Black Widow - Worth It?

[mrbill2084]

Its worth $300 in parts easy..
Pcb $75-$100
monitor another $150-$250.
rest of the parts and wiring has to be another $75-$100.

I would say wait for a space duel to pop up and transfer the parts or modify space duel to play both..

Black widow is a great game. marquee might be hard to find so hopefully its good.

 

[joeycuda]

If you want the game, anything less than what the sum of the parts would sell for is a good deal. I would think a kit would get $400ish here.

 

[OldTymeToys]

If you want the game, anything less than what the sum of the parts would sell for is a good deal. I would think a kit would get $400ish here.

^^^^ this.

 

[FrizzleFried]

Keep in mind that the kit would not include the monitor.



The price asked is competitive... though on the high end.



I don't care though. I've been wanting me some BW for a while.

 

[joeycuda]

I don't care though. I've been wanting me some BW for a while.

There's your answer! Go for it.. they rarely pop up for sale.

 

[FrizzleFried]

There's your answer! Go for it.. they rarely pop up for sale.

Yeah... short of the cab falling apart while I play... I think I'll be bringing her home tonight if it plays/runs as described.

I've seen a photo of it up and running. The 6100 looks good (even has the cage). I want to check for rust damage... there is a lot of moisture in that wood...it's from GA I do believe originally.

 

[FrizzleFried]

Welp... she's here...

The good: She works. The marquee is beautiful (after a sticker is removed). The monitor PCB looks clean. The main PCB looks decent. The electronics in general looks fine. Amazingly the right side art looks pretty damn spiffy...

The bad: Water damage. Not nearly as much as I anticipated though. The pictures above make the cabinet to look like a water logged mess when in fact ... well... she's a semi-water logged mess.

There isn't a HUGE amount of wood bulge. There is texture on the CP and along all the edges... the middle/art area is pretty clean/flat... there is a little texture on the edges of the top speaker panel... etc. Looking at the photos above I was sure she was done-for... but the fact of the matter is this cabinet is certainly restore-worthly. That said... I may just cut some new sides... may be less work. I am also considering masking off the art, removing the vinyl up to the art... sanding/painting...

It will hold T-Molding (save for the damage on the left side control panel area)... there isn't much expansion/bulge that it would look silly or anything... these photos are the "JUST HOME" shots. I'll post some "post cleanup" shots later.

Strange mod of the week: Someone wired the power cord to a switch in the control panel and an extension cord from the switch out the back door!! The cab has the main switch still intact in the back and this crazy ass switch in the control panel. (note yellow and black cords on left of last pic)

Images:

 

[jehuie]

I always have a hard time reaching the power switch on my BW so diagram that one out for me so I can make that mod please.

Seriously though, congrats. Looks much nicer than I expected as well. We'll have to have a competition at CAX next year now....

 

[TheSilby]

I am also considering masking off the art, removing the vinyl up to the art... sanding/painting...

I say do this. Didn't you just help a buddy do this with a Battlezone?!?

 

[FrizzleFried]

I say do this. Didn't you just help a buddy do this with a Battlezone?!?

That I did...

 

[kspiff]

Tough call from the pics, but fixing it up as described may be best. It won't look perfect, but you're gonna feel foolish if you repaint or revinyl the sides and then sideart never gets reproduced.

 

[FrizzleFried]

Alright... I think i've decided what I'm gunna do but would like opinions.

First off... after having a little time to clean up the cab and take a good look at the issues... she's worse than I thought above... but not quite as bad as I thought she'd be before I picked her up.

The side art I rated at 8/10 is closer to 7/10 on closer inspection. There are some scrapes and a lightly scratched name or two. Overall it still looks decent. The other side is closer to a 5/10 maybe... gouges... you can see what I assume is Gravatar or Quantum art under it where it's been gouged and tore... it's pretty craptastic overall but still better than nothing I suppose.

The water damage is pretty bad. I am assuming this came from a very humid environment or it was rained on for a day or two... every "edge" show some water damage. The expansion/bulging isn't anywhere near SEVERE... it is apparent. The edges on the front left are about 1/16" wider than they should be from the floor to about 2 feet up... though every edge has a texture to it going back 2" to 4" or so from the edge.

I've determined I have these options:

(1) Full restoration - Remove art... remove vinyl... sand... sand... sand... sand... likely throw some wood hardener in there... sand... sand... and likely sand some more. Re-vinyl or paint the side and wait for the side art to be made.

(2) Full rebuild - Remove all electronics, use the current cab as a template and build a brand new cab. I have a friend who has the tools and and has already offered his services. The new cab would then be painted/re-vinyled and the wait would be on for new side art.

(3) Partial restore - Use an exacto to cut and remove vinyl up to the edges of the artwork... sand the exposed areas... sand again... and again... likely some wood hardener would be needed... more sanding... mask and paint the exposed areas. The problem with this option is that there is bulging/texture under some of the art along the edges...

