Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair
Robotron Cabaret
opt2not:
Part 2, the sides.
Here's a better look at all the damage for each side.
Side A:
Side B:
Lots of scratches and gouges. some chipping on the edges, base and corners.
I'm opting to touch-up the original art, rather than completely stripping and redoing it. mainly to save time/money, but mostly because I like that classic Williams "overspray" look. I don't think I could reproduce that.
I took a day and went around to various shops to look for matching paint.
After a few trips, and many swatches later, I was able to land on paints for the red and blue.
From Home Depot, the Behr brand - Fire Cracker PPU2-16 - is a spot-on match to the reds of my cab.
For the Blue , from Sherwin-Williams - Blue Plate SW 6796 - is very close, almost exact and should blend in well.
For the grey I picked up Rustoleum - Metallic Aluminum, as per KLOV member Phetishboy's recommendation, which is very close to the grey on my cab. I tried a test spray in the bottom corner and it looks pretty good. It is a bit more shiny than the original, but I think I can make this work.
After doing some tests in small areas, I'm happy with the match.
Before and After comparisons:
I then did all the touchups on the art, let it dry, then got it ready for masking.
opt2not:
There was a couple rainy days that delayed me a bit from painting the Metallic paint, but I managed to go around the cab and bondo/fill and shape the broken corners.
Side B needed a lot more damage repair work than Side A. The base was all chipped up, so it required a bit more filling and sanding.
I masked off all the art, and covered the front and back. This took a long time to do, but I was patient and took my sweet time. Did the sanding to rough up the surface too.
Also, I ended up using a heat gun and removed the TM sticker very carefully. I will put it back on when the cabinet paint has fully cured.
The R is on a blue dot, so that will just be masked off. But the TM has the grey behind it so it needed to be carefully removed.
After hitting it with 3 coats of Metallic paint, I removed the masked tape on the artwork, and this is the result!
I gotta say, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!
The dents are still there from some of the deeper gouges, but I don't mind it, it's that reinstating patina ploy, and gives the cab some character. But I really love the sheen. :applaud:
I'm glad I made this decision to retain the original artwork. I like how I was able to retain the look of the original, but cleaned it up a bit in some places. It still has a bit of that classic Williams overspray, but everything looks much more vibrant now.
opt2not:
One of the things that really annoys me during gameplay is the light leak from behind the top of the monitor bezel where the game instructions are:
The light from under the bezel bleeds/leaks out onto the monitor causing glare at the top.
To combat this, my quick and dirty solution is to cut a light blocker out of cardboard or something to stop the light from creeping out onto the monitor.
I ended up cutting-up posterboard into a rectangle, cut out some slits and fold the flap up.
The blocker slides into the groove, on top of the monitor mounting board. then just push it in and let the flap naturally fold back up.
I had to adjust the flap height a couple times but I was able to find a good height/angle it stands at.
Speaking of lighting, I picked up some of these bayonet LED lamps.
The Coin Reject button, marquee and the top of the monitor bezel all use #44/47 incandescent lamps, which can run pretty hot and not last as long.
I didn't know about them before since I don't own any pinball machines. But you can feed these 6.3v AC or DC. huh. I'll keep the old incandescent bulbs in my stash for now. We'll see if I like these LEDs.
Anyway, I start putting everything back together, and installing the t-molding. I went with the original black leathered t-molding:
This part is my favorite, it's always so satisfying to put it on at the end and really makes the cabinet come together.👌
Here it is all assembled, plastics all buffed and shined, t-molding added, LED bulbs installed.
Sharp edges and corners, vibrant, clean, plus vastly reduced damage. Still a bit battle worn, with some covered-up patina but a greatly better condition now.
Here's the light blocker working. No light leaks!
The phone camera is capturing more of the blue light here in the Start buttons, I was able to get a good angle, but in person they're not this bright. This is with the LEDs as well.
The cab is at 98% complete now. I still got a few things left to do, but it's at a point where I can bring it into the house, and those last tasks can be done inside.
Mainly getting the wiring ready for the LightMites, and organize some wire management inside the cab. But I'm stoked this project is coming to a close. I started this resto 10 days ago, and I'm glad at how smooth it went. Break-neck speed. 8)
Thankfully, it was only the cosmetics, otherwise this would have taken a lot longer if I had to repair the hardware. I've been running this game ever since I got it running way back when, and now having a fresh looking cab, I can enjoy this rare cab for many years to come.
jasonbar:
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
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