Restoring a Super Pac Cocktail

smalltownguy2

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Picked up a midway cocktail cabinet at auction last fall. Game was in non-working condition, but I spied Super Pac artwork on the control panels. I've never actually seen a Super Pac in the wild, so I thought I'd jump on it.

Turns out I got lucky. It IS a Super Pac.

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Now I know that Super Pac doesn't always get the love that I believe it derserves, but since I already have all the parts needed to put this together correctly, why not? I haven't restored a cocktail cab yet, so might as well dive in.
 
Game wasn't working when I went to pick it up on load out day, but after bringing it home I checked the monitor over well and it was firing up, so I tried booting the game. Found a Ms Pac pcb inside, and a switcher. No midway power supply pcb, and the wiring harness was all hacked to shit. :(

Decided to turn it on anyway. Jumbled charachters. That's good. Re-seated the sync buss and vram addresser cards, and Ms Pac speed up came up. Sweet! Works. Let's take it apart! :)

Coin door and table top removed

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Most of the rest of the wiring out, and suitcase iso brick removed.

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Starting bondo. Lots of chewed up edges here - I will have to re-apply woodgrain overlays. Also using wood hardener on one edge that was splitting pretty badly. I'll glue and bondo that edge next.

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Starting rebuilding corners. This one is the worst.

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Looking good so far, good luck with finding the right harness..

The underlay vector is done, I'll keep you posted on production info.
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Good to finally see Super Pac getting some love....I have a really nice super pacman original cocktail and I've also rescued another for a relative that they still have and play...nice to see the overlay was finally vectored..hoping they did the control panel overlays too...they are nearly impossible to find if you happen to need new ones.
 
Good to finally see Super Pac getting some love....I have a really nice super pacman original cocktail and I've also rescued another for a relative that they still have and play...nice to see the overlay was finally vectored..hoping they did the control panel overlays too...they are nearly impossible to find if you happen to need new ones.

Good to hear! I may be asking you for some photos on the inside, to ensure I have the proper wiring and ground strap routing.

Jrpac vectored the CPO's a while back, so they're all set.

Still struggling with how I will fix the woodgrain sides. Not sure if I'm going to do vinyl or laminate overlay. I WAS pleased with the vinyl overlay I used with my Space Demon cabaret, but it's very thin. Laminate would be much stronger, but it will require more work to install.

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Bondo work is progressing along. It's always slower than you want it to be. I'm going to have to reform all 4 corners which will be a pain. I had to move the cab inside to my basement to continue the work, since the weather has taken a turn for the worse up here in WI and it's no longer 55° in February any more. :(

Due to the bondo work, I'll have to spray the bottom of the cabinet black. Not a huge deal, but it won't be stock any more. I'm guessing no one will ever look at the bottom of the cabinet, but I'LL know the paint is there. Such is life when you restore a cab like this.
 
No problem..I will help you out..I don't follow the posts on here and didn't even know Jr. pac reproduced the control panels...thats cool you will be all set...your right laminate is better but more work...
 
Bondo work continues. Today, I'm re-forming corners. Since I have access to both sides of the wood, this is easily accomplished by taping some scrap pieces of pine to create a mold for the corner, then removing them as the bondo is setting up. The end result is a neatly formed corner. I should only have to sand this down and re-apply a skim coat of bondo once and this corner will be perfect.

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The next corner, formed up. I just used plain old pine wood trim boards. They just need to be clean and smooth. When the bondo is setting up warm and firm, you can pull the boards off and the molded bondo will retain its shape while it finishes the chemical process of setting up. During this time, you can also use shaping tools to help form your corner and trim off excess material. Anything you can remove now is just less you have to sand / file off later.

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More bondo and sanding. SO. MANY. LAYERS.

I nearly have the corners formed at this point. Just fill in some small nicks and dings and sand up through 120 grit. Once the corners are done, I can start prepping to spray the underside of the cab black.

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I've been doing some research on the best laminate to buy to redo the cab, and I think I'll get the "Montana Walnut" from Home Depot. It's made by Wilsonart.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Wilsonar...ana-Walnut-FineGrain-7110K783504896/202800391

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Feeling satisfied with my bondo work on the bottom of the cabinet, I finished it up with a quick spray of black. After the first coat:

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And 2nd coat. This is a part of the game that most likely no one will ever look at, but it's important to me that the cabinet has a uniform, finished look. No one wants to look at bondo work, even if it's not in a visible area.

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Now that I have the woodworking part behind me, I can get started on some of the metal work. The coin door will need to be stripped and all parts cleaned. The door and frame (as well as the control panels and speaker grilles) will go out to the painter for powdercoating.

It's nearly time to begin working on the electronics now. I managed to source an un-hacked cocktail harness from chips4sle at Arcade Adventures, so that's a big plus. I just need to rebuild the power supply pcb and we should be good to go. I already have a working pcb and I know the monitor is already working. I'd like to swap tubes on it, and possibly fit a 4900 yoke to the tube, as for some reason the current monitor setup is a 4900 frame and chassis mated to a G07 tube and yoke. The setup works, but I can tell there's a mis-match between the 4900 chassis and G07 yoke - the geometry is not very good when using my CraftyMech TPG.

I need to order new T-molding and leg levelers. Mike from Mike's Arcade will be getting an order from me soon.....
 
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No pics to share today, sorry. But there are still updates.

I got my email notification that my woodgrain laminate showed up at Home Depot yesterday. I will need to make a trip out to pick that up some time this week.

Spent the better part of the weekend tearing down the coin door and cleaning/polishing all parts. Wire wheel brush on a drill works wonders to bring back the shine on dingy parts.

Last night I took apart the control panels. Surprisingly, the grommets in both joysticks are fine. Score!

Now that the metal parts are freed from their surroundings, it's time for a trip to the powder coaters.

This morning I dropped off the coin door and frame, 3 speaker grilles, and both upper and lower control panel halves. Can I just tell you how nice it is that I have a local guy that can do this powdercoating work for me? He's literally right on my way to work, and his rates are super reasonable. Always cash on the spot, no hassles. I dropped off 9 pieces this morning, I'd bet he lets me have everything done for $40.

I got my package from Mike's Arcade yesterday too - two rolls of t-molding. 3/4" for the sides, and the 1" for the tabletop. Also picked up a new set of leg levelers and some coin mech mounting studs. Thanks Mike!

We're at the point now where I need to start thinking about the artwork. Once I get the laminate installed, things will start to come together quickly. Hopefully I can get artwork in my hands in time to get this cabinet finished by MGC. We'll see.
 
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