[Restoration] Frogger - why did the frog cross the road?

[Etienne MacGyver]

Thats one tough job you are starting on, but as said before;
looking at your past regarding capabilities and experience with resto's this will turn out fine 

i am already looking forward to this pic :   

[Laschek]

 cabinet and screwed in a round piece of plastic. this is the second time i've seen something like that, but the function of it still eludes me! does anyone have an answer?

Maybe the cab once had a key safe installed. This is basically a closed metal tube which can be locked on one side. It is used to store all the keys from one location so the operator doesn't have to carry xx keys with him.
I have seen such a thing somewhere a long time ago, but I can't remember where (in a catalog maybe?).

[Alpha1]

I have recieved 2 or 3 machines from Germany with that hole in the side!!

Usually a round hole with to marks on either side like this:  -O-

[Superully]

I have recieved 2 or 3 machines from Germany with that hole in the side!!
Usually a round hole with to marks on either side like this:  -O-

strange! must have been a german thing to do

[level42]

Maybe they tried to hang the machines on the wall, the germans are crazy about hanging machines on the wall
My Joust has the same thing but its on the kick plate. Guess where that Joust came from ?

[Etienne MacGyver]

Maybe they tried to hang the machines on the wall, the germans are crazy about hanging machines on the wall
My Joust has the same thing but its on the kick plate. Guess where that Joust came from ?

germany   

[Laschek]

I meant something like that:




I've seen them (in a magazine or something) advertised especially for arcade cabs.

[Superully]

i've been really working on this cabinet for two weeks now and i've got the feeling i've accomplished nothing. people who haven't seen the cabinet before would never guess any work has been done to the game at all, but believe me: i've already spent countless hours to get the cab back into shape! here's just a few of the things i have done ...

starting with something simple: dust removal



some cleaning first ...



... and a couple of fresh paint layers later: that's how i like it!



the cab's bottom has suffered severly by the previously installed coasters





of course i could simply cut a new piece of wood, but i'd like to keep as many original parts as possible, so out comes the wood filler



a lot of smaller holes to be filled as well ...



... and one bigger one (do you remember). for that, i'm cutting out a "filler" first



hammering it in



bondo on top of it



after sanding it down, the hole has disappeared



i also need to cut "an entire army" of new rails because most of them had been destroyed / splintered / damaged



starting to look much cleaner already



up next, the lower marquee board (which is supposed to hold the speaker, the light fixture and the marquee). as you can see, it had been badly mistreated!



the slot where the marquee normally slides in is gone because an entire piece of wood is missing





fortunately, i have another sega / gremlin cab which i can use as a template (and believe me, i really need it): getting the exact measures here



i'm glueing on a new wooden panel





fantastic results of this operation







i'm also replacing the old dirty misshapen grills ...



... by freshly-painted new ones!



speaking of which: fresh paint has never done any harm







installing the clean pieces back onto the cabinet (notice the new leg levelers i also put on)



as i've said before, it looks as if nothing (or at least not a lot) has been done to the cabinet, but after installing / fixing / cleaning many parts, the cab is now solid and ready for the next step!







in case you forgot which cabinet this is going to be, here's a short reminder (with an unfinished control panel)

[Etienne MacGyver]

It may look like you did not do anything to the cab, but i think you did alot !  

[Superully]

worked on the monitor panel next! the original one had been replaced by a self-made version with a huge hole in the middle which allows for both vertical and horizontal monitor orientation. not a bad idea, because it makes rotating the monitor easy, but there is a catch: the sides are so thin than it might eventually break under the monitor's weight and as you can see on the following picture IT DID! someone screwed a piece of metal underneath as a temporary fix ...



when i pulled out the board it immediately broke into three pieces



first order of business: glueing the individual pieces back together again!





after spray-painting the board i decided to build a metal frame around the wood to withstand the weight of the monitor f-o-r-e-v-e-r. here you can see me drilling holes through the frame in order to fix it to the cabinet later!



i also "extended" those holes in order to "sink the screws" completely. looking slick, doesn't it?



the completed frame - should work like a charm, i'm thrilled! it will have to wait outside of the cabinet though until all the interior restoration stuff has been completed ...

[Superully]

time to finish the exterior, in this case: the sides! here's how the cab looks after filling all the holes and repairing the dings around the edges



however, i'm not quite done yet with filling, because if i want to apply vinyl so that it looks nice without any "elevations"i must have a completely flat surface. and with "completely flat" i mean COMPETELY FLAT!!! it's much more difficult to achieve this when the cab is made of particle wood instead of plywood, that's why i have to make sure every single hole on the sides is filled up. here's what i need to do the trick



a very thin application of fine wood putty over the entire side of the cab





after giving it enough time to dry, i'm carefully sanding it off again - only to leave very tiny pieces of wood filler back between the individual particles



can you see those spots of white? the surface is now smooth / soft as a feather, it almost feels like glass. ready for the next step - VINYL!!!



for that, i'm driving to a nearby home depot (well, nearby means about 45 minutes one way), because they have the finest selection of vinyl there: tons of colors and structures to choose from!



here's only a part of it



they are especially well-stocked when it comes to woodgrain stuff



but believe it or not (and you'd better believe it), i've decided against using woodgrain although it was used originally! why? well, you'll have to wait a little while longer, but there are two very good reasons (at least for me) that made me choose differently. one will be revealed soon, the other (bigger) one later (once i get a crucial missing piece from the usa). for now, here's my color of choice



to be continued ...

[level42]

.....

that MUST be a joke.....yes I'm sure that it is a joke.....

...tell me it is a joke....!!!

[McVenco]

for now, here's my color of choice

Is this going to be a custom Ms. Frogger cab? 

[Etienne MacGyver]

There was actually a version in pink earlier in the topic, and we all know that Ully hates Woodgrain...

maybe he likes pink...

Nahh  that need to be a joke, c'mon!! pink, are you serious 
Dont tease us more ully, say what it will be ! 

[Superully]

doesn't it just look lovely?