D2K Conversion

aeroflott

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Donor 7 years: 2013-2016, 2018, 2020-2021
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I restored this cab last summer and realised I didn't detail it here. So thought I'd setup a thread detailing the process as posted on another forum.

I decided to go for a Donkey Kong II cab.

As far as I know when it's complete, this will be the only one in this country with full artwork and paint job (if not Europe).

All images can be clicked for bigger detail.

So this is what I had to start with:



A pretty generic and beat up DK cab, with no artwork or bezel or marquee. General condition is solid but pretty tatty, with dents, scratches and marks. But everything is there.

So starting with the strip down:



I'd already managed to get a new chassis for the Sanyo monitor from the US. It wasn't working at all. Thanks to some help from TBLilley, we'd got the thing working again, although we managed to fry two boards in the process. Ooops.

 
The inside of the cab is in not too bad shape. The hoover got rid of most of the 30 year old arcade dust and crap:



The coin door is not the best. At some point someone has forced it open, creating some impressive bowing on not only the door itself, but the front panel too. A bar was across the door also and this has left some mighty holes at the front.

 
So stripped down, it was time to get started on the repairs. I straightened out the warp at the front by clamping and rescrewing it to the base of the control panel where it meets - it now sits flush without problems. I also went round and filled the worst of the holes with Bondo, and also filled in the unused boltholes at the side of the cab, so that the sideart is nice and flush when applied.





I personally bought the exact paint match when I was in the US last year from Home Depot (USA equivalent of B&Q over here in the UK) - the only place that stocks it. It was wrapped and taped in a plastic bag in my case in the hold. Arriving back home, I found that US customs had gone into my bag, opened the tin up and had a look at it. They left a stern note saying they had the right to open bags and examine contents, and if I didn't like it, tough! I guess it showed up as a liquid on X-Ray or something. Thankfully they didn't confiscate it and it arrived back with me safe and sound. Close call - it's hard to get anyone to ship paint over the Atlantic, and I couldn't take it with me in my hand luggage. I did try shipping it back home while I was there, but the USPS and FedEx wouldn't touch it - which is why I was amazed it wasn't seized.

 
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The custom artwork was ordered from thisoldgame.com and is absolutely spot on when it arrived. It's done with very high quality print and materials - it will look great when applied I think.

The Roms arrived last week too, ready to be socketed into the original DK board.



As this was the first kit they'd ever shipped out to Europe, thisoldgame made me a custom serial plate to replace the old one, Model Number D2K-UP UK, Serial number 001! Thanks guys!



The control panel needs stripping down and rebuilding with the new CPO, plus new buttons need to be found from somewhere.



The major repair will have to be the base of the cab. The front part of the base is missing, and the rest is very loose. I think I'll be replacing the whole lot when it's sanded and painted:

 
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Few more random pics of the sides and cab fully stripped:



So the inventory sourced for this cab so far is:

Nintendo cab
Two working DK boardsets
Complete working rebuilt Sanyo monitor chassis
DK2 Roms
New custom wiring harness
Complete artwork package - sideart, CPO, Marquee, Serial Plate and Bezel
Correct coded paint
White T molding

To get:

New coin door (pretty sure I want a new one - have a lead)
DK button set
I've not played with the joystick, but it looks like it will be OK after a stripdown and rebuild.
I've got plans for the wiring loom too - I'll update on this when the cab is ready to populate.

The cab is currently waiting to be sanded, primed and painted. I'm planning on using a small roller as I understand several restorations have been done over your side of the pond using this technique with some success.

More updates as and when. Hoping to have this complete within the next six weeks or so.
 
So at this point I should point out that I just stared at the bare shell for a couple of months, and finally got the motivation to do something when the weather picked up a bit:

Cab was sanded and primed well over a month ago, today it was time to apply some paint!

The only thing that's changed is I've filled in some of the unused bolt holes on the side, that were there to support a horizontal monitor position. Couldn't see the point of leaving them in and having the bolts going through the side art, so there are now only two holes either side. Protocol apparently is to apply the side art, then put the bolts through the artwork, rather than try to cover the bolt ends with the artwork. With the removal of the unused bolts, I reckon it'll look much better when it's finished.

