Jess' Arcade Restoration

Birthday Surprise

So it was my birthday today and my wife surprised me with some unexpected presents:

New control panel overlay! I installed it right away. Look how shiny!


New side art! This will be the cherry on top.


She also ordered me a new bezel but it came damaged and a replacement one is coming by the weekend.

She's not as ecstatic about games as I am, but it shows how much she loves me to support me in my new hobby. She even did research to find out what each part was and where she could find the best deals. Best...wife...ever.

Update on Donkey Kong

I knew that if I wanted to sand and paint the cabinet, I'd have to take all the parts out from the inside. I removed the coin door, the monitor, the PCB, and the power supply board. It makes it a lot easier to clean and I don't want to risk damaging anything. To make it easy on myself later, I numerically labeled where each wire connection goes. I made sure to cover all the parts that will be sitting aside. I don't want to accumulate more dust or paint on anything after I've cleaned each part.



I started to sand the coin door to prepare for repainting. It was really rusty on the bottom edges. I took out the coin slots as well to sand and prepare for painting.





After I gutted the cabinet, I had my first experience working with Bondo. Usually, this stuff is used to repair damage on cars so I felt it was a good alternative to wood filler that would be sandable, paintable, and durable. I realized about 10 minutes into it, that you should work with small amounts at a time because contrary to the instructions, depending on the climate, Bondo starts to harden within 2 minutes as opposed to 4-5 minutes. Also, you want to mark where all the major dents, holes, and scratches are so you aren't wasting time looking for them as you're applying the Bondo. For broken corners or edges, I put enough Bondo so that I will be able to sand them into shape. I still need to clean out the inside of the cabinet, but I was going to wait until I sanded some of the holes I filled from the inside.



My next steps will be to sand, prime, and paint. Then, clean the cabinet and rebuild the wooden base.

Donkey Kong Junior!

So an opportunity presented itself over the weekend and I took it. I was searching Craigslist for parts and stumbled upon a listing for an original dedicated Donkey Kong Jr. cabinet that was even more of a steal than Donkey Kong. I went with my little brother to meet with the seller (Thanks Michael!) and it was a nice transaction. We barely fit the cabinet into my mom's SUV (I drive an Accord coupe and it was the closest and quickest alternative).

There is some cabinet damage around the edges, but it won't be terribly hard to fix. I'm going to have to replace the wood base though. The amazing parts of the cabinet are the marquee, bezel, and control panel overlay which are all in excellent condition (no major scratches or markings). For now, it will be something I play while I restore Donkey Kong. Then, it will be my next project. Thankfully, the repairs won't be nearly as extensive.

Here are some pictures of my great find:







What a weekend.