A dedicated Point Blank machine has been in the “want to buy” for many years. I can now officially say, one of my last grails has been purchased! Time Crisis 1 can now be sold off and this will replace it.
Got delivery of this cab last Monday and when I checked it out, there wasn’t much to it, the game was working, the guns were firing and it was “solid”
The cab currently has “Gunbarl” artwork on the side, on the marquee. For those that aren’t aware, Gunbarl is the Japanese release of Point Blank 2. The arcade pcb inside the cabinet is the English version.
Once it arrived, the first thing to do was turn it on and have a couple of rounds as this is one of the grails! I was excited… sadly, I was present with this upon starting up – a loud squeal that wasn’t present when I inspected the machine 
Oh well, it is what it is. Issue 1 identified. The good thing was, the game still ran as expected.
Next on the list was just to check out the overall cab and how much work was required. When I checked the cab out, I guess the excitement/adrenalin was too much and I didn’t really do an objective look at the cab.
The good thing was it’s a Toshiba A68KJU tube which is the same that’s on my Astro City
The “bad” thing was, it’s not a direct swap for an MS9 as the yoke would be different. No major biggie, the Toei chassis that’s on it is the same as the one that’s on my Time Crisis and I can’t complain about the image quality.
Chassis is a Toei TC-A292N 3
Being a dedicated Point Blank cab, the burn in on the tube is expected and can’t be seen during gameplay (like most burn in tubes, it’s only on white you generally see it).
I will swap the tubes with the time crisis cab as it seems to have a better tube and I want this cab to have the best possible tube it can.
On to the power supply – this is definitely a new one for me 
When I inspected the cab, I did a terrible job at being objective, I noticed the psu initially, but I didn’t really take notice as the solenoids weren’t working. It was really only after closer investigation I realised the 24v solenoid psu looks like it’s a complete DIY or a “let’s get it working as an operator” solution as it’s definitely not how the stock PSU is.
Fortunately, I have a complete spare PSU setup and I will most likely revert the machine back to factory Japanese 100v using the correct PSU (provided it works) which looks like this
Whilst there’s not “much” to do, there’s still a few things I would like to do.
Internal to do:
- Send PSU to JOMAC for maintenance – hopefully he can get rid of that squeal
- Switch Tube and chassis with Time Crisis
- Revert back to 100v and use the original PSU
- Replace Solenoids. Solenoids are solid and work fine, but I have a couple of new solenoids so I might as well use them
- Trace out wiring on the machine as none of the manuals online seem to match what I have. Most manuals I’ve seen seem to be the UK variant, but I’m pretty sure this is a Japanese variant of the machine
Externally
- Since I’ve always wanted this machine to be what I played on (Point Blank 1), it’s only natural that I want to revert it to that. So I need to replace Control panel artwork with Gunbullet (not Gunbarl)
- Replace Header with Point Blank/Gunbullet
- Replace monitor bezel with Point Blank/Gunbullet
- Replace hose cover with newer ones
- Replace Gun Shells with newer pink and blue. Over the years, I’ve collected namco guns in the hope that I would be in this position. I only have one “good” blue shell, but I have a couple decent pink shells but need a couple of triggers
Overall, given the machines age, the side art and overall shape is probably one of the better conditioned machines I’ve seen over the years that have popped up for sale. Sadly, I probably paid a little too much for what I would’ve liked, but this cab was purchased as a grail and nostalgia and I am very happy with the purchase which is all that matters
