John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

I was given a gutted cab with a monitor that someone was going to MAME. When I got it to the house and started to clean it up I found the sticker that said it was a TMNT. As this was one of my favorite games as a kid I was thinking of restoring it. Problem is it only has the monitor and I don’t even know if it works. The side art was painted over with black paint. Also it’s missing the wood for the control panel.

So the things I know I would have to get are the following:

TMNT 4-player PCB
Control panel wood
Control panel overlay
Joysticks and buttons
Wiring harness
Power supply
Marquee
Marquee holder
Marquee light
Coin doors
Bezel
Side art (maybe)
Monitor (maybe, I hope the one it has works)

If I missed something please let me know. Also thank you for your time.

I would totally restore that. Do you have any pics? Please share!

Sure I'll put some up once I can get to it in the garage again. We are moving soon and everything is going out there for now so it's a mess.

Do you have any ideas on how to remove the paint without hurting the artwork? Would it be better to get new and sand off the old?


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if you really love TMNT then go for it, but do understand that you will be putting far more time and money in to it than what you could buy one for.

It's the height of tutlemania. I think one when for 2K at an auction recently but I don't think that's typical.  The internals shouldn't be hard since it's Jamma + the 3P and 4p kick harneses. The moninter and the CPL are your biggest issues and if you wana save money you can just get microsiwtch ball joysticks unless you wana be 100% accurate

It's worth restoring on the grounds of I have no idea what you make for money. So speaking from a poor persons perspective... I would suggest if your not making a large chunk of money to throw at this to keep the cabinet and work on it in baby steps. You already have the cabinet, I can't see stripping the cab then going out and buying one when you can just part the machine together over time. Also the cost is less in the respects of you don't have to come up with a large chunk of change in a short amount of time.

There is no feeling like restoring a game to it's former glory, it's amazing to stand back and look at what you brought back from the dead.  ;D

I don't tend to sell machines off, so I won't go on about returns on investment, but I know from experience, that if you already have the shell, getting the other stuff is easier to afford over time than to outlay huge amounts on a complete cab in one shot.

it's worth it if you want to own that particular cab, and intend on keeping it.

yes i believe that game is worth restoring BECAUSE it is very popular and fanatics/collectors are holding on to these.

Thanks for all the feedback. Sorry I have not been around been packing and moving. I took some pics now I have to figure out how to post them. Mr_Rampage I like the idea of working on it in baby steps. I'll most likely do it that way. Lordkahless214 I don't plan on selling it at all spent to many coins on it when I was a kid. :)

Is it suggested to use mineral spirits to gentle strip the paint off of the sides?

 That may be a good cheap 1st project

Never used mineral spirits before, but that does sound like the place to start. Get the cab all cleaned and holes filled. Thanks for the tip.

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Hope I did the pics right.

pics look good. that's a handsome looking cabinet. i like that it has the original stickers.

where is the monitor you mentioned? if it has the monitor i would say go for it and restore it like original!

Yeah I agree it looks like a great canidate for a full restore because the cabinet looks awesome.
Good Luck

I still have it, but the small board at the end of the neck is broken. I'll have to see if I can find out how to fix it or get someone that knows to look at it.

Defo worth restoring.

can you snap a pic of the broken board on the back?

Restore them Sh*ts man!  Keep us posted!

Turtles fans may enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RP1w1s-JcQ