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Bang! Bang! GUNSMOKE Restoration Thread
Seeing as how I promised to have a completely restored machine on hand at a party I'm throwing on July 25th, I figure it's about time I actually start on the restoration so I can deliver on my word. This restoration has actually been a long-time coming, but it seems that I always had other projects that needed tending to. (I guess that can happen when you raid two warehouses and have to move over 100 games!) However, this project has been both literally and figuratively sitting on the shelf for a while.
It all started when I raided an operator's basement back in April, 2008. The basement was filled with classics (about 27 arcade games and 9 pinball machines). Some were real choice pieces and others had to be trashed due to water damage (Sorry Deathrace :-( ) However, the real treasure came from the fact that the basement was the operator's staging ground for his arcade back in the eighties. When he and his family moved to a new home, he was able to retain ownership of his old house (must've been nice to be an arcade op during the golden age $$$$). That being said, it seems that he essentially left his basement untouched for about 18 years. Since this was his arcade's storage area, repair shop, and conversion center, he still had nearly 15 new old stock (NOS) conversion kits that were never used.
I'll spare you the details of what else was in that lot, but the important thing to know is that aside from all the other kits, I was now the proud owner of a new old stock GUNSMOKE conversion kit. The kit had everything included that you would need to deck out an existing cabinet - PCB, wiring, control panel overlay, marquee, joystick, control panel and instruction stickers, as well as the instruction manual. The only thing that was missing was the original side art, which I learned was applied to another Gunsmoke from back in the day that the op still has working on route and making money.
As I've talked about in another thread, I flip flop on NOS arcade parts. Should they strictly be collectors items, or should they be applied and used? Knowing that not many of these show up anymore, I went ahead and did what I could to preserve the legacy and scanned the sticker sheet and had Jeff Rothe @ www.rotheblog.com convert the scans into vector artwork and had Brian Jones over @ www.gamestencils.com print of brand spaking new reproductions of the sticker set for posterity.
Bet you can't even tell the original and the reproduction apart:
Now that I had all the parts ready to go and no longer had to feel bad about applying possibly the last unused sticker set out there, all I needed was a cab and some side art.For a game this unique and fun, I decided to do it right.
More posts to come in the coming days and as I continue this project... stay tuned.
It all started when I raided an operator's basement back in April, 2008. The basement was filled with classics (about 27 arcade games and 9 pinball machines). Some were real choice pieces and others had to be trashed due to water damage (Sorry Deathrace :-( ) However, the real treasure came from the fact that the basement was the operator's staging ground for his arcade back in the eighties. When he and his family moved to a new home, he was able to retain ownership of his old house (must've been nice to be an arcade op during the golden age $$$$). That being said, it seems that he essentially left his basement untouched for about 18 years. Since this was his arcade's storage area, repair shop, and conversion center, he still had nearly 15 new old stock (NOS) conversion kits that were never used.
I'll spare you the details of what else was in that lot, but the important thing to know is that aside from all the other kits, I was now the proud owner of a new old stock GUNSMOKE conversion kit. The kit had everything included that you would need to deck out an existing cabinet - PCB, wiring, control panel overlay, marquee, joystick, control panel and instruction stickers, as well as the instruction manual. The only thing that was missing was the original side art, which I learned was applied to another Gunsmoke from back in the day that the op still has working on route and making money.
As I've talked about in another thread, I flip flop on NOS arcade parts. Should they strictly be collectors items, or should they be applied and used? Knowing that not many of these show up anymore, I went ahead and did what I could to preserve the legacy and scanned the sticker sheet and had Jeff Rothe @ www.rotheblog.com convert the scans into vector artwork and had Brian Jones over @ www.gamestencils.com print of brand spaking new reproductions of the sticker set for posterity.
Bet you can't even tell the original and the reproduction apart:
Now that I had all the parts ready to go and no longer had to feel bad about applying possibly the last unused sticker set out there, all I needed was a cab and some side art.For a game this unique and fun, I decided to do it right.
More posts to come in the coming days and as I continue this project... stay tuned.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Trevor on -
What cabinet type are you using for the game and do you scan the nos art for preservation purposes?
