I purchased a Konami Windy arcade machine from a guy on Craig’s list. It looked as though someone had completely raped it for use in a US arcade (They actually converted it to a multi-game Pac-Man machine)-
Notice the terrible Control panel, and the fact that they bolted the whole cab to a particle board box to make it a US-style stand-up machine, not understanding that it was designed to play sitting down.
I saw the crummy overlay in that photo, and assumed the CP was a blank sheet of metal that someone had cut and drilled. I had planned on adding a couple more buttons (very few good shooters only use 1 button), and moving the start buttons to their original position (top center).
I also wanted to replace the flat blue overlay with the original CP art. Once I began to remove the overlay, I discovered (to my horror) that the blue overlay was actually an adhesive vinyl that someone had placed OVER THE ORIGINAL CP-
This is obviously a 2 player six button CP. I was looking forward to making a 1 Player 4 button CP, but when I saw that the panel was original, I decided to restore it to the 2L6B configuration of the original CP’s configuration.
I was able to completely remove the adhesive vinyl to expose the original CP overlay.
Unfortunately (and what you can’t see very well in the photo) the original CP was completely ruined by the adhesive from the blue crap, and was severely warped on the left side. Also, the person who converted the machine drilled straight through the CP to mount the stick through the hole for the P1 start button. They even epoxied the ball onto the end of the stick, I had to cut the stick in half with a hacksaw to even get it out of the CP.
Since the original overlay was ruined I peeled it off, to discover there was also a pretty significant amount of rust underneath-
The Bottom side of the CP was also very rusty-
I used my cordless drill and a disk sander bit to remove all of the rust, paint, and adhesive, grinding both sides down to the bare metal-
I also patched the additional holes drilled by the rapist with 2-part epoxy putty. Once it hardened, I sanded that back to be flush with both surfaces of the CP-
I sprayed the bottom of the CP with white primer to seal it and protect against future rust (I masked the ends of the stick mounts so that the paint wouldn't get into the threads).
I researched printing places, wanting to have a replica overlay printed. It was difficult to find the quality and durability I was looking for, but I decided on MCS Arcade. The price was very reasonable, and the quality was phenomenal. Really, I cannot recommend them enough, the quality of the overlay sticker I had them print was better than I had imagined possible.
I carefully applied the decal to the top of the CP, working out any small air bubbles with a burnishing tool. Then I trimmed the edges of the decal and cut the holes for the sticks and buttons with a Xacto knife.
I populated the CP with new sticks and buttons that I bought from akihabarashop.jp. I replaced the molex connectors inside the panel and the metric bolts that attach the CP to the machine as well.
