DK/Nintendo smooth Paint job?

Malice95

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So I picked up a DK today.. It definitely needs some restoration
work. Scratches on the sides, Couple gouges,
Edges messed up on back edge, etc.

But about 95% of the sides are good. Should I get the paint
matched, bondo, and then touchup paint? Will it ever look super
smooth like the original finish? I need an oil based paint right?

or Sand the whole thing down, bondo, and paint it with an HVLP.

What in your experience is going to give a better end result? Will
the HVLP ever be able to reproduce that super smooth nintendo finish?

Malice95
 
Spraying is the closest you will come to the original finish.
Repairing and touch up almost never look right.
The paint has faded over the years.
I would paint with an oil based paint and then satin clear coat.
Sand the entire cab with 220 and then fix any gouges,chipped edges or corners then prime and paint.
Prep is the most important part.
Any flaws will show through the paint.
 
The plywood cabs weren't paint, but a melamine coating, like plastic. The particle board cabinets, with slightly wider panels and offset molding were painted.

For a smooth finish like the original whatever, you'll need 2 things - The prep work and primer must be completely slick. I wouldn't wet sand the primer though, as it would swell particle board or raise the grain in plywood. Two - the paint will have to lay on slick. For that, it would need to be sprayed for the flattest finish. Whatever you do, using a piece of scrap plywood, primer it, sand it, and shoot some paint on it - sample each step of the process on the test piece and refine your methods.
 
I wet sanded the primer on my plywood cab and had no problem at all.
I wouldn't do it on a particle cab though.
I did small sections,with a small amount of water and wiped with a towel to keep the water in control and away from the edges.
It is no problem as long as you don't soak the cab in water.
 
I just sprayed my plywood DK cab yesterday, and I'm wishing this had been posted before I started. I sanded the cab down to 150 before priming, and did 220 after a couple coats, but the grain is definitely still visible. It looks better than it did before I started, but definitely nowhere near Nintendo smooth.
 
I'm definitely interested in this thread since my one and only game is a DK that I'm restoring. I have the particle board sides and was curious about the type of paint and finish it had.
 
Im interested too, Im not looking for showroom finish just something better than what it is, I have a Nintendo vs particle board cab im going to repaint, i plan on sanding with about 200 grit then fill in scrapes then sand then prime then paint, ill be using rustoleum satin gray since the vs cab was originally gray
 
If you're restoring a plywood/melamine cabinet, there's no need to sand all of the melamine off. You'll only expose the wood grain and need to fill and smooth the grain with primer. The melamine/finish does need to be sanded, but necessary only to 'rough up' the finish so the primer will have something to bite to.
 
If you're restoring a plywood/melamine cabinet, there's no need to sand all of the melamine off. You'll only expose the wood grain and need to fill and smooth the grain with primer. The melamine/finish does need to be sanded, but necessary only to 'rough up' the finish so the primer will have something to bite to.

If only I had known!!! Oh well, we live, we learn.
 
Yeah, I would never sand a Nintendo cab all the way down to the wood. Just smooth things out, fill with bondo, prime, sand two coats of paint, and vinyl from This old game. Damn it! where is Phet and his restore pics when you need him?
 
Yeah, I would never sand a Nintendo cab all the way down to the wood. Just smooth things out, fill with bondo, prime, sand two coats of paint, and vinyl from This old game. Damn it! where is Phet and his restore pics when you need him?

Why paint when you're going to end up putting vinyl on? Wouldnt the Primer be enough?
Heck why even prime.. just sanding everything smooth should work I would think.
 
Why paint when you're going to end up putting vinyl on? Wouldnt the Primer be enough?
Heck why even prime.. just sanding everything smooth should work I would think.

The vinyl is somewhat translucent and the cab has to be painted or it will look like shit.
 
Why paint when you're going to end up putting vinyl on? Wouldnt the Primer be enough?
Heck why even prime.. just sanding everything smooth should work I would think.

Here are a few threads to clear things up a bit regarding vinyl application and finish. I hope old Phettyboy doesn't mind me linking his thread.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=88835
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=117240
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=104713
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=108794
 
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Wow. Good Idea! Wasn't aware Rich had the Donkey Kong vinyl. That'd be the way to go. Looks like it's out of stock temporarily. That'd be so much better than painting. At least for the sides. The front would be kind of a b%$$% to re-vinyl.
 
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Wow. Good Idea! Wasn't aware Rich had the Donkey Kong vinyl. That'd be the way to go. Looks like it's out of stock temporarily. That'd be so much better than painting. At least for the sides. The front would be kind of a b%$$% to re-vinyl.

You still have to paint the cab,see the links posted by gregatron above.
You also need to fix any imperfections as they will show through the vinyl.
 
The questions that still get asked here, especially after the search feature was 'fixed', simply astounds me. As for sanding a Ninty cab to the bare wood, why would anyone do that? Seriously. Why? And if you did sand all the way down, why would you then think a giant sticker (which is essentially what Rich's vinyl kit is) would adhere better to grainy, rough and porous bare wood than to a nice prepared, smooth and sealed surface? Does that really make sense to you? The guys with the most successful restorations tend to exhibit the lion's share of common sense.
 
The questions that still get asked here, especially after the search feature was 'fixed', simply astounds me. As for sanding a Ninty cab to the bare wood, why would anyone do that? Seriously. Why?

Even though I'm sure your questions were rhetorical, I'm going to answer at least the first one anyway:

1. This was my first resto, and I had no experience one way or the other.
2. The only resto logs I looked at completely were for cabinets that were sanded down to bare wood. I looked at several Ms. Pac logs, which all involved re-stenciling, and every single one of them sanded down to bare.

Searching the forums for "donkey kong sand bare" only produces one hit... in which audiomidiman recommends giong "right down to the bare cabinet." (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=33910&highlight=donkey+kong+sand+bare&page=2) I didn't perform this exact search beforehand, but I did search a bit and didn't come across anyone advising against sanding to bare wood.

As for the vinyl - I'm not planning on re-vinyling this cab, at least not as long as the surface is all wood-grainy.
 
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