Do you ever quit on your restoration projects?

nesjess

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I'm talking mainly about those games that work just fine but need cosmetic and body work. New paint, some wood work, new artwork, etc.

I stripped down my Mario Bros. WB and it's been sitting in my garage for almost a year unplayed because I thought I would get to filling, sanding, repainting it. But stuff just keeps coming up and being a new dad means I have absolutely no time to spend in the garage. My SFII works fine as well, but needs the same type of cab work. All I've done so far is restored both control panels.

Do any of you guys have this problem? Do you end up just saying "To heck with it! I'm putting it back together and playing it!"? To be honest, I'm considering doing just that until my girl is a bit older and I can actually get more than a half hour of free time to myself. I'd much rather have a half hour at a time playing these games than looking at them shelled out in the garage.

What do you think? Be patient and get it done? Or forget restoring them and play the games as I'm supposed to play them?
 
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I'm talking mainly about those games that work just fine but need cosmetic and body work. New paint, some wood work, new artwork, etc.

That describes all 4 of my games :)

I'm in the middle of my DK project but should finish before 6 mos....lol...

The rest will have to wait at this point as I do not want to have the down time from playing them. ;)
 
I have a few that need restoration. I happen to have all the stuff to do one or 2 of em.
One thing is for certain. They stay in playing shape until I am ready to go.
 
I have multiple games that fall in this category. Although time is less the issue than motivation. And then there are those like paperboy and burger time that just need to be perfect so they got put on hold so they wouldn't be rushed to finish and end up looking half assed. For me the motivation to play the game will eventually get me to finish the resto.
 
I have multiple games that fall in this category. Although time is less the issue than motivation. And then there are those like paperboy and burger time that just need to be perfect so they got put on hold so they wouldn't be rushed to finish and end up looking half assed. For me the motivation to play the game will eventually get me to finish the resto.

That's exactly it. I don't want to rush it and have the results show it. I need my games to be perfect as well. I'm the opposite in that I have motivation, just no time.

At this point in my life, playing the games even though the cabs look a bit messed up is a lot more appealing than 2 stripped down cabs taking up half my garage space. But like xxstatic and tron guy mentioned, keeping them in playing form in my garage until I'm truly ready and committed to restoring them is probably the best route to take.

Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it.
 
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I have several games that all worked when i got em and now sit in pieces and figure it'll be two years before they even get finished. My demo derby 4 player is going on three years and even though i have everything for it, i'm not looking forward to the 150+ hours it'll take to restore it. At this point, i don't bother putting a working game in my collection unless it's restored cuz i know i'll never drag it back upstairs to finish it. Unrestored games look like hell and they're smelly!
 
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I will do easy cosmetic fixes, but I am not interested in doing any full restorations. They take too much time doing a lot of stuff I don't like doing. Mine are fine for the garage. If I ever have a fancy gameroom, I may but restored versions, but I don't know.
 
I will do easy cosmetic fixes, but I am not interested in doing any full restorations. They take too much time doing a lot of stuff I don't like doing. Mine are fine for the garage. If I ever have a fancy gameroom, I may but restored versions, but I don't know.

I fall into this category somewhat. I really don't like the restoration process. I have done a couple. The qbert I did was pretty decent. Most would say it looks good.

The only 2 I want perfect are my tron (which won't be for a long while) and my hyper sports (which is next up, sideart, cpo, and paint on the way) I have everything else.
It should be noted that the hyper sports cab needs ZERO woodwork done to it. Well possibly a lock bar hole or 2, but that's it.
 
Get them all in 100% working condition and back together before you loose any parts.

That's my biggest problem in working on anything. I'm ADD in projects and ALWAYS loose something or have to abandon a project.

That's what I'm doing with my MB WB right now. I'm just going to get it into 100% working condition and then leave it playable till I get finished getting the other machines in the garage working. I need some working just so that I can get rid of them.

Do the full paint and patch when you have time but only one at a time. Easier said than done... that's what i'm going to try to do.
 
I guess I'm lucky, I can usually sneak stuff I'm working on in to work and sneak a few hours to work on stuff here and there during down time. Coin doors, bezels, CPs, Power supplies,
chassis, no problem. The issue is wheeling in a whole cab. I usually break 'em down if I can and do them individually and reassemble them later. I usually won't start a restore until I know I'm gonna have the time to complete it. Like Chris said, depending on the cab it could be upwards of 150 hrs. I have lost sight of my goals though. I find making a check list down to the very smallest thing then grouping or catagorizing each task makes it more fun. Whenever you lose enthusiasm just check the list, there's always something you can do to check another box off.
That's what I do anyway, on the weekends I like to see how many boxes I can check off.
 
I find making a check list down to the very smallest thing then grouping or catagorizing each task makes it more fun. Whenever you lose enthusiasm just check the list, there's always something you can do to check another box off.
That's what I do anyway, on the weekends I like to see how many boxes I can check off.

Great idea Greg! Something I can do during my down times at work.