So the paint itself is specific to the Donkey Kong II cab and I managed to pick some up on a trip to the US last year as I mentioned earlier in the thread. It's a Behr Paint Blue Sapphire Sparkle colour, and the only place that does it is Home Depot. You need to get them to mix it for you in store while you wait.

(Clicky thumbnails gents, if you want more detail)



I sanded between coats with a light gauge sanding block to try to keep the finish as smooth as possible, and used a 5 inch small gloss roller. The paint itself has a satin finish, so it's not too harsh on the eye and not too reflective.

First coat start:



First coat on! It's gone on pretty well, but clearly needs more, as it's struggling to cover the white of the primer:



Three hours later, and after a light sand, I applied the second coat. Starting to look much better, but still pretty patchy. The hardest part is making sure you don't leave thick lines of paint from the edge of the roller:



Another three hours, another sand, and here's the final coat on:



I'm really pleased with the result. It's as smooth as it's ever going to be without spray work. There's a light patch on the bottom right hand side, but I think it's where it's still drying - I'll check it out tomorrow. Nothing stopping me doing another coat if needs be, but it's had three, so I can't imagine it needs more. I used a fine brush for the edging work at the front - it's not obvious, unless you are right up close examining that area of the cab - I think the satin finish of the paint helps with this. But my main concern was keeping the sides as smooth as poss, ready for the side art.

Later this week I'll get the black gloss parts done - only small amounts required along that inside edge you can see running the length of the cab both sides at the front. The top, rear and base will be vinyl wrapped in black - I reckon this is the easiest solution as the back is pretty tatty.

Managed to source a nice coin door from the US last month too, and just waiting on some buttons and switches for the Control Panel as mine are pretty beat up.

It's amazing how much more "cab like" it looks just with a decent lick of paint, so I'm really motivated now to get this finished soon!

More updates as and when I get my butt into gear in the coming days and weeks.
 
Decided to get all the painting finished a week later:

Revisited the gloss black, started again with it and ended up with a good result. I've done the rear and top of the cab using a matt blackboard type paint, and I'm really pleased with how that's ended up.

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Anyway, all done - I've learned that I absolutely hate painting! It's now drying out in the garage.

I may well get some of the wood preserver that Pacman83 mentioned earlier, and give the bare wood inside the cab a coat of that stuff too.

I've ordered some black vinyl for the control panel, to get a nice smooth finish, and various parts have arrived from the US over the last few days. Wet sanded all the metalwork ready for smooth Hammerite tomorrow.

Going to strip and repopulate the control panel during the week, and hopefully start putting things in next weekend.

I can see the finish line fast approaching now..
 
So while the cab was in the garage drying out, I thought I'd try and make some progress with the rest of the parts:

Used Hammerite on the black metalwork, and those bits are now hung and drying in the garage. Stripped down the control panel, filled some holes and sanded down ready for black vinyl.





 
I'm not happy with the way the joystick looks or feels. It's very worn. Maybe I should've ordered a repro, and might still do that. I'll wait for it to dry out after the good scrub it's had in the sink. I'll put it on the new panel and see how it plays.

Took a peek at the new CPO - looks great!



Here's the old red standard DK CPO coming off, and the new blue one which will replace it.



I need to do the vinyl tomorrow - the plan is that the vinyl will look better than black gloss paint. I've got some concerns that it's going to peel away from the edges of the control panel board. Anyway, I'm going to give it a go and see how it looks - got some ideas how to avoid potential problems. If it works out, I should hopefully get the control panel populated in the afternoon.

This evening I stripped down the power supply unit, and cleaned and tidied up the cabling which was badly worn in some places. Chopped a good length off the power cord too.



That's a before shot. It's all cleaned up and ready to go.

Another job for tomorrow is the monitor. Need to clean that up and sort out a black bezel from somewhere. The monitor itself is caked in some sticky crap around it's edge where the bezel was stuck to it.

