New Arrival - Donkey Kong: Part 4

At some point in the cab’s life, an ugly piece of black Perspex had been glued to the front, adjacent to the coin door. 

I wasn’t planning on touching this, as I was a bit worried about what can of worms removing it would unveil.  However I thought that this would let the cab down, and the freshly powder coated coin door would only highlight it further.  I don’t mind cabs having a few battle scars, but this was damage that needed some repair work.  I had a change of heart and decided to carefully prise it off. 

It appears that a locking bar had been fitted across the coin door, and the damage may have been caused by contact with a pad lock.  The locking bar had been removed and the Perspex glued over the damage.  I removed the remnants of glue with a Stanley knife blade, lightly sanded the edge of the damaged areas and applied wood filler.  For the round holes, I made some dowels and glued them in place before adding filler.

Damaged sections filled with filler, sanded and masked off ready for painting.

After trialing many samples, I finally found a very good match to the Donkey Kong blue – Blue Grotto (silk) from B&Q.  I used a micro paint roller to apply the paint. 

I’m really pleased with the colour match.  It’s not perfect, but the colour difference is minimal.

New Arrival - Donkey Kong: Part 3

With Arcade Raids, family time and work, my Donkey Kong restoration has taken a bit of a back seat.  However I have been doing bits here and there.  After getting the cab working, it was time to tidy it up.  Here is a little update on my progress.

The cardboard bezel set comprises of two pieces, one which surrounds the front of the monitor and the other which sits behind the monitor.  These cover the areas outside of the monitor to give a clean appearance to the cabinet.

Nintendo Part Number: TKGU-01-67 – Blind Cardboard (Large)

Nintendo Part Number: TKGU-01-68 – Blind Cardboard (Small)

My front bezel was totally missing, and what was left of the back bezel was torn and tatty.

The back bezel is stapled to the top of the cab.  I removed the staples and found the bezel was also stuck in position with double sided tape.  I carefully removed it and scraped off any remnants left behind.  I then fitted the new bezel with double sided tape and stapled it in position.  Much better!

Next up, I turned my attention to the metal work.  Overall it looked pretty tired, with scratches and rust.  Also it appears someone had attacked the coin door with a screw driver at some point to gain entry.

I positioned angle bar each side of the bent metal and clamped it in a vice to re-straighten.

The upper marquee retainer, lower marquee / upper bezel retainer and the coin door ready for powder coating.

Back from the powder coaters.  Much better!

I also had some new parts arrive from Mikes Arcade.

I’ve stripped the control panel.  It looks like some Coffee or Coke had been spilt on it at some point.

After cleaning.

Grays Amusements – Mundesley, Norfolk, August 2020

It may be December with the weather getting cold and wintry and Christmas well on the way, but let’s take a trip back to the summer, before the second UK lockdown.  It’s become something of an annual summer tradition for us to take the Norfolk coast road to Cromer for a spot of crabbing, check out the arcades and stop for fish n chips. 

On the way back we visited Grays Amusements in Mundesley. 

Grays is a releatively small arcade, and there have been some drastic changes made this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The ticket redemption machines were no longer available for use, but the good news is the video games and pinball tables were still on the arcade floor for people to enjoy. 

It’s awesome to see some classics on the Norfolk coast.  The machines were in fantastic condition and played really well.  

Zombie outbreak training in progress. 

The owner mentioned that the classics have proved extremely popular and hopes Asteroids and Defender will be added to the line up next year. 

After working up an appetite battling zombies, alien ships, ghosts and a giant ape, we stopped by the fantastic Kingfisher Fish Bar in Walcott.  I’m looking forward to doing it all over again next year.

Megadrive Local Pick Ups

I recently picked up a bundle of Megadrive games from a fellow collector.  He had a full Pal set of Megadrive titles and decided to slim down his collection.  Best of all he lives ten minutes down the road from me.  I expressed interest in a number of titles he was parting with, and a deal was done.

There is a really nice mixture of games here, the majority of which never had a Japanese release.  They’re all in great condition and complete, except for Lotus II missing the manual.

Interestingly Double Clutch was only released in Pal regions.

None of these blue spine titles received a Japanese release.

I’m really happy to add these Marvel comic book titles to my collection.  Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge and Wolverine: Adamantium Rage were never released in Japan.  Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage did receive a limited Japanese release, but is a very pricey titles these days.

I also picked up these titles at Next Level Games and Regenerating Gaming in Norwich.  Turbo OutRun is my highlight here.  It’s in fantastic condition and serves as an upgrade to the one above.

Arcade Hub - Hull

Well it’s been a while since I’ve done an arcade write-up!  On our recent holiday we checked out Arcade Hub in Hull.  We booked a two hour session and had the arcade to ourselves, which was pretty awesome.

Here is a walk round video of the arcade.

The arcade was a big hit with my kids.  They loved battling it out on Street Fighter II and having a blast on Gunblade NY.

My little boy kept going back to the room he called ‘the dark arcade.’  Here the only light was from the glow of CRT’s and the fluorescent tubes behind the marquees, bringing back memories of arcades back in the day.

Adding to this nostalgia was RoboCop in a generic cab, just how I remember it. 

 

I used to go on bike rides with my dad to a local holiday camp, have fish n chips and pop in the arcade.  RoboCop is the one game which stands out from these trips.  It has one of my favourite attract sequences ever, with the silhouette of RoboCop appearing in the red police light beacon on the high score table, and the incredible speech as he lists his prime directives, “Serve the public trust.  Protect the innocent.  Uphold the law.”  In fact it’s impossible not to read this without hearing his voice!  We then see RoboCop’s right leg opening up to reveal a mechanical holster, with him taking his gun and firing it across the screen.  I had to wait a few years before I was allowed to watch the film, so being able to play the game and actually be RoboCop was awesome for a young boy, and the game still holds up and plays incredibly well today.

Sega was well represented, including the stunning OutRun DLX.  Hang-On was awaiting repair work during our visit.

My boy kept going back to Pac-Mania.  I love the awesome marquee art.

It was the first time I’d seen a Spy Hunter sit-down cab, very cool.

The arcade also has a nice selection of pinball tables.

Some more pics of the arcade.

With a great selection of machines and fantastic value, we’d strongly recommend visiting Arcade Hub.

On a final note, here are some more pics of the awesome street art nearby.