Marble Madness Restoration

DLP

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Just finished up a Marble Madness restoration! I got the cabinet waaay back in 2001 and just kept putting it on the back burner because I already had a Marble Madness. Fast forward 16 years to this summer and I got tired of seeing that machine sit buried in the back of other games and getting no love, so I decided to finally finish it up. I'm happy with the results. Next will be my Indiana Jones cabinet.

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It looks absolutely great. Are the sides laminated or is that paint? It looks really smooth.

Thank you! I'm really happy with how it turned out. I used black vinyl to cover over the wood. The vinyl covering is what many Atari games were covered with, including the System 1 cabs.
 
I've never tried vinyl. It really came out great.

Yeah, it comes out really nice, but the vinyl is not very forgiving. You basically get one shot at it because the moment the vinyl hits the wood you can't pull it back up. If you do, small wood particles will lift with the vinyl and if you then try to stick it back down, you will have bumps all over from where the wood particles are stuck to the backing.

If you do decide to pull back the vinyl, not only is that piece of vinyl garbage at this point but you will have to re-sand that area of the cabinet because it's not smooth anymore since the vinyl pulled up particles of wood.

So yeah... ya get one shot at it. Hehe.
 
Yeah, it comes out really nice, but the vinyl is not very forgiving. You basically get one shot at it because the moment the vinyl hits the wood you can't pull it back up. If you do, small wood particles will lift with the vinyl and if you then try to stick it back down, you will have bumps all over from where the wood particles are stuck to the backing.

If you do decide to pull back the vinyl, not only is that piece of vinyl garbage at this point but you will have to re-sand that area of the cabinet because it's not smooth anymore since the vinyl pulled up particles of wood.

So yeah... ya get one shot at it. Hehe.

I've done full side art on a few games (Tempest, Asteroids Deluxe, Galaxian) which I guess is similar as far as potential problems go. I did have wood pull up the very first time I did it and, you're right, it never quite looked right. Fortunately, it was only a small corner at the top.

Laminate is great because, although you only get one shot at it, you don't have to worry about wrinkles!
 
I've done full side art on a few games (Tempest, Asteroids Deluxe, Galaxian) which I guess is similar as far as potential problems go. I did have wood pull up the very first time I did it and, you're right, it never quite looked right. Fortunately, it was only a small corner at the top.

Laminate is great because, although you only get one shot at it, you don't have to worry about wrinkles!

Yeah... those full side art options are the same thing as applying vinyl so you've definitely been there! Hehe. I've never done lamiate before but just a few minutes ago I ordered some laminate for a DKjr project that I'm working on. I'm assuming applying laminate has a similar prep... gotta sand the original cabinet down nice and smooth?
 
That is freaking beautiful!!!

Where did you get that sideart? I really like that!

Well done!

Chris

Thank you! Yes, I'm really happy with the results and I love the custom MM side art. I got it from This Old Game. He has the generic System 1 side art, but he also has these awesome custom side art packages for Marble Madness, Indiana Jones, and Road Runner. I'm going to be getting his Indiana Jones side art for my IJ restoration that I will be doing soon.
 
This makes me want to do my Marble Madness now, but I know it won't come out nearly as nice as yours :(

I already have one side of the black vinyl off, but that's as far as I got.

Chris
 
This makes me want to do my Marble Madness now, but I know it won't come out nearly as nice as yours :(

I already have one side of the black vinyl off, but that's as far as I got.

Chris


Yeah... it's a pain to get the old vinyl off and the cab prepped. I hate that part.
 
Yeah... those full side art options are the same thing as applying vinyl so you've definitely been there! Hehe. I've never done lamiate before but just a few minutes ago I ordered some laminate for a DKjr project that I'm working on. I'm assuming applying laminate has a similar prep... gotta sand the original cabinet down nice and smooth?

Yes, smooth is best but laminate is solid so you don't have to worry about every tiny pit and ding in the surface like with vinyl. As long as it feels relatively smooth to your hand, it'll come out perfect. You'll love the result.

Since you haven't done it before...Fresh cut laminate is sharp as a razor. Ask me how I know! File the edge down with a metal file as soon as you cut it and avoid blood loss.
 
Yes, smooth is best but laminate is solid so you don't have to worry about every tiny pit and ding in the surface like with vinyl. As long as it feels relatively smooth to your hand, it'll come out perfect. You'll love the result.

Since you haven't done it before...Fresh cut laminate is sharp as a razor. Ask me how I know! File the edge down with a metal file as soon as you cut it and avoid blood loss.

Ahhh... thanks for the tip!!! Will do!!! ;)
 
Yeah, it comes out really nice, but the vinyl is not very forgiving. ... If you do, small wood particles will lift with the vinyl and if you then try to stick it back down, you will have bumps all over from where the wood particles are stuck to the backing.

I think what a lot of folks (and I did) do is seal the wood with clear water based polycrilic, do a couple of coats of that and sand smooth and you'll be able to pull up and re-position vinyl gone bad...

Your restoration came out gorgeous. That side art works well for MM.
 
I have vinyled areas where I can't use laminate and it's such a pain... I used black laminate on my MM restore and it made Laying the art down almost easy... Makes the art glass smooth... Did the same with my lunar lander as well even though the art covered the entire side if the cab... It sounds like extra work, but I think it's quicker and I avoid all the painting and sanding...
 
Looks amazing! Where did you find the black vinyl? I'm having a hard time locating it for my Road Blasters restoration.


Thank you! I got the vinyl from ThisOldGame. I just looked on TOG's site and it seems they are only listing white and gray now for sale, so if you can't get it from ThisOldGame, then you can also get it from MetroRestyling.com. They have many colors, styles, and textures, but here is a link to the page with the "matte" finish. The "matt black" is the color that you'd want.

https://www.metrorestyling.com/3M-1080-Scotchprint-Matte-Vinyl-Wrap-s/17256.htm
 
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That looks clean as a whistle!

You REALLY caught my attention with the "Indiana Jones cabinet" though! Hands down, one of my favorite games. Looking forward to your work on that!
 
Thanks! Yeah the Indiana Jones cabinet is almost done. I'll hopefully be posting pics of that in the next couple weeks!


That looks clean as a whistle!

You REALLY caught my attention with the "Indiana Jones cabinet" though! Hands down, one of my favorite games. Looking forward to your work on that!
 
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