Author: Jeremy Pruitt

After reinstalling the speakers, grills, t-molding, and coin bucket, the original light fixture was replaced with an LED fixture.  It really makes the colors in the marquee pop.  We replace all lights in our arcade restores with LEDs which reduces power load and heat saving the marquee art from damage.

The coin door was stripped and a new textured finish was applied like original.  All the hardware was polished and a new nameplate with lock was installed.  It looks brand new!

The metal of the control panel and wood front edge were in great condition.  All of the dips and depressions from the factory were filled with bondo so the control panel overlay won’t sag and crack in those areas later on.  After the primer and 2 coats of paint cured, the new cpo was installed which look amazing!

The joysticks were a rusted mess.  The joystick shafts had rusted solid to the rubber grommets so the old grommets had to be cut off.  All parts of the joysticks were cleaned and new grommets installed.  The control panel wiring harness also had to be repaired as a lot of wiring was pulled loose and the wire tabs on the leaf switches were bent up.  It now looks factory new!  The original bezel was installed along with the new artwork under the control panel.

After all the hours and hours of body, work had been finished, we cut a t-molding slot on both sides which turned out perfect.  The first coat of oil-based primer was applied which showed us any areas on the cabinet that needed a little more work.  Once those areas were addressed, the primer was sanded down, and the second coat was applied.  After drying, that last layer was sanded down as smooth as glass.

Three coats of black were sprayed on the top, back, back door, viewing area, and the side wings on the bottom with sanding in between.

The blue on the cabinet was colored matched to the blue on the side art.  Four coats of dark blue were applied with a light sanding.  Paint going back on the cabinet after all the hours in repairing and prepping the cabinet is so satisfying!

While the paint was drying, the control panel brackets were stripped, smoothed, painted, and installed.  Every nut, bolt, screw, and bracket will have been cleaned, polished, and painted by the time Wacko is finished.