Author Topic: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again  (Read 8903 times)

Superully

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[Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« on: November 21, 2010, 08:45:27 AM »

about a year ago, i was lucky enough to find a dedicated congo bongo cabinet in germany, which i picked up on my gone ape roadtrip. now the time has come to show you the restoration results. there wasn't a lot to do on the machine, because it already was in very good condition (nice to have a great-looking machine for a change BEFORE restoring it ;)). why did it take me so long then? well, most of the time i was waiting for certain parts to come in from the usa, for example the brown t-molding (which i had to order twice because i hadn't ordered enough the first time - what a rookie mistake).

the biggest cosmetic thing to fix was this piece of missing wood decor :arrow:



what i did was cut it in shape and fill in some holes ...



... while being watched by my cat gnocchi!



sanded down



up next, i ordered in as many wood decor samples as i could possibly find which i thought were close to the original





here's the one that came closest!



although it looks off on the pictures ...



it's an almost perfect match "in reality" and the difference is difficult to spot! trust me: pics don't do it justice :spaceace:



here's a list of the other things i did:

- of course, the usual in-depth cleanup
- installed new brown t-molding
- painted over minor damages to the wood decor with markers
- replaced the rusted original screws with brown spray-painted new ones
- replaced two of the three locks (keys had been lost :'()
- replaced the leg levelers
- fixed the trouble in congo bongo country connector problem
- got myself a nice fitting keyring

and here's the machine in all its glory :arrow:









congo bongo in full working order (note that the t-molding on the right is still missing on the picture)



i'm still excited that i managed to get that machine. it's so damn rare over here in europe - especially in that condition. PLUS the game plays just great!!! :-* :-* :-*

THIS RESTORATION IS OFFICIALLY DONE!!!

all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

Belike

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2010, 09:40:56 AM »
That's beautiful Ully, I love that sideart! ;D
Congrats for the nice job! ;)

Etienne MacGyver

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2010, 09:58:49 AM »
and antother one with the "Superully" treatment  :spaceace:

Great job , looks fantastic

how many cabs you restored now ? and how many to go ?

maybe make a list  ;)

flip971

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2010, 10:07:07 AM »
Very nice work.
A very rare cab, never seen one :)

Congrats  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Superully

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2010, 10:12:55 AM »
how many cabs you restored now ? and how many to go ?
maybe make a list  ;)

i won't make a list of what's still waiting in line, because it would frustrate me too much ;), but i can give you some further information on the rest:

i'll be doing a little bit of redecorating in my huuuge living-room over the course of the next few weeks. basically what i'm planning to do is split up the room into two sections (separated by partitions) of which one is going to be my temporary gameroom. right now, i have eight games in the living-room ), three games in my study (for school) and three games in my arcade workroom. i want to bring all those games together in one room. the list so far:

- paperboy (graphics issue)
- marble madness
- congo bongo
- pac-man
- pac-mania
- missile command
- pleiads
- toobin
- berzerk
- defender
- wizard of wor
- gauntlet (waiting for the sideart, otherwise finished)
- centipede (you know: control panel overlay, otherwise finished)
- moon patrol (being worked on right now)

that's a total of 14 cabs if i move them all in the living-room, there's only space for one more - and then i'm done :-[. however, i can still work on some more games in my arcade workroom then, because it will be empty once the other games are out. i'm planning on bringing either zoo keeper or domino man up next, haven't decided yet, but i'm leaning towards domino man, just because i'm already restoring a taito cab atm.

oh, i almost forgot: at my mother's place there's still my beloved gran trak 10 (monitor problem), joust 2 (finished except for the sound issue) and of course the jungle king which i'm working on right now.

you can see, a lot of games done already, but still many more to come! :spaceace:
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

gyruss

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2010, 12:14:57 PM »
I mostly don't like those wooden cabs, but this one is really nice. And very cool CPO and side art.

And what a list of games, please make a video when you have got them all in one room.  :D

Etienne MacGyver

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2010, 01:21:49 PM »
14 cabs !

an i have heard that you live 3 stories high without elevator  :o

RESPECT !  ;D :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:

Brry71

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2010, 05:22:05 PM »
How about some line pictures of the "usual suspects"? ;)
LOOKING FOR: a license to print money.....

And a Pacman. And a Donkey Kong.

Superully

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Re: [Restoration] Congo Bongo - going ape again
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2010, 11:06:53 PM »
How about some line pictures of the "usual suspects"? ;)

wait until they're all lined up in my living-room, then i'm going to post pics! PROMISE :)
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!