Finally starting the 720 restoration

[WadeLanham]

I bought this game 2 years ago in pieces, so that disassembly step was already done.

Today our 4th plans were cancelled due to weather, so I had some free time. Took the heat gun to the painted-over vinyl and in about 30 minutes I had it ALL off... including the base.

This is a picture after doing one side.

Wade

 

[descrentl]

Nice start. Are you laying new vinyl down, or painting it?

 

[WadeLanham]

Haven't decided. Rich is supposed to be sending me a vinyl sample, but I'm leaning towards painting it. Plus, I could be painting it this weekend, and might not want to wait for vinyl.

Wade

 

[JeffC]

Awesome, please continue to take pics as often as possible. Can't wait to see the finished product. One thing I'm missing is the T-Molding around the base of the cab. Mine is just raw wood painted black to match the color scheme.

 

[WadeLanham]

Awesome, please continue to take pics as often as possible. Can't wait to see the finished product. One thing I'm missing is the T-Molding around the base of the cab. Mine is just raw wood painted black to match the color scheme.

Well I destroyed the front panel of the game today. I tried to hammer it out like I've done so many times before (so I could fill the missing wood and relaminate it with vertical grade formica), but it was DOW PINNED in! Who knew?? So I basically destroyed the whole front. I would have left it in, had I known.

Now I'll have to cut a brand new piece of wood and laminate it. That'll add a little extra time. :/

For the base, I was thinking of just painting it black like you did Jeff. I'm also thinking about laminating around that base with formica. It wouldn't look like the original setup but at least it would look finished. It'll be easy to install and I have plenty of scrap black already.

Wade

 

[WadeLanham]

Also... I discovered I don't have an original bezel, it was left out of all the parts I got when I bought the game. Does anyone have a spare, or if it's paper, could someone flatten it and trace it and scan it into a file or something so I could reproduce it?

Also, does anyone have pics of how the monitor is mounted? My 25" monitors mount along the top. Looking inside the 720, it looks like the monitor mounted on the sides. I may have to build some brackets or something in order to use my monitor.

Thanks,
Wade

 

[JeffC]

Ack...sorry to hear about the front of the game. I'm not sure about the bezel...mine was included, but is really just a flimsy piece of cardboard. You can somewhat see it here:
Pic 1

I don't have real detailed pics of the monitor mounts, but here are some that show the front from a distance:
Pic 2
Pic 3

 

[WadeLanham]

Thanks Jeff. After posting that, I looked around on your site and found those pics. It's a shelf-style mount like a lot of the old 19" monitors. I have some spare 25" frames but they are all top/bottom mount. Hopefully I can get it to fit, otherwise I'll have to find someone selling just the frame, and it's hard to get people to sell you those things. I won't know for sure how it's going to work until I get the cabinet in my basement where the monitors are.

I can probably mock up a decent bezel, minor detail.

Just checked my storage room for scraps, and I think I have a piece of MDF that is just big enough to make a new front out of.

Wade

 

[GAMERTERRY]

i am looking for a flyback for my 720 its a WG 25K5515 MED RES if any one has an extra one THANKS

 

[WadeLanham]

Okay, I've done very little with this since the last update. I cleaned the inside, stripped all the vinyl. What's holding me up now is paint.

I bought some Rustoleum silver paint that I think will look pretty decent, but I have to get the particle board smoother. It has very tiny small voids in the sides.

What would be a good product to put on the sides to smooth it? Seems like I saw a tutorial somewhere about filling VERY small holes/scratches with a very thin skim type of product. Anyone know?

If I can get these sides smoother, I could starting painting it. Once it's painted, this project will go very quickly.

Thanks,
Wade

 

[Space_cowboy]

A thin push coat of bondo on the worst spots will do it for you

 

[shardian]

You can also skim it with joint compound. I had to do a whole wall in my house with the skim method - the wall had painted over wall-paper glue.

 

[WadeLanham]

I think Bondo is a little too thick for this. I'm looking for something thinner that will go down into all the tiny holes and voids.

I don't want to just joint compound. That may be fine for walls, but I don't have a lot of faith in the durability on an arcade game. Maybe I'll try it on a small spot like one of the boombox sides, and see how it goes.

Thanks,
Wade

 

[shardian]

Joint Compound is more than adequate. Sure if you take a key to it, it will dent. So will painted or vinyl covered wood . It would be just as durable as any other non-formia laminate cab in your collection.

 

[2600]

Evercoat might be what you are thinking about. There was a thread or two about using it for skimming.

 

[Phetishboy]

Bondo makes a premixed 'topcoat' in a tube. I have some and it works for skim coats, as long as the surface is clean. The first bit of dust it hits causes it to ball up like a pearl and not adhere well.

 

[WadeLanham]

Yeah, I have used that many times - bondo glazing and spot putty.

I think that Evercoat stuff is what I was thinking of that I'd read about before. I haven't used it before but it sounded like it might work for this.

I took another look at the 720 last night and the voids are very small, almost like pinholes. I think I will just try a few coats of primer to see if it fills them. I'll report back afterward. Guess I'll have to upload some pics too after getting some paint on it.

Thanks for the ideas. If the primer doesn't do it I'll try some of the other suggestions.

Wade

 

[7146aaron]

Primer the bare wood first then fill the holes with the Evercoat. It sticks better that way.

 

[WadeLanham]

Okay, I finally got on this again. I coated the whole thing with kilz white oil primer. Forgot how much of a pain oil paint is! Sanded it smooth, it really didn't fill the voids, they're too large.

Skimmed one monitor side with joint compound, I think it's smoother, but still not smooth enough for a nice metallic finish. I spray painted one boombox side just to see... and it looks like ass. If I did the whole game this way, it'd be a disaster.

Now I'm thinking I'm going to either have to paint it in flat grey (to hide all the flaws) which would really be far from ideal for this game (a very important game to me), or use a laminate or vinyl of some sort.

Has anyone found a good metallic laminate or vinyl for 720 yet?? Wishing my grief with this paint job would just be over.

Wade

 

[WadeLanham]

Anyone have paint suggestions either? I'd really like this to look as much like the original as possible, but I'm not sure my paint skills are up to the task.

Wade