Frogger: My 1st Resto Project

D-Roy

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I'm finally getting around to working on my Frogger after buying it in February. This is my first arcade cabinet project, but it doesn't look like it will be to difficult - at least as far as the cabinet goes.

I've been reading up on all the bondo threads to prepare. :) The worst spot is a chunk missing by the edge near the monitor. The particleboard is fairly flakey there so I'll have to hit it with some wood hardener before the bondo, right? Other than that, just a few spots and gouges to fill.

Another question, do I need to strip/peel off the woodgrain vinyl or can I just fill all my spots right on top of it? I'm planning to put on new woodgrain vinyl (gotta have the cheesy woodgrain - that is one of its most endearing qualities to me). Will I need to primer the whole thing before applying it?
 

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Good luck! I've just started a Donkey Kong restore project. Your Frogger looks like it's in great shape. How does it play?

I don't know from personal experience, just from reading the boards, but I think the answers to your questions are:

Wood hardener: yes
Strip vinyl: yes
prime before applying: yes

Good luck!
 
How does it play?

I don't know yet. The pcb was taken out by the previous owner who "sent it out for repair so it should work". I haven't looked at it too closely yet. Whoever worked on it must have fixed a bad trace b/c there is a wire on the bottom of the PCB connecting 2 points across the board. He did say the monitor needed a fix, so a cap kit is on the way.

Everything cost me $100 so I figured it was worth that much even if none of it worked.
 
Hmmm... this would be one that I would just leave alone. The bad area doesn't seem to be too bad and the rest of the side looks very clean. Stripping that vinyl is gonna be a bitch and might not be worth the effort for one or two small spots. I'd focus on the coin door, cp, novus the plexi, paint the under kick panel and call it a day.
 
Hmmm... this would be one that I would just leave alone.[...] I'd focus on the coin door, cp, novus the plexi, paint the under kick panel and call it a day.

Yeah, I've been debating that point with myself for awhile. The side I didn't take a pic of looks about as good, only without the gouge.

I want to put on Frogger sideart. I thought the sideart went all the way to the edge, so I could just bondo that gouge patch and cover it with the sideart. But looking at pics with the sideart, it doesn't quite go that far to the edge.

In that case, maybe I could patch in that small section with some wood grain contact paper? (I saw a post where someone tried that on a project) I know it will be almost impossible to find a perfect match, but in that area you eye will naturally be focusing on the side art. I guess I could try that idea first (unless that is a horrible idea?). If it looks really bad then I can just go ahead and refinish the whole thing.

So I really would need to strip off all that vinyl if I want to fill all those spots? New vinyl wouldn't bond on top of the old stuff? Or could I primer over the old vinyl first?
 
So I really would need to strip off all that vinyl if I want to fill all those spots? New vinyl wouldn't bond on top of the old stuff? Or could I primer over the old vinyl first?

If you decide to put on new vinyl, you'll need to strip, sand, prime, sand, prime, sand until super smooth or you'll see small bumps everywhere particles got caught under the new vinyl. I would say putting new vinyl over top of the old, would have the same result.
 
The total surface area of the defects seems too small to warrant stripping and replacing with vinyl. A vinyl patch would probably stand out as well (too hard to match).

If you or someone you know has any artistic abilities, you could fill the bad areas with wood filler, then touchup the areas with paint, painting on a woodgrain design (I've done this before with good results).
 
Alright, I agree that there aren't enough problem areas to warrant refinishing the whole thing (stripping the vinyl, etc.). That just made this project a little easier than I planned. :)

I'm not too bad with a paint brush, so I'll try mjenison's suggestion first. If that doesn't satisfy me, then I'll try to patch it with some woodgrain contact paper (if I can find an acceptable "match").

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'll post more when I make some progress.
 
*Update*

After thinking about it some more I decided to strip off the old wood grain vinyl. It doesn't look that bad in the pictures, but there were too many problem areas I couldn't ignore. Maybe if I had a row of 5-7 arcade games or whatever it wouldn't be a big deal, but this is currently my only machine, so it gets alot of attention/scrutiny by me.

The vinyl stripped off pretty easy and wasn't as big a chore as I thought it would be. While doing this work I decided I'm not going to put on new woodgrain vinyl. Nope. Instead I'm going to simulate woodgrain with a woodgraining kit. It will be a bit cheaper than buying new woodgrain vinyl and it should look just as good. The hard part is getting the right stain/color to match the original. If it is a total disaster I can always go back to putting woodgrain vinyl on.
 

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I will be interested to see how that turns out. Please let us know what product you use and techniques and what not!
 
you know you wanna paint it neon green!!!!!!! this is how I disfigured my Frogger, found on the side of the road!!!!!!

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Woodgrain Rocks!

I know most fellow KLOV'ers hate the woodgrain, but I like it as well. It seems to fit with a Frogger machine. I'd keep the original material if you can.
 
*Minor update*
All bondoing is done.

I tried painting/staining a faux woodgrain on a separate test piece. It did not go well. The squeegee pattern thing did not "pull" or move well over the painted surface. It is meant more to use on a finished metal door which is much smoother of a surface.

I could take the time to learn how to paint a woodgrain effect by hand/brush but I don't feel like investing that amount of time into learning it.

So I'm going to have to pony up the $$ and find vinyl woodgrain after all. Ugh.
 
So I'm going to have to pony up the $$ and find vinyl woodgrain after all. Ugh.

Check out thedrewster's thread on his Superman cab- it's a great solution for vinyl woodgrain: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=132395

I discovered some AMAZING product called Con-Tact. It is a vinyl woodgrain covering meant for shelves and cabinetry. It has a deep oak color (though the camera sort of washes it out) but it looks identical to Atari cabinets. It is SUPER easy to manage, bubble-resistant, stretchable, and yields AWESOME results.

Here it is roughly laid out before cutting
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you know you wanna paint it neon green!!!!!!! this is how I disfigured my Frogger, found on the side of the road!!!!!!

bdf5c401.png

This to me is the best looking Frogger cab I have ever seen. Love the color scheme, way better than the generic version. Great job! However, I may have gone with yellow or red t-mold.
 
Check out thedrewster's thread on his Superman cab- it's a great solution for vinyl woodgrain

I remember coming across this thread in my searches. I may have to revisit this idea if I can find the right color pattern. The woodgrain in the pics might be close enough to satisfy me. Thanks for reminding me of this option.

I do really like the idea of painting it green (I would go with black t molding, and black speaker grill), it will look better in the basement, but something at the core of my being says I have to use woodgrain vinyl on this cab. :)
 
Does anyone know if I should use any extra adhesive other than what is on the Con-tact paper? The wording on the package makes it sound like it is fairly weak.

The black areas are painted and all the dirty work is done so I moved my empty cabinet to the basement since I could move it around by myself empty. :)
 
OMG - a bright green Frogger - I LOVE IT!

Many of the UK vac'ers would have a heart attack if they saw that. They are such pedants!
 
I realized I never updated this thread with finished pics. I finished this almost a year ago... Anyways, I went with the Contact paper woodgrain since I couldn't find the "correct" stuff anywhere. I'm holding off on ordering sideart like I planned b/c I wasn't too confident on how long the Contact paper will stick - so far so good.

Still need a couple easy final touches - a lock for the coin door and the monitor needs a cap swapped. Made the mistake of putting the joystick dust washer above the control panel, and I ordered the wrong color blue buttons so I'll replace those with the darker color next time I order parts.

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