Donkey Kong Restoration

Racetech

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I've been collecting and restoring classic arcade games for years now but only recently joined this great site.

My latest project was an "over-restore" of an original Donkey Kong. This one was pretty straightforward because the game wasn't really in bad shape to begin with.

This is not a business for me--just a hobby to keep me out of trouble. Click the link here, then click "Donkey Kong Restoration" on the left side navigation (or any of the others you wish to view).

http://www.pac-maniac.com/

I've also attached a few photos... enjoy and any tips are appreciated!
 

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I've been collecting and restoring classic arcade games for years now but only recently joined this great site.

My latest project was an "over-restore" of an original Donkey Kong. This one was pretty straightforward because the game wasn't really in bad shape to begin with.

This is not a business for me--just a hobby to keep me out of trouble. Click the link here, then click "Donkey Kong Restoration" on the left side navigation (or any of the others you wish to view).

http://www.pac-maniac.com/

I've also attached a few photos... enjoy and any tips are appreciated!


Very nice work. The paint job looks perfect. I dabble in restorations myself.
 
Very nice work. The paint job looks perfect. I dabble in restorations myself.

Feel free to stay in touch--I've been collecting lots of parts for a few of the classic games for obvious reasons. I had the best possible help on the paintwork--a guy John who works for me was an auto body guy by trade. He prepped the cabinet as if it were a classic car. My own background is mostly in auto mechanics. If you look at my website you'll see that automotive influence. There are so many tricks, tools, and products I learned while doing that. I'm hoping by sharing that here other acrade game restorers like us may benefit.

I also spend too much time playing these games--ask my wife. My best scores to date are 2,033,000 on Pac-Man, 3,800,000 on Dig Dug, and 38,000,000 on Q-Bert. Right now, my best on that DK machine is just 180,000. Steve Wiebe is safe.
 
Feel free to stay in touch--I've been collecting lots of parts for a few of the classic games for obvious reasons. I had the best possible help on the paintwork--a guy John who works for me was an auto body guy by trade. He prepped the cabinet as if it were a classic car. My own background is mostly in auto mechanics. If you look at my website you'll see that automotive influence. There are so many tricks, tools, and products I learned while doing that. I'm hoping by sharing that here other acrade game restorers like us may benefit.

I also spend too much time playing these games--ask my wife. My best scores to date are 2,033,000 on Pac-Man, 3,800,000 on Dig Dug, and 38,000,000 on Q-Bert. Right now, my best on that DK machine is just 180,000. Steve Wiebe is safe.

Holy shit, nice scores. Your DK score is 10x mine, so even you are safe in my world. Glad to have you aboard, looks like I'll need to check out your site.
 
Now I'm wondering if I screwed up and posted this thread in the correct forum. I was just reading the Restoration Section Guidelines and it says:

The second, Restoration Gallery, is for showcasing your restoration projects, either in various stages of progress, or with before/after photos. No general restoration questions should be posted a new thread in this forum. Questions within and directly related to a thread can be posted (and of course, so can compliments, etc.).

There isn't a forum called "Restoration Gallery" as a sub category but there is one called "Restoration Showcase". Is that where this thread belongs?

Thanks in advance for help here.
 
Now I'm wondering if I screwed up and posted this thread in the correct forum. I was just reading the Restoration Section Guidelines and it says:



There isn't a forum called "Restoration Gallery" as a sub category but there is one called "Restoration Showcase". Is that where this thread belongs?

Thanks in advance for help here.

Put it in the showcase forum only if you want no one to see it. You're fine.
 
awesome job on that! there is a typo in your blog write-up btw:

"As always, my main concern on these classic arcade games is the monitor. I was willing to pay $450 for this machine because of the condition of the original Hitachi CRT monitor. It works like new with no burn-in, sharp pure colors, deep black blacks, no noise, and no distortion. It won't even need to be re-capped. Excellent"

should be Sanyo, not Hitachi =p
 
Awesome job! If I could find someone to paint like that I might consider going over the original finish on my red DK. The only thing you missed that I could see is that the coin door bolts on Nintendo games are silver. You site is great too.
 
awesome job on that! there is a typo in your blog write-up btw:

"As always, my main concern on these classic arcade games is the monitor. I was willing to pay $450 for this machine because of the condition of the original Hitachi CRT monitor. It works like new with no burn-in, sharp pure colors, deep black blacks, no noise, and no distortion. It won't even need to be re-capped. Excellent"

should be Sanyo, not Hitachi =p

Thanks! Great eye--should have been Sanyo. Fixed it.

