Supergun building services?

So I thought I'd finally try and ease into the world of arcade gaming at home (and get some use out of that MV-1F I bought on a whim years ago) and build my own supergun. I got all the parts I needed including a v.3 JROK encoder (don't have any TV more advanced than S-video for the time being) and managed to cut the proper holes--more or less--in the project box with my shitty store brand rotary tool. The holes aren't completely straight, nor are they the size they should be and no larger, but all in all it doesn't look too bad.

But then I got down to the soldering. I'm not sure if I'm doing something completely wrong, or if my soldering iron is somehow screwed up, but the whole process is not working the way people tell you proper soldering should go. The part about heat the component and then touch the solder to the hot component? Yeah, does nothing. The only way I can get the solder to melt is to touch it directly to the iron, which works, sometimes. Depends on which part of the tip I touch the solder to.

I got to trying to set up my JROK (I foolishly didn't have him solder the parts to the board when I ordered and instead requested panel-mount components, thinking it would give me more flexibility with my layout; not thinking that I'd have to do the solder work myself) when I realized I have no business attempting to do something like this by hand. Even considering the stupidly simple construction of a supergun, there's too many items to solder where I could make a crappy connection, I'm not entirely sure I've got the hang of crimping various connectors (using a terminal strip to split the power lines to the parts that need it; why the hell wouldn't a crimping tool explain how to properly use it on the package?) and basically have the overwhelming feeling that I'll probably royally cock this up if I go any further; the way things are looking this is most likely going to end in an expensive and time consuming failure. I wouldn't be surprised if I ruined the JROK already.

As much as I hate to admit I couldn't do something this simple on my own, I'm wondering if it would be more worthwhile just to enlist the services of someone much more competent than myself, just ship them the whole mess and see if they can't make something useful out of it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to companies or individuals who might fit this bill?

I suppose I could just sell all the parts as-is. It could be like a build-your-own-supergun kit. A shitty one.

You need a better soldering iron with adjustable heat/wattage. Sounds like yours isn't hot enough.

What should I be looking for, wattage or temperature-wise? Any brands in particular?
I'm pretty limited as far as what's immediately available here--my current POS is a Radio Shack special, and there's not much in the way of any dedicated electronics shops or anything.

A bunch of us use weller stations since they are adjustable. I paid about $60 for mine and it was worth it big time. For my solder I use kester 2% silver. Some people don't like silver but I do.

I'm going to recommend that you try futzing around on a broken console or something to test your soldering skills on that. I don't think you should be having this much trouble.

Maybe your soldering iron tip is dirty and unproperly tinned. That'll stop it from melting solder pretty easily. The tip should look shiny when its ready to go. The fact that touching it to only some spots makes solder melt suggests that this is the case. There are plenty of special tools for cleaning an iron tip...(and I'm sure somebody will try to tell you to use one instead of a tiny bit of high grit sandpaper... but you just want to get this working, already consider this a loss, and sandpaper is cheap, easy and probably in your house). Clear the dirt/oxidation off, then retin the hot tip of the iron with a coating of solder. It should work then.

I've used crappy radio shack soldering irons before. They're not powerful and not adjustable...but should have the ability to do small electronics work. Unless you're starting with a HUGE heatsink of a component, it should be working. I really think it's an improperly tinned iron.

I'm pretty new to soldering too. I have a cheapo $10 iron that I never had any luck with and recently learned that it is utter crap and I shouldn't even try.

Search Youtube for "How to Solder" and there is a really great series of tutorials on there.

As for irons I just bought a Weller WP25 the other day, I haven't used it yet but it was a bargain at Frys Electronics and has been recommended in a few places as a great iron but cheap.

Also learned that solder with lead in it, although nasty for you health if you decide to eat it, is way easier to use than lead-free solder.