With Christmas just around the corner I’ve found it hard to find a lot of time to work on this project, but I did get a bit further. Nintendo cabs are a joy to restore because they are so easy to take apart. I like pulling the fronts off so that I can paint the black without masking the blue areas. It also helps with making a cleaner restoration job. I removed the front of the game and started stripping the paint off the cab.
The previous owner painted it red and they used latex. That came off great, but underneath was a primer that my stripper didn’t work well on. Whatever primer the previous owner used that stuff is tough!! I had to apply two coats of my stripper to remove the majority of the paint and primer.
It’s crazy cold outside but I started to sand down the cabinet. I got the majority of one side removed but I will have to go back and sand some more.
Donkey Kong - One Side Partially Sanded
There is a frequent debate with owners of Nintendo games; whether or not all plywood cabs are laminate or paint. I used to think that all plywood cabs were laminated. Not this cab!! It was definitely painted. I use a Dewalt Random Orbit sander with 80 grit to remove the surface. I plan on getting this down to bare wood. The great part about sanding down to wood is a lot of the imperfections front being bashed around over the years sand out. It will make it much easier to Bondo the sides with it all the way down to wood. Then I will use a good primer before actually painting the cab.
I haven’t decided if I am going to spray or roll this cab. I asked for a compressor for Xmas so if I get that maybe I will spray 
