Question about removing paint

[Raleigh]

How would you go about removing black paint on the side of a cabinet without damaging/removing original side art?  I have a pit-fighter game that used to be a joust cabinet.  The sides are painted black and I was just wondering if I could remove the black to uncover the original artwork.  And would it be frowned upon to mame this, since it is a once(maybe twice) removed joust cabinet?  Thanks in advance.

[Magnet_Eye]

There have been topics posted onthis before....I myself asked the question quite a awhile ago. Anyway, from what I could find out from various sources, 3M Safest Stripper works very well. It seems the best way is to apply it in a small section, like 1 sq. foot, wait 10-15 mins then scrap off with a plastic scrapper. Do this until the side is finsihed and then wash with hot soapy water.

 

[NoOne=NBA=]

Alot will depend on what type of paint is over what.
IIRC, the Joust cabs had stencil-painted graphics on the side.

If you are fortunate enough that someone painted over these with latex, you should be in pretty good shape.
There are several different types of stripper that will remove latex without attacking enamel paint.

If someone used enamel, you are in pretty rough shape as far as saving the side art.
One thing I have seen done by others is that they traced the sideart after partially uncovering it.
If you can get down to the point that you can SEE the sideart, but it's still covered in spots, you can trace it out, and then re-stencil the sides after stripping them and repainting.

As far as whether it's frowned upon to MAME the cabinet, that will vary by individual.
If it were my project cab, I would try to return as much glory to the original as possible.
If you can restore the side art, and get replacements for the marquee and monitor bezel, that's the route I would go for now.
I would keep an eye out for the other parts needed to return it to dedicated cab status, and do so when I could.
If the CP is still in a state that it could be restored to original, I would remove it and build a replacement for it.
The original CP on the Joust cabs is pretty small for a MAME cab anyway.
There is a good thread on here somewhere about a guy that built a Centipede cab with a Dynamo-style CP.
That would probably be a good route to go with a Joust cab as well.

The main reason that I opted to build from scratch is that I wanted to be able to do anything I wanted to, without any guilt about destroying an original.

[Raleigh]

Thanks for all the info.

"The main reason that I opted to build from scratch is that I wanted to be able to do anything I wanted to, without any guilt about destroying an original."

This is actually my third project. The first one I built from scratch using Lucid's plans, that worked out great but the costs just kept creeping up.  The second one I used an old sega quartet that had been converted into a football game and then stripped.  I didn't feel too guilty mameing that one. Then I picked up the pit-fighter (see picture) a couple months back at an auction with intent to mame it, but as soon as I got a close look I saw the Joust burn in the monitor, and the Joust Bezel still on it.  Now I am just curious if I can uncover some sideart.  It is actually at my friends house 2 states away(I building it for him) and we are due to convert it next weekend and I am having second thoughts on using it.  

[KrispyTheClown]

That's some serious monitor burn-in - I hope the other games look okay on that.  You could get another piece of glass cut for it using the 'bronzed' glass, which will help cover up some of that burn-in.

My current monitor has a very small amount of burn-in - so little that I can't even tell what game it was.  It already had a piece of bronzed glass on it, so I really don't see any burn-in when I play.  The cabinet had a Dead Angle board in it when I got it, so it could be burn-in from that, but it might be something older...

[Raleigh]

That's some serious monitor burn-in - I hope the other games look okay on that.

Actually I don't notice the burn while playing pit-fighter, but there are some horrible lines running down it.  I will be switching the monitor out for a computer monitor if/when I mame it.

[Rocky]

I recommend you use "Goof Off" to remove the paint along with a nylon brush.  Oscar used this method on his Sinistar and I found it worked well on a Moon Patrol cabinet I got.  Don't use any strippers that remove enamel paint or it will ruin the side art.

I had to scrub the sides of the cabinet with the brush like I was trying to drill to China!  But, it worked!


Good luck,

Rocky