Ground up Berzerk restore

[fatherpain]

Just noticed the excellent work on the coin acceptor bracket in addition to Brasso's did you use fine grade scotchbrite to polish that out so nicely? My coindoor has been painted over so definitely would like to have powdercoated. Thinking a flat black textured finish but am interested to know what the original finish was like. Looking very forward to watching the progress of this restoration!

Tom

 

[Malice95]

Just noticed the excellent work on the coin acceptor bracket in addition to Brasso's did you use fine grade scotchbrite to polish that out so nicely?

Just brasso and some elbow grease with a terrycloth towel.

 

[MrGorf]

I am going with the Perfect360.. Its an optical joystick like the original batstick and looks more like a batstick than a red balltop. Supposedly its
really rocks for hitting the 45 deg shots.

http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/50608300.htm

I got mine from Mylstar in his store.

I used one of those when I did my Berzerk restoration. Very happy with it. Nice feel, and the 45 deg. shots work great.

 

[Malice95]

Smooth as a baby's bottom...

So I started in on the bondo today. I just did the sides and the top
while I had it up on sawhorses. The back and front will need to wait
till I get my leg leveler kit tomorrow.

Its been quite a while since I worked with Bondo (20 yrs?) but it goes
on a lot nicer then wood putty. I'm never going back to wood putty.

I started out by putting in some staples near every joint to give it a
bit more strength. Then banged in any nail pops and spent time
feeling up the cabinet (sounds dirty huh?). I circled every imperfection
I could find with a pencil. Why? Because bondo starts setting up in
about 5 mins. You dont have alot of time to really inspect the cab
with the bondo mixed.

Then I applied the bondo, waited about a 1/2 hour for it to cure,
and sanded with 150 grit. I am very happy how it came out. I cant feel a
single imperfection in the sides or top.. super smooth. I even filled in all the
joints in the CP wood so it feels like one piece of wood instead of 4.

What primer do ya'll recommend? Zinfer? I'm going with an oil based top coat.

 

[joeycuda]

What primer do ya'll recommend? Zinfer? I'm going with an oil based top coat.

I'd use rattle can RustOleum automotive dark grey primer.

 

[Malice95]

I'd use rattle can RustOleum automotive dark grey primer.

Hmm thats a lot of rattle cans to cover the cab.. Why rattle can? I can spray the primer using my hvlp gun.

 

[joeycuda]

Hmm thats a lot of rattle cans to cover the cab.. Why rattle can? I can spray the primer using my hvlp gun.

Well, get some cheap automotive primer. I'd definitely spray the black. RustOleum semi gloss oil based? I've had great luck with the RustOleum.

 

[Malice95]

I got my leg leveling kit from bob roberts and installed it today. I also finished
up the bondo work and secured the control panel wood back in place.

Next up.. Primer. I went with an oil based primer that I had tinted to a medium
grey. Hopefully that will help with coverage when I spray the black topcoat. I
plan on spraying the primer.

While the original wasnt painted inside.. what do you guys think? Should I just
prime this inside and out or stick with only what was originally painted?

 

[retroACTIVE]

I sanded the inside of mine because it was so rough and prone to dust collection. I then painted the inside with one coat of satin latex black....

 

[joeycuda]

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't paint the inside. What I would do is, and this is partly to clean the wood, use a foam sanding block and sand the inside of the cabinet clean. When you spray the black basecoat on the cabinet, let the black overspray go about as far as the factory overspray did, into the insides, or maybe just a tiny bit more. I did that on my Stargate and like the way it turned out. You freshen it up and clean it up at the same time.

 

[Malice95]

Its been windy and raniy so I havent been able to pull the cab outside
to spray the primer. So, I started on the CP to keep this restoration moving
forward.

The original metal CP cover wasnt horrible but since I have a Cnlmoore repro,
I'm going to redo everything. I started stripping it apart and found the wiring
harness hacked to hell and back so I'm thinking about building a new one from
scratch. I gotta check with Bob Roberts to see if he has all the parts I need.

