Moon Patrol

[Spyridon]

I know I have other projects going on, but this one is for a customer so it gets to jump the queue.

This cab had some work done to it prior to me getting it.  The sides had been painted.  Black has been repainted as well and a new cpo was installed.  Game is working.

[Spyridon]

Monitor has some pretty bad screen burn and will be replaced with a new one


Citristip makes quick work of the old paint

See...it was a Moon Patrol


After scraping off the old paint, I sanded down the sides to get them nice and smooth and remove what Citristrip left behind


Looks like the previous owner did some bondo work as well

[Spyridon]

Repeat for the other side


This side had some loose wood that I pulled away. 

Some bondo will fix it up



In the pics, the sides look pretty good, but once I got a close look, it needed quite a bit of bondo.  Corners needed to be reshaped, edges needed to be smooth, etc.


Lots going on in the garage:

[Spyridon]

2 coats of primer later...



Sides masked off for painting of the black





up next, the blue paint then the stencil work begins.

[yotsuya]

Great job so far on one of my favorite machines. 

[IG-88]

Could you tell me what kind of sander and paint gun that you use?

[Spyridon]

Could you tell me what kind of sander and paint gun that you use?

I use a Dewalt orbital sander.

I've typically used a Kobalt HVLP gun (paid about $90 for it a few years ago).

 However, while spraying the white primer, I was having some trouble getting it to spray correctly.  Today, I picked up a cheap $9.99 HVLP sprayer (normally $24.99 but on sale).  I don't expect it to last, but it worked great.  At that price I consider them disposable and can get another if needed.  I'll still work on the Kobalt one as it is a good unit.

I also use this compressor for spraying

[IG-88]

Thanks. Does it take quite a while with that sander? Seems to me like it would take forever.

I really got to get my air gun out and learn how to use it. How long does it take to shoot a cab usually?

[Spyridon]

Thanks. Does it take quite a while with that sander? Seems to me like it would take forever.

There are probably other sanders that work better but this one does the job.  It helps to remove the paint first as going through that layer will eat up your sand paper.  There are no short cuts to sanding as it is key to a good finish.  Lots of elbow grease needed.

I really got to get my air gun out and learn how to use it. How long does it take to shoot a cab usually?

The actual painting only takes a few minutes.  Clean up usually takes longer (especially when using oil paints).  Remember, the key to a good paint job is good surface prep.  That takes more time than anything when doing a restoration.  The painting is the easy part.

[Spyridon]

Boy, I can't believe how much work is was to match the paint on this cab.  Since I didn't have an original paint to match against, I planned on using paint codes that others had provided.  The first option was to use the codes from gamestencils site. I took them into Sherwin Williams to see if they can reproduce based on the codes.  They couldn't match Behr paint codes.  So I went over to Home Depot which sells Behr paint and asked them.  Problem was that site has the codes, but not the base color.  Without that, they can't mix it.

Next option was to use the codes that are on Noiseland Arcade site. 

This was going to be easy.  All the codes including the base color were there.  Off to Home Depot again.  Only to find out that they have discontinued the use of that base color.  Once again...no luck

Third option was to go with the codes the Phetishboy over at KLOV used.  This was a Dutch Boy color so I went to their website to find out where the nearest location was.  They listed 84 lumber as a site.  Well that's just two miles from my house.  I head over there...only to find out they don't sell any paint.  Back to the website.  Okay, there is a K-Mart 15 miles from me that has it.  Back into the car...only to find out that while the do carry Dutch Boy paints, they don't have the codes for any of the colors I'm looking for.  However, he did tell me that they get all their paints from Sherwin Williams.  Okay, back in the car and off to Sherwin Williams.  Guy at SW tells me that while SW makes the Dutch Boy paint, he doesn't have any of the codes.

About to give up, I pick up every paint sample that is close to the colors I need.  I do this at Sherwin Williams, Home Depot, K-Mart and Wall-Mart.  I'll use the color swatches to try and match up to pictures.  This won't be easy as every Moon Patrol seems to be a different color.  Add to the fact, that almost nobody has a color that even comes close to the base blue color

...and then...

I finally hit on something close.  Glidden Paint #WGB13 Caribbean Sea looks to be a pretty good match from the samples from Wall-Mart.  Along with WGY13 Warm Gold for the Yellow and BHG116 Corsair for the dark blue.

First light coat of the base blue applied:



Still wet, but here it is up to a picture of an actual cab (looks pretty close)

[Spyridon]

Four coats of the base blue and she is now ready to start the stenciling.

[TOK]

Looking great. Sure you're gonna want to get rid of it after its done? 

[Spyridon]

Looking great. Sure you're gonna want to get rid of it after its done? 

That's why I took a deposit.  To avoid the temptation of keeping it.

Remember, you had a chance to buy the unrestored version.  (you just didn't have the room)

[yotsuya]

Looks great, Spyridon. Every time I see your work, it makes me want to go out and buy a paint sprayer. 

[Spyridon]

Looks great, Spyridon. Every time I see your work, it makes me want to go out and buy a paint sprayer. 

You should really get one.  They do a great job on cabs....plus you can put air in your tires.

[Nephasth]

Looks great, Spyridon. Every time I see your work, it makes me want to go out and buy a paint sprayer. 

You should really get one.  They do a great job on cabs....plus you can put air in your tires.

After seeing how nice the paint jobs look on your projects, it makes me want to get one. The wife saw a neighbor's house being painted with one, I told her I'd like to get one, but she doesn't know the real reason why I want one...

Quick question. I notice you're painting this in your garage with basically just tarps on the floor, how bad is the overspray?

[yotsuya]

Looks great, Spyridon. Every time I see your work, it makes me want to go out and buy a paint sprayer. 

