 45 years old. Will it work.
Hell yeah it does!
Main switch into the on position and the annoying sonar sound kicks in, my dog leaves the room as it’s annoying him, to me I have just been transported back to my childhood. It’s brilliant.
I collar the wife into a game, I have to teach her how to program it and it works perfectly. Every sound is there, it’s noisy repetitive and computer programming at its absolute most basic level. And it’s mine.
Computer Battleship – It works
It’s going down our garden pub to be used by the youngsters and adults alike. I think the kids will love it due to its primitive technology. They’ll learn from it.
Another piece of my past saved from landfill, and it will be put to good use. Just don’t trust any mods or fixes done by others, don’t inherit a fire risk. Check check check.
This is a handy karaoke cassette player released by Epson over 30 years ago in Japan. The item it self does not function. Recommended for retro collectors
Ebay
Mamekara Karaoke machine
This video sums it up, apologies to those with sensitive hearing:
The pub singer
Anyway, enough of the frivolities, let’s see what’s wrong and try to fix it.
On initial examination, everything seems to be there, no damage to the shell. Four AA batteries inserted and I do hear some feedback from the mic.
Four AA batteries
There are some volume controls that control the tape sound versus mic sound, there is also a speech on and off switch along with a balance control, these seem to work intermittently and I suspect they might just need contacts cleaning.
All works but needs contacts cleaning More controls that need cleaning
The tape seems to sort of work but the play button does not stay on, the recorded sound is slow. Echo and balance buttons also seem to work but again probably need contacts cleaning. I suspect the belt of the cassette needs replacing and the tape heads will need cleaning.
Cassette runs slow
Good news is that for once there is no corrosion on the battery contacts.
I will now have to open the unit up to observe closer.
Once inside there are a couple of issues that show straight away. The two drive belts are very loose and will require replacing, luckily I have a bag full of these that should do the job. There is also a wire detached that controls the motor, this will need re attaching at both ends.
Two loose drive beltsThe red wire inside the circle needed re soldering Little red wire in place
I’ve reattached the wire and replaced the two drive belts. I’ve checked the board and found what looks like a burnt capacitor, but checks confirm there is no issue. Looks like the component has a small burn on it as a result of an earlier soldering attempt, probably during manufacture.
The main issue is that the play button will not engage. I spent a good 30 minutes scratching my head here until I spent some time clicking the buttons that worked and the stop button. There is a catch on the rear of the tape head that should click into the sliding stop mechanism when depressed, this was not quite making the full range of travel. A pair of pinch nose pliers and a slight adjustment of about 1mm ensured we were now working. I was worried I might over stress this catch, however it was made of steel and I had nothing to worry about. See the video below:
Loose belts and non engaging play button
There was nothing wrong with any of the volume controls or switches, so I used some contact cleaning spray and vigorously operated them for a minute or so each. This worked just fine.
I then reassembled the unit, put in some batteries and hey presto, good loud clean sound. I put a tape in and it played just fine, probably better than some of the Walkmans I’ve fixed lately.
Excuse the pub singing
I’ve put a little video up above of me singing into it, I haven’t played a tape due to copyright issues that might occur. I’ve sent the video to the family of me singing with a tape and they are suitably bemused, the unit now sits in our garden pub awaiting more customers, once I get a few Karaoke tapes to use.
Fully working in our garden pub.
The only thing I’m going to do is replace the foam mic cover, I’ve managed to source one and that should be here shortly. I’ve also found some cheap old Karaoke tapes that I’ll store in the pub for the families entertainment.
I’ve really enjoyed this little project, and once again I’ve salvaged another item that was broken from the 90s and saved it from landfill. It lives on.
Console is sold as nonworking, shows no sign of life. Item is in good physical condition but there is a lot of corrosion in the battery compartment
Ebay
I’ve decide to look into what seems to be the “New Antique” sector of retro gaming. The prices being commanded for 1980s/90s old school gaming is crazy with many small handheld items that would have cost a couple of pounds being sold into the hundreds. Absolutely nuts!
Sonic – Tiger console
My decision making process on this was simple. I love hedgehogs, we have plenty of hedgehog visitors to our garden, so what better game than “Sonic the Hedgehog?”
Anyway, at the cheaper end I managed to bag this for £9 GBP. If I get it working, those units are selling between £20 – £45 so I should at least get my original outlay back, pending on what work needs doing.
So here we go….
Well, it’s arrived and cosmetically it looks fine.
Looks good cosmetically
Now I opened the battery compartment and could see no corrosion, on opening further I noticed some of the screws had been threaded so I guess someone has been in here before me. And I was right. The corrosion can be quite clearly seen on opening the unit.
Bad corrosion and detached wireCleaned, broken but going to repair
Where the corrosion is on the negative terminal, a wire is also disconnected, hooray I thought, an easy fix. Hold on tiger, it’s not that simple. it appears the corrosion has leaked down the wire to where the negative wire joins the circuit board, in fact all four wires at this point are holding on by threads of wire. These will need re soldering.
This game appears to be from 1992 according to the stamp on the main board.
Loose wires circled Corrosion
The negative terminal connector is broken, i have some replacements on order but I’m going to repair this one.
I’ve taken the corroded rivet out that held the spring. I’ve found a small screw and have used this to connect to the plate. I’ve cleaned the whole lot with wire wool and have cut off the excess screw and filed it all down. It now looks as good as new and no cost involved. I will finish it off with a dab of solder on the back to ensure good contact is maintained.
Rivet removedFirst a screwNow to cut off the excessFiled down All polished and good to go
Peering underneath at the board it all looks ok, needing just a good clean with IPA. However, I’m not really going to be able to confirm this until I’ve re soldered and checked continuity from the batteries.