In the home straight now...
 
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Forgot to say that yesterday when I was cleaning up the Power supply, it became obvious that there was something rattling around inside it. I gave it a good shake upside down, and out fell an American quarter dated from 1992 - which would suggest the cab had at least a ten year life in one guise or another. Stuff like that makes this hobby interesting.

Anyway coated the control panel with glossy black vinyl this morning, and as planned, wrapped it round the back. Used a staple gun on the back to secure it firmly. When I'm ready to apply the t modling on the front, I'm going to slice through it along the groove - this should help hold it in place as well.

I managed to secure one of the repro harnesses made by Dokert. I've had this since January waiting for me to get my arse into gear with this cab! These are really well made harnesses - his work is first rate. A lot of care and attention has gone into it.

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So I populated the panel, bolted on the new plastic overlay, and assembled the joystick (having now been scrubbed clean to within an inch of it's life) - it looks a lot better now. Added the new Nintendo buttons, button holders and applied the new loom to the control panel.

Here's the back of the joystick:

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And here's the rear of of the control panel with loom and various bits of kit:

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Because the harness is bespoke built for the cab, there's no wastage, so it's nice to look at the loom in place, as it all fits so well and looks a lot more compact and neat than the original Nintendo one.

One nice part I sourced is the joystick protector, which is basically a clear plastic o-ring that sits under the joystick protecting your fingers from the hole underneath, and presumably prevents the CPO from getting scratched through play. I ordered it for 50 cents out of curiosity when I sourced my buttons. I've not experienced one before - a great idea. Here it is fitted:

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(Edit: decided to remove this clear o-ring after a while, as I noticed it was scratching the CPO underneath)

So after 3 hours work I ended up with the finished product:

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Pleased with that. It's very satisfying to finally see a sexy bit actually complete and ready to be dropped in.

Real life took over (plus I was feeling lousy with a cold), so not much else got done. It's all there done and complete, just need to get the cab in the house, apply side art and star putting all these parts together.

Might try and get stuff done during the week if I get time, but realistically the ETA is going to be next weekend I reckon.

Sorry about the huge pics - photobucket have changed their site and link options for some reason.
 
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It's sideart time!

1. Bring the cab into the house, remembering to carefully negotiate around "The Warden". Don't worry, her bark is worse than her bite.

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2. Measure up your artwork and decide where it's going to go. Tape it in place with masking tape, with a long piece across the middle. Remove backing from the bottom up to the middle of the art, where your long piece of masking tape is, and cut off this bottom part that's now unattached from the artwork. Then carefully start to squeegie from the middle, down and outwards. Notice there's another layer of paper on top of the art, to allow a good amount of pressure to be applied without scratching the artwork. Once on, you can peel off the protective paper to reveal the shiny art underneath:

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3. Remove the centre strip of masking tape, and the top half of the backing. Squeegie from the middle, up and outwards. Et voilà:

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4. Repeat the process on the other side, taking measurements from the side you've just done, to ensure their positions match:

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5. Step back, admire your handiwork:

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I was surprised at how easy this was. Take your time, use common sense, and all is well. What I do like is the way the contours of the paintwork subtly show through the sideart in certain lights. I think I prefer this to a sheen, flat art, as any imperfections can be forgiven when there's some texture there. This is down to the roller technique I opted for on the paintwork rather than spray:

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That picture above makes it look very uneven, but it's actually very smooth to the touch. Here's a closeup of the art:

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So all done. We got the cab up the stairs to the gamesroom without incident, ready for marquee, lights, boards, wiring, metalwork, PSU, bezel and t molding. Should be all done sometime over the weekend.
 
Time to start populating the cab again. Various small jobs to get closer to the end result:

Marquee light back in:

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T-molding!

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De-soldering the old loom where it needed it:

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Populating the replacement coin door, with cleaned up counter, mech and service switch:

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On that subject. I paused to reflect the fact that this machine has had nearly a quarter of a million plays:

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Assuming each of those coins were quarters, you can assume that this machine has taken $56,000 during it's life. Presumably most of that was in the early 80s.