I assume the lone red wire not hooked up to anything is the +5v for the original
bat stick?

 

[joeycuda]

I assume the lone red wire not hooked up to anything is the +5v for the original
bat stick?

Makes sense as the bat stick uses optical sensors. I guess that makes it super clean and easy to install the Happ optical stick?!?

 

[retroACTIVE]

Makes sense as the bat stick uses optical sensors. I guess that makes it super clean and easy to install the Happ optical stick?!?

Yup...red is +5 and its a super clean perfect replacement for Berzerk

 

[fatherpain]

Hi RetroActive,
I'm following your guys lead and grabbed a perfect 360. If its not too much trouble Can you go into further detail how you cut and routed the wood to accomodate the stick? I saw your excellent write up on your berzerk but was a little vague on some stuff. Did you have to enlarge the joystick opening? I don't suppose you remember the depths you routed for the dust washer and base?

Thanks
Tom

 

[EagleTG]

Hi RetroActive,
I'm following your guys lead and grabbed a perfect 360. If its not too much trouble Can you go into further detail how you cut and routed the wood to accomodate the stick? I saw your excellent write up on your berzerk but was a little vague on some stuff. Did you have to enlarge the joystick opening? I don't suppose you remember the depths you routed for the dust washer and base?

From the last pic posted, it looks like the wood wasn't routed at all, the perfect 360 looks to be flush mount with wood (or sheet metal) screws that won't protrude out the other side. The extra bolts from the original stick have been installed to retain the original look (and fill the hole). That's my guess anyway.

 

[retroACTIVE]

Hi RetroActive,
I'm following your guys lead and grabbed a perfect 360. If its not too much trouble Can you go into further detail how you cut and routed the wood to accomodate the stick? I saw your excellent write up on your berzerk but was a little vague on some stuff. Did you have to enlarge the joystick opening? I don't suppose you remember the depths you routed for the dust washer and base?

Thanks
Tom

Hi Tom... not to hijack Malice's thread too much here... but here are some details of...

The joystick opening did not need to be enlarged. The hole for the stick on the new wood panel is the standard 1-1/8". For the recesses, I made templates out of wood. The joystick base recess was 1/8". The recess for the dust washer was about the same unfortunately I don't recall it.

 

[retroACTIVE]

From the last pic posted, it looks like the wood wasn't routed at all, the perfect 360 looks to be flush mount with wood (or sheet metal) screws that won't protrude out the other side. The extra bolts from the original stick have been installed to retain the original look (and fill the hole). That's my guess anyway.

You bring up a very good point... the recess on the bottom side is really not necessary. I usually do this with any panel I cut... I like the fit of it... but 9 times out of 10 its not needed.

 

[fatherpain]

Hi Malice,
looking forward to seeing more pix! I want to thank for you and RetroActive for the perfect 360 recommendation I ordered one from Mylstar last week and just installed it. I Absolutely love it. Will no longer will be searching for the bat top. I'm totally impressed with this stick!

Thanks
Tom

 

[Malice95]

So I finally got a break in the weather and was able to spray my first
coat of oil based primer. I had HD tint it as dark as they could. It went
on really nice with the sprayer. I need to wait a couple days and give it a
quick sanding (320 grit). Then hit it with another coat. The second coat
should cover up the grain fully. I'm gonna have HD tint the rest of the gallon
a bit darker so its easy to see when spraying the second coat. I only sprayed
the areas that were originally sprayed to keep it as original as possible.

 

[Malice95]

So holiday weekend.. I hope to make good progress.

My two board sets are on their way back from repair (Lance).
I'm sure he did a great job.

I sanded down the first coat of primer today. It's like sanding down a
clear coat. I used my random orbit with 220 grit for 95% and then did the
rest by hand to get the tight corners.

You can see in the picture below the difference sanding makes. Top half is
raw primer (orange peel) and the bottom half is sanded and super smooth.

If you use a random orbit.. keep it moving! I hung out in one spot two long
and sanded most of the primer away. No bigie. I am putting on a second coat
of primer tinted darker tomorrow.