Though, I may have to go with reassembling the cabs before I do anything as Prairied said. It is worrisome to think I may have misplaced or lost a part or two since I have both cabs disassembled and parts are scattered all over the garage and in my game room.

I think maybe reassembling the cabs and making a to-do list for each would be good. Then I can see what little things I can do (sanding coin door, cleaning bezel, applying a bit of bondo, etc.) with my short windows of time that I have. I'm sure it will make restoring the actual cabs a lot easier once I get to them. So I practically wasted my time disassembling them, but it will be worth it to know I can actually play them once they are all reassembled!

Side note: I guess MB won't be showroom quality for CAX, but it's relatively dark in there anyways, right? :D
 
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I also do a checklist,although I keep track of it in my head instead of physically writing it down.In addition to the points Greg made about it,it also seems to help me keep on task and also keeps me from trying to do too much at one time.
This way you can be more thorough with each task on the list and additionally not have the sense that you are being overwhelmed by doing a ton of different things at once.
 
Well, I have only started one cabinet restoration project. It will definetely be a long one, done small bit by small bit. It doesen't need any wood work, the cab is in great shape... just electrical, and minor cosmetic and then graphics really...

On the end of working on vehicles though... I definetly show this trend... I've started several project cars... from 81 chevy shortbox pickup to a 94 s-10... They all got abandoned and sold before I finished them...

and I have an ongoing project 1967 Camaro... but that one's the kind you have to do over time... to make sure it's done just right
 
This is 2 weekends worth of work, about 4 hours a day. I needed the inspiration from other MB threads to get mine really going. The end result is what keeps me coming back for more restores.

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I haven't done this yet. A lot of you guys seem to have the space and money to buy whatever comes along, in various states of disrepair and completeness. I don't have much room, so every game I buy has to be one I want and one I know that I can fix and want to play. I also space out buying the games so I only have one at a time that I'm working on. The rest are in the game room and playable.

I wouldn't really count it but the only game I picked up, just because it was free- was a dead, incomplete, and horribly converted Super Pac-Man. It was a no PIC ad on CL that said "come get it now." Boy was it missing a lot and in horrible shape. It sat for 6 months or so, because I picked it up even though I didn't need it- mainly as a parts cab. I was going to give it away to a KLOV'er, but I decided I needed the money more... and that if I dropped $200 or $250 in it and cleaned the shit out of it, it might be able to make me a few extra hundred as a multi, for the summer months when work is slow. I'd show pics of it here, and it's transformation- but this place doesn't take kindly to multi conversions- even if the cab was a complete wreck. I put a custom paint job on it to... which would ensure my banishment.

The issue is wheeling in a whole cab. I usually break 'em down if I can and do them individually and reassemble them later.

That's the only way I got my Asteroids in the 2nd floor game room by myself. No back door, no monitor, no CP, no coin door- and I was lucky enough to have carpeted steps for easy sliding.
 
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it is really hard to get motivated when it comes to a full cabinet re-paint since prep work takes forever, and i always go the spray hvlp paint route, it is just a pain in general.

i sometimes move so slow on a restoration that it appears i did give up

i have a tron i plan to finish this spring that i started on maybe 2-3 years ago, hope i remember how it goes back together
 
Arcade games sole purpose in the world is to be played

I disagree! They are just as fun to restore and almost as fun to look at when you are finished with the restoration! I've always got the motivation to work on a cabinet but not always the time. Patience is the key - I'll never bring a cabinet into the house that doesn't look brand new. I don't want to look at it but more importantly neither does my wife. :)
 
I have started several restorations, but I have only completed a fraction of them. Plus when you sell every other restored game like I do, you can have restored 40 games in your lifetime, have 30 of your own games on the premises and only 10 of those 30 have actually been restored. I noted this Saturday when I had a small party for my daughter's last dance recital. Of the 16 games in my gameroom, only 8 of them are fully restored, the other 8 were in nice enough condition to move in as is. In the garage, there sit 16 games, 15 of which are projects. Of those 15, I have started restoring at least 6 of them. That leaves 9 projects I haven't started. With 2 little kids and a wife who hates the hobby, it seems my average restoration time has increased from 1 month to 3 or 4 months. Sometimes I'll look at my projects and see a game or 2 that I can't remember getting, and a few that I can't remember why I wanted to get. Then I'll notice shelves, boxes and bins of parts, shelves of monitors, tools strewn everywhere, cords running all over the garage and I'll say to myself, "What's the point?" Then I'll clean up the garage, get back on task and actually finish a restoration. Then I remember the point:

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And the cycle continues. Now I am actually enjoying the games in addition to restoring them. That helps too.
 
The key is to get at it and don't let it sit. Once you get going, don't stop until you finish. If you stop, you lose the sense of urgency. Doesn't hurt to do it in an area of your house you actually need (i.e., my basement), so you have a reason to HAVE to get it completed. And don't take on another project until the first is done...then you'll be overwhelmed. And plan...it's all about time management. You can do a lot in a half an hour if you're efficient at it.
 
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