Frogger, An Extensive Cabinet Restoration

joeycuda

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I've wanted a Frogger for years, but only one I briefly owned was in poor shape. I figured I'd find a very rough one someday and build a new cabinet, but I found a nice project game. The cabinet was described as "ok" and it definitely has/had issues, but the woodgrain sides are in pretty good shape, so I had something to start with.

The front panel had been replaced with a front from another Frogger cabinet, so the woodgrain laminate didn't match exactly. The panel had some hasp holes covered with carriage bolts and some complications fitting, so I planned to make a replacement panel.

The back doors were missing and the bottom panel in rough shape. The top of the cabinet wasn't swollen at all, but the particleboard was sort of dry rotted and flaking off.

The control panel has a repro overlay applied. The p/s had a switcher replacement, game was working (before I started taking stuff apart) and monitor looked good with a recent cap kit. Aside from adding a new power cord this will be all about the cabinet.

Here are some before pics:

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The lowest panel was worse than it looks here. That short piece was screwed on there for some reason.

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Notice the flaky particle board on the uppermost panel and top:

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This piece of control panel area blocking was split and repaired. It later got replaced:

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With the front panel removed, you see the damage on the inner sides from the 3/4 blocking being removed, but that will be covered up by the new panel and blocking. Also, the particle board "floor" of this area was filthy.

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The replacement front panel was an original panel, yet it didn't fit right. This replacement panel had a dado at the bottom inner edge, but it would have joined to a coin bucket area bottom that was dado'd. After getting the panel aligned so that the control panel fit correctly, it left a gap at the joint.

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Hard to see gap here:

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This gap, the hasp holes, and having a piece of woodgrain laminate on hand made me decide to make a replacement front panel to fit. Now, with the coin area bottom not dado'd, a replacement panel of the original thickness, about 5/8", would be a butt joint (with blocking, etc..) My new panel would be 3/4 and from the front view would need to align the same to the cabinet sides, so.........The new panel would need a 1/8" dado or recess and here's the newly cut panel after some black spray paint:

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I sanded the coin box area with 80 grit paper to basically sand the dirt out of the particleboard. After cleaning it up, I applied a couple of coats of satin clear. For sake of staying original, I wouldn't normally do that, but that particleboard needed a)sealed and b)a dirt barrier.

Before and After:

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My plan of attack for the top was to seal it, fill it, paint it and save it, since it wasn't swollen and looked great on the inside. I started with the wood hardener resin, applying half a dozen coats to the top and a couple coats to the inner cabinet areas that would get painted. I also used wood filler in the staple divots:

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Some places on the top were just rough, with patches or streaks of rough particleboard, so I skimmed those areas with Bondo

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I then sanded it flat. I put 2 coats of RustOleum satin black on the top and inner sides and let it dry.

A couple of days later, I sanded all of the black flat back to wood. This had the effect of filling a lot of the tiny divots and acted as a high build filler/sealer coat. For the most part, the black areas felt very flat:

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I also removed the old screen and giant ass staples. I'll find some scrap metal screen to replace it with:

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I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood for the rear/bottom panel, then traced the location of the vent holes from the original piece:

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Cut the holes on the drill press, on the slowest setting:

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Since the front/lower panel needed Bondo on the bottom edge and I was already replacing some panels, I figured I'd replace it also, with plywood. It was easy to knock out and since the original piece looks to be vinyl on pb, I'll be applying matte black vinyl to the plywood replacement. Here's the original:

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Here's the cabinet, ready to spray:

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I sprayed RustOleum satin black oil based, bought in a quart can, thinned about 20% with acetone, sprayed with a cheap HVLP siphon feed gun. The top and inner areas got about 3 coats.

Here are some shots after the paint job. Although you can still see some pitting on the cabinet top, I'm satisfied with it. Only thing I could have done differently is to skim the whole top with Bondo, but this isn't a car and the original particleboard was never perfect:

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Speaker/marquee shelf was sanded, then got a couple of coats of paint:

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Here's the new/replacement lower back panel. Just need some screen:

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I admire you for getting everything right at this level. BITD these really stood out and looked awesome, perhaps because of the contrast between the bright colors and the wood grain. This is going to look great when you're finished.
 
