Operation Wolf basement rescue

We picked up an Op Wolf and it had fake plastic green vines and leafs mounted inside to blend it with the screen.

Pretty cool.

At first I was like "is that factory?"

:)
 
We picked up an Op Wolf and it had fake plastic green vines and leafs mounted inside to blend it with the screen.

Pretty cool.

At first I was like "is that factory?"

:)
If you questioned it authenticity it must have looked pretty good. Any pictures?
 
Finally finished stripping the side artand patching some holes. The top back corners corners were broken off so I replaced then with MDF cut outs and secured them with glue and a pocket screw. The pocket screw was a bad idea in hindsight as it's a small piece of MDF, but more troublesome is that it is in the path of the T molding groove. I'll have to navigate that problem when I get the router bit to make the groove.

Peeling the vinyl off one side of the cabinet took 30 seconds. The other side took 2 days. One side must have been next to a heating vent or something for much of its life. For the troublesome side, I soaked the vinyl in dichloromethane to try soften it up, then heat gun and gentle pulling. All done in the back of my truck in my condo's underground parking.

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The catch area for the back panel lock was blown out so I 3D printed a router guide, along with the inverse router guide to cut out a patch piece from spare MDF. It worked really well! Secured the patch piece with biscuits and 1 pocket screw.
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I have a replacement back panel cut out, but I need to figure out the locking mechanism. The old panel has some metal braces but I'm not sure if that was part of the original panel or a mod to make up for the broken MDF.
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If anyone has an Operation Wolf and is willing to send me some pic and/or dimensions of the where the back panel latch connects to the panel, I'd be very grateful.
 
I'm really impressed with your progress... major props for pulling this off in a parking garage, off the back of your truck! The 3D-printed router templates is ingenious!

Unfortunately, it looks like my Operation Wolf back panel is just a plain piece of plywood. I couldn't recall if I still had the original back door to reference the lock cutout, but sadly, I don't...sorry.

If it's not too much trouble, would you be willing to share your 3D-printed template for the wheel cutouts, along with the specs for tools you used for joining the repair patch panels (like biscuit size, Confirmat screw bit...looks like a Snappy 7x 50mm, pocket screw jig, etc.)?

I had a bit of a mishap with my cabinet. While prepping it to inspect the bottom for repairs, the whole bottom just gave out. I knew it was in rough shape when I bought it a few years ago, but your build really inspired me to finally do something about it. I had no idea the monitor was basically counterbalancing the whole thing. Once I removed the monitor, the front of the cabinet tipped forward. Fortunately my son was there to hold it steady!

I am debating on following your path with sawing off the bottom sides vs trying to salvage the sides. They are swollen up to where Taito is printed on the side art and have broken off edges. The bottom panel also has the typical bent upwards issue at the foot rest and is badly warped, so it will definitely have to be replaced.


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Anyway keep up the excellent work! Excited to see your next post.
 
Thanks for the support!

The 3D printed masks can be found here:

Weirdly, I just started back into the restore this past weekend. Got the top surface peeled and prepped for laminate. Not sure how I'll work around the bolt holes with laminate as the carriage bolt heads will surely shatter the laminate around them. I'll figure something out though.

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I'll be hauling it to my mom's this weekend to do the laminate work. I also started working on the gun, cleaning all the grease out. Dichloromethane makes quick work of decreasing. With a little sonication it came out sparkling.

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I have spare gun for parts, and noticed the gear box was slightly different between the two. One seems to have small changes for tighter tolerances.

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I'll be powdercoating one next week. Here is the before for reference.

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I'm really impressed with your progress... major props for pulling this off in a parking garage, off the back of your truck! The 3D-printed router templates is ingenious!

Unfortunately, it looks like my Operation Wolf back panel is just a plain piece of plywood. I couldn't recall if I still had the original back door to reference the lock cutout, but sadly, I don't...sorry.

If it's not too much trouble, would you be willing to share your 3D-printed template for the wheel cutouts, along with the specs for tools you used for joining the repair patch panels (like biscuit size, Confirmat screw bit...looks like a Snappy 7x 50mm, pocket screw jig, etc.)?

I had a bit of a mishap with my cabinet. While prepping it to inspect the bottom for repairs, the whole bottom just gave out. I knew it was in rough shape when I bought it a few years ago, but your build really inspired me to finally do something about it. I had no idea the monitor was basically counterbalancing the whole thing. Once I removed the monitor, the front of the cabinet tipped forward. Fortunately my son was there to hold it steady!

I am debating on following your path with sawing off the bottom sides vs trying to salvage the sides. They are swollen up to where Taito is printed on the side art and have broken off edges. The bottom panel also has the typical bent upwards issue at the foot rest and is badly warped, so it will definitely have to be replaced.


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Anyway keep up the excellent work! Excited to see your next post.
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I also got the 7mmx50mm confirmat cabinet assembly starter kit from McFeely's for this project.
 
Very cool! Nice work and thanks for sharing. Good stuff in here, thanks for sharing :)

Oh, and shout out to Earthworm Jim. One of the favorites I used to play with my son when he was a kid!
 
Dichloromethane bath in the sonicator to remove grease and clean bolts:
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The difference in this bushing (?) between two iterations of the gun piston device:
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The bottom one has noticeably more play, though maybe this serves a purpose, along with the choice of elastic material.
 
One bearing is sealed (rubber) and the other is shielded (metal). You can regrease the shielded one, but the sealed one will have to have the seal removed to regrease it.

Edit - they were most likely used interchangeably.
 
I transported the cabinet to my family's home, 700 km away, where I'll have a garage to do the laminate siding work and painting (beats doing this in a park or something, condo life - garages are alfor the rich in Vancouver!).

Did all this just to realize I left my laminate router bit army place... I'll have to finish the cabinet woodwork when I come back this way in September. In the meantime, I can focus on the electronics. It didn't fire up when I rescued it, and I believe its a power supply issue, but it could be anything.

Some progress made though: I got the gun components powder coated while back in my small town, and it turned out amazing:

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I think I will buy the repro plastic grips as the original ones are a bit faded and will likely look out of place.

I have reblacked the hardware as well, as it was all rusty as shit. Heated the bolts over my gas range, dropped in oil, wiped off all the res oxide on paper towel, and repeated once more. Came out nice:

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I'll also need to buy the gun buttons and the start sticker. I have the grenade button, but its yellow and all the buttons I have seen on Operation Wolf are red. This basement rescue didn't come with a start button.
 
I transported the cabinet to my family's home, 700 km away, where I'll have a garage to do the laminate siding work and painting (beats doing this in a park or something, condo life - garages are alfor the rich in Vancouver!).

Did all this just to realize I left my laminate router bit army place... I'll have to finish the cabinet woodwork when I come back this way in September. In the meantime, I can focus on the electronics. It didn't fire up when I rescued it, and I believe its a power supply issue, but it could be anything.

Some progress made though: I got the gun components powder coated while back in my small town, and it turned out amazing:

View attachment 833675

I think I will buy the repro plastic grips as the original ones are a bit faded and will likely look out of place.

I have reblacked the hardware as well, as it was all rusty as shit. Heated the bolts over my gas range, dropped in oil, wiped off all the res oxide on paper towel, and repeated once more. Came out nice:

View attachment 833677

I'll also need to buy the gun buttons and the start sticker. I have the grenade button, but its yellow and all the buttons I have seen on Operation Wolf are red. This basement rescue didn't come with a start button.
Hit me up I have an extra start sticker I'll send you.
 
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