If you had a bombed out Defender cabinet, what would you do?

GaryMcT

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If you had a bombed out Defender cabinet, what would you do?

I have a totally bombed out Defender cabinet. It was converted to something else in a previous life, and was discovered by the previous owner to be a Defender once he stripped the paint off and saw the Defender stencil art on the sides. It's missing just about everything (monitor, control panel, all electronics, etc.) I already have a decent Defender that is a dedicated Defender right now. I don't really need another Defender, but I wouldn't mind having a Multi-Williams machine and make a control panel just for Robotron and Joust with a JROK card. I don't really like the Multi-Williams artwork. . . I prefer the simplicity of having a single game on there. . . I figure my options are:

1) Make it look like a Joust. . . I love the Joust artwork. Robotron is one of my top two favorite games, but the art isn't as exciting as Joust. The downside of this is that I would be surprised if I ended up with a dedicated Joust one of these days (once we get in a new house. . my wife won't let me get more games! :) )
2) Make it look like a ficticious game. I work on games for a living, so I could get one of the artists at work to maybe help me with a simple iconic/imaginary game that is based on one of our games. . . Half-Life 2 is probably the one that would translate well to simple iconic art, and it's probably the thing I'm most proud of working on. I'd probably end up making stencils and paint it on in a small number of colors similar to how Defender is painted.

What would you do? Any other ideas?
 
Id say restore it into a Multiwilliams or Defender. A nice looking Defender can command a high price. I semi-restored my first Defender and got an easy $500 for it in April 09. Or if you wanted to gain a little more extra income, convert it into a 60-in-1 and pocket the cash you make. Of course, that should be a last option, as there are plenty of junky jamma cabinets to do that with and classics should be saved whenever possible.
 
Restore it back to Defender or nothing. Joust cabs and Defender cabs don't look anything alike and I am not one for Multi Williams. Defender is my fav all time game so...... LOL bring it back to life, you will feel good about that!
 
Maybe I will just make it a Defender again. I'd probably make a control panel for it that'll allow me to play Robotron and Joust with a JROK board (since I already have a dedicated Defender.). Basically it would be identical to Robotron layout (same sticks if I can find them), but with an extra button on each side for Joust. I don't really like the Multi-Williams control panels. . too much of a compromise on the Defender/Stargate layout. If I went with the Defender art, it'd be on it's way to being a Defender again.

Does anyone make a good repro Defender control panel? I can do the wood part of it (have done it before), but I'm lazy and my shop is my backyard which is pretty rainy in Seattle right about now. :) Does anyone actually do a repro of the overlay that is the same material as the original with the plastic sheet, etc? It looks like the ArcadeShop is more of the stick-on type.

Also, if someone would make a good Defender repro control panel, I wouldn't feel bad about getting them to make me one that is exactly Defender with an extra button for Stargate with a JROK board. I would never do that to an original Defender control panel!

I guess I need to go clean out the garage so that I can get started. . probably won't happen anytime soon. :)
 
I am not sure about the Arcadeshop repros, but I am assuming they are the adhesive ones. What you could do is paint the wooden frame black, adhere the overlay to the wood, then put a sheet of plexi over the top of it. I dont think that would look half bad.
 
I am not sure about the Arcadeshop repros, but I am assuming they are the adhesive ones. What you could do is paint the wooden frame black, adhere the overlay to the wood, then put a sheet of plexi over the top of it. I dont think that would look half bad.

Would probably look pretty accurate and feel better too. Not a bad idea.
 
Are any WA KLOVers looking for a dedicated Defender? Or maybe have the good guts of one but a trashed/water damaged cab?
 
Would probably look pretty accurate and feel better too. Not a bad idea.

I had a Defender just like the one in this thread. I repainted it (before stencils were available!) by hand, threw in a monitor, jamma harness, and put in an Arcade Shop multi-williams.
THe control panel is just like you described- an overlay with plexi on top. I actually never even removed the backing from the overlay. It's held in place by the buttons and corner bolts.

Bad picture:
DSCN7160.jpg
 
I am in the same situation. By the time I added everything needed to restore this machine, it's around $700 (including JROK MultiWilliams) and I know I wont make my money back on it either. UGH
 
I have exactly the same situation. Only the coin door and kick panel are original and un-molested. I'm gonna grab stencils from Prok and turn it back into a Defender or perhaps a JROK MultiWilliams. I couldn't stand to further desecrate the cab and let it live on as a Black Tiger.
 
Reconstruct it as a Defender, sell it and then buy a Stargate cabinet to turn into a JROK multiWilliams. It just wouldn't look right as either Joust or Robotron.

ken
 
I had a Defender just like the one in this thread. I repainted it (before stencils were available!) by hand, threw in a monitor, jamma harness, and put in an Arcade Shop multi-williams.
THe control panel is just like you described- an overlay with plexi on top. I actually never even removed the backing from the overlay. It's held in place by the buttons and corner bolts.

Bad picture:
DSCN7160.jpg

Very cool. Thanks for showing me that! Looks like you did a great job on the paint job too.
 
Reconstruct it as a Defender, sell it and then buy a Stargate cabinet to turn into a JROK multiWilliams. It just wouldn't look right as either Joust or Robotron.

ken

Good idea. Better yet, I may restore it and keep it for myself and give my original Defender to a friend that is looking for one.
 
The stenciling on my defender can be seen at
http://www.coinopspace.com/profiles/blogs/puttin-my-mw-art-to-the-test

putting the finshing touches on the Marquee, cpo and New Bezel designs.

Very nice! Your art is far more tasteful than the other multi-williams artwork. Did you make the marquee too? Do you sell all of this stuff? What did you end up doing for the control panel overlay? I didn't see that on there.

I'm curious if anyone has managed to make a multi-williams control panel where the defender reverse button is in a good place. I vaguely remember someone mentioning modifying the joystick to make it sit in the right place. . anyone done that?
 
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