Moon Patrol Restoration

Berzerk

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Donor 2013
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Location
Richmond, Virginia
I picked this game up over a year ago out of a backyard shed. It was solid, complete but a complete mess with tons of dirt and grime. It was non working with two led lights lit on the power supply. After 5 minutes and a readjustment of a burnt power connector the game fired right up, without sound. The no sound turned out to be a bad speaker and it was replaced with a new one from Mikes Arcade (if I remember correctly).

I then ordered a deluxe power supply kit, cap kit and edge connector from Bob Roberts and rebuilt everything. The game played fine for about a year and then started having white screens. Slapping the side of the cabinet would bring it back until that finally would not work. I also started getting a game freeze every now and then.

Trying everything I finally walked away from the game for a long time. I decided this year to get everything working (Moon Patrol, Battlezone, Berzerk), pick up some missing parts (Mario bezel, Mario marquee, Berzerk batstick) and restore the rest of my cabinets.

Moon Patrol is now working (including Battlezone, Berzerk is close) and the white screen turned out to be a broken trace on the chassis.
 

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More pics of the mess I started with. The artwork is in really good shape so it will all be staying. Actually I am glad I put most of my restores off as I am wanting to leave everything original if I can and only replace what needs it. In the beginning I wanted to redo everything new, stencils etc. to all my cabinets. Freshing up my Battlezone and restoring my Make Trax I am now more in the category of originality if its doable.
 

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Some more pics from when I got the cabinet.
 

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Cabinet is broken completely down and ready for a complete restore.
 

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Been working on the Moon Patrol on and off and got some things done. I fixed the split wood below the vents/handle with wood glue and clamps. Fixed some lifting wood at the bottom front of the cabinet with some wood glue, 2x4 wrapped in plastic (so it will not glue to the cabinet, works like a charm) and clamps. Extended the wooden supports on the bottom of the cabinet and put on casters. Extending the wooden supports will prohibit the cabinet from ever resting on itself once casters/leg levelers are installed.
 

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Next I started on the control panel. Button springs/e-clips were very rusty and were faded, dirty and rusty. I polished all the buttons using the wet sandpaper method. Attached to a drill using a bolt and screw, submerged in a water bucket 320, 600, 800, 1000 and rubbing compound in that order (got this from a klover here in the restore section and it works great). Metal Rescued the springs/e-clips. Cleaned up the dirty control over lay with magic eraser.
 

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After pics of the control panel. I am staying with the original art. Aside from a couple cigarette burns its in great shape.
 

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All the metal is done. Sanded, primed and painted a Satin Black. All the nuts, bolts and screws were Metal Rescured prior.
 

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The black areas on the cabinet were lightly sanded, primed (primer allows for a very even finish when using a rattle can), lightly sanded again and painted Satin Black. I used brown painters tape this time around the cab and it worked great. Kept the paint to the inside and so much easier and less work than papering off the entire side of the cabinet.
 

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It looks incredible. A great view into the process for those of us who've not tackled it yet. You've got a great eye for cab art too! The Berzerk & Make Trax alongside Moon Patrol will be gorgeous. Throw a Scramble into the mix for that extra push over the cliff. Thanks for the updates.
 
Thanks for all the props. Moon Patrol is in my top three must haves after playing the crap out of it as a kid. I cleaned the sides of the cab this morning while I still had shade to work in. It came out even better than I thought and the art is just popping. Three magic erasers/bucket of water later. I am so glad I delayed this restore. My initial thought over a year ago was to make it look completely brand new and stencil it. Glad I did not do that.

Before and after pics left side. A lot of embedded/stained in dirt, scuff marks etc. Pics are not doing it justice on how much it cleaned up and came out nice. Still have the trade mark stickers :)
 

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Before and after right side.
 

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Pic of the dirty water and a better pic of how nice the black came out.
 

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