Author Topic: Nintendo Cabinet - Donkey Kong Project (Read 7165 times)

97thruhiker · « **on:** July 23, 2006, 10:51:26 pm »

Well on not sure if I should call this my project announcement or my project completion as I am finished with my Nintendo Donkey Kong Cabinet. If you happen to come onto this thread and do not see the finished cabinet give me a couple of days to get everything up here on the site.

I attended the June 17th Super Auctions in Orlando with the attention of picking up an old Nintendo or Galaga / Pac Man style cabinet to restore/refinish. I have already built a Mame cabinet from scratch and wanted another challenge. There were quite a few to choose from at the auction and I targeted this orange Nintendo conversion cabinet to bid on. Overall it was in pretty good shape. It had its rough edges where the laminate was breaking off, scratched up coin door, disaster for a control panel, base breaking away, and some deep gouges but in general it was definitely fixable. This was my first ever bid at an auction and I picked it up for $100. Yes I probably paid to much but I was happy.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #1 on:** July 23, 2006, 10:53:51 pm »

I got the cabinet home and started to break it down. Being an orange cabinet I believe that it most likely started life as a Donkey Kong Jr. Cabinet. Could not be positive on this though as there was no tags, serial numbers, etc to verify. In its last conversion it was converted to Sky Soldiers (I think). Before this it was a Donkey Kong 3 as the turned around Bezel confirmed along with the hacked up control panel. What

97thruhiker · « **Reply #2 on:** July 23, 2006, 10:56:06 pm »

Here are some photos of the control panel, coin door, cabinet bottom.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #3 on:** July 23, 2006, 10:57:48 pm »

This was my first time using Bondo and I have to say its pretty amazing. I was able to fix all of the imperfections and rebuild some of the corners.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2006, 11:01:47 pm »

I had to replace the bottom support as it was breaking apart.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #5 on:** July 23, 2006, 11:04:05 pm »

Once everything was patched and sanded smooth I primed the cabinet with Zinsser BIN Primer (the kind they recommended for laminate). It seemed to adhere really well. I also did the portions where the control panel sits even though its not showing in this photo.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #6 on:** July 23, 2006, 11:23:19 pm »

I actually do not have any photos of the cabinet being painted. I used the codes provided to me from pcates (he color matched from his cabinet). I took my time and put on four coats lightly sanding between. Overall I was very happy with the result. With the painting done I started on the control panel. As you saw from the earlier photos the control panel was trash so I needed to contruct a new one. I based my measurements of the old one I had and the new overlay I purchased. I could not find any wood 9/16th in size so I went with 1/2 inch MDF and two layers of black laminate to achieve the needed 9/16th size to match the T-Molding. It turned out really nice.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #7 on:** July 23, 2006, 11:41:39 pm »

Here are some of the finished photos. I'm not very good at documenting things and I have left out many of the steps (no photos) such as the coin door refinishing, having the monitor fixed, etc. I tend to remember taking photos to late. Currently I'm running this off of a computer as I have not gotten a Donkey Kong Board yet. I did everything on this to be as original as possible (besides being blue now instead of its original orange) so that if I wanted it to be a dedicated Donkey Kong it could be. I actually like having it being able to play all of the classics that were on a vertical monitor and took zero or one button.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #8 on:** July 23, 2006, 11:51:11 pm »

I guess I would just like to thank everyone who has helped with this such as pcates who provided the color codes, LizardLick Amusements for the black ball top J Stik and buttons, Mike's Arcade for the control panel bolts and brackets, Arcade Shop Amusements for the new bezel, control panel overlay, T-Molding, Dave at Dave's Classic Arcade, and everyone else who helped out.