I admire you for getting everything right at this level. BITD these really stood out and looked awesome, perhaps because of the contrast between the bright colors and the wood grain. This is going to look great when you're finished.

Thanks!! I'm refinishing/fixing about everything but the woodgrain sides. There's a little wear and tear on the bottom edges, but way good enough to leave original. I plan to put the repro sideart on it.
 
Looks great! I really love Frogger, really love it. I just finished my restore and it was a bit of a pain in the ass but it was well worth it. Make sure you get the high score save kit, really makes it that much better!

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Looks great! I really love Frogger, really love it. I just finished my restore and it was a bit of a pain in the ass but it was well worth it. Make sure you get the high score save kit, really makes it that much better!

Thanks! What you've got there is my goal.
 
Very nice work!! The paint on the top looks great too. Restoring the painted surface on particle board is a LOT of work. It seems like no matter how much time you spend sanding, filling and finishing it, the stuff just wants to stay bumpy and pitted. Keep up the great work! Looking forward to seeing more of you restored Frogger pics!!! :)
 
Looking good. When I got my frogger the cab was real bad. I wound up making a new one but have never found a good woodgrain to put on. Still looking.

Your attention to detail is great. Can't wait to see it finished.
 
Well, I'd planned on putting black matte vinyl on the lower/kick panel, remade from plywood, but this ply just wasn't smooth enough. I shot a coat of primer, paint, then sanded it back down.

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I sprayed a few coats of satin black on the panel:

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There were staples that were put through the top of this panel, down into kick panel that had to be extracted. This is a cheapo Harbor Freight staple puller, but it's worth its weight in gold when you need it.

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The bottom side of that particle board was sanded and a few coats of satin clear were applied.

I'd considered the painting done, but this lower/inner area was a little rough, so I ran the sander over it and shot a few more coats of black on it:

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New 3/4" blocking was stapled/glued in to support the new kick panel, as originally done:

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Both the plywood bottom panel and particle board PCB/harness area floor were sanded with 80 grit paper.

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Some glue:

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and after applying vinyl to the now smooth panel, it was installed:

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I got some aluminum screen that was an exact match to the original stuff. Using this 22ga upholstery stapler, I installed it on the new rear/lower panel and the upper cabinet:

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This panel was filthy, so I removed the brackets and screws and ran the sander over it, again with 80 grit.

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One of the screw holes was too big, so glued a piece of bamboo skewer in the hole, let it dry, then used the cheapo Harbor Freight Japanese flush cut hand saw (another HF gem).

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Here's a pic of the particleboard PCB/harness area being finished with clear, after sanding all the stain and dirt out:

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Installing the sideart-

I clamped a piece on the cabinet and found that there's a little more than 1/2" around the edges. I figured it would be easier to align the art inside a 1/2" inset/frame so I put masking tape around these edges and drew pencil lines 1/2" from the outer edge:

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When the alignment is good, tape it firmly in place, making a sort of hinge. I chose about 1/3 from the top of the art.

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Pull some of the backing at the top, cut away with razor, cross your fingers, then roll the art back towards the top, sticking it down:

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Pull the rest of the backing downwards, while applying pressure with a j-roller, taking bubbles out:

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After installing new screen, 4 holes were drilled and the new rear/lower panel was installed. No glue used, in case it needs to be removed in the future:

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A couple more shots of the new front panel.. 3/4 pine ply, with some woodgrain laminate I found applied. It's not a match for the sides, but I didn't figure I'd find an exact match and this was too good to pass up. On the backside, 3/4 blocking and screws, similar to original panel. The blocking is also glued to the panel. The blocking was painted, but the panel only had a light coat of black:

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I used a ratchet strap to squeeze the cabinet, while aligning the panel.

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For the front panel install, only screws were used, 3 on each side, and no glue. The panel was bowed a bit, so after installing the lower 2 screws, I used a clamp and board to pull the panel outward for alignment, then put the screws in:

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Done:

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Monitor panel removed to sand and clean..it was filthy:

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After:

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The front panel trim piece had some paint overspray on it. Cleaned up with acetone then polished with Brasso:

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Lookin good:

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The speaker and fixture were cleaned up and new ballast and bulb installed. I had some of those 1" square wire tie retainers, so replaced it with new, then wire tied the speaker wires.

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Marquee polished and reinstalled:

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