I suppose that this is less of a restoration, and more of a creation.
This cabinet is styled and sized almost identically to the Midway mini cabinets, but it actually started life as a Merit "Four Play". I acquired it (dead) out of an operator's warehouse about 8 years ago. It sat around in the back of my garage for quite a few years until I decided what to do with it.
I removed and replaced the entire front panel of the cabinet. Added a Midway coin door that I had lying around, and re-used the original lower vault door. Painted most everything, and put on new t-molding and leg levelers. The woodgrain is original.
The inside was completely gutted. The only things that I re-used were the 13" monitor and isolation transformer. I put in all new AC wiring, power supply, and a new JAMMA harness. I also enlarged the original speaker hole, put in a new 6" speaker and grille.
I designed and fabbed a new control panel. It was challenging to fit a 2-player Neo Geo setup in the space available. I also designed my own control panel and bezel artwork.
The original marquee wasn't lit, so I fabbed up a light board similar to what Midway used. (I use five LED's instead of bulbs.) I also created the custom marquee and had it printed on backlit film.
This was a fun little project. While I have a couple original Neo Geo carts, I currently have a 111-in-1 cart in it.
Alan
This cabinet is styled and sized almost identically to the Midway mini cabinets, but it actually started life as a Merit "Four Play". I acquired it (dead) out of an operator's warehouse about 8 years ago. It sat around in the back of my garage for quite a few years until I decided what to do with it.
I removed and replaced the entire front panel of the cabinet. Added a Midway coin door that I had lying around, and re-used the original lower vault door. Painted most everything, and put on new t-molding and leg levelers. The woodgrain is original.
The inside was completely gutted. The only things that I re-used were the 13" monitor and isolation transformer. I put in all new AC wiring, power supply, and a new JAMMA harness. I also enlarged the original speaker hole, put in a new 6" speaker and grille.
I designed and fabbed a new control panel. It was challenging to fit a 2-player Neo Geo setup in the space available. I also designed my own control panel and bezel artwork.
The original marquee wasn't lit, so I fabbed up a light board similar to what Midway used. (I use five LED's instead of bulbs.) I also created the custom marquee and had it printed on backlit film.
This was a fun little project. While I have a couple original Neo Geo carts, I currently have a 111-in-1 cart in it.
Alan

