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Author Topic: Looking for advice on next steps  (Read 1981 times)

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jtb1987

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Looking for advice on next steps
« on: July 24, 2016, 11:38:26 pm »
Hi everyone!

I've been doing a lot of reading in the wiki & searching, but I'm not quite coming across conclusive advice on recommended next steps for my situation -

I recently bought a working cabinet that was running Tekken 3. The cabinet is actually an original Mortal Kombat cabinet that has been painted black all over. There is damage on areas of the sides, corners, CP, etc. The sides are made of particle board.

My goal is to repair the damanged areas with Bondo and then either repaint or apply new side art.

I have questions on exactly how to *best* go about this -

1.) I have tried to carefully remove all of the internal components of the arcade, with intentions of adding the components back and then connecting a computer with the J-Pac encoder. The only thing I have not yet removed is the original CRT monitor/chassis and frame. I assume this needs to come off as well before I begin my attempts to repair the cabinet - so question, is it better to remove JUST the CRT monitor itself, leaving the frame. OR, should I remove the entire frame and not detach the CRT monitor?

2.) From reading, it sounds like I need to try Goof off to see if it's latex paint and can be remove (this doesn't seem like latex paint, I can vaguely see the outline of the original artwork in the background if looking a t a certain angle. My question here is, if my ultimate aim is to just try to repair the damage everywhere and either go with a highly finished new coat of paint, or new side art - what are my order of operations? Would I first see if I could remove the paint, regardless of the type of paint (latex or oil based)? If it then brings me to the original side art, is this where I begin to use Bondo, sanding & primer?

If I cannot remove the paint, should I just start to use the Bondo for repair, then sand/prime continously until I have a desired smoothness to apply primer?


Thank you for any help!

yotsuya

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Re: Looking for advice on next steps
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2016, 12:05:40 am »
The monitor is bolted to the frame. It's one piece. Take it out, being careful with the neck.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

jtb1987

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Re: Looking for advice on next steps
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2016, 10:34:27 pm »
Thank you for the response!

I'm now a little further along...

I've removed all the black, latex paint from the sides of the cabinet using citristrip, revealing the original MK1 artwork on both sides. Next, I've removed the artwork from one side using a heat gun and scraper, getting down to the particle board and have a first pass of light sanding. The next step as I understand it should be to now begin bondoing where needed, sanding, then priming (oil based)/sanding/priming again/sanding, etc. etc. until I'm ready to start painting.

I have a question regarding the surface areas apart from the sides, such as the front of the cabinet. These surface areas appear to just be the particle board with the black paint applied directly. For these sections, do I just go straight to bondoing and sanding, onto priming? In other words, there is no reason to try to "remove" to the paint on these sections, correct?
I've attempted to attach a picture of progress thus far.