Black Paint ... Again

MilitiaMan

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I know I have seen this posted before, but I am unable to find the original thread using the sites search functionality, so here goes ...... again.

I am getting ready to paint a Galaga cabinet for a buddy of mine and I am strictly a "foam roller kind of guy".

I will start with some Kilz oil based primer, but what brand and color of oil based paint would you suggest for a Galaga cabinet?

Flat black?
Glossy black?

Looking for any and all opinions. I will go with the consensus.

Thanks in advance ... sorry for the re-hashed question.

Steve
MM
 
Whenever I do a black cabinet I use satin. Fingerprints don't show as much and can be wiped clean easily. I don't have a Galaga so I can't comment on paint color codes, but make sure it is truly black. When I did my first cabinet restore, I bought black thinking black is black. Well, their black was a sort of greyish black, so I brought it back for them to add more black tint.
 
I wanna say it was just Rustoleum brand stuff from the Home Depot. Frankly...as long as it's black and oil based...I think you'll be happy. I'd definately avoid flat though just because it's a bitch to clean.
 
Another thing you can do, is make your own satin, by mixing flat, and gloss. To get the sheen you want.

I tend to mix mine 30% gloss.
 
Original galagas were semi gloss just like Tron. when they originally shipped they had a paper mask you had to peel off to reveal the sides.

I try to avoid killz primer because it just doesn't sand well, just gums up. Rather use spray cans of auto primer myself. After that use a good oil based black (these days I don't use much oil but black I do because of the color depth you can get). Let the black cure completely then fine sand it smooth to get rid of any orange peel from the roller and spray the whole thing with a nice clear semi gloss polyurethane and it'll look factoreeeee.
 
Here's my opinion FWIW, I have painted dozens of cabs this way though: Get 2 quarts of Rust-oleum Black Satin, product number 7777. Grab a pack of Shur Line rollers with the lime green plastic cores. Also buy a small pack of trim rollers- the type that is like shag carpet with the end covered in it. Home Depot carries all these items.

You don't need any primer for this. Sand and prep the cabinet for paint after repairing any damage.

Chuck the roller in a vice with a Shur Line roller cover mounted on it and take about 2 feet of 2" masking tape and de-lint it by using the tape like a belt to roll the roller. You'll need to do this about 3 or 4 times until you notice almost no lint on the tape. Do the same with the shag trim roller.

Using the small shag roller, trim in the monitor bezel area, front and top of the cab. Now using the large roller, do the rest of it.

Let this first coat dry in the sun for a day, or garage for a couple days. Then break out a random orbit sander with 220 and sand the whole cabinet. I've got my Shop Vac hooked up to the sander to help with the dust, but it's not mandatory.

Now for the secret- using Windex, clean all the remaining dust off the cab with paper towels, being careful not to leave any lint. Follow up with a Swiffer Duster to ensure a clean surface. The Windex sounds counter-intuitive, but it's what the car customizers use as a cleaner and surfactant between coats. I saw it on some Discovery Channel show, tired it and it works.

Paint again with the trim and large roller and you'll have a finish that's flawless. I scratch built this cab, so there was no underpaint or primer; this result is over bare wood:

Multicadenewart3.jpg
 
I went with semi-gloss black satin and was happy.

Semi-gloss and satin are two different sheens. If you used Rustoleum, they have Satin Black, Semi-Gloss Black, and Gloss Black.

I used Rustoleum Satin Black on my Punch-Out and loved the way it turned out.
 
Semi-gloss and satin are two different sheens. If you used Rustoleum, they have Satin Black, Semi-Gloss Black, and Gloss Black.

I used Rustoleum Satin Black on my Punch-Out and loved the way it turned out.

Yeah I read that like 3 times before I understood that someone just put down the pipe before typing. It's like saying I have a gasoline powered diesel engine.
 
Semi-gloss and satin are two different sheens. If you used Rustoleum, they have Satin Black, Semi-Gloss Black, and Gloss Black.

I used Rustoleum Satin Black on my Punch-Out and loved the way it turned out.

How did you think it compares to the original finish? PO cabs seem to have a more of a glossy finish, but I haven't seen a satin finish up close on the cab.
 
How did you think it compares to the original finish? PO cabs seem to have a more of a glossy finish, but I haven't seen a satin finish up close on the cab.

Honestly, Im not sure. The cab sides were pretty worn (no damage, but the sheen was gone) to start off with. When I got my SPO cab, it had been painted with what looks like a Gloss Black, so its super shiny. If the "Super" sideart gets run again, Im going to sand down the whole cab and put the Satin Black on.

Here's a pic for reference:
CIMG4091.jpg


Meh, I guess its still kind of tough to tell...
 
Looks great for sure. But yeah just looking at photos you can't really tell what it looks like up close. One of these days I'll make a decision and get my cab to look as good as yours. Just got rid of a naked SPO cab so that gives me some room to work.
 
Sorry... I used semi-gloss on the Galaga and satin on the Williams Multigame. They both looked terrific IMHO.
 
I think it looks great as well. Again though, Im not too sure as to how it looks compared to the original.

I still need to replace my CPO, big blue, and upper coin door before she's all done.
 
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