Atari Football, Ms. Pac Man, Zaxxon: Use contact paper or laminate for woodgrain

[johnczerwinski]

I'm working on restoring a Ms Pacman, Atari Football, and Zaxxon and wondering which is better to use for the woodgrain: contact paper or laminate. Also, I hear many use bondo to build up missing chunks from the particle board, but are there issues that bondo won't stick or expands/contracts different with the particle board and cracks?

 

[Lamonsoff]

I recently used Vvivid wood grain vinyl that I applied to "flat", which is slightly textured, laminate. It stuck...ok. I heated the edges and tucked them into the t-molding slot. Only had a tiny bit lift so far and was able to apply heat, pull, and stick it back down. Reason I went with vinyl is that if I don't like the look over time, it will be an easy removal and reapplication of full sized art. I went with Vvvid because it was the reasonable, not the cheapest, but not 3M quality or price. The only thing I'd change would be to use a gloss laminate as the base, to improve adhesion.

 

[fortytwo]

What info with wood repair is get as much real wood back as you can. And then use bondo to fill it complete. For a bottom edge I had cologne as far as routing and placing a strip of wood. Or even gluing and clamping smaller chunks in. Just keep in mind how it got damanged and where might force strike it again. Bondo works but in large chunks can get brittle. Here's where I explain the routing and wood replacement process. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBzlsEWMlPIYUA_CBd-aCp0cbo_IDLQK