Popeye!
Popeye, Restorations February 5th, 2007
OK…I mentioned in another post that I would be picking up another game. I can mention it now because it’s safely in the arcade.
For those of you that are blind (or visually impaired like the sailor above), that game is non other than:
.
If anyone knows the deal with Popeye’s left eye, please share. Is it missing? Does he have a stray piece of spinach stuck in it? WHAT is the deal?
On a sidenote, I saw these forearm lifting straps the other day - “The Forearm Forklift“. I wonder if Popeye was a fervent user of those? That would certainly explain his enormous, disproportionately sized forearms. That company should definitely look into using Popeye in their ads.
I traded the web design of this site to get this game, so other than a lot of time it didn’t cost me any actual green stuff (money…not spinach).
Here it is in all its glory:
As you can see, it’s going to need some work. The side art is almost gone. It should look like this:
The control panel is a bit worn out, and will need a new joystick, overlay, and plexiglass.
The previous owner had a control panel overlay for it, so that’s a plus. The screen is pretty poor. It’s very faded, and scrunched together at the top. I’ll have to do a cap kit on it. I have yet to do one, and am not too good with a soldering iron yet, so we’ll see how that goes!
There was a Cracker Barrel right down the street from where we got this, so we stopped there for breakfast before doing the pickup. While browsing through the store, I found these:
If you observe closely, you’ll notice he’s closing his RIGHT eye in the figure above! I’m seriously starting to think he’s faking an eye injury to pick up chicks. Skinny, skinny chicks. Kate Moss has NOTHING on Olive Oyl.
February 6th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Nice find, I love the nintendo cabs (that’s why I build that mini donkey kong, such a fun shape). Looks like quite a score.
As for the artwork, check out http://mamemarquees.com/, they have a good reputation for high quality prints, and they just recently acquired all of ClassicArcadeGrafix artwork files (when CAG went out of business, they were selling a 400GB hard drive full of arcade artwork, and mamemarquees.com bought it). They are working hard to add all of the artwork from the CAG collection to their site, but it may not all be there yet, so if you don’t see something you want, send them an e-mail, there is a good chance they just haven’t gotten around to adding it yet.
I also replied on klov about the bottom part (the dimensions for the box that is missing on the bottom of your cabinet). I basically suggsted going to http://jakobud.com/ and clicking on “Cabinet Plans” from the top, and then find the popeye cabinet from the list. He has the dimensions for the whole cabinet (I used the Donkey Kong plans from his site to build mine, which are the same as the popeye machine).
Anyway, I’m jealous, you got an awsome gameroom in a very very short ammount of time. When you start something, you really seem to go all out. Good thing your wife is so understanding
February 6th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Also, I noticed that the t-molding is in pretty poor shape in some areas, make sure and check out T-molding.com (http://t-molding.com/store/product.php?productid=30&cat=0&page=1&featured) as they have the white/flat nintendo t-molding for 50 cents a foot. It should fit right in where the old stuff is.
I had to use normal rounded white t-molding on my donkey kong because used standard 3/4″ wood for the sides, but if I could have, I would have used this flat white nintendo stuff (oh well).
February 6th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Hey…thanks for the tips. I probably won’t be starting on this one for a while. I’ve been poking around online to see what’s available for parts and art.
I actually have a CPO but it’s the standard peel and stick type. I think it did come from MameMarquees.com. It’s great quality, but this looks like it was printed right on the back of a piece of plastic. That plastic has beveled edges, probably hard to replicate.
I spotted some repro CPO for DK and DK JR. that look great, and seem to match the original, but still nothing quite exact for Popeye. I’m going to keep my eye on eBay for a NOS or decent used one. If I can’t find one I’ll probably try to make the plastic piece myself but would rather not.
I did see that post you made over at klov.com. Thanks for that…should help a lot.
>Anyway, I’m jealous, you got an awsome gameroom in a
>very very short ammount of time. When you start
>something, you really seem to go all out. Good thing
>your wife is so understanding
Thanks! Yeah, she is a big help. If she wasn’t into it I would be sleeping outside probably.
I may try to slow down a bit with new games until I can fix the ones I have…BUT if I see anymore great deals on Craigslist I may have to scoop them up.
February 6th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I missed your 2nd comment. I bought my t-molding for the crane from them. Have you ever bought t-molding from ArcadeShop.com? I have to place an order with them for other parts, and figured it might be better to just get it from them to save on shipping.
February 8th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I’ve never bought t-molding from ArcadeShop.com, but have purchased other items from them. If the cost is the same, I’m sure the quality is the same. I have tried a few otehr t-molding sources, and will pretty much only use t-molding.com from now on (their prices and shipping and quality is just good all around). I bought some t-molding from another online source a while ago, and it was horrible stuff (really cheap and odd looking, it wasn’t nice and smooth but had like a thinner top that showed the spine of the “T” on the outside, never again).
You should convert it to a funner game (I’m not a huge fan of the Popeye game). You could easily convert it to a Donkey Kong or Mario Bros with very little effort (I vote for Donkey Kong, but I’m biased).
As for the CPO, it would be much easier (and cheaper) to just get a printed CPO with your own plexi or lexan over it. If you’re looking for easy to drill and cut, go with Lexan (just like plexi, but doesn’t crack as easy, you can do it with a hand drill and a spade bit as long as you’re kind of careful it will come out great).
I think mamemarquees.com may print on plexi, but I’m not sure (it may be one of their options, but I may be getting them mixxed up with another company). I know you like to restore 100%, but I have used the above method (printed CPO with lexan over it) many times and it turns out great.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
That t-molding sounds nasty. I may end up going with t-molding.com anyway. The stuff I got from them before was very good. I need t-molding for a few games, so I’ll probably get it all at once.
I actually ended up finding an original Popeye CPO. I posted in the RGVAC newsgroup and got a reply. It’s not NOS, but in very good shape. Much better than my cracked one.
I saw the miniature mario bros. you guys made on your site…very cool! You should throw a tiny LCD in there and make it functional. An iPod could run it but not sure if you could fit it inside.
I was debating about maybe turning this into a Donkey Kong. I definitely want one (or 2, or 3…
). I figured I might as well keep this as Popeye now, and get a Donkey Kong to put next to it.
I ordered a new joystick and some buttons for this from MikesArcade.com. The buttons aren’t that bad but one has mismatched colors. The joystick was pretty shot. I tried to mess with it a bit and made it slightly better, but a new one will make a big difference.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
We made a mini donkey kong a while back (turned it into a lamp, it’s in the same room where we made the larger functional dk cab). We also cut one slightly larger than the lamp ones, and I plan on sticking a 5″ LCD in there (I have the mini joysticks that will fit perfect, have a 1.7″ footprint). That’s a project for later though, too many other projects to finish first