Red DK Machine

thefader

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I just got this tonight from a guy, original Red DK... Just wondering what I should do with it, since there are some imperfections on it.

Repaint or how do you guys do touch ups like this. Thanks!
 

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So sorry, but with that nick in the side it's absolutely worthless. It would harm the environment to burn it, so if you'll send it to me I'll er... dispose of it properly. You'll have to pay shipping but considering I'm taking this hunk of junk off of your hands you should be paying me more anyway.
 
I actually got a great deal on it.. 2 Original DK machines, 1 Orange Mario Bros, and that Red DK Cabinet (Ill post the serial number tomorrow) all for 50$ each.
 
Sell it to someone looking for a nice original red cab (as some folks out there will pay thru the teeth for one). Use the money you make to buy a fully working Blue Donkey Kong cab and a camera with a flash. :)
 
the serial Number is TKG2 10127... Is this a low or high number? I'm a nice guy people. Just searching for the least sarcastic answer possible.. I have a nice fully working DK in the basement, and 2 other blue ones.
 
the serial Number is TKG2 10127... Is this a low or high number? I'm a nice guy people. Just searching for the least sarcastic answer possible.. I have a nice fully working DK in the basement, and 2 other blue ones.

That's a low number. If I remember right the TKG2's started at 10000. As far as the nicks, I had a few small ones in mine so I had Home Depot match some paint and touched it up with a small model painting brush. - Barry
 
That's a low number. If I remember right the TKG2's started at 10000. As far as the nicks, I had a few small ones in mine so I had Home Depot match some paint and touched it up with a small model painting brush. - Barry

Ive searched this forum for a while now, and cant find it. Do you have the paint codes? Any other tips for restoring this one? (I'm new to restoring and everyone does things different.)
 
The story, quoted from old threads:

"Everyone knows the story, that Donkey Kong was developed to replace the slow selling RADARSCOPE. Radarscope production amounted to something like 800 units and Donkey Kong production was almost 75,000 units. A few Donkey Kong arcade games @1200 were produced in rare "red cabinets." Being so long ago, little of that 1.5% of the total DK production (with the RED cabinets) remain. I've been working on compiling the production data for years.

At any rate, the "red" Donkey Kong is known to be rare. There are many variations in "letters" in serial numbers but the "numerical" sequence is pretty consistant. Earlier "numbers" mean an earlier game. Games with serial numbers into the low three thousands have been found in red cabinets. This gives us something over 2000 "RED" Nintendo cabinets in total between the two games ... (serial numbers started at 1001). It is known that roughly Eight hundred "Radarscope" games were produced. This would make the last Radarscope have a serial number in the range of 1800+. The Radarscope in this auction has a serial number of 1874 and none higher has ever been discovered. Donkey Kong production began as soon as possible on the same Radarscope line and no more Radar Scope games were producted once DK production began.

Of all Nintendo games in red cabinets, no more than @1200 were dedicated Donkey Kongs, with possibly a few more being DK conversions using some of the existing @800 RADARSCOPE cabinets. The figure of @2000 red cabinets in total is from many sources

Side art was not developed for the first DK games. The later "Blue" cabinet for Donkey Kong was likely selected to better contrast with the side-art. The earliest "Blue" cabinet (with 2 slot coin doors) games became model TKG4-UP-US with a six digit "numeric only" serial number and the serial number plate was moved from the "top left" to the "top center" on the back of the game. The lowest six digit serial number known from a blue cabinet is 004103."
 
Ive searched this forum for a while now, and cant find it. Do you have the paint codes? Any other tips for restoring this one? (I'm new to restoring and everyone does things different.)

I took my machine apart and took the panel with the speaker in to have it color matched. I have watched a video where someone took their whole cab into a paint store for matching. - Barry
 
Do you still have the can you used for it? If so could I get the numbers for the paint from it? Would you recommended spray painted the black lip part black? It has that vinyl covering but a piece of mine is torn.
 
Do you still have the can you used for it? If so could I get the numbers for the paint from it? Would you recommended spray painted the black lip part black? It has that vinyl covering but a piece of mine is torn.

