Zoo Keeper cabinet help

Erich

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OK, so I picked up a Zoo Keeper cabinet that had been been converted to a Gladiator many years ago. When I say converted, what I really mean is they painted the whole cabinet black. Any ideas what chemical or procedure would be good to try to save the artwork underneath? I have tried a heat gun (just makes the black stick better), goo b gone, and a couple of cleaners like 409. I've been scared to try a solvent. Not sure what type of paint the black is. Any ideas are appreciated!
 

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unfortunately for the best method you need to try and determine what type of paint it is
does it look like spray paint?
 
Forgot to mention, the black paint that's flaked off happened on it's own, not from my doings. I'm guessing it's latex, but not 100% sure. Thanks Matt, I'll try to find some of that stuff.
 
Hopefully your able to save the art without damaging it. I tried citristrip and ruined the art underneath and had to strip the cab all the way down to bare wood.
 
Hey, be careful with whatever substance you use to remove the paint.. ZK cabs are like giant sponges and will soak up whatever liquid you apply.. So be careful and don't leave anything on it to long..

I've damaged a frontline and jungle king cab in the past, leaving citrus strip on it for a wee bit to long.. Hopefully its latex, as that's pretty easy to remove.. Its the oil based paint that sucks.
 
I'd sand it smooth, fix the edges, and throw some decals on there. Some are available on ebay, and I think Rich at thisoldgame.com is going to be printing it again, though I could be wrong. It's prefect in terms of art accuracy and the sheen.
 
Decals are cool, but he's got the original silk screened art under that paint.. I'd try and save that before you go the sticker route.

I'd sand it smooth, fix the edges, and throw some decals on there. Some are available on ebay, and I think Rich at thisoldgame.com is going to be printing it again, though I could be wrong. It's prefect in terms of art accuracy and the sheen.
 
Its the oil based paint that sucks.

Gawd, is it ever!

I have two cabs that I 'believe' are both painted w/ oil based. Hard to tell on one since it was painted twice.:cool:

One is an Taito's Electric Yo Yo and the other GDI Slither. I started stripping both trying different products and methods. I've been using a Graffiti Stripper so far. It is getting some of the remnants of paint except for the damn specks of paint left! You have to be careful w/ this stuff. Too much pressure and you're taking the original paint off. If worse comes to worse, I'll strip the Taito and re-stencil it. The GDI cab however is a different case since there is no sideart/stencils available. (I want to save that one.)

Which begs to my next question... has there any "new" products that hit the shelf that target the oil-based stuff?
 
It looks great underneath it's a shame that someone did that.
 
I've gone through this with two separate ZK cabinets. One was great- the front stripped off beautifully and I had a great cabinet under the paint...then I got to the side and they had used oil for the side. Got NONE of it off.
The other I stripped partially before realizing it was scratched up and water damaged anyway.

Finally, I build one from scratch and used the decals and i couldn't be happier.

I really, really, hope your entire cabinet goes like the front of my one cabinet did.
 
Were you able to strip the paint on this?

I'm in the process of trying to save the art on mine, but it's not looking good. I saw Shirkle had used Goof Off, but it removes the art underneath when I try it.

I've been using a knife to scrape away, but obviously, there will be damage along the way using that method. So I'm kind of stuck until vinyl art is available.
 
Were you able to strip the paint on this?

I'm in the process of trying to save the art on mine, but it's not looking good. I saw Shirkle had used Goof Off, but it removes the art underneath when I try it.

I've been using a knife to scrape away, but obviously, there will be damage along the way using that method. So I'm kind of stuck until vinyl art is available.

Sorry for the late reply Jess....:eek:

In regards to my Taito Electric Yo Yo cab, it's sort of on the backburner.:eek: The product I was using was Motsenbecker's Graffiti Remover. It was getting the job done partially. The trouble I had was it left the remnants of black paint - almost speckle-like. I tried going over it again to remove the speckles and I starting to see yellow on the paper towel. (The cab is yellow.)

I tried using Naptha and it wasn't strong enough. Now, I did stop at Menards the other day, and I picked up a new(?) formula of Graffiti Remover made by the same company. Just haven't had time to try it out yet.

I should preface by saying I believe my cabinet was painted w/ a oil-based product - the worse of the worse!

I would love to see some of the experts chime in and show us how it's done! Rich<<<<<<<<<!:p
 
No problem. I pinged Shirkle as well, but didn't hear back. I don't know how he was able to strip his paint so well without damaging the art underneath, especially using Goof Off.

I've determined it's just not going to happen. I'm going to sand down everything and prime and paint the orange base coat for for the time being until silkscreened vinyl art is made available again.
 
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