Need opinions for DKJR cabinet restoration

[Furniture_Nerd]

Hello All!

So I just posted in the Introduce Yourself section a few minutes ago, but while it's fresh in my mind I wanted to get some feedback on what direction to take with this cab.  It's a DKJR according to the ID plate on the back of the plywood cabinet (which I was very pleased to realize that I had chosen my machine somewhat blindly, but wisely). 

I bought it because it has VS SMB, a game that I pumped many a into when I was a wee furniture nerd in the mid-late 1980s.
My family, neighbors and neighborhood kids all seem to gravitate to my garage in the evenings and weekends, and SMB is such a universally-loved game so I thought it should be my first real cabinet.

I'd like to bring this can back to its original glory, but I can't decide if I should keep it as VS, or put it back to DKJR on the outside.
Whatever I do, I am nearly certain the game itself will stay SMB.  I like DKJR but it was never one of my favorites. I thought about doing the Double-DK board set from Mike's Arcade, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get played as much as SMB will. And if I put a bunch of work into bringing this thing back to its original glory, I want it to get PLAYED. A LOT. 

The reason I am struggling with a direction is twofold...
1) the VS SMB conversion is...not beautiful.
It's only slightly less utilitarian-looking than a Neo-Geo cabinet. It just slays me that one of their most successful games of all time didn't even have artwork on the glass!
2) I'm not a huge fan of the orange. 
If I had my pick between the orange and the blue Ninty cabinet colors, I'd take the blue any day of the week.

That being said, I like the artwork on any of the DK cabinets. I think that having a cabinet with original colors, side/cpo artwork, marquee, et cetera just completes the whole "time machine" feel of these old cabinets. I want the players to get the full Monty when they step up to play it.
I also don't want to ruin an original by making it into something that it's not...which Is why I'm asking for opinions! 

Thanks everyone!





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[VWbus]

DK jr is an awesome game and machine. I'd totally make it a DK jr again. Simple as that.

[Furniture_Nerd]

Thanks for the input! That's kind of the direction I'm leaning, because I like the artwork on the DJR cabs.  I might also do the double-DK from arcade shops.  Looks like they have all of the artwork available for either option.
Another question...is the speaker grille on the front a standard-issue piece?  I thought that all of the Nintendo cabs had the horizontal slots cut into the wood for the speaker, so I was a bit surprised to see a metal grille on this one. It is bolted to the cabinet and looks as old as the cabinet, so I am guessing it is a factory-original piece. 


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[VWbus]

I noticed that square speaker grill right away. It's definitely not a factory piece. The 7-slot cut in a round shape is what you should expect to see.

Someone modified yours after the fact. You'll need to tear that entire front piece off and build a new one.

BTW, if you need a wood DKjr contron panel, there is a guy named hailrazer building reproductions on KLOV.

[Furniture_Nerd]

Perfect. Thank you for the info!
Sometimes it's difficult to determine what is authentic and what has been modded on this thing, especially since it's a converted cabinet anyway. I appreciate the help. 
In your estimation does everything else look original?  Wasn't sure about those black bolts on the sides, toward the front of the cabinet at the control panel level. I wonder if they were added at some point to shore up the cabinet to keep it from falling apart. The cab seems to have a bit of a lean to the right, but that may be due to the wood base that is falling apart.


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[mrdude]

Before you rip that front piece off, I'd try gently scratching that black paint off to see if it's orange underneath. It might be salvageable. Painted Nintendo cabs clean up really well with CitriStrip.  Looks like it'll also need some white t-molding: https://www.t-molding.com/9-16in-flat-white-t-molding.html

I'd vote for putting the DK Jr. artwork on, but cleaning up your VS. SMB stuff and leaving that in since you enjoy it so much. Down the road when you're bored you can just rotate the monitor, and do a simple conversion to DK Jr. or DK3

[Furniture_Nerd]

Well, as vwalbridge suspected the grill is not an original piece. Nor is the speaker.  Or the front panel!  Yikes. Although one of the previous owners gets points for using a period-correct Realistic speaker. Man, I haven't seen a Realistic speaker for many moons!  Also there seems to be something seriously wacky with the board connectors. What's up with all of the cut wires?



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[Furniture_Nerd]

Thanks for the vote, mrdude! I think I'm going to restore it as a DJR to keep it original and just keep the SMB board in it.  Maybe get the double DK board from mikes arcade to swap in when I want a change.


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[Furniture_Nerd]

Just an update...Boulder Arcade Factory is making a new front grill panel and coin door panel at a reasonable price, so hopefully the front will be back to original spec. Or at least close enough to the untrained eye anyway!

Planning to laminate the entire cab in the Nevamar Fresh Papaya S8001 (the new front panels will already be laminated).  I know it's not 100% correct color, but at some point good enough is good enough. I just know that my painting skills are not keen enough to duplicate the original finish to a level that I'll be happy with. And I really don't want to spend weeks trying to get the paint right.
I also found a Sanyo monitor locally for a reasonable price that has minimal burn-in, so it looks like I'll be starting to disassemble this puppy in another couple of weeks or so!



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