Hey guys, been a while since my last post, but I'm here everyday
. Anyways, just picked up this bad boy from another guy here on the boards. It looks like it was an original Nintendo R-Type that was converted to a Neo Geo cab. The bottom of the cab had some damage from a bump or two, and one of the corners was knocked off.
Overall, it is in above average shape, the monitor is supposed to work well but is untested, and the power supply should be OK as well. The only real damage is at the bottom, which is somewhat problematic since the structural integrity of the cab is somewhat jeopardized by the lack of material down there, and screwing it down would only make matters worse. It also looked kinda ugly, and if I was going to do a restoration of the thing, that was not going to fly.
After reading that great tutorial on how to fix the bottom of the cabs (Name escapes me at the moment, but thanks!), I decided to take a stab at it. This cab used some funny sized particle board, so I used the closest thing I found at the Home Depot.
I did one side yesterday, and did the other one this morning. Everything is assembled with dadoes on the cab, so I went ahead and routed the dadoes for the sides as well so that it would hold up better.
Here is one side on there.
Used some Gorilla glue, and screwed it on there for now. I think the glue and dadoes should be strong enough so that I can remove the screws, and I reinforced the joint from the back with some strips of wood with some mo' glue and nails.
Here is the result from the first side, you can clearly see the mismatch of the wood. I am open for suggestions on what to do.
The other side was smooth sailing. One thing I found that was good to do if you have any sort of groove when you are replacing the bottom like I did is to first cut the shape of the panel, and then just lay it on there and trace the grooves with a pencil to give you a good idea where they are going to be. This made it simple and everything fit like a glove. Here are the two sides done, next to my other 'cade.
I also sanded down the sides some today, and next on the list is to begin BONDO on those panels once I figure out how to get that difference in thickness to a more reasonable level.
I am also somewhat stumped on what to do with this thing. I kind of feel like it should go back to its original state, but I am not really a huge fan of R-Type, and I think finding the art and such is going to be a real hassle. Maybe do some sort of Nintendo multigame? I love the DK series, as well as Super Mario Bros., and at least that would be somewhat related to its roots. Again, I am open for suggestions, as I plan to keep at least the shape of the cab completely original. One thing I that was really beat up was the lower part of the cabinet, the kind of extension that most of the Nintendo cabinets have. I think the cab looks neat without it, altough it does make it a bit short. I am in need of some input on that as well.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and I will keep you guys updated on how this thing comes along.
So long, Fred.
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EDIT
Crappy weather this weekend, and had a hockey tournament so I didn't have time to mess with the actual cabinet. I had been itching to see if this monitor was worth a damn, so I fired her up to see how it came out. The pictures should speak for themselves. All this is in Windows XP with a plain vainilla Radeon 9200SE and some Powerstrip goodness. All the modes are non-interlaced by the way, SFA running at 384x224, Robotron at 256x224, Windows at 321x224. All the resolutions sync up just fine without adjustment so far, at least these. Monitor is the original Sanyo something something 20...
On the workbench...
Good ol' Robotron looking fine
Street Fighter Alpha - This game impressed me with how nice it looked on a real monitor!
Nice shot of Windows
Last one, Kicker