You should really get one.  They do a great job on cabs....plus you can put air in your tires.

Yeah, I've done two cabs with foam paint rollers, and although I've gotten better at it, I bet the sprayed version looks so much smoother and cleaner.

[Spyridon]

Time for the Moon Patrol graphics.  First the blue layer.

Stencil lined up and held in place.  The key was to use a level to make sure the Williams Logo section at the bottom was parallel to the ground. 


Stencil applied and pre-mask removed


The rest of the cab masked off (repeat for the other side)


And sprayed




This color was a little more on the purple side than I wanted.  However, it still looks good and will really pop once the contrasting yellow is applied.

[Spyridon]

Quick question. I notice you're painting this in your garage with basically just tarps on the floor, how bad is the overspray?

Very little overspray.  When I did my first cab, I went overboard and covered everything in plastic.  Now that I've done a few I found that you really don't need that much.

[Spyridon]

The more I looked at the dark blue color, the less I liked it.  Even though I did find pictures of an original that were much closer in shade to the one I used, it seemed too purple.  And since I want things to be perfect  , I stripped it down and ordered another set of stencils.  My fault for not checking the paint first.  The sample I had looked good and I went with it.  I spent so much time on the base color, I just assumed the dark blue would be the easy one.  Oh well...

[opt2not]

< Slow > Sometimes one step back results in two steps forwards. I admire your attention to detail, and anal-retentiveness!

[TOK]

Looking great. Sure you're gonna want to get rid of it after its done? 

That's why I took a deposit.  To avoid the temptation of keeping it.

Remember, you had a chance to buy the unrestored version.  (you just didn't have the room)

Don't remind me. I'm shedding stuff now to get my lineup finalized. 
Moon Patrol has to be in there somewhere, just don't know when.

[RetroACTIVE]

Good stuff!!!!

As always Spy...I'm diggin' me some quality resto here.

[Spyridon]

Okay, a couple of more coats of the base color and now she is ready for the stencils.  When the base was originally painted, while still wet it looked like a good match, but as it dried, it really darkened up a bit too much.  Since I had to repaint it, this time I added some yellow paint to the mix.  Since Yellow + Blue = Green, this added a nice aqua tint to the paint which I think matches the original much better.

[opt2not]

I thought it looked nice before. But comparing the two photos, I can see now the previous colour looked too blue. The new paint looks great man.

[Spyridon]

After a bit of a delay waiting for the new stencils, they have arrived. 

Stencil applied:


A few coats of the new blue paint:


And the reveal:



I like this color much better.  The yellow should really pop when it's done.

[Spyridon]

Time for the yellow stencil.

Once carefully aligned with the registration points left behind from the blue stencil...

...several light coats of yellow are applied:


Then time for the big reveal.  This is one of the most fun parts of this hobby.  Nothing like pulling off the final stencil and seeing what you created (albeit can be a bit stressful)

Boom!!!!





Totally pleased with the way this turned out.  Now to put it back together.

[Nephasth]

  Superb job on the stencilling!

[yotsuya]

I know these things get overused some times, but this is genuinely how I feel:

 

[opt2not]

Mmmmm, fresh stenciling....

It's looking great!

[Spyridon]

I installed the new monitor, t-molding, new white buttons, cleaned up yellow and red buttons, added TM and R symbols to the sides





Restoration is finished!  All I have left is to install the High Score save kit (and ship the game)

[Spyridon]

[opt2not]

 

[TOK]

That turned out excellent. Nice work! 

[Spyridon]

That turned out excellent. Nice work! 

Thanks.  I think the buyer will be pleased. 

Now you need to go get one for yourself.

[TOK]

That turned out excellent. Nice work! 

Thanks.  I think the buyer will be pleased. 

Now you need to go get one for yourself.

Pinball is bankrupting me.  I'm blowing my entire yearly vid budget on each beater pin! 

[Bootay]

Spyridon: Awesome work as usual. I enjoy following your threads. I wish I had the time/money/skill to do that. 

[dfmaverick]

The TM in the "L" looked like a smudge on my screen, so I tried to scrape it off.  

Excellent work on one of my favorites. 

[MythTrip]

Great job as always, Joe.   

[Silas (son of Silas)]

For me, that's the money shot.

Fantastic. I love that side art. I never really looked at the MP artwork before in detail. Really nice work. Well done! 

[Spyridon]

For me, that's the money shot.

Fantastic. I love that side art. I never really looked at the MP artwork before in detail. Really nice work. Well done! 

Thanks!  Yeah, this is a really cool design that they went with for the artwork.  I love the complex image you can create with two stenciled colors.

[Spyridon]

For those of you that don't want to read the whole thread, here is a pictorial synopsis...

[crashwg]

I'm so glad the gameplay doesn't do anything for me because that cab is beautiful and I'd have to add it to my want list if it were a little more fun.

[yotsuya]

Forgive the necro bump, Spyridon, but I'm studying this build in prep for my own eventual Moon Patrol restore. Did you use solid t-molding or leather? Yours looks solid, but mine came with leather.

[Spyridon]

Did you use solid t-molding or leather? Yours looks solid, but mine came with leather.

I went with the smooth and not the textured because that is what was on it when I got it.  However, I will say that a restore was attempted on this by a previous owner so the t-molding may have been changed and not original.  If you have leather on yours, I would probably go that route.

[yotsuya]

Did you use solid t-molding or leather? Yours looks solid, but mine came with leather.

I went with the smooth and not the textured because that is what was on it when I got it.  However, I will say that a restore was attempted on this by a previous owner so the t-molding may have been changed and not original.  If you have leather on yours, I would probably go that route.

Thanks! That's my plan for the summer.