Why is the market soft right now?

[mopar5150]

So it would cause an uproar to strip out an original upright, which might be all banged up, to put in a cockpit (of any condition)?

I think most people would gladly sacrifice a beat up upright to save or create a cockpit.

 

[mopar5150]

all you would need to complete it would be to strip the board, monitor, coin door, and yoke off an upright and you'd have a cockpit.

Mostly correct. The metal control panels are different.

If you want to sell one of your SW cockpit metal sets please let me know.

 

[RUSTINGEEZER]

Back to the market being soft..it's interesting as in the last few weeks I have seen on this forum and Facebook $5000 journeys $6500 paperboys $4000 smash tvs, $3500 punch outs so in that regard if it's soft it sure looks like prices at the high BUT have also seen $650 restored Moon Patrols, $800 Tempest (played blind but was cosmetically restored, $900 nice looking DKs, $1200 Trons (ok shape)..so I guess it's more if you want to sell then you price as such but if you want to "test the market" with a price you remember seeing the same game go for during the height (Covid?) then those are out there too…but sitting unless a buyer has been looking a long time…in summary I would say it's a buyers market…sure eBay and Facebook to some extent will always have a $3000 Pac-Man with an ad that says "Omg own a piece of history and super rare not an arcade 1up" but hard to say when it can be declared "soft"…for example would say the jukebox market is "soft" but more because less people are around that collect those (or can fix them) so it's kinda of like the community interest has softened and when interest softens so do prices

I made an offer for the broken AD w 2 monitors in conn , was the guys favorite game , I just encouraged him to fix it instead I think ,, processing

 

[ArcadeMaze]

So it would cause an uproar to strip out an original upright, which might be all banged up, to put in a cockpit (of any condition)?

I get it that people have varying preferences on what's legitimate. I imagine some guys might rather have a upright that's all beat to hell and back than a newly-manufactured reproduction (of an upright, let alone a cockpit). But I also imagine there are guys that would rather restore a game to it's original glory, even if that meant reproducing all or part of the cabinet. Is one more "right" than the other?

In my case, not only was the World-Rally-converted cockpit painted (I'm gonna try Citristrip on it), there were extra holes drilled in the control panel for a button, and in the footplate for a pedal, plus extra bolts put in for a different monitor mount. Then there were all the dings and chips in the oh-so-durable particle board. Heck, it's more like "chunks" taken out of the side panels, plus you can toss in some water swelling. I figured replacements of the damaged parts would do more honor to the original game than trying to patch up what I received.

I know there are cockpit cabinet plans out there, but from what I've read, there's some question as to their accuracy. I figured I'd be doing the community a favor by ensuring/improving the accuracy of the plans. Plus, my workshop is in my basement, and I had a hard enough time getting the populated front half down there with the landing (PIVOT! PIVOT!). There was no way I was getting a fully-assembled cockpit into the shop going that route.

If 100% accurate plans are out there, please hit me with a clue-stick. I'm just trying to contribute to my new favorite community.

not to derail the original subject, my mind is failing me, but didn't modessitt do a bunch of measurements of a Star Wars Cockpit?

my apologies, he did this over at BYOAC: FINALLY! Star Wars Cockpit Measurements

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Wait another month, you will see it rehashed again.

And again...
...and again...
...and again...

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

at some point you have to decide whether you are in this hobby for the fun of it or as an investment. if you are in it for the fun of it the lower the better

And if you are in it for an investment, good luck.

One way to make a small fortune with arcade games is to start buying them with a large fortune.

 

[Brad303]

not to derail the original subject, my mind is failing me, but didn't modessitt do a bunch of measurements of a Star Wars Cockpit?

my apologies, he did this over at BYOAC: FINALLY! Star Wars Cockpit Measurements

Yep, saw that long before I acquired my cockpit, but those are all from an assembled cabinet. He was careful and detailed, but after tearing one apart, I can say there's things you simply won't know until you have gotten to the point of cursing Mike Jang's memory* for designing/building the cabinet so doggone well.

*said tongue-in-cheek, of course.

 

[DPtwiz]

Mostly correct. The metal control panels are different.

If you want to sell one of your SW cockpit metal sets please let me know.

I knew that heh that's why i said yoke. The difference in an upright and cockpit control panel is the cockpit panel is 1" longer from the hinge end, to the first bend in the control panel. I have not yet tried, but when i do make another, i am going to see if i extend the board where the hinge end mounts, it may be possible to just modify that piece to use an upright panel, as an option. I will have to check it when the time comes. My metal kits i have are just flat right now, and buried in my back room of arcade junk. I have not had the chance to take them in for cnc bending, mainly because the place i used to use got stupid over covid and now wants about 1200% more to make bends than before covid.

 

[DPtwiz]

i should add, the only pieces i do not have are the speaker grills (i can make these no issue) and the piece that seperates the seat from the panel behind your ankles. it's an extrusion that no longer exists. It is the exact same extrusion used on the sides of the coin door panel on I,robot and firefox. (i have a pair still)

 

[mopar5150]

I knew that heh that's why i said yoke. The difference in an upright and cockpit control panel is the cockpit panel is 1" longer from the hinge end, to the first bend in the control panel. I have not yet tried, but when i do make another, i am going to see if i extend the board where the hinge end mounts, it may be possible to just modify that piece to use an upright panel, as an option. I will have to check it when the time comes. My metal kits i have are just flat right now, and buried in my back room of arcade junk. I have not had the chance to take them in for cnc bending, mainly because the place i used to use got stupid over covid and now wants about 1200% more to make bends than before covid.