I'll see if I can find it. As far as the black, I'm spray painting mine. - Barry
 
The story, quoted from old threads:

"Everyone knows the story, that Donkey Kong was developed to replace the slow selling RADARSCOPE. Radarscope production amounted to something like 800 units and Donkey Kong production was almost 75,000 units. A few Donkey Kong arcade games @1200 were produced in rare "red cabinets." Being so long ago, little of that 1.5% of the total DK production (with the RED cabinets) remain. I've been working on compiling the production data for years.

At any rate, the "red" Donkey Kong is known to be rare. There are many variations in "letters" in serial numbers but the "numerical" sequence is pretty consistant. Earlier "numbers" mean an earlier game. Games with serial numbers into the low three thousands have been found in red cabinets. This gives us something over 2000 "RED" Nintendo cabinets in total between the two games ... (serial numbers started at 1001). It is known that roughly Eight hundred "Radarscope" games were produced. This would make the last Radarscope have a serial number in the range of 1800+. The Radarscope in this auction has a serial number of 1874 and none higher has ever been discovered. Donkey Kong production began as soon as possible on the same Radarscope line and no more Radar Scope games were producted once DK production began.

Of all Nintendo games in red cabinets, no more than @1200 were dedicated Donkey Kongs, with possibly a few more being DK conversions using some of the existing @800 RADARSCOPE cabinets. The figure of @2000 red cabinets in total is from many sources

Side art was not developed for the first DK games. The later "Blue" cabinet for Donkey Kong was likely selected to better contrast with the side-art. The earliest "Blue" cabinet (with 2 slot coin doors) games became model TKG4-UP-US with a six digit "numeric only" serial number and the serial number plate was moved from the "top left" to the "top center" on the back of the game. The lowest six digit serial number known from a blue cabinet is 004103."

Mine has the Serial number "TKG2 10127" There is no side art on this cabinet, and it doesnt look like there was. The owner said it has been sitting in storage for years. Is it possible no art was ever applied?
 
Good score mang! Do some searches on this forum and you will find tons of information. I see you already saw this http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=64571&highlight=red+donkey+kong

You have one of the early red Donkey Kongs. It's suspected that the TKG2 models were radar scope machines that were converted at the factory to Donkey Kong. There were also red (and blue) Donkey Kong machines that started life as Donkey Kongs at the factory. These are labeled TKG3.

At the end of the above thread there's a spreadsheet, get your data to camo murph so he can add you in.

The basic info needed on the cabinet is:
# of Speaker slots...
# of Coin acceptors (1 or 2).....
Coin Box Door (white laminate or wood)....
Power supply.(PP7A or PP7B) ......
The Nintendo tag....
Made in (Japan or USA). . . .
Model #
Serial #
Bolts on the sides (2 or 5).......

Looks like there's no art on yours

The artwork on these early machines was a little different: no copyright or tradmark info on the marquee, bezel, or control panel overlay. Also the bezel was a 2-piece deal, clear plastic w/art painted on the back and a seperate tint piece taped to the bezel. Your game would have taken a 4-board set, likely a radarsope board that has "tkg2" stickers over the "rds" labels.

The sideart question remains open. Some people think their red dk may have original sideart but it's usually impossible to tell since it was something that's easy to put on afterwards. There IS early sideart out there with no trademark on it. Some of it has a blue backer sheet but some of it does not. Its hard to tell anything for sure but its at least possible that they made side art for some or all of the red DKs.

The serial numbers are wacky. Some cabs had 7 slot speaker holes, some had 5 slot speaker holes. It's assumed there were two different factories and two different serial number runs. Then the TKG3s came. Transistion to blue cabs happened somewhere in the TKG3 run but it wasn't a clean transition. There are blue cabs below TKG3-1500 and red cabs above TKG3-1500. Its difficult to tell if cabarets and cocktails were numbered seperately.

Anyway, good find! Post lots of pictures and I'm sure people can tell you more.
 
Thanks! Ill post a bunch of pictures today, I dont have access to a good camera, but I'll do what I can. I'm going to pick up some of these Magic Erasers and Ordering a New Bezel, T Molding and such.
 
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