Awesome job! If I could find someone to paint like that I might consider going over the original finish on my red DK. The only thing you missed that I could see is that the coin door bolts on Nintendo games are silver. You site is great too.

I already love this place! The members here really know their stuff. When I got DK, someone had tried to touch up the coin door--it had been repainted black. That's when those carriage bolts turned to the dark side.

When I cleaned them up, that paint came right off. I thought for a moment if I wanted them (factory) bright plated or black. I had even bought a set of replacement bolts. I wound up going black for purely aesthetic reasons. The replacement bolts weren't factory metrics so I didn't use them.

I had even considered matching the bolt heads on the control panel overlay--something that I did on my Galaga machine. For a purist, I know this is heresy but I had already eliminated the carriage bolts on the cabinet and added the leg levelers. I was in deep so to speak going non-stock, so I went the "over-restore" way.

As far as repainting a red machine blue--that'd be a tough choice. It's my understanding that the very first machines did have red cabinets. However I do think it looks more pleasing in blue. So you'll have to decide if having a true original takes precedence over having what you want. John, the auto body guy who painted this machine for me, was convinced that the factory blue coating was some kind of gel coat like they use on boats. As he ground away, there was a distinct fiberglass aroma. The automotive paint adhered great to whatever that was that they used and the cabinet is almost ridiculously flawless. That chemical that he added to give the clear a slight matte finish was the perfect choice--too glossy and it would stand out too much amongst my other machines.

I attached some photos that show some of the other games I have. Big dilema--I need to sell at least one to make room! Ack!

Question: How many arcade games does a collector need?
Answer: Just one more!

Thanks again to all of you for the very nice comments. I had been coming here to find out the right ways of doing things as well as sources for things like monitors. So I decided to join the family here.

Let's keep these games going forever!
 

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I already love this place! The members here really know their stuff. When I got DK, someone had tried to touch up the coin door--it had been repainted black. That's when those carriage bolts turned to the dark side.

When I cleaned them up, that paint came right off. I thought for a moment if I wanted them (factory) bright plated or black. I had even bought a set of replacement bolts. I wound up going black for purely aesthetic reasons. The replacement bolts weren't factory metrics so I didn't use them.

I had even considered matching the bolt heads on the control panel overlay--something that I did on my Galaga machine. For a purist, I know this is heresy but I had already eliminated the carriage bolts on the cabinet and added the leg levelers. I was in deep so to speak going non-stock, so I went the "over-restore" way.

As far as repainting a red machine blue--that'd be a tough choice. It's my understanding that the very first machines did have red cabinets. However I do think it looks more pleasing in blue. So you'll have to decide if having a true original takes precedence over having what you want. John, the auto body guy who painted this machine for me, was convinced that the factory blue coating was some kind of gel coat like they use on boats. As he ground away, there was a distinct fiberglass aroma. The automotive paint adhered great to whatever that was that they used and the cabinet is almost ridiculously flawless. That chemical that he added to give the clear a slight matte finish was the perfect choice--too glossy and it would stand out too much amongst my other machines.

Yeah, those bolts are tough to come by and replacements are typically the wrong size. It's horrible to think of all those bolts just getting thrown away because people don't realize they're tough to come by. Someone had sprayed by entire coin door as well (coin mechs and all) and I replaced the coin mech faces and used some graffitti off remover to clean off the bolts. Getting the bottom ones off is a huge pain because of the coin box shelf!

Filling those horizontal monitor mounts was a good choice, I think. At least some of the DKs came from the factory without the horizontal mounts.

