I am about to embark on, what would be for me, an ambitious reconfiguration and restoration of some of my Nintendo cabinets. One of the first cabinets I ever purchased was an average condition Nintendo VS Dualsystem upright cabinet at a SuperAuctions. It was a pretty good deal where I was the only bidder; the only real problem was that the wooden base had been removed. It came with Excitebike and SMB, but for the last few years I have been running Balloon Fight on both sides. I sold Excitebike and moved SMB into a different VS. Goonies Unisystem cabinet; then sold Goonies.
I also have a very nice Duck Hunt Unisystem cabinet which was originally installed in a Donkey Kong in the mid-80's. Just recently I was able to pick up another Dualsystem upright on the local Craigslist. This was in far worse cosmetic shape than my current Dualsystem, but the monitors, speakers, and PCB were all operable. The controls were shot. This Dualsystem came with Hogan's Alley and Mach Rider.
Now that I have a dynamo Mame cabinet that runs most of the VS. games I enjoy, such as Goonies, I felt I needed to shake-up my VS. setup. So here is what I plan to do:
1) Dualsystem upright - Dual Balloon Fight w/ non-matching marquees of Excitebike and SMB, everything is operable. Thanks to the talents of fellow KLOV'ers I have a really nice digital image of an inspired Balloon Fight Marquee for this cabinet. I need to repaint cabinet and metal, capkit one of the monitors, get the marquee image on two offset replica glass marquees, replace smoked monitor bezel (not necessary, but might as well get rid of minor scratches), full application of new black t-molding, and rebuild base to cabinet.
2) New Dualsystem upright - Remove Mach Rider, keep Hogan's Alley, move Duck Hunt into this. Clean control panels and replace with all new controls, replace smoked monitor bezel, obtain polygon glass Duck Hunt Marquee. Repaint cabinet and metal, capkit both monitors, move duck hunt gun over. Full application of new black t-molding. Replace Hogan's Alley gun.
3) Restore Unisystem Duck Hunt back into Donkey Kong. Sell unpopulated VS. PCB, Duck Hunt Marquee, VS. Control Panel, VS. harness. Install Donkey Kong PCB, PS, harness. Rotate monitor. Full application of new flat white t-molding. Obtain Donkey Kong Marquee, control panel, bezel, side-art, stickers
I think this will end up benefiting my collection. I will have a dedicated Donkey Kong, will be able to paint and restore two Dualsystem cabinets at the same time, and have the VS. cabinets in my collection used for games that I couldn't truly replicate in Mame (well other than SMB). Any original cabinet I have will have the game it was meant for. Something neat, for me at least, to have dual Balloon Fight and then opposite (back-to-back) have a Hogan's Alley/Duck Hunt setup.
Any help or advice is warmly welcomed, I will update this thread with my progress. I'm still a month away from where I can start the sanding/painting process. While I feel I have strengths in wiring/electronics, I don't have much experience painting cabinets so this will be a learning experience for me and I am sure I will have questions that will come up. Obviously, I will attempt to purchase on KLOV:
1) Duck Hunt glass marquee for Dualsystem upright
2) Donkey Kong marquee
3) Donkey Kong sideart
4) Donkey Kong bezel
5) Donkey Kong control panel, populated or unpopulated
6) Donkey Kong PCB, PS and harness
So if anyone has any leads on these items, even right now, I am all-ears. I already really appreciate the insights and tips shared here on the forums and I thank you guys in advance for the advice I hope to solicit in the next couple of months!
-Mike
I also have a very nice Duck Hunt Unisystem cabinet which was originally installed in a Donkey Kong in the mid-80's. Just recently I was able to pick up another Dualsystem upright on the local Craigslist. This was in far worse cosmetic shape than my current Dualsystem, but the monitors, speakers, and PCB were all operable. The controls were shot. This Dualsystem came with Hogan's Alley and Mach Rider.
Now that I have a dynamo Mame cabinet that runs most of the VS. games I enjoy, such as Goonies, I felt I needed to shake-up my VS. setup. So here is what I plan to do:
1) Dualsystem upright - Dual Balloon Fight w/ non-matching marquees of Excitebike and SMB, everything is operable. Thanks to the talents of fellow KLOV'ers I have a really nice digital image of an inspired Balloon Fight Marquee for this cabinet. I need to repaint cabinet and metal, capkit one of the monitors, get the marquee image on two offset replica glass marquees, replace smoked monitor bezel (not necessary, but might as well get rid of minor scratches), full application of new black t-molding, and rebuild base to cabinet.
2) New Dualsystem upright - Remove Mach Rider, keep Hogan's Alley, move Duck Hunt into this. Clean control panels and replace with all new controls, replace smoked monitor bezel, obtain polygon glass Duck Hunt Marquee. Repaint cabinet and metal, capkit both monitors, move duck hunt gun over. Full application of new black t-molding. Replace Hogan's Alley gun.
3) Restore Unisystem Duck Hunt back into Donkey Kong. Sell unpopulated VS. PCB, Duck Hunt Marquee, VS. Control Panel, VS. harness. Install Donkey Kong PCB, PS, harness. Rotate monitor. Full application of new flat white t-molding. Obtain Donkey Kong Marquee, control panel, bezel, side-art, stickers
I think this will end up benefiting my collection. I will have a dedicated Donkey Kong, will be able to paint and restore two Dualsystem cabinets at the same time, and have the VS. cabinets in my collection used for games that I couldn't truly replicate in Mame (well other than SMB). Any original cabinet I have will have the game it was meant for. Something neat, for me at least, to have dual Balloon Fight and then opposite (back-to-back) have a Hogan's Alley/Duck Hunt setup.
Any help or advice is warmly welcomed, I will update this thread with my progress. I'm still a month away from where I can start the sanding/painting process. While I feel I have strengths in wiring/electronics, I don't have much experience painting cabinets so this will be a learning experience for me and I am sure I will have questions that will come up. Obviously, I will attempt to purchase on KLOV:
1) Duck Hunt glass marquee for Dualsystem upright
2) Donkey Kong marquee
3) Donkey Kong sideart
4) Donkey Kong bezel
5) Donkey Kong control panel, populated or unpopulated
6) Donkey Kong PCB, PS and harness
So if anyone has any leads on these items, even right now, I am all-ears. I already really appreciate the insights and tips shared here on the forums and I thank you guys in advance for the advice I hope to solicit in the next couple of months!
-Mike
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