My Donkey Kong Upright is actually Formica!

Tighe

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This is so weird, I at first assumed it was the standard Nintendo gel coat, but the serial number (50630) is pretty late. The cabinet is plywood, but wrapped in Formica, which makes the True flat molding too narrow. Just bizarre. Also the interior is completely black with that paper/fabric coating that feels like a dollar bill like you see on the particle board Nintendo cabinets...

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So, I have 3 Nintendo cabinets and not one is made the same way.

One is a Junior converted to a PC 10 and is plywood with gelcoat

Another is a particle board Junior with whatever that coating is.

And this one which is just shy of 3/4" (even the 5/8" Nintendo molding would be too thin) thickness and made from plywood and Formica, even the speaker holes are black. I can tell you that this cabinet has never been touched up with paint. This is just some late model anomaly.
 
Well, it looks like I will be using the 3/4" molding from Twisted quarter and trimming it with my FastCap trimmer. I had a piece left over from another cabinet and it looks good, pretty much the same as the original molding on this cabinet but white instead of yellowed. :D

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Interestingly enough the control panel has the flat molding, but the panel is 9/16" thick so it should.




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Interesting. Do you think it's factory?

Yes, the construction of how it is put together is the same as the other two Nintendo cabinets I have, just made with different materials.

Also the groove for the molding is centered with the Formica so it had to be there originally.

The paper/fabric black coating on the inside is the standard Nintendo stuff.

Have you ever noticed how when someone asks what the original finish on a Nintendo cabinet there is a debate about if it is Formica or gel coat? And usually the gel coat people win out. Well, now I have three different finishes on 3 cabinets and everyone is right, some are gel coat, some are particle board with that vinylish infused surface, and some are plywood with Formica.
 
Oh and the carriage bolts have the original green lock tight on them, they would have had to have been removed to apply Formica to the sides.

I will take them off today or tomorrow and look at the pieces of side art under the bolts and see if it is offset laminated like the original side art was, or silkscreen reproduction. Honestly the op I bought this off was not the kind of guy to Formica his cabinet.

I am convinced that this is original.
 
Can we see some full detailed pics of the cabinet inside and out ? This is weird. Is the serial plate present ?
 
  • Copyright on the bezel, marquee, and control panel
  • Multi connectors with a 2 board stack
  • Plywood cabinet
  • Serial # 50630 Nintendo of America Made in the USA
  • 2 coin slots with Asahi lever rejects (asked the op who is the original owner and he said those were never replaced.)
  • No ladder cheat
  • 7 slot speaker hole


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I hate to say this but i have an odd feeling that both these side panels have been replaced at one point in time by the looks.. Perhaps this is why the plywood is thicker than normal.. Ive never seen a cab like this.. Although i'll still say its an original cab as everything in the center looks correct.. Maybe both panels were damaged and someone replaced them ?
 

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I hate to say this but i have an odd feeling that both these side panels have been replaced at one point in time by the looks.. Perhaps this is why the plywood is thicker than normal.. Ive never seen a cab like this.. Although i'll still say its an original cab as everything in the center looks correct.. Maybe both panels were damaged and someone replaced them ?

Seriously?! These have not been replaced, the cabinet was dropped yanked on wrong. The original staples match up. I just need to clamp and glue it back into position.

Also, I bought this from the original operator who would not be manufacturing new side panels. He is not capable of doing it, and also he said that he hasn't changed anything on the cabinet since he bought it new.

Finally, the front speaker panel and the coin door panel are Formica wrapped so this person would have had to replace those panels also.

This is the front speaker panel, note the Formica here as well.

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I don't know why people won't accept that Nintendo made their cabinets many different ways...




:confused:
 
I don't know why people won't accept that Nintendo made their cabinets many different ways...

...because some people who post here use their "unassailable" knowledge about video arcade machines to define themselves. If they're wrong, they cease to exist. ;)
 
Seriously?! These have not been replaced, the cabinet was dropped yanked on wrong. The original staples match up. I just need to clamp and glue it back into position.

Also, I bought this from the original operator who would not be manufacturing new side panels. He is not capable of doing it, and also he said that he hasn't changed anything on the cabinet since he bought it new.

Finally, the front speaker panel and the coin door panel are Formica wrapped so this person would have had to replace those panels also.

This is the front speaker panel, note the Formica here as well.

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I don't know why people won't accept that Nintendo made their cabinets many different ways...




:confused:


Well, yeah i was being serious..I didnt necessarly mean that previous owner replaced any panels.. This could have been done right from the factory.. Maybe this unit was damaged prior to leaving the factory and recalled for repair ? Its obvious both panels were painted black before they were put on. Maybe this is nothing more than a factory defect that they just decided to ship "as is" ? The serial number is late production and maybe they just said ship it ? Just because the side panels are thicker doesnt mean it would hinder the games performance.. Who knows ?

The only other reason this made me think that was because the seperation at the top looks pretty serious and by the looks it took on some heavy yanking to cause that. The cuts on the inside at the top dont exactly look that good as if they didnt fit that well to begin with. I dont have any other reasons to suggest otherwise..

I hope im wrong in that assement but you have to open yourself up to that possibility.. I have a game in my possesion that was damaged from the factory and side panels were replaced thus it has two different serial numbers. Midway had a practice of replacing panels with scrap games and left over wood to show two different games were used in its construction.

Until another late production DK cabinet comes along with the same specs, the possibility remains.

One other thing i wanted to ask, I noticed the serial plate doesnt have the "US" indication in the model number.. I wonder when they dropped that ?
 
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I have this cabinet and 2 other Nintendo cabinets, and I can tell you that this is not a factory repair. If it were why would they put Formica on the entire cabinet even the front panels?

The routed slots are fine, and when I put the clamps on it this morning it went right back together and looks fine.

I can tell you by looking at this cabinet that it was pulled apart on route, the staples are bent and the upper back panel is pulled out. I actually removed it so I can fix it. If they fixed it in the factory it would be fixed not coming apart now. You aren't making any sense.
 
Sorry man.. Dont know what to tell ya.. Perhaps some one else here can help you out ?
 
I Have a particle board and plywood the Plywood is the gel coat and the Partical board is a formica and also has off centered t-molding

I have 2 Junior cabinets, one is plywood with gel coat, the other if particle board with melamine (very thin) surface. This is plywood with 1/16" thick Formica.

I was looking at Murph's data, and the first USA uprights start in the 50,000 range, so actually as far as I can tell this is one of the first cabinets made in the USA. I am guessing the 630th made in the USA.
 
I think it's pretty clear that Nintendo had lots of variances in it's manufacturing. It doesn't suprise me much at all.

That being said, it's also pretty common for people to gloss over things and cause confusion. That's the only reason I asked for clarification. I've seen people that will swear they have a plywood cab and then it turns out it's really particle board (they were just looking at the back door and then when I point out the side panels they go "oops".) Or they say it's formica but it's really gel coat (or whatever it is the Japanes cabs used).

Tighe's got different cab types that he can compare and contrast to so I'm not all that concerned about him missing something. The fact that it's all ply would seem to suggest that the formica isn't damage repair. The materials for the entire cab are different.

The thing I'm interested in is how many were made like that (US cabs with ply and formica)? And why did they not do U.S. DK Jrs. like that (or did they?) Maybe they decided to try to make the U.S. cabs closer to the Japanese for weight and durability and figured out it was cost prohibative so they switched back? Who knows.
 
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