I don't know what to say to you except Ockhams Razor applies here. The flyer shows the dedicated cabinets. I've seen several of what appear to be dedicated cabinets, all of mine were kitted exactly the same, I've seen some that were obviously punch outs that were converted... it seems to me like they definately made dedicateds.
I mean, there's a HOLE in the same place on each. Sure, they had a template, but did they send you a 1 1/2" hole saw too? Do you honestly think every operator that kitted one had a hole saw that was the same size?
The instructions say to use a 1.5" hole saw. Whatever you use (e.g., hole saw, step drill bit, spade drill bit), unless it is a jig saw, is going to result in a 1.5" hole that looks a lot like a ... 1.5" hole.
Plus you say that most many ops could follow instructions. Are you serious?
Fixed, and yes, I'm serious. In fact, many people in general can follow instruction, not just operators.
Have you seen ANY other game that was converted the same way the instructions said? Uh... ? ANY other game? I've never seen an op convert the same game the same way twice.
You know that most conversion kits weren't designed for specific cabinets, right? There aren't too many ways to convert a PO to a PC10. The kit comes with a complete populated control panel, as well as other complete parts that are direct swaps. About the only variable is the positioning of the sideart, but sideart is applied by people even on dedicated machines, and no two machines will have 100% identical positioning of sideart; dedicated or not.
I'm sitting here looking at mine, and it has a perfectly cut hole where the gun goes (somebody removed the gun),
Yeah, drills are pretty good at making perfectly cut holes.
and there's no dark area where the punch out art would have been down below the Playchoice art (the playchoice art is smaller).
I don't know how long it would take for the slightly darker area to form under the PO sideart (and/or under what conditions). If a machine had its sideart removed only 2 years later (i.e., from '84 - '86), I doubt there would be signs of the PO sideart left behind. My PO had a very subtle, slightly darker area on each side in the shape of the PO sideart (which was helpful in lining up the new sideart), but the original sideart was on there for at least 20 years.
That's a dedicated PC10, folks.
Maybe.
Your only reason for thinking that they didn't make them (even though they say they did, and I'm looking at one) is that you think they didn't like that kind of wood 2 years later (even though you can see it on the flyer).
Not only is that not my only reason, but "they didn't like that kind of wood" is not even remotely an accurate paraphrase of anything I said. The method of construction and materials used in the 1986/1987 cabinets were nothing like the old DK and PO cabinets. They didn't even use white T-molding, among the other things I have already mentioned.
If they were going to build new PO cabinets in '86 exactly like they were before, why bother to come up with a new cheaper single monitor cabinet for the VS./PC10 (single monitor)/R-Type machines? Why not just use the DK design and method of construction?
Additionally, do you know how PO cabinets even came to exist in the first place? It was Nintendo's solution to a surplus of Sanyo monitors on hand at the time; i.e., they designed a game that used two monitors per machine (Punch-Out). Do you think they still had a surplus of monitors in '86 and needed to design yet another game to use two monitors (and that uses expensive materials and construction methods along with the expensive second monitor)? Why would they do that when they were clearly in cost cutting mode in '86 and had all but given up on arcade games? It is more likely that they simply seized the opportunity presented by a bunch of aging PO machines out there that were in cabinets that weren't ideal candidates for a typical random conversion.
Does anybody remember popping a Wizard of Wor out of the crate back in the '80's?
Most likely.
I think it was Todd Tuckey (but I'm not sure) that said on RGVAC a long time ago that he thought PC10s were only available in kit form (while mentioning how many new PC10 kits he'd opened and installed). I've seen others say the same thing about SPO and Arm Wrestling. It makes more sense to me than the idea that they would keep coming up with new dedicated games using dual monitors (when the dual monitor thing was only a solution to a specific problem in the first place), and keep making cabinets that used expensive materials, method of construction, and finish while their other cabinets made at the same time were junk (relatively speaking).
3. There WAS a punchout backdoor sheet from the factory, and then the operator removed it, removed the staples, and then put the new sheet on, and put the staples back in the EXACT SAME HOLES as the other one.
That's what I would do, because it is the easiest way to do it. You remove the staples and then it is easier to put them back in the same holes than it is to force them into the wood, making new holes.