Newest (reborn) member of the RBI family

[crashing bore]

No, no kids in case that's what you were thinking. Even better 

A couple of months I was fortunate to be able locate and purchase an upright arcade version of RBI. It was in decent shape overall but needed some minor stuff done to it so I thought I'd have a go at making it how I'd like it (and increase the chances that the Mrs. would permit it to reside in the house as opposed to the garage). Anyway, it's about 90-95% done and I just need to do some side art for it and locate or reproduce a new marquee. I'm also going to replace the buttons with one blue and one white for each player to keep with my "Dodger Blue" theme.

The following link will take you to a chronological pictorial of the progress. The last one is how it looks currently and where it sits in the living room corner. So, if anyone is interested or is just plain bored with nothing better to do here ya go...(clicking a pic will open the larger version)

http://homepage.mac.com/rbi05/PhotoAlbum2.html

[broiler]

you're doing it all wrong.  its supposed to be black and orange.

[Gantry]

Wow, that's impressive work!  So how long did it take you to sand, prime and paint?  Adding the wheels to the new base was a very good idea, I assume you keep them locked most of the time? 

So are the maruqees a paper print with plastic in front and behind it or all plastic? Looks water damaged...

[crashing bore]

broiler, you joker, you 

Gantry, thanks. I'm by no means a handy man type so this was kinda my first project (keeps the wife from asking me to fix stuff). I learned a good deal from the project like what to do and what not to do.

The red paint stripped off with absolutely no effort once I applied some toxic paint removal stuff. I think it helped that the gray panel underneath has some odd coating on it that seemed to act like the teflon non-stick surface you find on frying pans. Once I brushed on the toxic sludge, it immediately started to bubble off the red paint. It dried in minutes, too and I scraped off the red paint in strips about an hour later.

There were a couple of deep and long gouges on the sides where I sanded. This is one of those if I knew then what i do now moments. I sanded that thing by hand and it took my puny ass far too long and required too much effort to do by hand. I'd go by a small belt sander if I had it to do again. In reality, it may have taken a good 20 minutes or so to get it to where I was happy with the surface.

The primer had a touch of the final blue paint added to it to give it a good base. I applied that and left it on overnight after masking off the chrome looking steel bolts that are on the side of the cabinet (that hold the monitor in place).

The next day it was dry and I started the final top coat. The masked bolts were the only headache. Once the topcoat dried, I peeled off the tape and it wasn't perfect. I wasn't pleased so i tried to touch it up by hand. Looked for shit so I re-sanded around the bolts and re-applied a new top coat. Looks about 98% to where I would want it to be now. i can live with that.

I just moved it into the house yesterday and put it over top of that small carpet so as not to damage the hardwood. I haven't locked the wheels yet and may not if I'm gonna keep it on that carpet. The weight keeps it pretty well in place. If it was on a hard surface I'd lock it down for sure.

The marquee is on this semi-transparent type of plastic like material. I forget the name. I don't think it is all messed up from water. I just think it's old. It is cracked and warped and actually held together from behind by scotch tape in places. I'll probably scan it in and work some graphical magic on it and have it printed up all new like. Unless of course someone has a line on already printed marquees for RBI?!?!? The marquee then sits behind a piece of glass (or in my case it is plexi-glass that I'd like to replace with real glass).

I'd also like to get some large vinyl decal prints made of maybe a couple of the players from the start up screen to put on the sides of the cabinet. We'll see. I'm undecided about it right now.

The sanding, primer, and painting (to finally answer your question) took a long weekend. Not too bad. Most of the time was drying time, I'd guess. the other work (like the base) was a longer process as you might imagine. I've been working on it off and on for a month or so now.

[Gantry]

Good info bore, thanks a ton.  I don't do much handyman type work because I'm lazy, but I tyipcally do enjoy doing it once I get my mind on a task.  Never did much painting but I now know what to look for, thanks...

I'm having trouble picturing where these chrome monitor bolts are, you say the side of the cabinet?  Are they visible in any pics?  I ask because the bolts in my cocktail version are inside the machine and I would not have to worry about it if I ever painted...

