Are you bad enough..

[dre-w]

to save the president..

This one wasn't in too bad of shape when I picked it up and got it at a VERY good price.
CPO in good condition.  Little dirty/stained but other than that had all joysticks and buttons, fully functional.

A mint screen and monitor bezel, I haven't seen one anywhere that isn't faded from sitting in the sunlight or has grafitti/tagging on the plexiglass..

So first things first,  the coin door, what mysteries await behind that door..  that is usually where I begin first. As you can see here the coin return lights were burnt out and the lock needed to be drilled out because the previous owner didn't provide the keys. 

After drilling out the lock on the back I found this inside the arcade covered in dust.  The original Bad Dudes Operations Manual yay!  You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've found hidden inside these things..

Ran up to Ace to pick up a replacement 5/8" straight cam lock.  Pretty basic, I wasn't too sure which size I needed so I brought in the one I drilled to compare.. It was simple to install and I don't know what else to say here..

While already working in that area I decided to fix the coin door lights, the T3 1/4 wedge socket lamp brackets were tangled and needed to be rewired which wasn't too hard to figure out when you got the.. Bad Dudes service manual handy!

Wah lah, light bright.  Bought these from Ace also.

Now the sides of the arcade required a bit of work..  The side art here is faded beyond belief, the outer edges of the sticker used to be red, not yellow.. and is scraped up pretty bad.

The other side of the arcade was missing the sticker completely and also missing a good portion of contact paper/laminate material used to cover the sides of the cab.

I noticed that it was pretty much peeling off around all the edges and just decided to redo it.

In order to do that I needed to remove the plastic t-molding that goes around the sides, it needed to be replaced anyways.  It was old, scraped and melted.. probably from some butthead setting their cigs on it..


Took a couple hours but I managed to scrape down the entire side of the arcade with a small razor blade.  I'm sure there was an easier way but I decided to work with what I had because I was too lazy to drive to the store and pick up the tool I needed..

The only place I could find around here that sells solid BLACK contact paper was once again, Ace Hardware store.  You know, I really am starting to like that place a lot more than Home Depot or Lowes.  Those places are so big and I usually end up getting lost in there or waste about 30 minutes just walking up and down 50 aisles trying to find a small tool or someone to help me.  The elderly people working  at Ace are really nice and helpful. It was pretty funny, I told them that after searching everywhere in town they were the only place that carries that item and the old man patted me on the back and said "Hey, sorry to hear that you had to drive around town all day son, but next time, come to Ace first."  LOL  I swear I was in a commercial.  Anyways I layed the cabinet gently on its side and applied the adhesive paper to the side then trimmed off the excess with a blade.

The new Data East stickers I ordered came in the mail a week later.  These weren't too hard to find after surfing the net, cost me $20 for both and were the exact same ones.  I wasn't too happy with the shipping method used though, when they arrived in a slim box, they somehow managed to get folded along the bottom and create a crease line and also leaving a scrape..  not too noticeable I guess I'm just picky.  Anyways I looked at the Bad Dudes arcade flyer from the 80s floating around online to judge where exactly the sticker is supposed to be positioned and then just simply applied the graphics.


I received the new 3/4" t-molding in the mail that I purchased online, which is conveniently sold in 20' coils (Standard uprights require 10' per side) from T-Molding.com.  They have a huge variety and even made some specifically for the certain unique ones (ex. Nintendo cabs = white, Galaxian = neon green, etc.)

Before applying, I cleaned out the groove using a vacuum and measured the length needed.

Next I got the glue gun ready and started at the top working down doing sections at a time by filling in the groove with glue then gently tapping it in with a rubber mallet and holding it in place.  The glue probably wasn't necessary.. but seeing that most cabs are made of particle board and ripping out the factory installed t-molding ruins the original routed slot.. I wanted to ensure that it would stay in place and not fall out while I'm trying to save Reagan from dragon ninjas..

The only thing left was the marquee.  Had a crack in it and the bulbs were burnt out inside which was easy to replace. (Two 40watt bulbs)

I ordered a "replicated" Bad Dudes marquee online but wasn't impressed.  It was some sort of thin plastic material and when lit from behind it looks like paper..  Just didn't have that same glossy glass look like the original marquee so I just glued the broken piece back together and it will just have to do until I find a "authentic" replacement one.  Hardly noticeable.

So there you have it, an official dedicated Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja arcade!

[IG-88]

Wow, nice find!  

I hear ya about Ace. They may be a little more pricey but they usually have what I need.

How much did you have to pay for that black contact paper?

Can you see the seam very well? Sure beats the heck out of painting!

[dre-w]

How much did you have to pay for that black contact paper?
Can you see the seem very well? Sure beats the heck out of painting!