As for the paint, that's the first time I've heard someone theorize that it's some sort of gel coat. I don't know much about painting but it seems prettey obvious that the original finish is more than just paint. There's no fibers in the finish but it's some sort of shell-like finish. I've heard people speculate that it's a baked on enamel or melamine too. Anyway, it would be really cool if somebody figured out how the original finish was done.

Oh, and I would never paint a red DK blue. I just meant if I knew I could get a finish that looked as good as the original, and is as durable as the original, I would probably refinish my cab (with color matched red).

Again, awesome games!
 
I've been collecting and restoring classic arcade games for years now but only recently joined this great site.

My latest project was an "over-restore" of an original Donkey Kong. This one was pretty straightforward because the game wasn't really in bad shape to begin with.

This is not a business for me--just a hobby to keep me out of trouble. Click the link here, then click "Donkey Kong Restoration" on the left side navigation (or any of the others you wish to view).

http://www.pac-maniac.com/

I've also attached a few photos... enjoy and any tips are appreciated!

That really is perfection, excellent job! What type of filler do you use?

I love the gameroom floors you have, that's what I want in my gameroom.
 
..but I had already eliminated the carriage bolts on the cabinet..

I believe you are referring to removing the monitor bolts that are usually poked through the sideart?!? I don't see any now. Can you show some better pics of how you did this?
 
your game room is awesome, meticulous detail there!

Thanks! Great eye--should have been Sanyo. Fixed it.



I already love this place! The members here really know their stuff. When I got DK, someone had tried to touch up the coin door--it had been repainted black. That's when those carriage bolts turned to the dark side.

When I cleaned them up, that paint came right off. I thought for a moment if I wanted them (factory) bright plated or black. I had even bought a set of replacement bolts. I wound up going black for purely aesthetic reasons. The replacement bolts weren't factory metrics so I didn't use them.

I had even considered matching the bolt heads on the control panel overlay--something that I did on my Galaga machine. For a purist, I know this is heresy but I had already eliminated the carriage bolts on the cabinet and added the leg levelers. I was in deep so to speak going non-stock, so I went the "over-restore" way.

As far as repainting a red machine blue--that'd be a tough choice. It's my understanding that the very first machines did have red cabinets. However I do think it looks more pleasing in blue. So you'll have to decide if having a true original takes precedence over having what you want. John, the auto body guy who painted this machine for me, was convinced that the factory blue coating was some kind of gel coat like they use on boats. As he ground away, there was a distinct fiberglass aroma. The automotive paint adhered great to whatever that was that they used and the cabinet is almost ridiculously flawless. That chemical that he added to give the clear a slight matte finish was the perfect choice--too glossy and it would stand out too much amongst my other machines.

I attached some photos that show some of the other games I have. Big dilema--I need to sell at least one to make room! Ack!

Question: How many arcade games does a collector need?
Answer: Just one more!

Thanks again to all of you for the very nice comments. I had been coming here to find out the right ways of doing things as well as sources for things like monitors. So I decided to join the family here.

Let's keep these games going forever!
 
Yeah, those bolts are tough to come by and replacements are typically the wrong size. It's horrible to think of all those bolts just getting thrown away because people don't realize they're tough to come by. Someone had sprayed by entire coin door as well (coin mechs and all) and I replaced the coin mech faces and used some graffitti off remover to clean off the bolts. Getting the bottom ones off is a huge pain because of the coin box shelf!

Filling those horizontal monitor mounts was a good choice, I think. At least some of the DKs came from the factory without the horizontal mounts.

As for the paint, that's the first time I've heard someone theorize that it's some sort of gel coat. I don't know much about painting but it seems prettey obvious that the original finish is more than just paint. There's no fibers in the finish but it's some sort of shell-like finish. I've heard people speculate that it's a baked on enamel or melamine too. Anyway, it would be really cool if somebody figured out how the original finish was done.

Oh, and I would never paint a red DK blue. I just meant if I knew I could get a finish that looked as good as the original, and is as durable as the original, I would probably refinish my cab (with color matched red).

