Donkey Kong Junior Restoration

[Wade]

Finally got started on this restoration.  Picked up the game a year ago, and it's just been taking up space in my garage along with some other projects.  I knew it'd take more work than I really wanted to do, not to mention my baby girl put the brakes on restoration projects for a while.

The PCB worked (tried it in my Mario Bros cabinet), but the game wouldn't boot up (power problem?) and the monitor was dead.

Started by disassembling everything and cleaning the PCB's, monitor, harness, cabinet, etc. with a hose and bleche-wite.  The game was dirty, but not really any worse than the usual.  Got everything squeaky clean.

Next I cut the rear 3/8" from the cabinet.  This was because the rear edge was really torn up and is only 1/4" thick, so I didn't think bondo would have a good surface to hold on to.  After cutting the rear of the cabinet, the upper and lower wood pieces had to be trimmed a bit, blocks glued/screwed/stapled on the inside, then the rear 2 pieces reattached.  This was a lot of extra work, but the end result looks very nice and is strong.

This week, I finally moved on to the cosmetic repairs, mostly on the sides.  There were dings, holes, etc.  I used some bondo glazing and spot putty.  Two or three coats with sanding in between, and I think this step will be finished probably tomorrow morning.  Then I can start the repainting (already have matched paint).

Ordered new sideart today, so next weekend I might be wrapping up the cabinet and taking the parts down to the gameroom for reassembly.

Wade

[Wade]

Before & Progress pics.

Wade

[Wade]

Got about 4 coats of orange paint on it over the weekend.  It's probably going to take 4 more to cover fully.  Why do I keep forgetting how poor Lowes' paint is?  Also got the black areas repainted, and sideart ordered.  Won't get to do any more until late in the week or next weekend.  Should be ready to move into the gameroom for reassembly soon.

Wade

[AnthonyB]

It looks like some sort of camouflage right now! 

[Wade]

I guess it's garage camoflage.  Ran out of the crappy Lowe's brand paint and got some Home Depot Behr paint, which seems to work a lot better and the color match is better, too.  Would probably have the best luck with Ben Moore paints but our quality paint store is closed on Saturdays.

It's getting a lot closer.  Put what MIGHT be the final coat of orange paint on it.  All the black has been painted except the base, which won't take long.  More parts have been cleaned and repainted, and this could be getting reassembled in the next couple of days!

Wade

[JeepMonkey]

The paint looks great, but the inside is way to clean for a cab.

I really like that you filled in the extra monitor bolt holes.  My Popeye cab has the horizontal mount holes and I hate it.

[Wade]

The paint looks great, but the inside is way to clean for a cab.

I really like that you filled in the extra monitor bolt holes.  My Popeye cab has the horizontal mount holes and I hate it.

Thanks.  Honestly, I wasn't planning to bother with it at first.  The sideart would cover the holes anyway.  But since I had to put so much bondo on it, I figured I might as well squirt a little more on there and remove the holes.

Wade

[JeepMonkey]

My concern with just leaving the holes and covering them with side art would be that someone would touch the side art right where the holes are and putting a hole in the side art. 

[Wade]

My concern with just leaving the holes and covering them with side art would be that someone would touch the side art right where the holes are and putting a hole in the side art. 

Theoretically that could happen, but it's not likely in my basement gameroom.

Wade

[SirPeale]

My concern with just leaving the holes and covering them with side art would be that someone would touch the side art right where the holes are and putting a hole in the side art. 

Theoretically that could happen, but it's not likely in my basement gameroom.

Wade

Until you go to move it for whatever reason, and put your finger right thru it.

Hey, it's your machine, but it'll take just a few minutes to do, and since the side art will cover you don't even have to paint.

[Wade]

My concern with just leaving the holes and covering them with side art would be that someone would touch the side art right where the holes are and putting a hole in the side art. 

Theoretically that could happen, but it's not likely in my basement gameroom.

Wade

Until you go to move it for whatever reason, and put your finger right thru it.

Hey, it's your machine, but it'll take just a few minutes to do, and since the side art will cover you don't even have to paint.

Just to clarify... I already filled the holes and painted over them.  Hence all the pictures without the extra holes.

Wade

[AnthonyB]

Hey wade, I was just wondering if you could do me a big favor? I'm currently in the process of making a Donkey Kong cabinet, and I was just wondering what the dimensions of the to monitor mounting boards are, the bottom one, and the back one? I know they are 22.5" long, but I do not know their width. Also are the the boards' tops lined up with the bottom bezel board? thanks for your help and great restoration you're doing!

[Wade]

Yeah, I can probably get you some dims since it'd be an easy time to do it with everything disassembled anyway.

Some more progress pics.  Sideart and T-molding installed!

Wade

[JeepMonkey]

Looking good.  Nice game room, is that an Addams Family pin?

[Farb]

Very nice work! Did you use any sort of trick for getting the side art so straight?

[Wade]

No new pics yet.  Polished the carriage bolts, installed the 4 on the sides and the monitor brackets, installed the coin door and front panel.  That's about it for last night.

Thanks!!  No Addams, you must be seeing the topper on the Whitewater pin.

To get the sideart straight I just used a tape measure.  Aligned it with the back edge, centered it front-back using the middle of the sloping front edge, and dropped it 2.75" (I think) from the top.  I found a lot of differing placements of the sideart (and it was missing on my particular game with no fading to help me determine where it used to be, other than some purple remmants stuck under the bolts on the left side) so I didn't feel placement was critical.  I basically put it where I thought it looked good, and did it the same on both sides.

Wade

[Wade]

Updated pic.  Mostly working on electronics right now.  Cosmetics are almost finished.

Wade

[WunderCade]

Nice. I think your side art positioning looks great. I love how minty this is looking. Keep up the good work.

