Restoration/Conversion Choice

Phetishboy

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So, I've been debating on what to do with some of my remaining projects, as I am growing weary of restoring game after game only to see them sit there and collect dust, especially if I have already restored the title before. Currently, I have a beat up and empty DKjr cab sitting here.

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It's been here for 5 years doing nothing. I had accumulated 2 different DKjr kits to install into it, but sold off the first one, and the second one sits here, minus the board that Retrohacker told me he'd fix six-nine months ago. He still has it and is very tough to get a hold of now, so I have no idea if I'll ever see it again. I restored and sold my first DKjr over 4 years ago and always vowed I'd own another. I then went and built a sweet DKjr cabaret, so now have no need for a(nother) full sized DK jr.

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Now onto the dilemma. I have this nice SEGA ESWAT kit that I just can't seem to sell. The artwork is predominantly Blue/Grey and bright orange:

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so it's perfect for a DKjr cab that's been restored. The side art is also large and rectangular, which would look best on a Nintendo style cab, as it would fit better on a cab with no cut out for the monitor area.

So, what would you do? Restore another DKjr, only to see it sit and not sell for more than $5-600 after having to find a working DKjr board for $125+, or get creative and convert it to a 'dedicated' ESWAT, a kit game that never gets any love? I'd be using a jamma harness (with Sega 16 adapter) and the Sanyo monitor with an inverter board. That way I could also run other jamma games and other Sega 16 games in this cab. I also have a nice, blank and powder coated Vs. CP sitting here that would be the perfect 2 player control panel for ESWAT.
 
I think eswat should be in a dynamo w/ modular control panel. The cpo will look pretty bad on a nintendo cab

I am having the original CPO scanned and reproed. My plan is to break it into 2 parts. I would go with the blue/grey pattern for the actual CPO, and the large title part would be applied to the speaker panel, under the CP, like they did on Q*bert.
 
I think if you put that kit into that cabinet that some day down the road someone else would end up ripping the kit out of the cabinet and putting Donkey Kong Junior back into it.

I would save the ESwat for either a dynamo cabinet or an old Stern or Sega one. Put it into a Nintendo cabinet and you are going to be hearing people say "poor Donkey Kong" for the rest of the thing's life.

My suggestion is to either sell it to someone else so they can do their DK Jr. restore or put a Vs. Kit into it.
 
My suggestion is to either sell it to someone else so they can do their DK Jr. restore

Yep, tried that already. Had a semi-local buyer tell me he wanted this cab for his Nintendo project. I spent most of a weekend getting the machine all cleaned up, built a back door for it, made sure it had a working power supply and monitor, then got strung along for 2 weeks. First the pick up date was changed 3-4 times, then the buyer never showed, then he stopped responding to my PMs. Then he disappeared from KLOV altogether.

Rather than bust it up and burn it, I'd like to do something with it.
 
Trade that cabinet for a dynamo. While Eswat was was a Sega JR kit and never came dedicated I think that Eswat would look like SHIT (very serious) in a Ninty cabinet.

Here it is in a DE cabinet, you could make another while you are at it...

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EDIT: I didn't realize you had all those problems with the cabinet. Put a 60-in-1 in it and flip it on CL.

EDIT #2: I see you have a 48-in-1 for sale, put that in it.
 
ESWAT, no... Radar Scope... YES!!

I was thinking the same thing. :)

That's my planned spring project for next year. Just looking for an empty Ninty cab, I have all the parts and used to have one but the cab I used I sold.

Or, I second Fix It Felix Jr.!
 
ESWAT, no... Radar Scope... YES!!

Now that is an idea I can get behind. Way to turn lemons into lemon vodka!

Come on man, look at the side art on that cab. FUCKING HORRIBLE. Just stop. I will take zero advice from a guy who thinks that looks good.

I didn't say that looks good, but that kit on a ninty wouldn't look any better.
 
Get a single monitor PC-10 board for it! They're a hell of a lot of fun to own and you could then add the NES-PC 10 adapter to it. There's a reason nobody wants to buy that ESWAT kit.......:D

Or make it a Vs. cab. Everybody loves Duck Hunt and SMB. You could flip it on CL and not even have to get too deep into resto (any color paint, and your awesome SMB bezel, call it done)
 
I've never seen a conversion in a Nintendo cab that looks good. See if you can trade the cab away for something else that would work well for the kit. I put my Altered Beast parts into an empty Stargate cab and it looks okay (I think). You have a good idea, a conversion kit cab would be a nice change of pace after so many meticulous dedicated restorations.
 
C'mon- 3 votes for Radar Scope. Besides, it'll give you something else to do. You love looking for parts and things, as much as Fritz likes looking at your parts and things.
 
Get a single monitor PC-10 board for it! They're a hell of a lot of fun to own and you could then add the NES-PC 10 adapter to it. There's a reason nobody wants to buy that ESWAT kit.......:D

Or make it a Vs. cab. Everybody loves Duck Hunt and SMB. You could flip it on CL and not even have to get too deep into resto (any color paint, and your awesome SMB bezel, call it done)

I've owned two of them.

DK Conversion:

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Dedicated SM:

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Nintendo cabinet conversions are just too identifiable. Once you really get into your game collecting they always look "wrong".
 
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