My Side Arms/Final Fight restoration

gorfchampion

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Its just a jamma cabinet; so not really a restoration of a dedicated game. But I love it anyway.

Someone bastardized a Defender cab long before I got to it. Had a Rastan board in it and the whole thing was pretty beat up.

I took it all apart, sanded it down, did a crappy job filling dents and holes with wood putty; the black cabinet shows them all. Luckily you can't see them in the dim lights of my arcade.

I primed the cab and then rolled on 2 coats of oil based black. I actually rolled and then followed up with a brush. Turned out ok. Not like some of these guys' restorations, but ok for me.

I won a set of Final Fight side art on ebay for $5. Gotta put that on the side. Final Fight and Side Arms bring back the best memories for me; they were both at a laundromat on base when I was stationed in Pearl Harbor from 1989-1992. Been wanting them both for a long time.

I sandblasted and painted some cabinet corners I took off a junk game. I wanted the game to "pop" so I decided to go with the orange t-molding; which matches a lot of the colors on the Final Fight art and on the Side Arms bezel and control panel.

Sandblasted and painted the coin door and shroud. Gotta make it pop. Its just a jamma. Went with some more orange. I like it.

Won a Side Arms kit off ebay(from tokenseller here on klov); which included a working board, a manual, a complete control panel and wiring harness, and a nice bezel. Perfect.

Really wanted to use the cp, but needed to chop it up to make it fit. I need trim for the top and bottom yet. Had to modify the entire cp to make all the buttons and leaf switches fit. You wouldn't believe what I had to do. Took me all nite, but it was fun.

Bought new custom cut plexi for the bezel overlay, and for the cp overlay. Old ones were junk. Cracked the cp one drilling the 1 and 1/4 holes. Dammit. Its ok though.

Surprised myself and took out the Rastan wiring harness and hooked up the side arms one. Had to cut and splice a few connectors and wire up a temporary free play switch so I can play the games without using the coin door for now. I actually got it running....

I've decided to not use the Final Fight marquee, but have mamemarquees.com custom cut a Side Arms marquee to fit the cabinet. Will contact them soon. Trimmed the Side Arms bezel to fit. Found some extra edging laying around that I could use on the plexi bezel edges. Looks good.

The game will be ready for my party, I just need some help to get it down into the arcade.

Here are some before and after pics. Enjoy


pic #1: wow, Defender paint is still there...
pic #2: cp plexi overlay; did 100 people light up and lay their cigarettes here all at once?
pic #3: Rastan marquee is the worst one I have ever seen by far
pic #4: coin door needs help
 

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she's all done; but I'm missing a coin return flap. Gotta get one...
 

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Huh, that orange coin door is a nice touch for the cab, if it would've been explained to me without pics I probably would've shuddered a little bit. :]

Is it going to be a generic jamma cab for whatever boards you want to toss in it at the time, or are you keeping Side Arms in it?
 
Huh, that orange coin door is a nice touch for the cab, if it would've been explained to me without pics I probably would've shuddered a little bit. :]

Is it going to be a generic jamma cab for whatever boards you want to toss in it at the time, or are you keeping Side Arms in it?


I'll keep the Side Arms in there for now; but Final Fight will take its turn every now and then. I'll keep buying more pcb's as time goes on...
 
nice.

i have a sidearms marquee for sale if you want. pretty nice condition with one scratch on it but you have to look hard to see it.
 
I'll keep the Side Arms in there for now; but Final Fight will take its turn every now and then. I'll keep buying more pcb's as time goes on...

You should install one of those 2 in 1 JAMMA switchers and a custom split marquee (Sidearms on one side and Final Fight on the other) It'd make a nice touch. Your cab reminds me of the Galaga/Ms. Pacman combos. Nice job.
 
You should install one of those 2 in 1 JAMMA switchers and a custom split marquee (Sidearms on one side and Final Fight on the other) It'd make a nice touch. Your cab reminds me of the Galaga/Ms. Pacman combos. Nice job.

Where would I get one of these 2 in 1 Jamma switchers?
 
Damn Dude, that coin door really sets that off. I just painted a Street Fighter cab tonight (black) and ordered red t molding to set it off. Seeing that door is giving me ideas;)
 
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