My Galaxian Restoration Completed

[2PacMan]

Hey, just thought i'd post some side by side comparison pics of my restored Galaxian.  I think it turned out pretty well.  I basically did an entire repaint of the whole cabinet.  I fixed some chipped/broken corners of the cab too.  Also, I stripped and repainted the coin door, as well as gave the entire cabinet a good cleaning.  Also installed new T-Molding.  I was originally buying this for a MAME cabinet, but when I saw how good of shape it was in, I couldn't bring myself to do it....so, another classic saved!  Just want to thank Level 42 for his advice and tips, as well as UncleT for the replacement coin door.  Thanks, enjoy the pics.

Next project for me is to make a matching stool with the leftover paint...similar to the matching stools I made for all my pacman games.

[Paladin]

Fantastic job!  It doesn't even look like the same cab.  How did you freshen up the side and kick panel art?

[2PacMan]

Thanks Paladin.  I didn't really have to do much.  I repainted the white areas as well as the blue areas which helped brighten it up a ton.  The rest of it just needed a really good cleaning.  It seemed to brighten up considerably just after washing the dirt and grime off of it.

[Level42]

 

I'm really glad you restored it and didn't Mame it

Hope my restoration was a bit of inspiration for you
You're right, it is amazing what just cleaning can do. It almost always dramaticaly improves the look of an old cab.

Great work on the painting !!!! How did you do the painting, and what paint did you use ?

[2PacMan]

Thanks Level42.  Yes, your restore was an inspiration for me.

For the paint, I used a satin finish white latex for the cab.  Then for the blue areas, I used a satin latex paint that was leftover from my Ms. Pacman restoration.  The blue matches exactly!  If you can't find a paint code for the Galaxian blue, use the Ms. Pacman color codes which can be found all over the net, perfect match.  I applied it using a roller.  And then i used one of those mini rolers around the graphics.  For the coin door I used some rustoleum gray paint.  It was premixed and was lighter, so I added some black to darken it up.  The only problem was for the coindoor, i just used paint I had laying around the house, and it was gloss finish.  I think it was too glossy.  I would have used semi-gloss if i had it, but didn't want to spend 20 bucks on more paint.  All in all, i'm very pleased.

[Chris G]

Wow, that's like night & day!  Great job... enjoy!

 
Chris

[Jeff AMN]

Nice job. I'm going to start a Rally-X restore this week, but I have a lot more to do. Seeing a restored cab is genuinely heartwarming.

So, what's the best thing for fixing chipped corners? Bondo?

[2PacMan]

I think bondo is best for large missing chunks, i've never used it though.  I use the plastic wood stuff that comes in little tubs for smaller chips.  It's sandable, paintable and very easy to work with.

[Level42]

Now you inspired me into fixing my "bad parts".....It's all not terrible, just a little annoying to see compared to the rest of the cab. I will give it a try ficing the chipped of parts on the lower front part and sides.

Never thought that was Ms.Pac Man blue, looks like much darker to me.

So you simply rollered around the other colored parts ? Nice job ! I was thinking of masking parts off with tape.
I may also try to touch up the green of the Galaxian logo on the top.

[2PacMan]

Yeah, I just rollered around it.  If you get real close to the artwork, you can tell where the white paint stops.  I wanted to give it more of a fading effect where the white paint just kind of fades into the artwork.  I didn't want to have a definitive line where the bright white paint ends and the artwork starts, which is why I didn't use tape, plus i'm lazy, and taping off that artwork would have taken forever with all those curves LOL.  I taped off a section of my Ms Pacman to repaint something and after i removed the tape, there was a definite texture difference where the paint stopped and the original cab began.  I ended up having to sand it down a bit, i didn't like it...so now i just freehand around the art more, it seems to work well.

[shardian]

Can you post a few closeup pictures of different areas where you painted up to the art?

[2PacMan]

Sure.....the second pic shows a pretty good area.  I was able to paint right up to the artwork.  The first and third pictures show areas where i kind of faded the paint into the artwork.  The problem was, the orange border was oversprayed into the white areas at the factory, so i didn't want to paint over that, so i kind of faded into it.  The third picture shows how the blue paint was oversprayed at the factory, which i also did not want to paint over.  The only place I see where i didn't do a very good job is around the flower at the bottom of the cab, i don't think i got close enough to the art.  It was easy since the art was surrounded by a black border, any paint that got too close and got on the border I just covered up with a black sharpee marker.  I retraced several areas of the black border with the marker to brighten it up too and help mark a stronger area of seperation between the artwork and the white paint.  As you can see by the pics, up close, it doesn't look as great as the further away pics.  The closer you are, the more you can tell it's a repaint job.  But no one really notices unless they are actively looking for it.