Berzerk

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Started working on my Berzerk...

Can I start off by saying... these Stern (or at least mine) cabinets are absolute crap!!! Finish sucks, cuts suck pretty much everything about them except the game thats in it (and some may argue that it also is not very good).... However Berzerk is one of my all time favorites and needs to honored appropriately as it gets cleaned up, re-painted and re-stenciled before it goes into the game room.

I gutted the cab and this is whats left...

Berzerk.JPG


Berzerk-Empty.JPG


I got an idea lets run the heck out of our CNC machine until the bit chatters like crazy... uh oh... BAH... ship it!
Berzerk-Horrible.JPG


Seeing how Berzerk has NO LEG LEVELERS and sits pretty much on the ground... You will find many of them have the bottom edges all chewed up...
I used two pieces of wood lined with metal tape then filled it up with bondo...
Berzerk-RebuildingTheBase.JPG
 
Just about done with it here
Berzerk-BondoRiffic.JPG


I've also cut a new slot all the way around... Berzerk only has t-molding on the front and up over the top... I'm going to wrap the whole game.
Here is the bottom with the two new cross members
Berzerk-NewBasePieces.JPG


Up next... new leg levelers...
 
Glad to see another Berzerk being restored. Your cab looks as bad as mine. Was yours a conversion? Mine was, and they painted over the 'berzerk' on the sides but left the robots on.
 
Glad to see another Berzerk being restored. Your cab looks as bad as mine. Was yours a conversion? Mine was, and they painted over the 'berzerk' on the sides but left the robots on.

I think maybe yes but it was perhaps converted back by the time I got it..
 
Nice repair job on the bottom. Looks like the trick with the two boards and metal tape worked out pretty good.
 
Nice repair job on the bottom. Looks like the trick with the two boards and metal tape worked out pretty good.

I forget where I picked this method up from (saw it in someones thread and it stuck in my brain) because the first time I did my Defender I just slathered it on and it was messy... this was a much nicer experience... involved little sanding and it came out very straight.

I didn't have major damage, just some wear and some de-lamination in spots so this should fit the bill otherwise I would have had to do something like you did.
 
When you paint her up, are you going to be adding back in the missing horn on the lower guy?

I've been thinking about that from time to time... since I'm not going to make it "textured" per original... I'll probably go ahead and put that horn back on as well!!
 
Feet and bottom done!

MrGorf has me beat ;) but I was able to get the bottom woodworking finished with new leg levelers....

Berzerk-Bottom1.JPG


Berzerk-Bottom2.JPG


I pretty much went around the whole cab and re-enforced the side panels with 2 1/2" finish screws...Since this cab was pretty light on glue and is held together by nails I wanted to make sure it would not come apart later post finish. Any areas that were really loose I also added a bead of hot melt poly glue in addition to the screws.

I will be repairing all the minor damage next and preparing it for paint this week...
 
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Nice work. Looks like those leg leveler mounts will also help hold the cab together. They seemed a little stingy on glue on mine, and one whole side was pulling away at the bottom.
 
Nice work. Looks like those leg leveler mounts will also help hold the cab together. They seemed a little stingy on glue on mine, and one whole side was pulling away at the bottom.

Thanks ... you're way ahead of me at the moment... I'm on coat #4 of black. The cab is finally starting to level out and look good. There are still a few dings I missed but that doesn't bother me all that much...

All said and done probably will end up 6+ coats before I stencil.
 
Looks nice. Good luck. Did you have to do much filling where the nails go through the sides and into the front/top/etc panels?
 
Looks nice. Good luck. Did you have to do much filling where the nails go through the sides and into the front/top/etc panels?

Yep...every instance of a nail pop I put a 2" finish screw adjacent to the nail and in some instances removed the nail or drove it in further... then filled.
 
Yep...every instance of a nail pop I put a 2" finish screw adjacent to the nail and in some instances removed the nail or drove it in further... then filled.

Good work. I wondered if it would be ok to just fill or further secure the cabinet near the nail pops. I like your idea.
 
That looks real good. In hindsight I should have put a couple more coats of black on mine, cause it doesn't look as good as yours.
 
So the goal here was to repaint without trying to replicate the factory textured (sloppy) finish, intended to mask inferior quality wood and assembly?

I'm seriously considering sanding mine down and respraying it smooth if I do it.
 
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