Author Topic: OK, I'll pop the question that nobody dares to ask.....Ms.Pac decals, yes or no?  (Read 76078 times)

level42

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Well since it's perfect weather today I started sanding my Ms.Pac. Now, since I will be using DECALS I wondered: do I have to make the sides completely blank (so sand it until all old paint is gone) ?
Or can I leave some original artwork and will the decals cover this ?

Thanks...

Etienne MacGyver

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I dont think so, i think if all the bumps and dents are out, and you got a smooth straight surface you will be fine.

i dont think that the decals shine through..

maybe a coat of primer after you finish, to be sure it will cover the old surface

Superully

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as long as the surface is totally flat, i'd say you're good to go. if course a coat of primer or paint never hurts ...
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

gyruss

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wasn't it scary to do? And do you have pictures?

zapposh

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Yes, pics would be great, would love to see.  :)
I'm also going to sand down a Ms Pac-Man and put decals. Somehow do not feel ready yet experimenting with stencils. How's it coming along?

level42

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Of course I have pics but didn't have time to post them yesterday (see Eurocade and Survey threads ;))

But here we go:

Well I plugged her in one more time before disassembly. The issue that started at Eurocade is still there, the game runs fine, but the background is totally messed up. Tried reseating the extra boards, pushing down on all socketed chips but no go. Looks like something really died...but we'll see about that later.

Also checked +5V and it's 4.95V, should be still OK I guess...

Anyway...here she is just before her cosmetic surgery:




If I think about all those brutes that dared to put a burning cigarette on top of the Ms......!  :twisted: :twisted:


Mmmmmmm. another sticker to repro: Country of origin :P


Serial nr. confirmed. Pretty low number for a 100000 run..... ;)






She looks nice from a distance at this age....but it does show. All the acid from human hands playing her have evaporated the paint.





level42

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Removed the grips on the back. Here it shows how the blue has faded (although the pink faded much more):


You can see that the covered part was darker, more blue. The rest is going to aqua....

And than....after carefully laying down the Ms. and applying the correct anesthetics, work begins.
First I remove the old T-molding on both sides and then....

May the arcade gods forgive me !!!



And the result after some first sanding. I found AMAZINGLY few dents/holes on the sides, maybe one or two. The bottoms and corners there will require some bondo too though. Hooray for HollPlywood !!!



Actually I had very little feelings when starting the sanding because I _KNOW_ it will be for the better in the end :)

Now, I need to apply some bondo here and there (my favorite job, not) then sand some more.

Since I will have to have mixed up the blue paint anyway, I will use that on the sides too before applying the decals. This should give a good base for them to stick too. Blank wood or only primer is not suggested. (Esp. primer is obvious) because it won't e a good base for the decals...
Also, even the smallest tin will have enough paint to do this...

Superully

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Since I will have to have mixed up the blue paint anyway, I will use that on the sides too before applying the decals. This should give a good base for them to stick too. Blank wood or only primer is not suggested. (Esp. primer is obvious) because it won't e a good base for the decals...

good idea with the blue paint as a base. fortunately, plywood is so much easier to work with than particle wood, so this should be a walk in the park 8). good luck, andré, do you think you will be able to dinish the job this year?
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

zapposh

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Great pics. Your bezel actually looks great for it's age! Nice one.
And another great point, your sander actually held longer than 15 minutes.  :roll:

level42

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I think I can actually do this pretty fast. The main thing is, will we get some good weather as I don't want to sand inside the game room.
Weather forecast is not looking good though...

I'm definitely going to need a hand when applying the side-arts (Etienne ? ;))

The bezel is pretty nice indeed, don't think I'm going to replace that.

I still need:

- new power switch. It's not working anymore unless I keep the button ALL the way down. I don't like the kind of switches Midway used for these cabs anyway, they don't feel comfortable to use. Thinking about using a rocker-switch instead. It's not very important for me anyway because I normally use the central switches. Until now I had bridged the wires to get it working.
- leathered T-molding
- new Midway Kickplate rubber

My sander ? Got it from my dad (who often buys tools he rarely uses ;)) It's a Black & Decker so not the best of quality but it works fine until now. I like the eccentric sanders.
But I definitely did not need 15 minutes per side. A side took about 5 minutes I guess. Used a course disc. Will bodo the holes and edges and than sand with a finer grid. Than it's perfectly smooth I'm sure.



2-mad

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I'm definitely going to need a hand when applying the side-arts (Etienne ? ;))



Apply the side arts "wet" .. so they can moved and applied "bubble-free" ...
After drying they fit perfectly !


Etienne MacGyver

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I'm definitely going to need a hand when applying the side-arts (Etienne ? ;))

Looking good so so far

Let me know when you want to apply them, i'll be there  ;)

Will be a perfect training course for my CK decals when i finish vectoring them and have them printed..


level42

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I'm definitely going to need a hand when applying the side-arts (Etienne ? ;))



Apply the side arts "wet" .. so they can moved and applied "bubble-free" ...
After drying they fit perfectly !



Neaahhhh, as mentioned elsewhere I don't like wet. Well not when applying artwork.
Too messy for me plus I don't like the idea of water "behind" the decal. So far all my artwork is bubble free without the wet method but I immediately admit that I never did a complete side-art decal.

level42

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Some usual parts cleaning etc.:



I'm always surprised how well these very lightweight speakers sound once they're in the cab...



The speaker grill is going to be replaced because it has some rust bubbles. I could try sand and repaint it but for 8 bucks I'll simply order a brand new one from AS (I'll have to order more stuff from them anyway).


And here's another part I need from AS. The kick plate strip:


Luckely I already completely rebuilt the marquee lighting. New tube, new starter (both Philips of course), new ballast:




AAAaaaaandddd....I had the blue paint mixed up for me today. It wasn't scanned but we color matched it to a sample.

For those interested it is Sigma color nr. 3060-B.

Here you can see it and comparable samples from other brands: http://www.color-swatches.com/sigma/s-3060-b/swatch.html





I think it looks as close as you can possibly get...although the paint is not entirely dry yet.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2011, 12:04:50 AM by Level42 »

level42

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Just checked this page with common (Ms.)Pac Man problems http://www.arcadegameover.com/pactrouble.html and I found this to be just like mine:



And the description is the same too:
Graphics are blocks. Characters are ok.

5E Bad or removed.


Well, 5E is sure still in there. Removed it and gave the pins a good "scrub". Can't test now though...If it won't work I guess it's replacing socket and maybe the Eprom. The game runs fine, it's just the background graphics being bad.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2011, 06:36:53 PM by Level42 »