(4) Polish The Turd - Essentially where I am at with Star Castle as well. Clean this cab up as best as possible... get a new control panel overlay... new bezel (I found the glass bezel has severe scratches)... restore the coin door... rebuild the sticks... etc. Stick the bitch between two other cabs with the plan that once the side art is available, I can then re-visit this cab and select option 1 or 2.

At the point I am very much leaning toward #4. I've considered #3 but I am not sure if it's worth the time... there is quite a bit of texture under the artwork itself... and the artwork itself isn't as nice as I thought it was overall... hence... I'm leaning toward #4.

 

[RetroHacker]

I'd go with option #4 as well. Fix it up so it looks good from the front, put new T-molding on it, and put it between two games so the sides are hidden. You'd have to bondo/sand/paint/slot-cut that side of the control panel where the particle board is broken off, and maybe the lower corner, but other than that, the front looks pretty good. Fix and paint the coin door, put some black carriage bolts in those lockbar holes - it could be made to look very presentable when it's in a row.

Then, when you can either make or find another cabinet - then you can go all out and restore that cab, and move the electronics over. Shouldn't be too hard to find a converted Space Duel that's structurally good and not waterlogged.

And in the meantime. Black Widow! Such a great game.

-Ian

 

[FrizzleFried]

I'd go with option #4 as well. Fix it up so it looks good from the front, put new T-molding on it, and put it between two games so the sides are hidden. You'd have to bondo/sand/paint/slot-cut that side of the control panel where the particle board is broken off, and maybe the lower corner, but other than that, the front looks pretty good. Fix and paint the coin door, put some black carriage bolts in those lockbar holes - it could be made to look very presentable when it's in a row.

Then, when you can either make or find another cabinet - then you can go all out and restore that cab, and move the electronics over. Shouldn't be too hard to find a converted Space Duel that's structurally good and not waterlogged.

And in the meantime. Black Widow! Such a great game.

-Ian

Yeah... that's what I am thinking too... except I'm not going to bother restoring/rebuilding until the side art is available. Frankly... I think I'd rather have the cab in 6/10 condition with side art than a 10/10 condition cab without... or maybe not.

 

[RetroHacker]

Frankly... I think I'd rather have the cab in 6/10 condition with side art than a 10/10 condition cab without... or maybe not.

Yeah, looking at the cabinet again, it doesn't really look that terrible, but I know that things always look better in pictures than they really do.

You could try doing the wood hardner/sand/bondo/paint over all the white areas, and mask off the art. It really would make it look a lot better, but there's obviously nothing you can do with the swelled areas under the artwork without removing it. You could go all out and fix the rounded corners in the back too, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you intend to go all out and save this particular cab.

Personally, I'd just have a go at cleaning it up so that it looks as good as possible from the front. Sooner or later, someone is going to reproduce that art, and then you've got a lot more options. If you fix the swelling and damage along the front edges, the cabinet would be quite presentable, even if there was a foot or two between games. For the most part, nobody would see the very rear corners and rear edge, except when you were moving it.

How bad is the edge when you put T-molding on it? See, this is a case where I say they should make "slightly larger" T-molding, to hide the swelling better. Nothing is worse than having swollen sides showing past the T-molding.

-Ian

 

[FrizzleFried]

I actually put some T-Molding on last night to see how it would go... I have to use the "duct tape" in the spline method to hold it in place... but overall it looks decent.

 

[Area69]

(4) Polish The Turd - Essentially where I am at with Star Castle as well. Clean this cab up as best as possible... get a new control panel overlay... new bezel (I found the glass bezel has severe scratches)... restore the coin door... rebuild the sticks... etc. Stick the bitch between two other cabs with the plan that once the side art is available, I can then re-visit this cab and select option 1 or 2.

Ha! Polish the turd! This would describe all my games. I clean them up as much as possible, and replace parts if I can find a better one. There's a point where it just goes to far. I'm talking about cosmetic only, for the controls and electronics, I try to go all out. Original artwork, even if it's been vandalized in the arcade a little, is kinda cool.

 

[jrok]

(2) Full rebuild - Remove all electronics, use the current cab as a template and build a brand new cab. I have a friend who has the tools and and has already offered his services. The new cab would then be painted/re-vinyled and the wait would be on for new side art.

Win !

I've got a BW cab that I'm cleaning up while at the same time looking at it and thinking.. hmmm... build a second cab to transfer my 'a bit buggered up' Gravitar into. So I might be a bit biased towards going nuts and repro'ing a cab.

- James

 

[Brick Top]

Hey Friz, you can repair and blend those broken corners pretty nicely.

I had a Gravitar cabinet with the corner fully snapped off, I was able to re-attach with some bracing under the CP, then grind down, bondo and paint on the outside. You cant tell the difference. I would post a pic, but I only had it on a phone I lost.

FYI, all Black Widows are Gravitars underneath the side art. Quantum cabs are different enough in more than a few ways to not make it an easy conversion for an OP.

 

[Paul Olson]

If your friend has a CNC, you can buy the cutfile and produce BW cabs to replenish the stock for the Northwest. then you would still have your cab now to play until the sideart is reproed.