ZOO KEEPER a Deconversion

Kickman

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Donor 4 years: 2013, 2015-2016, 2024
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Well it's probably just another build, but i figure klov is kinda slow these days, and I haven't been up to much lately except playing games, and playing alot of zoo keeper. I have another thread about zoo keeper help on play strategy. Ill come back and post a link to it here. For shits and giggles.

This cab was converted to an altered Beast and stripped of its guts except for the main cabinet parts. I picked this up from Gackattack, thanks Kris!!!

It's actually in fantastic shape as far as the skeleton of it goes.

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Except the front had a lock bar ripped out, of it and a moon crater was left lol

I tried hard to save the side art for wall decor but i could get it off in one piece
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I had kinda an idea that these cabs break down and unbolt pretty easy so i figured i would go all the way! Freakin awesome how much easier they are to work on in pieces!

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This thing started its life as a jungle hunt judging by the green ive found under the bolts. Same cab my elevator action is in.
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I had ian Kellogg make me an adaptor to plug into the SJ series harness so i could play the Jrok ZooQ fpga into with out harming it, so that is coming out and will be whats going to progide the game play.

I know this will not be a true original zoo keeper but they are hard to come buy in my area and you have to have deep pockets in order to own one. So ive saved my cash and slowly gathered all the parts.
 
All the the art work with the exception of the side art is from this old game, and rich did a fantastic Job i must say!!

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Its like a game taking out the art with getting packing peanuts all over the place
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Riches marquee compared to the original

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The overlay has i nice texture to it i like it!
 
AndrewB hooked me up with the right 8 way short skinny shaft joystick
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Currently installed in my EA so i can play ZK correctly [emoji4]
 
Currently in the mail and was a god dam fortune, thank goodness for pay pal credit, 6 months to pay intrest free on this freaking thing. But it was missing and i have to have it
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ZOO KEEPER a Decoversion

I made a new base, actually 2 one for EA while i was at it because they are both clapped out!
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They are not exact replicas but super close. I made them out of red oak a really solid super hard wood because i just didnt ever want to have to deal with them ever again!!

A friend of mine is restoring and old house so i took advantage of all there tools and popped over with wood!!
 
The front kick panel had a bunch of extra holes so this is the method i use that is really easy, supper easy i buy these flush 1/2 tappered dowel plugs, wood glue and i use a drill bit thats one size smaller than 1/2 on MDF panels and drill all holes the same size..
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And wood glue them shits in, sand flush and smooth while its drying so the sanding dust sticks to the glue and the seems fill up, then i use oil base gloss white paint under vinyl, because the smooth hard surface makes that vinyl stick like its never coming off ever. Works great for me, what i used on my Kickman restore and its still perfect years later!!
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Works good for me!
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Going to follow tronguy dylans idea with installing the art on panels then assemble the cab, his came out tits, so thats why i broke down the cab to paint and prep!
 
And while im in between things to do i can play ZK on my EA, check out my little mount i made to record my game play lol
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Few days ago I captured a million point jump on video that was sweet...
https://youtu.be/mYBoQyWx67Y
 
Bezel and instruction card from Rich at ThisOldGame.

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Going to be so sweet looking!
 
Are the wheels that are on nintendo cabs the same or near the same as Taito cabs? Anybody know? I noticed it once had them, my EA I believe has them also. I think i have a set some place if thats true i can put the wheels back on the back side. I was wondering how i was going to go about attachment of the base, because it would be awkward doing it well it was laying on its back
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But now that its apart i can just lay the bottom facing down on my rack and then just center predrill and screw it to it..
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That will be way easier and since its apart i can make up my power brick and supply all pretty like TronGuy Dylan's super duper Zk! See if i can find a pic of his!

Anybody have a great recommendation for Tmolding? 3/4 letherette style right? Why does the new stuff seam so generic compared to the original stuff? Is there anything better luke the old stuff?
 
Subscribed! Nice work so far! I love Zoo Keeper as well.

I actually toyed with the idea of making a custom cabaret version for myself with custom artwork. Maybe one day...

I'm eager to see yours finished!

Jason
 
Tired as shit, and its not perfect, but i did manage to smooth out the inner side panels and shoot satin black whick looks glossy in the photos. Theres plenty of imperfections there, but you know, as time goes on i like look character imperfections, it shows the games real and a survivor not a reproduction, even thou this really is kinda a reproduction lol. OG parts thou. Tomorrow ill try and get the speaker panel done and the the top cap done.
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Last light sand on the inner panels and 3rd coat of satin black
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And i painted inner speaker grill which was already nice i just wanted it to match new inner panel color..

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Disassembled my coin door and goimg to take all metal parts to work and sand blast them, and get ready for paint...
 
Looking great!

By the way do you have that link to the Zoo Keeper strategy? I'm at about 1.5 million. But I'm curious to see what technique others are using. :)

Jason
 
ZOO KEEPER a Decoversion

Thanks to Kris, Gackattack for these little bad boys he made, some metal slugs...
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Im going to
Drop these in place and attempt to repair the bonus holes in this original panel panel that was converted to Altered Beast!

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I had already purchased an overlay and joystick to restore the panel so im going to follow threw on it..
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But i also have this on stand buy that i got from Dylan TronGuy as well thanks man!

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But i love the challenge of turning converted hacked up stuff into something usable and nice again. So going to strip the panel and get it prepared today for sand blasting that way i can tig these in from the back side of the panel and i cant have any paint on it when i do....

So that will be my sunday project
 
Out of shit comes a flower!!!!

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Im pretty sure that overlay that was on this thing was made out of NASA space tiles... OMG

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A combination of stripper, heat gun, scrapper, and finally my trusty diamond embedded head gasket scrapper and right angle mini pneumatic tool, and i whipped its ass.

I still need to get that back cleaned up for the new overlay to it adhere to, but for know i need to straighten this thing out and plug those bonus holes
 
Also while i was here I sandblasted my coin door and metal parts
Notice my clock on top of my tool box[emoji4]

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Thats my progress for the day....
 
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