Check your personal messages (PM) in the upper-right corner, I sent you a link to a hopeful solution to your marquee problem...

[crashing bore]

Yeah, see I'm the same way. Lazy and usually unmotivated (and sadly quite proud of it sometimes). If the wife had a cabinet or something she wanted stripped and repainted I'd be dreading it and find some way to weasel out of it. But something like this is different! It was almost fun 

The marquee link is looking promising. Thanks! I've searched and emailed all over the internet and couldn't find one for RBI. Just about every other game but not RBI. I just need to check the material it's printed on to see what the lifetime expectancy is on it and what the differences are on the different options. Thanks again.

The painting was actually pretty cool. I masked stuff off pretty well so i could get sloppy if I wanted to. Or rather, I knew I'd not have a steady enough hand to not mask first.  I was told I could just slap the blue over top of what was on it if I wanted to but I said I wanted to do it the "right way". the paint guy was like ok, then strip it using this and apply the primer and then the top coat. I had no idea what i was doing but it's by no means difficult.

The base was funny 'cause I didn't own a power saw of any kind. i bought a $40 Skil circular saw and got some wood from Home Depot (although I paid for the two pieces I got, they apparently have some discards that are free. All you gotta do is ask. I did pick up one extra free piece). So let's just say my cuts were not exactly 45 degree angles so they pieces didn't butt up against each other to form a 90 degree corner exactly (I've since learned a trick about how to do this in the future). So, I took some of that grey bonding junk that comes in a tube at the hardware store or auto parts store. It hardens really quickly once you "mix" it in your fingers. You can then drill or cut it once it hardens. I crammed it down into the chasm between the wood pieces and filled the gap. It hardened and then I attached the casters. It was a total ghetto fix but it worked.

As for the bolts... you can see them in this pick the easiest. They are covered in green masking tape in the pics, though but you'll know what i mean...

Thanks again and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to offer advice or suggestions...

[Shooty]

Hell, it would be finished by now if you weren't wasting all your time taking pictures.

Now get back to work, slackwit.

[crashing bore]

Hell, it would be finished by now if you weren't wasting all your time taking pictures.

Now get back to work, slackwit.

Not only that but if I didn't spend so much damned time in the "Anything Goes" forum I'd probably be getting other stuff done, too. At least I have all of you to blame.

[JoeDirt]

You don't have to take that, bore.

I once bought a Donkey Kong for $200 in about the same condition.  I totally restored it (even was able to find repros of the original side art in mint condition on ebay) and then flogged it for $1000.

[Gantry]

As for the bolts... you can see them in this pick the easiest. They are covered in green masking tape in the pics, though but you'll know what i mean...

So the big PITA was the fact that you decided to keep them chrome instead of painting over them, correct? 

[ultimate7]

mmmm big Pita

[crashing bore]

JoeDirt, I only let it slide because it was true!

Gantry, yeah, I coulda just rolled over the bolts like it was when i got it (red paint covered them) and been done with it but it was suggested by the guy I bought from that if I was to redo it, that I consider leaving their natural shine show. I listened to him and it was a PITA but I do think it looks nice with them exposed. After it was all done, he saw the game and I stated about it being a hassle and he said that the best way to do it is to actually remove the bolts (and thus, the monitor that they hold in place). No masking would have had to be done but I wasn't risking damage due to my incompetence of trying to remove it and failing miserably (how's that for self-esteem!?!!?).

Regarding those marquee guys, have you ever used them personally or know anyone that has?

[JoeDirt]

I was just joking.  But what is PITA?

[Gantry]

Regarding those marquee guys, have you ever used them personally or know anyone that has?

No, that was a search online to find, did a froogle search and that came up empty.  The google firefox extension links to the same search on a bunch of different online shopping boards.  One gave that hit...

PITA = Pain in the Ass

[JoeDirt]

PITA MR RBI = Pain in the Ass

[crashing bore]

PITA MR RBI = Pain in the Ass

You seemingly could have had an endless number of versions of that...

"MR RBI = Pain in the (insert just about any forum members name here)"