Blog: Donkey Kong Junior cabinet restoration & swap

keithsarcade

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Blog: Donkey Kong Junior cabinet restoration & swap

I usually dont post blogs but thought this one was worthy of posting. I picked up a Donkey Kong Jr. cabinet a few months ago from a fellow forum member. It had been converted at some point in its life. The last owner had planned on converting it back to DK Jr., but then found a complete game and put this project on hold. By the time I got it he had done most of the bondo work. Aside from the shell, I also got a working 20EZ, converted CP & harness, the original Nintendo power supply and some brand new t-molding.

Anyway, once I picked it up and realized it was a plywood cabinet, I decided this was going to be my new Junior. Mine is particle board with some minor damage on the bottom corners, and has no side art. I was fortunate enought to score some freebie side art from another member some time ago, and luckily I haven't applied it yet. One side is flat but that won't bother me. With all these freebies my only expense should be paint and an instruction decal thanks to some fine KLOVers. My other two Nintendo cab's are plywood so once this one's done, my whole lineup will be plywood cabs.

I finally got around to working on this last weekend when I filled in a few more spots with wood filler. Today I got around to finishing the sanding and painting the black trim, as well as the inside. Someone had glued unistrut to the inside sides during conversion, and when I got it the unistrut was removed which also tore up some of the wood inside. The laminate on the piece of wood above the CP (where the instruction decal goes) was peeling and had a small chunk of damage, so I fixed those problems as well.

So now all that's left is paint & apply side art and then I can perform the cabinet swap. which is where I have a couple of questions. I took the paint code from game stencils and went to Lowe's with it. They are telling me they need to know the base of the code, whatever that means. Does anyone have another code for this color? Also, for those of you who have done this before, should I apply a primer coat first? What should I use to apply the top coat?
 

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That orange inside the control panel area that's hidden when the cp is installed - I peeled a piece of that laminate up, about 2" by 2" and took it to Lowe's, where they matched to that. You can then glue the piece back in.
 
Good idea. I'll try that.

Still looking for paint advice. Do I need primer, or would a 2-in-1 paint work? Semi Gloss? Rollers?

Added reinforcements & leg levelers to the base yesterday.
 

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Blog: Donkey Kong Junior cabinet restoration & swap

Thats a completely different kind of a Bottom of the DKJR Cab then i have here .
 
It's original. My Mario Bros. (DK conversion) has the same base, same measurements and all.

Wife had to make a Walmart run and since Lowes is 30 minutes away, just decided to get paint there. Got Glidden 2-in-1 semi-gloss and rollers, so Ill do one side today and post some pics later.
 
Two coats in on one side. Looks like it should be a good match, but also looks like it'll need several coats. Sure hope I got enough paint.
 

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Well so much for one quart being enough. I have 5 coats on one side and it still needs more. Other side has 2 coats so far and I'm out of paint.
 
Well so much for one quart being enough. I have 5 coats on one side and it still needs more. Other side has 2 coats so far and I'm out of paint.


Keith use a foam roller next time, it will come out allot smoother and get wider one to eliminate small roller marks

This was done with a foam roller
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When working on Ninty's I prefer an oil based paint, Sherwin Williams is the best "house paint" I have ever used. I use the "hard" foam rollers and I like to use at least a 4" to 6" roller, that way you make fewer passes. If one can see roller strokes after 5 passes, it may be time for a new technique or new paint/rollers, if you want to achieve a really smooth look. Painting in the cold also complicates things a bit....
 
Done painting. One side took 4 coats (I believe because I never used the small roller on that side). The other side & front each took 6 coats to even out. One and a half quarts total. I'm happy with it, it looks like an exact match to me.

I may do the cab swap tomorrow if time permits, but will probably let the paint settle and wait to put side art on it until next weekend. Still need to order a new instruction sticker as well.

After doing this and seeing the blotched paint job my DK has (I didn't do that one), think Ill be giving that the DK red, but thats another time.
 

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Done painting. One side took 4 coats (I believe because I never used the small roller on that side). The other side & front each took 6 coats to even out. One and a half quarts total. I'm happy with it, it looks like an exact match to me.

I may do the cab swap tomorrow if time permits, but will probably let the paint settle and wait to put side art on it until next weekend. Still need to order a new instruction sticker as well.

After doing this and seeing the blotched paint job my DK has (I didn't do that one), think Ill be giving that the DK red, but thats another time.

Keith it looks good but using a foam roller will make less of an orange peel texture
 
I may use a foam roller on DK, but the texture doesn't really bother me. Also you are looking at it while it's still somewhat tacky so some of the texture will go away in the next day or two. For the material's I used I think it came out nice.
 
Did the side art & cab swap today. It's almost there. I need to cut a new shelf for the coin bucket enclosure, install the coin door and apply the instruction decal when it arrives, then I can call it done and put it back in the lineup. For freebie sideart it turned out pretty good, thanks Greg. Also capped the monitor while it was out, it needed it.
 

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Did the side art & cab swap today. It's almost there. I need to cut a new shelf for the coin bucket enclosure, install the coin door and apply the instruction decal when it arrives, then I can call it done and put it back in the lineup. For freebie sideart it turned out pretty good, thanks Greg. Also capped the monitor while it was out, it needed it.

looking good keith!
 
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Looks nice. I gotta say, I would not have bothered swapping as that original cab looks just fine with no major gouges, etc. Maybe it had other issues, but hard to tell from the pix. Nice job on the restore.
 
I have the enclosure and bucket, just need to cut the shelf for them to sit on.

Looks nice. I gotta say, I would not have bothered swapping as that original cab looks just fine with no major gouges, etc. Maybe it had other issues, but hard to tell from the pix. Nice job on the restore.
The original cab was particle board and had minor damage to the bottom front corners, particularrly on the RH side. It also had light damage to the base, nothing major. This cab is plywood, as are my other 2 Nintendo cabs.
 
Heres the finished product...
 

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