I know this is not the first Donkey Kong project posted here and won't be the last. I really had fun doing this and highly recommend this style of cabinet to anyone here wanted to do something like this as there are many venders and parts available out there. Thanks for looking.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #9 on:** July 24, 2006, 12:02:04 am »

The only other thing that I need to do is to apply the side art and coin sticker. I want to give the paint plenty of time to fully cure before I attempt to put this on so I'll probably wait a couple of weeks before attempting this.

pcates · « **Reply #10 on:** July 24, 2006, 09:10:27 am »

Nice Job... It looks great!
Patrick

javeryh · « **Reply #11 on:** July 24, 2006, 09:16:52 am »

Amazing job. I really love the look of the Donkey Kong cabinet - it's probably my favorite along with Galaga...

gamecreature · « **Reply #12 on:** July 24, 2006, 10:01:48 am »

Very nice. Good job, my friend!

dweebs0r · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2006, 10:43:53 am »

Wow. My first thought when I started reading this was $100 bucks for that cabinet... Yikes.

But looking at the finished product, it looks terrific!

Edit: I guess what I am trying to say is that the end definitely justified the means!

Donkey Kong was my favorite game growing up and this cab bring back memories.

-D

97thruhiker · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2006, 12:00:27 pm »

Thanks for all the kind words. I really enjoyed working on it and while I'm happy that its essentially finished I'm also a little sad that its done cause I really enjoy having something to build / work on.

pcates · « **Reply #15 on:** July 25, 2006, 07:05:11 am »

Quote from: 97thruhiker on July 24, 2006, 12:00:27 pm

Thanks for all the kind words. I really enjoyed working on it and while I'm happy that its essentially finished I'm also a little sad that its done cause I really enjoy having something to build / work on.

No Problem, just come over here and help me clear out some of these projects I have lying around

loadman · « **Reply #16 on:** July 29, 2006, 07:30:27 pm »

Cool!

arcadefever · « **Reply #17 on:** July 30, 2006, 02:10:35 am »

amazing transformation

when you see the cab before and when you see how it is now

arcadefever · « **Reply #18 on:** July 30, 2006, 02:13:00 am »

Quote from: 97thruhiker on July 24, 2006, 12:00:27 pm

Thanks for all the kind words. I really enjoyed working on it and while I'm happy that its essentially finished I'm also a little sad that its done cause I really enjoy having something to build / work on.

well, use your skill to restore another one

97thruhiker · « **Reply #19 on:** July 30, 2006, 11:44:56 am »

Quote from: arcadefever on July 30, 2006, 02:13:00 am

Quote from: 97thruhiker on July 24, 2006, 12:00:27 pm
Thanks for all the kind words. I really enjoyed working on it and while I'm happy that its essentially finished I'm also a little sad that its done cause I really enjoy having something to build / work on.

well, use your skill to restore another one

Well thats the plan. In the next year or so we plan on moving to a bigger house where we can have a dedicated gameroom. I would like to have a dedicated Pac Man, Galaga, and Cliff Hanger (the cabinet is pretty ugly but I love the game) to go with this Donkey Kong as well as my all in one Mame Cabinet (which I plan on redoing / reworking next). Additionally I think I may try to make a Dragon's Lair Cabinet like Allister Fiends:

http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/d/jdelouis/WebPages/AllisterFiendsWebsite/AllisterFiendsWebsiteDragonsLair.htm

arcadefever · « **Reply #20 on:** July 30, 2006, 01:58:50 pm »

Quote from: 97thruhiker on July 30, 2006, 11:44:56 am

Quote from: arcadefever on July 30, 2006, 02:13:00 am
Quote from: 97thruhiker on July 24, 2006, 12:00:27 pm
Thanks for all the kind words. I really enjoyed working on it and while I'm happy that its essentially finished I'm also a little sad that its done cause I really enjoy having something to build / work on.

well, use your skill to restore another one

Well thats the plan. In the next year or so we plan on moving to a bigger house where we can have a dedicated gameroom. I would like to have a dedicated Pac Man, Galaga, and Cliff Hanger (the cabinet is pretty ugly but I love the game) to go with this Donkey Kong as well as my all in one Mame Cabinet (which I plan on redoing / reworking next). Additionally I think I may try to make a Dragon's Lair Cabinet like Allister Fiends:

http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/d/jdelouis/WebPages/AllisterFiendsWebsite/AllisterFiendsWebsiteDragonsLair.htm

dragon's lair

cant wait to see that


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