Signs of light corrosion under board
There could be some damaged tracks, again I’ll know that when all the basic setup and tests have been done. There is also a possibility the speaker could be damaged as the corrosion has reached there. I’ll test with the multimeter in the meantime. That all checked out ok and the speaker is fine.
I’ve given a good overall clean with some IPA and the entire unit inside and out looks as good as new.
Cleaned shellCleaned board
I’ve replaced both the power cables from the battery unit as one had fallen off and the negative one had looked as if it had been crushed. I was changing so it made no odds to change the other.
New power cables
I ran some checks with the multimeter and everything is fine, all tracks are good and it looks as if the corrosion was localised, this unit has dodged a bullet.
Batteries in and it’s now working well, see this video short:
When you don’t know what you’re doing
However, as I’m not a gamer I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, it makes a lot of noise and appears to work but god knows what I do. It certainly does a lot more than it did when I received it.
Here I purchased the toy I most wanted back in my teenage years. Unfortunately I wasn’t available to get the original MB version produced in 1979 so I had to settle for the latter “improved” version made by Zeon Ltd that was made in 2010.
It’s arrived and to be honest dosen’t look too shabby, needs a bit of a clean up and maybe some new transfers applying but we’ll get to that at another time, for now we need to try and get the machine up and running.
I’ve eventually managed to get the lid off. This unit was built to ensure that it was difficult to get into so repairs couldn’t be carried out. Some of the screws are buried under fascia dressings, and if you aren’t careful you could end up snapping some of the body shell.
Big trak body shellBig trak circuit boardDetached speaker wireDetached battery wireBig trak wheels removed
With the two halves of the body shell detached it’s obvious there are some detached wires. One was a battery wire, one was a speaker wire. Oh if this was the issue wouldn’t it be great? But it wasn’t. I soldered these wires back into place, put the three D types in place and it was still dead.
I’ve now desoldered all connections from the circuit board to assist in carrying out checks for continuity and tracing voltage. I can also check the board under the microscope. I may change all the capacitors for SMD ones.
I started checking continuity and tracing voltages and was doing really well until I got to a large section of the main board where everything seemed dead and unresponsive. What the heck was going on here? And then I noticed the wire had detached from the positive probe of my multimeter thus ending any further testing for today. I need to order some new probes. Well, I’ve ordered some nice new probes and croc clip connectors as well, so as soon as they arrive I’ll get back on with the testing. They arrived and were damaged on arrival, so back to the drawing board.
Big trak worn cogsBig trak worn cogs
I took the drive train to pieces and here it became apparent that a number of the cogs are damaged. I believe there is also some issues with the motion detector but I can’t confirm that until I get some power into the motors. I can’t find spare cogs online so I have ordered myself a second damaged unit to use as salvage. To be honest this new unit has all the transfers in place so I will probably use that shell and the guts of my original unit to form one complete Big Trak.
New donor Big Trak – better than my original one
The donor unit has arrived and boy I’m impressed. It’s in far better condition than my original one, so as expected this one will become the working unit and my original one will be come the donor. Any parts left over will be sold on as spares or even used on another damaged one if I can source it.
My new Bigtrak
If you look at the video above you will see the new Big Trak going through the motions. However the one thing it dosen’t do is turn. Could be a wheel sensor issue who knows. Good thing is that the cogs haven’t broken as the drive wheels are both solid and not free wheeling.
There are only two real issues with the donor here. Firstly it will not do the turn command and secondly, one of the drive wheels is damaged. Luckily I have a spare wheel so this was swapped over, some decals were missing but I coaxed these off my old truck with a hot air gun and reapplied them with no issues.
Missing decalsDecals applied
Looking into the drive issue meant opening the gear box. In here we have two magnetic independent gear controls that should have a gap between them, these two were stuck together thus rendering independent motor operations of the turning control useless.
Magnetic sensors joinedMagnetic sensors as they should be
I removed the two motors and repositioned them and the cogs holding the magnetic gear, this gave a gap of about 3mm that now allows the wheels to turn in opposite directions allowing the unit to turn.
Now the Magnetic sensors are adjusted….it turns
Whilst in this gear box I was able to confirm the issue with my old gear box and it really is all down to two damaged drive cogs that I need to obtain. I’m pleased with that as I could now get two good working units for just a small outlay once I can source some cogs. I will have to repair the wheel I removed to replace the one on my new unit however I have an idea how I’m going to remedy this and again it’s a low cost option. But that’s a job for another day.
2:18 of rebuild magic
So if you look at the video above, it’s the full fix that I posted on YouTube. Really pleased with this fix, again I’ve learned quite a bit about these units and I’m going to have immense fun programming it. My wife dosen’t understand my excitement over this toy, but all my old buddies and colleagues understand it as they grew up in the same era. Maybe it’s the male menopause, reliving the past and all that.
But hey, it keeps me occupied and out of mischief so who should worry about that
This one is going on my shelf so when the kids visit I can show them the joys of basic programming we experienced back in the day.
I’ve just obtained a bunch of photo manuals for cameras and related photography items from the last 40 years or so. Close to 80 of them.
Various Photo manuals
Now I know these aren’t repairable items keeping in harmony with this site, however they are popular, and I just happen to have a few of these cameras available. What I’m thinking is that these manuals would be a nice little addition when I sell on said cameras to the unsuspecting world. It’s just that little bit extra that just could swing a sale.
The ones I have left I can just sell on as they seem to attract a reasonable price on line. Either way, I’m keeping them out of landfill and that is one of the purposes of this site.
I may even be able to make some kind of collage back drop with them or use some old photos as an alternative skin on one of my old cameras. Something arty-farty you know.
Listing them all online is going to take an age. Maybe I could ask the wife to assist in this matter. Now that will cost me a handbag at least.
Foxes Den 
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