Most upside down on a restoration?

joeycuda

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Here's a thought... This isn't a feel bad thread, but I wonder what project has had the most spent on it, but then the game not worth a whole lot?
 
Paperboy... 900 in it, and sold it for 350.00 because i could not find a medium res 19 for 6 months, got pissed and sold it.
 
Battlezone... I probably have $800+ in to it over 4 years or so and it sits... playing blind... pissing me off.
 
Q*Bert... Was a $100 Arkanoid.

Peel formica sides off
Sand flat
prime and sand
paint and wait 2 months for bad paint to dry
Sand insides
paint black
sand, paint vent and coin door
strip control panel
($50+ many days of work)

$100 for new side and CPO art almost a decade ago
$50 for used bezel
$30 for better less flaking bezel after first one was misadvertized and didn't recover anything
$30 for control panel (since ark had extra holes
$150 for board set, arrived broken due to no packing, recovered nothing from seller
$75 for second board set, better condition
$25 for third sound board that actually worked
$10 for used joystick - damage not disclosed, another loss.
$25 new old stock joystick that looks great but is too stiff, tons of complaints from everyone that plays it
$10 new tmolding
$25 marquee
$15 knocker
?? Misc other parts like fuses, rebuilding power supply

$??? swap chassis and tube. Tube broke randomly a year later, swap another tube

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$595 added, plus $100 base = $695 + whatever the tubes and chassis were worth from other games

Then I added the $185 Multi-Qbert to it = $880. Plus then the ArcadeShop adaptor ($55) = $935.

So about $1000 into the dang mutli-qbert now w/monitors. Looks nice with only some light marquee and bezel damage, and of course front CPO edge already cracking :(

Luckily I went back and fixed 1 sound card and 3 CPU's and have a spare harness too. Given their value, that could bring me around $400-$500 if I decide to sell them, bringing an end to the money eating conversion that is Qbert.

I'd never restore a qbert agin unless it had everything there to start with. But as Arkanoid it was completely stripped, only cab, transformer and coin door was salvageable basically.
 
Double Dragon. Needed a replacement PCB, monitor rebuild, marquee bracket, new CPO, new joysticks/buttons and wiring fixed. Sold it with a 10-1 Multitaito board. Definitely took a big loss. In hindsight, should have just kept it.
 
I am about $600 into a DK restore and it isn't even done. I plan on keeping it, so it isn't a huge deal, but there is one for sale locally for $600 and he can't sell it.
 
Q*Bert... Was a $100 Arkanoid.

I don't think you're upside down at all...I bet you could get $1,000 for a restored Qbert with the multi in it

The game I was most upside-down on that I ever owned was Baby Pac-man. That game is a financial black hole.
 
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The one I am most upside down on is my NeoGeo.

$100 - Cabinet
~$50 - Power Supply
$35 - Cap+Flyback for monitor
$10 - Audio Caps
$85 - new EL panels
$80 - Control Panel hoping for decent CPO
$45 - Repro CPO

Still to do: replace joysticks, repair sides, strip and paint sides, new T-molding

It isn't as bad as some, but the CPO definitely was annoying. I now have 2 crap CPOs before QuarterArcade started selling the repros. The one I bought I really couldn't salvage the CPO (had extra bolt holes in the CPO i didn't see that caused major cracking).

Still basically under $500 for the whole cabinet and if I restored it 100% I think I could make my money back, but I would only look to sell/trade it for a Super Neo 29.
 
I have a few very unpopular and not-valuable games that I'll definitely be upside down in if I restore:

Taito - Alpine Ski
Bally - Future Spa
Stern - Dracula (much of it done, need to get back on it)

I'll have more in my Football than I could sell it for, assuming I do the restore.
-building a new cabinet (already documented it, cut many of the pieces)
-got the repro sideart from thisoldgame
-got the overlays from darin
-the trackballs cost a shit-ton to rebuild, so there
-will need to buy woodgrain laminate for the sides
-ouch
 
i've got about $840 into my DK restore. ~$100 of that is a super harness that it doesn't really need though.

My DK Jr i'm probably into for about $575, and I still need to get side art, new buttons and either paint or vinyl the cab. Same deal with the super harness on this one as well.

Actually, the more I think about it, I should sell the super harnesses and just go back to the original wiring to make back some cash.
 
i am getting ready to restore 2 atari footballs.. love to see the pics Joey!
 
i am getting ready to restore 2 atari footballs.. love to see the pics Joey!

Aside from swelling, a rat had lived in it at some point. The bottom of the cabinet is nasty. I knocked the cabinet apart and can really just reuse the panel that the monitor frame sits on. My plan is particle board, black laminate on the inside, and I'll find woodgrain laminate for the outside, then possibly 13/16" t-molding. Maybe this summer...
 
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