I think you are correct that an upright panel could be used with some modifications. I have both here and will need to take another look side by side.
How complex are the bends on the metal kit parts? I need to find a good assembly drawing so I can figure out all the bits I will need to make a cockpit.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

i should add, the only pieces i do not have are the speaker grills (i can make these no issue) and the piece that seperates the seat from the panel behind your ankles. it's an extrusion that no longer exists. It is the exact same extrusion used on the sides of the coin door panel on I,robot and firefox. (i have a pair still)

Can you post photos of the extrusion? I find it curious that it no longer exists.

 

[DPtwiz]

I just had back surgery 13 days ago, i can't dig for it anytime soon, i can attach a crude pic of what i know it looks like.. The lower front marquee bracket on williams games, that extrusion doesn't exist either... I have searched tons of aluminum extrusion catalogs.. once i'm healed up i'll post pics and measurements, i would love to find some. My plan was to make it in 3 pieces and weld it together on the inside, so that on the outside, it would look like the stock part.

Can you post photos of the extrusion? I find it curious that it no longer exists.

 

[Brad303]

I just had back surgery 13 days ago, i can't dig for it anytime soon, i can attach a crude pic of what i know it looks like.. The lower front marquee bracket on williams games, that extrusion doesn't exist either... I have searched tons of aluminum extrusion catalogs.. once i'm healed up i'll post pics and measurements, i would love to find some. My plan was to make it in 3 pieces and weld it together on the inside, so that on the outside, it would look like the stock part.

Don't sweat it, @DPtwiz - I'll post a pic of mine here in a bit.

 

[CudaSales]

I knew that heh that's why i said yoke. The difference in an upright and cockpit control panel is the cockpit panel is 1" longer from the hinge end, to the first bend in the control panel. I have not yet tried, but when i do make another, i am going to see if i extend the board where the hinge end mounts, it may be possible to just modify that piece to use an upright panel, as an option. I will have to check it when the time comes. My metal kits i have are just flat right now, and buried in my back room of arcade junk. I have not had the chance to take them in for cnc bending, mainly because the place i used to use got stupid over covid and now wants about 1200% more to make bends than before covid.

For visual reference...

I have both panels and they are exactly the same size (length and width.) If you lay them on top of each other all the holes match up perfectly.

The only physical difference is the angle and location of the bend towards the bottom portion of the panel and of course the CPO artwork is different due to the bend.

 

[Brad303]

I have both panels and they are exactly the same size (length and width.) If you lay them on top of each other all the holes match up perfectly.

The only physical difference is the angle of bend towards the bottom portion of the panel and of course the CPO artwork is different due to the bend.

Oh, man, that's fantastic info, @CudaSales! I wouldn't think it would be too hard to rig up a "bending machine" or "bending forms" to match the UR to the SD.

But we've completely hijacked this thread with this otherwise awesome discussion. I've created a new thread to continue that while not distracting from the soft-market discussion.

 

[WadeLanham]

Cool… I was starting to wonder why the Star Wars cockpit softened the classic game market…

 

[Bobwiley]

Since this thread has sort of gone off the rails a bit, I have a question about the home market for redemption and skill style games.

I often see boxing bag games. A whole bunch of various prize based machines. And some big 'ol "games" like a horse riding one.

Who buys these for home use? I hardly ever see them in arcades. The price seems high for these, usually $500+

is there a subset of KLOV members that keep these things going? They just seem so expensive and bulky, and without ant personal knowledge, just don't seem the have much of a "replay value."

Don't get me wrong, I think they are cool, and if they were a a hundred or 200 bucks I'd probably snag one, but they seem super specialized and small in production numbers.

What's that market and side of the hobby like right now?

 

[ArcadeJason]

Since this thread has sort of gone off the rails a bit, I have a question about the home market for redemption and skill style games.

I often see boxing bag games. A whole bunch of various prize based machines. And some big 'ol "games" like a horse riding one.

Who buys these for home use? I hardly ever see them in arcades. The price seems high for these, usually $500+

is there a subset of KLOV members that keep these things going? They just seem so expensive and bulky, and without ant personal knowledge, just don't seem the have much of a "replay value."

Don't get me wrong, I think they are cool, and if they were a a hundred or 200 bucks I'd probably snag one, but they seem super specialized and small in production numbers.

What's that market and side of the hobby like right now?

i used to have a boxing machine. my kids and their friends would play it all night

 

[rod90]

Some wierdo's keep kiddie rides in their basement.

 

[Bobwiley]

All I know is I would be forcing people to do the kiddie rides after trying to get that down in the basement!

I keep seeing old amusement rides for sale, and I'm like, ooh, we could get a pool and then HUGE used tube slide that goes into the pool! I mean, it's the same with the wooden coasters. It has to be the easiest restoration project ever! Who cares If the wood is rotted and bolts are rusted through. It's not like it's hard to find 2x4's and bolts...

Although with my luck, I would reassemble the whole darn thing, and then you wise fellas would point out that I didn't buy the right grade bolts... three months later my account goes dormant because I didn't get around to swapping out the bolts like tou said I should and the whole thing collapses on me. Somewhere in the distance my wife wonders why she couldn't have found a husband who has "normal" hobbies....

Speaking of "I told you so," I really out to get round to ordering parts for the midway NBA Jam sound board that everyone is talking about!