Connect up new loom as far as I could:

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Used a smooth black vinyl to cover the metal work that holds the marquee in place:

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And the new identifier plate. Notice the serial number (this is the first DKII kit shipped outside of America):

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Monitor should be cleaned up and put in tomorrow. Need to make a bezel too.
 
More work. And finishing in frustration!

Started on the monitor. I've never come across such a filthy bit of kit in my life. It seemed to be covered in a film of greasy oily dust. Disgusting stuff and a real pig to clean off. But I did a pretty good job I think. The hardest bit was this sticky stuff around the monitor. It was used to hold the cardboard bezel in place.

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Scraping and some of that sticky stuff remover did the trick.

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Two hours of cleaning later and it's looking much better:

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Next up was making a cardboard bezel. I used tracing paper to make a template, then cut round using Stanley knife:

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Once the monitor was in the cab, I installed the marquee, and decided to go for it, and switched on:

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Arcade restoration can be a harsh mistress at times. Aside from the horrific burn showing up, I get a blank screen and marquee light, which is something. But nothing else works - the cab is not coining up, and there's no sound either. So it seemed there was no power to the board at all. This led me to the PSU, as the monitor and marquee both bypass the PSU. Got the multimeter out and I couldn't get a reading of any kind from any of the pins. Dead. So tore down the PSU and found this deep inside:

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One blown mini 4A fuse. I reckon this was blown when I had the disaster with the monitor a few months back and we managed to wire it up wrong.

Do I have one lying around? Of course not!
 
So no working DK2 fun as yet. However, here's some shots of the finished article. There's a few details left to complete the job, but it's pretty much there. The fully working shot will have to wait until tomorrow night when I've gone fuse shopping - assuming that's the problem of course.

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So I had a nightmare with the PSU. The fuse kept blowing, I replaced a few parts, but it became clear I wasn't going to be able to repair it with my limited skills, so started to hunt down a replacement unit. Luckily, a forum member came up with a spare and was been kind enough to loan it until I found one for myself - which was really good of him.

So it arrived today:

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I thought I'd best check out the voltages before plugging my board in. You like my one handed technique? The things I'll do to get a photo... Anyway, everything was fine:

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So I plugged in and after realising I'd forgot to connect the video cable to the monitor, we had signs of life!

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All good. The monitor is throwing out a pretty good picture. The chronic burn on the screen doesn't show up when the cab is on, and the warm glow of the CRT just suits the cab and game perfectly.

The nice thing about this rom add on, is not only do you get the new levels of DK2, but holding down P1 and P2 buttons at any time, gets you back to the original Donkey Kong game. In addition, it adds a freeplay option which wasn't in the original code - plus all the dip settings are on screen via a menu which can be accessed at startup.

Just a few jobs left to complete now:

Put the rear door on
Source two locks
Attach the black cardboard bezel to the monitor
Construct cardboard curtain for the back of the cab as per original
Source two coin slot fascias
Source PSU

Once its all done I'll post daytime pics of it in situ.

Meantime:

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Another job was to srot the monitor bezel - stuck it down with three gluedots across the top, and made the curtain with black card:

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Shifted things around, got my power sorted. This is how the games room is looking now.

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The space invader on the wall is made from lightweight acrylic mirror tiles, stuck on the wallpaper with double sided "no more nails" tape.

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Anyway, here's a before and after shot of the cab:

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Small but significant update. Been after some nice coin slot fascias, but they are very difficult to track down over here in the UK. Thanks to a forum member on a forum over here who is a metal worker, I now have two shiny new repro ones. He even engraved them with the D2K logo. Got them fitted tonight.

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They look absolutely superb and really set the cab off.
 
The cab is complete, I'm planning on taking some proper high res photos of the cab and will post them when done.

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This was my first resto and saw it as a challenge when I started, but if my cack-handed limited skills can produce a result like this, anyone can.

Hope this helps someone out.

Cheers

T
 
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