My First Arcade Cabs

[Pop Culture Portal]

Well, thought I'd finally take the plunge and spend some of my recent ebay money on a few arcade cabs I found locally listed on ebay. Had to drive 2 hours to pick them up, but I was pleased with my purchase.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...l/121_2149.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...l/121_2159.jpg

And excuse the condition of the room they're in...I've gutted this room in our house so I could replace the wiring and walls. :/

Here's what I know about what I got...they ALL need cosmetic work, mostly at the base. Some are down right ugly while others just need a little patching here and there. I think the Final Fight is the only true dedicated machine...all others appear to have been altered.

The WWF game works, but there is no sound and the characters are garbled...and that's not the right cabinet. The control panel has peeled off in one large chunk, but I can't for sure see what's underneath.

The cocktail is void of any boards...has a monitor with burn-in...looks like Pac-Man. It was being used, at one time, as Capcom Bowling. A little sticker on the outside of the machine says "1988 P&P Enterprises." Anyone have any clues?

The Final Fight game has a new cap kit and works perfectly. Colors need to be adjusted, though. The base of the machine, however, is a wreck. Has some side art on it, but I'm not 100% sure this is the right cabinet for this game. There are a few places on it where the blue paint has rubbed off and brown paint can be seen underneath.

The Magic Sword machine is empty, sorta. It is filled, and I mean filled, with manuals, marquees, parts...you name it. I haven't gotten in to it yet to see exactly what's in there. I also don't think this is actually a Magic Sword machine but a Centipede. I'm just going by looks alone, so, I'm just guessing.

The Victory Road machine is empty, too...don't think this is the right game for this cab either. Lots of mish-mash of parts on the machine.

I'm really looking forward to restoring these things back to the way they should be....oh, and I paid $20 for each machine...$100 total.

And I'm open to suggestions for any of these machines as far as the first step in restoration or even if I should find out what some of these cabinets once truly were (removing paint, labels...ect...)

[Hammy]

that WF game is actually a joust cabinet.

provide close up shots, and i'll id the other cabs for ya

[Pop Culture Portal]

that WF game is actually a joust cabinet.

provide close up shots, and i'll id the other cabs for ya

Sweet! I'll get more pictures up later on today.

I stayed up late last night toying around with them. I opened the WWF cabinet up and found "Williams" stamped on the inside of the cabinet and "Williams" stickers on the monitor. I believe Hammy's right! I went ahead and removed the generic sticker/label on the control panel to find "Karnov" underneath . Underneath that, it looks like something metalic, but I think that's just part of the control panel itself. I haven't completely removed Karnov yet. I also tried removing a little of the blue paint on the side and find a brownish color underneath. The bezel on the cabinet IS Joust...no cracks or chips, but the paint has flaked off in a few places.

I opened the cocktail up and find a mishmash of parts just lying in it...mostly extra buttons. I close it back up and start wiping off this thick, black greasy stuff on the coin door and see "Stern" in big red letters...Berzerk maybe? There's no game board in it, but everything else seems to be there...although if this were Berzerk, the monitor isn't facing the right direction. That is, the monitor is kinda "long-ways" like Pac-Man and not "long-ways" horizontally for a Berzerk game. Does that make sense?

That was the extent of last nights "expedition" and I plan on doing more later today.

Oh, and I just realized Final Fight was a "kit" game...is that right? So, this isn't really a dedicated Final Fight.

[Hammy]

seems like whoever had them cabs before you did a lot of conversions to them!

stern.. could be something like a liscenced version of scramle etc.

and yes, final fight (and magic sword) are kit games.

[Pop Culture Portal]

One more quick question before I crawl into these things again this morning...none of the cabs have feet/rollers and the bases of the cabs are all damaged...some more so than the others. Before I move these around alot, other than buying new feet, what's the best way to repair the damage on the cabinets themselves? Bondo? I've seen references to something called Evercoat...some sort of autobody repair/topcoat stuff for bondo. Supposedly it makes painting, sanding, and working with bondo much easier. Any suggestions?

[MoreEbolaForYou]

the wwf is definitely a joust cab. nice buy for 20 bucks. get yourself a marquee, control panel overlay, some brown paint, a stencil, some game boards, maybe a power supply, and now you got yourself a joust! ha. ok, maybe that's a lot.

[Flack]

One more quick question before I crawl into these things again this morning...none of the cabs have feet/rollers and the bases of the cabs are all damaged...some more so than the others. Before I move these around alot, other than buying new feet, what's the best way to repair the damage on the cabinets themselves? Bondo? I've seen references to something called Evercoat...some sort of autobody repair/topcoat stuff for bondo. Supposedly it makes painting, sanding, and working with bondo much easier. Any suggestions?

You can do a lot with bondo, depending on the damage. I saw a tutorial once (I'll try and track it down again) where a guy actually sawed off the bottom cart of his cabinet (severe water damage) and replaced it with new wood. It looked perfect when he was all done!

At the last auction I was at I noticed someone had made a custom bottom for one of the cabinets out of 4 2x4's, nailed in a circle. That keeps the cabinet off the ground. I might try that on one of my cabs someday.

[ClubNinja]

4 2x4's, nailed in a circle

Huh? Do you mean a square, or is this thing really creative?

[MoreEbolaForYou]

actually the defender i just got must have had some water damage at some time because the bottom inch or two is sawed off and the game is up on some runners. it's not really noticable, and i don't care either way, but i guess it's an interesting way to take care of some water damage.

[Pop Culture Portal]

You can do a lot with bondo, depending on the damage. I saw a tutorial once (I'll try and track it down again) where a guy actually sawed off the bottom cart of his cabinet (severe water damage) and replaced it with new wood. It looked perfect when he was all done!

I've seen that within the past few weeks, but now I can't find it...looked through my IE history folder but can't seem to find a link. That was some really impressive work he had done and that's exactly what I'm looking for. If you can find it, I'd be greatful!

The Victory Road cab I bought is actually a Jump Bug cabinet...I'm currently working on "restoring" the sideart. I'll post picts a little later.

EDIT: Is this the restoration job you're talking about Flack? http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=49927.0