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Gutted Defender Cabinet - Restore vs. MAME?

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RetroACTIVE:
Not going to be a cheap venture either way you look at it.   Defender parts are pretty expensive (joystick, bezel, CPO... etc).

You will not destroy it if you MAME it (since its empty)... just don't paint it, cut it or and goober it up with multi-game art and you can leave it open to restore in the future.

Much of the original trim pieces around the speaker panel, marquee and control panel are custom for Defender and are pretty darn difficult to get a hold of... so you may have to seek alternates in that department.

wbassett:
Maming it I think would be the easy part once any cab damage is fixed and the can is made presentable.  It's the 2way stick that could be hard to find if it is missing that.

Speaking of the stick, does anyone know any places that sell authentic 2way sticks?  Are they really a special stick or just a restricted 4way?

Flake:

--- Quote from: wbassett on August 22, 2008, 01:02:50 pm ---I'm a HUGE Defender fan- was home town champ when I was a kid.

Does it have the CP and controls?  Mainly the 2Way stick? 

Here's what I would do, and this is just my opinion...  I'd make it a dedicated Defender cab (seeing that I already have a multi-game cab) but I'd start out with a MAME version on a PC.  You may decide to never change it from that, but at least it's up and running and playing Defender again, and THEN start looking for the boards, monitor and everything you need to restore it back to it's original glory.

This way you get the cab looking great and can play it while you search for the parts.  Could end up getting everything quick, could take you months or a year to get everything.  Why have it just sitting there all that time and chance losing interest?

If it doesn't have the CP, here's one for $65
http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/8340

It says it has a new overlay, but in the pic the main panel looks a bit rough.  If it has the cp but is missing parts, check around and you should be able to find the parts you need.  If you MAME it, you should be able to have it up and running again pretty quick.

--- End quote ---

No it doesnt have the CP anymore either.  It really is completely gutted other than it has the marquee light and the speaker in there but the speaker looks a bit rough.

I already have a Mame machine (see avatar) so I dont need to mame this thing other than to turn it into a driving mame cabinet.  I really had (and still do have) an interest in restoring it to original condition.  I guess my question is do you consider it a "restoration" when you have to purchase EVERYTHING to get it into original condition.  Also, if I do restore it then I would have to sand/bondo the base, which would require painting, which would require me repainting everything, which would require me to sand down the entire cabinet.  So if I'm going that far with it its almost like I'm just building a dedicated Defender cabinet from scratch which again, to me isnt really a restoration.  It would be just like someone simply getting the dimensions of the cabinet, going out and buying some plywood and building it from the ground up.

Flake:
Does anyone know what kind of monitor the orginal Defender game used?  If I were to purchase a new monitor which one would you recommend?  Price is certainly a consideration.  It looks like you can purchase 19" arcade monitors on E-bay or even Happs for about $130 shipping included.

Any thoughts?

wbassett:
I don't know what make the monitor was but I believe it was a 19"

Here's a cool link on Defender and some tidbits I never knew about the game, like the scoring at upper levels...
http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=defender&page=detail&id=614

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