Thanks IG-88!  Actually the black contact paper was very cheap.  I think it was around $10 for 30ft, it was kind of weird though how the black contact paper was in the back stockroom on a dispenser roll and they just measured it by using the tiles on the floor.. and their guesstimate left me with way more than I paid for.  On one side of the arcade I had someone help me line up the paper so the seam is practically invisible.  The other side I tried to do it by myself and it left a seam barely noticable unless you were to look for it..  but it doesn't bother me since that's the side facing the wall.  But you're absolutely right, I did not feel like painting!  Plus the paper is easy to remove if you ever felt like changing it out   

[IG-88]

I'm going to go check out my store tomorrow, see what they got. Does it feel pretty heavy? (guage) Did it stick good? Heck for $10 you cant go wrong.

[Spyridon]

I probably would have gone with black vinyl from ThisOldGame.  Wide enough to do a whole cab with no seams.

[dre-w]

Does it feel pretty heavy? (guage) Did it stick good? Heck for $10 you cant go wrong.

Yeh I was really suprised at how cheap it was.  It's been holding up ever since I applied it, and it's been almost a year now. (meant to post this earlier)  I was afraid it would start peeling back around the edges or something but nope, still solid.  Although, it is indoors and I've never really put it to the test of letting people put their hands all over the sides to see if it wears down.. I'm pretty sure though it's made to withstand that to a certain degree being it's basically a type of shelving paper..  or at least I've never seen shelving paper just start to fall off the cabinets.

If you are going to try this method, just make sure you have someone to help you apply it if you are going to cover a large area.  When I attempted to do it alone, I accidently let sticky side touch sticky side and wasted a good chunk.  Also I'm sure you knew this but make sure the surface is free of debris/particles.  I accidently laid some down on a small woodchip and there was a bump in the paper.  Other than that it was a cinch.   

[dre-w]

I probably would have gone with black vinyl from ThisOldGame.  Wide enough to do a whole cab with no seams.

LOL.  I wish I would have seen this about a year ago or else I would have just got that..  I remember searching all over the internet for some wide enough and couldn't find anything.   next time 

[SavannahLion]

Do my eyes deceive me? That looks like a curved marquee and it's made of glass?

[SirPeale]

Do my eyes deceive me? That looks like a curved marquee and it's made of glass?

It's plexi.

[SavannahLion]

Do my eyes deceive me? That looks like a curved marquee and it's made of glass?

It's plexi.

OK, I re-read that post. glassy look. Not glass. OK, my bad. Move along.

[Vamp RN]

Just picked up a Bad Dudes cabinet myself.  I was thinking about putting a new control panel and a 1079 JAMA board in it....but now that I saw yours, I may just restore it.  My marquee is cracked as well all the way down the side.  It'll need new buttons and sticks...not sure what I'm gonna do for the control panel though...it's pretty beat up. Wonder if I could find an overlay to just cover everything? It'll also need new side art and a good painting/laminating all the way round. 

[dre-w]

For sure dude, you should totally restore it.    I was searching to see if anyone created some sort of overlay for the control panel but didn't find much.  Although, I have seen just the control panel on Ebay before..  might pop up again you never know.   I've been playing the waiting game for sometime now to find a good marquee replacement.. and I won't settle for any replicated one, has to be real to seal the deal. 

[solidteezme]

Its an interesting CP, having left handed buttons aswell.

[Tighe]

I have a 25" Bad Dudes cabinet I am trying to restore, could you do me a favor and measure the width of the control panel?  Just the metal part.

Mine is 27" wide exactly.  I am trying to figure out if the 19" CPO will fit this cabinet.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=2099380

[dre-w]

I have a 25" Bad Dudes cabinet I am trying to restore, could you do me a favor and measure the width of the control panel?  Just the metal part.

Mine is 27" wide exactly.  I am trying to figure out if the 19" CPO will fit this cabinet.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=2099380

Not really sure what those measurements are..  but on mine, just the metal control panels width (not including the sides of the arcade) is exactly 23-3/4 Inches..


Also, I get emails from time to time regarding measurements on this cab.. So I just copied and pasted below one of the emails, hope this helps whoever needs it.




Hey no problem man.  I've never really measured a cab before, but I tried.  I've seen how people usually just give the height, width and depth..  but I took a step further because I was bored.  Oh and don't worry I didn't include the t-molding into the measurements, just the wood.  And I don't know why I decided to use fractions in paint shop..  especially when they were all 1/2's and could've just used decimal .5

I was tired



Oops sorry, yeh I goofed up on measuring the 25.5 inches, I included the side panels when measuring the width   
The center board measures 23.75 inches.  The width/thickness of the side panels measured .75 inches.

Weird though b/c when I did the math of adding together the side panels to the center board it comes out to 25.25.. but previously I got 25.5.. 
So I went back and measured it again (width including side panels) near the bottom I get 25.5 and near the top I get 25 3/8"...  give or take a centimeter.. maybe from dragging/moving around the arcade so much it got a lil wider at the bottom..

I think I measured the marquee areas you wanted:

The marquee top to bottom that holds the plexiglass measured 8.5 inches.
If you were to look at the arcade from a top down view, the level/flat board on top measure 13 inches from the front arch to back, where the next wood panel is slanted downward on the back of the cab.
Underneath the marquee, the arch comes out from the slanted speaker board 10 inches.

Here's just some more random pics of the control panel, someone inquired how/what hinges were used to hold it in place





Let me know if I missed anything