Scramble Restoration

philt80

Active member
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
993
Reaction score
144
Location
Virginia
I always kick myself for not taking progress photos during a restore, and this one was another undertaking in retrospect that I wish I had properly documented with repair photos.

Listed as non-working on FB marketplace for $200. In it's former life, it was a Super Cobra, but had been converted into several games over the years. It had it's control panel pried off multiple times and subsequently had lock bars, lag bolts and angle brackets mounted inside likely to prevent further break-ins. The control panel was mangled and re-wired with some of the worst soldering I've ever seen. The bottom and back edges of the cabinet were flaking and chewed up as Stern cabinets usually are. There were massive gouges and Xs carved into the sides which were painted in a thick black oil-based paint that may as well have been asphalt sealant. Lag bolts had been driven into the control panel from the top side to mount a sheet of lexan over it.

The overwhelming positive was the monitor which, though original, had zero burn in and as a bonus, the original stern wiring harness was complete. It's last owner thankfully used a Konami to Jamma converter when adding a 60-in-1.
After a cap kit and adjustment to the B+ on the monitor, the game came back to life...what followed was 2 months of restoration.

Several weekends sanding, patching and repairing the cabinet itself. When the weather finally warmed, I applied Kilz Original primer followed by Benjamin Moore "Firefly" for the base yellow. For the stencils I used Rustoleum Gloss Orange 376894 and Gloss Black. Glass Bezel, Marquee and Control Panel were all purchased from Phoenix Arcade. Always amazed at the level of quality of everything I purchase from them and can't recommend them enough.

While not my best work, I'm happy to finally have it finished and ready to bring inside.
IMG_6100.jpgIMG_6102.jpg
IMG_6099.jpg
IMG_6103.jpg

And finally the lone "Before" photo from the FB Marketplace listing:

Before.jpg
 
Last edited:
Damn that looks nice. I've restored a couple of those Stern cabinets in the past. They were definitely built by rough framing carpenters vs. cabinet guys. Then I think my depression era Grampa mixed up the paint for them, accidentally dumped it in the dirt and then put it all back in the can and still used it anyway.
 
I always kick myself for not taking progress photos during a restore, and this one was another undertaking in retrospect that I wish I had properly documented with repair photos.

Listed as non-working on FB marketplace for $200. In it's former life, it was a Super Cobra, but had been converted into several games over the years. It had it's control panel pried off multiple times and subsequently had lock bars, lag bolts and angle brackets mounted inside likely to prevent further break-ins. The control panel was mangled and re-wired with some of the worst soldering I've ever seen. The bottom and back edges of the cabinet were flaking and chewed up as Stern cabinets usually are. There were massive gouges and Xs carved into the sides which were painted in a thick black oil-based paint that may as well have been asphalt sealant. Lag bolts had been driven into the control panel from the top side to mount a sheet of lexan over it.

The overwhelming positive was the monitor which, though original, had zero burn in and as a bonus, the original stern wiring harness was complete. It's last owner thankfully used a Konami to Jamma converter when adding a 60-in-1.
After a cap kit and adjustment to the B+ on the monitor, the game came back to life...what followed was 2 months of restoration.

Several weekends sanding, patching and repairing the cabinet itself. When the weather finally warmed, I applied Kilz Original primer followed by Benjamin Moore "Firefly" for the base yellow. For the stencils I used Rustoleum Gloss Orange 376894 and Gloss Black. Glass Bezel, Marquee and Control Panel were all purchased from Phoenix Arcade. Always amazed at the level of quality of everything I purchase from them and can't recommend them enough.

While not my best work, I'm happy to finally have it finished and ready to bring inside.
View attachment 811304View attachment 811305
View attachment 811302
View attachment 811306

And finally the lone "Before" photo from the FB Marketplace listing:

View attachment 811307
That's beautiful! Nice work.
 
Gorgeous work dude! Always love seeing a spaceman cab. Now ya just need that big ole Stern sticker for the coin door! Not the most fun to move but great cabs.
 
Thanks for the kind words, guys.
Scramble was always one of my favorites as a kid. Such a classic!
 
Gorgeous work dude! Always love seeing a spaceman cab. Now ya just need that big ole Stern sticker for the coin door! Not the most fun to move but great cabs.
Definitely need to order a Stern sticker and replace the blown bulb in the coin door. Stern cabs are just awkwardly shaped enough to make them a pain to tilt and move for sure.
Damn that looks nice. I've restored a couple of those Stern cabinets in the past. They were definitely built by rough framing carpenters vs. cabinet guys. Then I think my depression era Grampa mixed up the paint for them, accidentally dumped it in the dirt and then put it all back in the can and still used it anyway.
100%!!! They must have also used the cheapest plywood available...I had a laugh at all of the football-shaped patches throughout while sanding and prepping for paint.
 
Scramble is an amazing game. I sold one years ago. I missed it so much that I found another one a couple of years ago! Nice work!
 
Back
Top Bottom