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The price of restoration?
Jeff AMN:
How much does it typically cost to restore an arcade classic? If I wanted to hunt down a Ms. Pacman machine, restore it, and keep it as a dedicated cab, what's a ballpark figure for how much that should cost me?
My wife and I are house shopping right now and she's given me the green light to dedicate a room of the house to an arcade room. I definitely want to fill it with classics, but I'd like to know the financial commitment to restoring stuff from the '80s.
horseboy:
It is a really tough question that is hard to put a specific price on. It depends on a plethora of different variables...
Does the cab have the original game? or are you converting something back to it's original form?
What is the overall condition of the cab?
How is the sideart? CPO? Marquee? Bezel?
Do you want it to be minty? or just pretty good condition?
Ms. Pac Man (and Pac Man) is a bit of an odd beast when it comes to this stuff. Twobits is the only company authorized to reproduce the artwork (as well as other stuff). The side art is $295!!! However these are the big vinyl stickers that only cam on a handful of Ms. Pacs to begin with. The vast majority of Ms. Pacs (and all Pacs) have stencilled side art. Some people did a group buy a while back from some online stencil place. I only saw 1 person review it, and they hated it (I think it tore up in shipping, so I am not sure how good the stencils would have been). Legally, nobody is allowed to produce a stencil for it except Twobits (who doesn't make a stencil for it). Anyhow a Ms Pac probably isn't a really good measuring stick here.
I am about to start a Burgertime restoration. Side art stencils will be $99. Repro CPO will be $45. Marquees will be about $40. The bezel will be anywhere from $25 to $50. Kickplate art will be $30. Paint will be $20 give or take. That is around $280 just for the artwork. That also will be the cost to make it look minty fresh. Then there are all kinds of misc thing like coindoors and speaker grills that can add to cost if you need to replace them or work on them.
Sorry for the ramble. I guess I am telling you it all depends on what that cab needs and how far you want to take it.
Oh, I forgot the most important thing. Your cost will skyrocket when you realize that time is money. You will need lots of time.
Jeff AMN:
Ok, so I get the whole variable aspect of it. But I'm just looking to make it look good, I'm probably in the $500-$600 range, right? Time isn't an issue since it's one of those things I'll just work on here and there. I'd like to get it running first, and then just chip away at the restoration aspect until it's nice.
I can't believe that stencils cost as much as they do. My dad owns a few CNC machines and I think I could actually make my own high quality stencils out of thin plastic if I can get the vector art for the sideart. I guess I could always trace it.
leapinlew:
If you just want to make it look good. I assume you mean things like making it work isn't important. So, to make a cab "look good" $500 -$600 should be fine.
Now, if you want a working PCB, Power supply, monitor - it could cost you much more. You could say the ceiling is $2,500. At that price - you can buy a Galaga/Ms. Pacman repro that they currently make.
horseboy:
--- Quote from: Jeff AMN on March 20, 2007, 11:11:44 am ---Ok, so I get the whole variable aspect of it. But I'm just looking to make it look good, I'm probably in the $500-$600 range, right? Time isn't an issue since it's one of those things I'll just work on here and there. I'd like to get it running first, and then just chip away at the restoration aspect until it's nice.
--- End quote ---
For $500-$600, with some frugal shopping/ebaying you could have a stripped cab looking really nice. That is if you can find/make good stencils.
--- Quote from: Jeff AMN on March 20, 2007, 11:11:44 am ---I can't believe that stencils cost as much as they do. My dad owns a few CNC machines and I think I could actually make my own high quality stencils out of thin plastic if I can get the vector art for the sideart. I guess I could always trace it.
--- End quote ---
Well the Ms. Pac is a 3 layer stencil I believe so that adds to the complexity of producing them. If you could make good Pac and/or Ms. Pac stencils (and apply them to your cab so everyone could see the quality), you could easily sell a handful just on this forum and pay for your restoration. FYI, the arcade art library has vectors for Pac and Ms. Pac. You should check out prOk's site. It has a bunch of restoration info including using professional stencil (which he makes) and making your own stencils.