[Wade]

Got the spare WG monitor working and mounted in the cabinet, and adjusted to look pretty good!  Need to clean up the wiring for that.  To use the Wells Gardner standard cga monitor, I had to invert the video signal using the inverter PCB off of the original Sanyo.  Had to make a harness to make this work, and also had to run 12vdc from the switching power supply to the inverter PCB.  Also had to add a regular iso trans for the WG and run it from the 110V power distribution block.  (There might have been a way to use the original Nintendo iso trans but I wasn't sure how).

Wade

[Wade]

Most of the wiring is done.  Need to paint/install coin mechs, speaker, and control panel.  Almost there!

Wade

[JeepMonkey]

Looks great Wade.  All of these restos makes me want to get my cab started.

[Level42]

That looks 

[Wade]

Getting really close!  Probably won't get to work on it over the weekend though.

Wade

[Wade]

Got it rolled into the classics room!  Just need the bezel instruction card and paint/reinstall the coin mechs.

Wade

[shardian]

I see the MAME is running gamelauncher. 

[Wade]

I see the MAME is running gamelauncher. 

Yeah, same deal as last time you were over.  Most of the games don't work right.   Needs some attention!

Wade

[Wade]

Final pics... now with coin doors and coin stickers.  (Stickers courtesy of Rich of ThisOldGame.com!)

This one's as done as it'll ever be!

Wade

[WunderCade]

That looks phenomenal! 

The original DK Jr. Decals had the white lettering, but the orange letters match too.

If you decide to get that decal instruction sticker for under the bezel, for reference....it is supposed to be centered with the joystick. 2.5 inches in from the left side edge. I just measured mine for ya.

[Wade]

That looks phenomenal! 

The original DK Jr. Decals had the white lettering, but the orange letters match too.

Thanks!!

Are you sure about the color?  I coulda sworn the remnants of my original sticker were yellow.  I'm just going from memory though.

Wade

[WunderCade]

There was a DK Jr. HUO score a while back over on KLOV. Original everything on it. The stickers were white lettering. Also, the one I have, stickers in much worse condition but they are the white letters. I'll see if I can find the HUO DK Jr. thread and link it for ya.

But really, it looks awesome the way it is so it's probably stupid that I even mentioned it.

[Wade]

Heck, I nitpick everybody else's stuff, I deserve to get busted for the wrong color coin stickers.   Like I said, I went from memory, and I don't have any pics of mine before so...  I'm probably wrong.

I did see that thread, and boy would I like to have even ONE game in that kind of original condition!

Wade

[Spyridon]

Excellent work.     

[Level42]

I did see that thread, and boy would I like to have even ONE game in that kind of original condition!

Wade

Man, you should be very happy with what you got there. What a sweet line up of absolute favorites and each look minty....

Yeah, I only missed the instruction sticker on the wood under the bezel

I can only hope to get my MB in that condition !

[spanks_4]

I am a little late on this, but I am curious how you did the paint?

Did you use a roller? If so what kind?
Did you sand between coats? What grit paper?
Or are you one of the lucky guys with a sprayer?

[Wade]

Spanks,

I do have a sprayer, but I didn't use it for this game in the interest of saving time.  When I use the sprayer, it always turns into a very long and painful process, and is harder to keep everything else in the garage clean.

For this game, I used a smooth foam 6" roller.  I didn't sand between most coats, but I did sand between a few to knock off some specks and smooth the surface a little.  I didn't sand it perfectly flat and smooth each time.  The grit was probably around 200 or possibly finer.

I had very little money invested in this game, it isn't necessarily a keeper for me, and I was wanting to get it done pretty quickly, so I didn't aim for perfection with the paint.  If it were a keeper game I probably would have laminated it or layed it on its side and sprayed it.

Wade

[spanks_4]

Thanks Wade. Didn't know if it had the glass feel to it. I have four cabs I will be redoing in the next year sometime and looking for the easiest/fastest way to do it.

If it weren't for keeping everything else in the garage clean would spraying it be faster, smoother, cleaner?

I am turning my back porch into a temporary spray booth for painting stuff so the clean thing isn't a big problem.

[Wade]

Thanks Wade. Didn't know if it had the glass feel to it. I have four cabs I will be redoing in the next year sometime and looking for the easiest/fastest way to do it.

If it weren't for keeping everything else in the garage clean would spraying it be faster, smoother, cleaner?

I am turning my back porch into a temporary spray booth for painting stuff so the clean thing isn't a big problem.

No, when I spray, it always ends up taking a lot of time, trial and error, etc.  Clean up just adds to the time.  It is possible that spraying this Junior would have taken the same amount of time or less than rolling, if I'd gone that way.  I removed the front panels and there is only one color, so it would have been easier than some spray jobs.  Rolling was mostly for convenience this time - I could run to basement and do a coat and clean up the rollers in about 30 minutes, then get back to normal life.  (Spraying would have taken much larger chunks of time.)

Quickest, easiest, and best results for me always comes from laminating with formica style laminate.  It costs more than just paint though, and there aren't colors to match every game.  Typically it costs around $100 per game.

Wade

[rikitiki]

That looks phenomenal! 

The original DK Jr. Decals had the white lettering, but the orange letters match too.

If you decide to get that decal instruction sticker for under the bezel, for reference....it is supposed to be centered with the joystick. 2.5 inches in from the left side edge. I just measured mine for ya.

Wow am I late in finding this
when I orginally did the coin decals I was sent nos yellow and orange
the whites to my understanding were Popeye and Mario Bros to what Ive been told
so many color variations and designs have turned up on most Nintendo Games
my next question is the bezel instrucker sticker
again conflicting reports
great job wade hope mine turns out that nice