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Permalink Reply by Ataricade on -
NoCashValue said:Bet you can't even tell the original and the reproduction apart:
Ah that was an easy one; the shading is on the wrong side in one of the bullets on the repro :-)
The bullet shading is a bit thicker on the repro as well.
Good luck with this one Preston, it should come out looking beautiful! And don't worry about using the kit; the art has been scanned, so apply and enjoy my friend.
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Permalink Reply by NoCashValue on -
Ataricade, your eyes are better than mine, lol! I NEVER even noticed the shading issue. I thought the only giveaway would be the registration marks on the original. Oh well, once the repro is applied, you'll never be able to tell the difference.
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Permalink Reply by Ataricade on
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Yes of course the reg. marks and the punchlines also give it away, but the bullet shading was a bit more obscure. :-)
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Permalink Reply by NoCashValue on
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Based on the dimensions of the marquee, I determined that this conversion was most likely intended for a classic midway cabinet. It makes sense as there were plenty of pacman cabinets, etc to go around in those days that had stopped earning money and ops were happy to convert a pre-existing cabinet to turn into a money-maker.
I earmarked an old Pac-Man conversion from my warehouse buyout back in November. The game housed in the cabinet was Daytona Speedway and seems to be another game that was just a mod of the original Pac-Man pcb (like The Glob and others). The cabinet itself is very sturdy, and is covered in vinyl. The game still comes with the original Pac bezel in great shape (if you don't count the years of dust on the top - WASH ME!!!)
I will probably get to work stripping vinyl, bondo-ing any holes, sanding and painting in the next week or so. After that, I will need to worry about sideart. (Well, I've already worried about that little bit, but I'm holding out to delay the cool surprise)
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Permalink Reply by NoCashValue on
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Since the original game of Gunsmoke was a conversion, the kit simply provided operators a set of sideart stickers to cover up existing sideart of whatever cabinet they chose to place the game in. The factory sideart is ok, but I don't really think it was anything special. See for yourself:
Therefore, since I'm making this "MY" gunsmoke, I can do whatever the hell I want to it. I would much prefer to have the old style of stenciled artwork on the side of the cabinet then some crap-ass sticker with inconsistent lettering, and a cheesy yellow cartoon sheriff smiling back at me. Therefore, if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself and I decided to design my own custom stencil:
I kept it down to one color to keep in cheaper, but I'm also a fan of "less is more" in terms of simplistic design. As you can see from the image, I also intend to paint the cabinet a dark brown in keeping with the rustic/western theme. I commissioned Brian @ game stencils to cut the stencil for me and it should be arriving any day now.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on -
Preston,
Bravo....original idea and nice work on the stencil artwork....a great improvement over the original square decal...
Are you going to leave the kickplate blank then?
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Permalink Reply by Shane on -
NoCashValue said:Since the original game of Gunsmoke was a conversion, the kit simply provided operators a set of sideart stickers to cover up existing sideart of whatever cabinet they chose to place the game in. The factory sideart is ok, but I don't really think it was anything special. See for yourself:
Therefore, since I'm making this "MY" gunsmoke, I can do whatever the hell I want to it. I would much prefer to have the old style of stenciled artwork on the side of the cabinet then some crap-ass sticker with inconsistent lettering, and a cheesy yellow cartoon sheriff smiling back at me. Therefore, if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself and I decided to design my own custom stencil:
I kept it down to one color to keep in cheaper, but I'm also a fan of "less is more" in terms of simplistic design. As you can see from the image, I also intend to paint the cabinet a dark brown in keeping with the rustic/western theme. I commissioned Brian @ game stencils to cut the stencil for me and it should be arriving any day now.
How bout some bullitt holes ? that would look cool, or ever make the edges look like an old wanted dead or alive poster. you know like the old partchment paper? lol
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Permalink Reply by NoCashValue on
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Crap! Didn't even think about the kickplate. I'll have to think up something even if it is just reusing an element from the existing work I did.
Thanks for the compliment.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Jones on -
I know I already told you this, but that artwork is really fantastic. Really has that 80's feel and works great with the original game. I agree with the kickplate too, that would be the finishing touch!
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