Again, awesome games!

Those coin door bolts were a total pain in the neck! First off, you must have a 7mm end wrench. Even then, they didn't use washers so the nuts were halfway embedded into the plywood. That made it a challenge just to get a grip on them with anything. Apparently, the holes they drilled for them at the factory were slightly small--the bolts were literally driven in. Driving them out without damaging the threads was tough. I threaded the nuts back on so I didn't mushroom the threads as I beat on them. For those bottom corner bolts that aren't accessible because of the coin box shelf, I had to pry out on the door frame until there was enough bolt head showing to grip and turn them with vise grips. The prying left some additional divots in the kick panel that required filling.

That really is perfection, excellent job! What type of filler do you use?

I love the gameroom floors you have, that's what I want in my gameroom.

That's standard auto body filler that uses creme hardener. I learned that trick years ago from a house painter who said it's the best thing to use for repairing damaged door & window casings. The gameroom floor is Pergo. And thanks for the compliment! BTW, that Seeburg Wall-O-Matic juke box at the diner booth works a hidden CD player. A company in New Jersey makes a nifty decoder that translates the telephone-like pulses into a signal that can operate certain models of CD players.

I believe you are referring to removing the monitor bolts that are usually poked through the sideart?!? I don't see any now. Can you show some better pics of how you did this?

I have the process documented on my website: go here and click the Donkey Kong Restoration button on the left: http://pac-maniac.com

I attached the before and after photos.
 

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I have seen the pictures, but it doesn't really answer my question. I understand that the 3 holes in a row are not needed but the upper two that are really close together are still necessary. Do you still have the upper two monitor bolts poking through the sideart? Or did you recess the bolt in the cabinet and bondo over the bolt? This is the part that I am trying to figure out. I just want to know if you came up with some other type of mount for the top monitor bracket.
IMG_1562.jpg
 
I have seen the pictures, but it doesn't really answer my question. I understand that the 3 holes in a row are not needed but the upper two that are really close together are still necessary. Do you still have the upper two monitor bolts poking through the sideart? Or did you recess the bolt in the cabinet and bondo over the bolt? This is the part that I am trying to figure out. I just want to know if you came up with some other type of mount for the top monitor bracket.
IMG_1562.jpg

Read the part here: http://pac-maniac.com/donkeykongrestoration_page3.html

I countersunk the cabinet from the outside just enough with a 3/4" spade bit so that the heads of the T-nuts would be just below the surface. I applied some of my favorite glue (3M 8061 Plastic & Emblem adhesive) and pulled them down tight from the inside with 1/2" long bolts. That's the key--the thickness of the monitor bracket keeps 1/2" long bolts from poking through. I cut small round pieces of masking tape so that the body filler wouldn't get into the threads. So the mounting is totally reversed; the bolts go from the inside out. Hope that made sense!
 
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That's standard auto body filler that uses creme hardener.

Do you know which product? I have typically used Bondo but I was thinking of going with Evercoat's Rage Gold instead, I've heard its easier to work with. I know everyone has their own favorite filler.
 
Those coin door bolts were a total pain in the neck! First off, you must have a 7mm end wrench. Even then, they didn't use washers so the nuts were halfway embedded into the plywood. That made it a challenge just to get a grip on them with anything. Apparently, the holes they drilled for them at the factory were slightly small--the bolts were literally driven in. Driving them out without damaging the threads was tough. I threaded the nuts back on so I didn't mushroom the threads as I beat on them. For those bottom corner bolts that aren't accessible because of the coin box shelf, I had to pry out on the door frame until there was enough bolt head showing to grip and turn them with vise grips. The prying left some additional divots in the kick panel that required filling.

I went to an Ace Hardware and got the thinnest automotive 7mm wrench I could find and that just barely fit in there. I used some plyers with electrical tape ove them to hold the bolt head and that seemed to work (I acutally scraped up one of my bolt heads before figuring out the electrical tape thing). The thin 7mm wrench is key. They're tough to find!
 
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