[Restoration] The King of the Jungle: Aaayihiah-Yihi-Ahauauooooo

[gyruss]

Can't wait to see the outcome. I love the chape of those taito cabs and the green color looks totally Fresh!

And as always impressive work!

[Superully]

sometimes this hobby really sucks!!! it's not time for disaster girl yet, but once again i'm experiencing unexpected problems when doping a paint job - i'm probably simply not made for that type of work. let me explain:

over the last couple of weeks i've painted dark green stencil layers for the side and front art. immediately after the first layer i realized there were a lot of fine hairs and dust in the paint, but i thought "don't worry, the next layer is going to get better". i also thought that those "little troublemakers" might have come from the roller i've been using. i waited for the paint to dry thorugh completely, lightly sanded the first coat, tried a different roller - but got the same "hairy" results. another drying / sanding job later i once again tried a different roller - and once again the same depressing results. in fact, it looks as if the hair problem gets worse with every layer applied. so once again i sanded it down.

today i thought "what the f***", took out my old spray gun and did a test run on a spare piece of wood. it looked a little bit better, but still far from perfect!

the problem is (besides the fact that i've run out of paint and "my color guy" is out of business) that i can only apply one more layer of paint (three would have already been good enough, but i couldn't end with that hairy layer). that final layer has to be as perfect as possible!

to be honest, i have no idea what i'm doing wrong: i'm using the same type of paint (different color though), i've tried various roller and i'm doing the job in the same room where i painted all the other stuff WITHOUT those problems at all! i'm so worried that i'll have to post a picture of disaster girl because
(a) i won't be able to get a smooth, hairless finish
(b) the layers are already too thick to get the stencils off nicely

I HATE PAINT JOBS

any input?

@stencilmaster scr33n: have you experienced something similar before?

[Etienne MacGyver]

thats a bummer  

different rollers and still hairs? must be from the cats  

ok seriousely, i can imagine that with velvet rollers, but i thought you used the sponge types
how can a sponge let hairs behind  
sorry dude , cant help you there i think  

maybe your paint guy added hair as a special ingredient 

[scr33n]

@stencilmaster scr33n: have you experienced something similar before?

No Ully never ... sometimes a little orangepeel effect.

What kind of roller do you use? Sponge I think, right?

re-check this page

https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=1795.105

(I don't like the orange roller on your pic - hairs problems on my old tests  and hey 2€ for piece  )

[Superully]

What kind of roller do you use? Sponge I think, right?
(I don't like the orange roller on your pic - hairs problems on my old tests  and hey 2€ for piece  )

i've tried it with different versions. the orange ones (more like 5 euros a piece by the way) definitely create the smoothes surfaces, but are difficult to handle. with the sponge rollers, i always get an extreme orange peel effect. don't know what i'm doing wrong, your using "the cheapest rollers" (scr33n quote) and get fabulous results. could you elaborate a little bit further on your technique? btw, i'm not using water-based paint this time!

and as i've said before: i'm doing this job in the same room where i've painted the light green without any problems (and no cats inside there). i'll probably get the cheapest roller available and do some more tests, perhaps there's something wrong with the paint. i'll have to find a new shop to get new paint nevertheless, but once again this postpones the restoration even further.

let's hope all the efforts weren't for nothing!!!

[Etienne MacGyver]

....but once again this postpones the restoration even further.

No problem sir !, its good actualy, it gives me more time to vectorise your bezel 

ok no more joking, its a setback, but im sure you will figure it out

maybe you are applying the paint too thin wich in return "sticks" to the roller instead of flowing together after rolling ?
im not an expert, just a thought..
or too much pressure on the roller ?

[Superully]

maybe you are applying the paint too thin wich in return "sticks" to the roller instead of flowing together after rolling ?
or too much pressure on the roller ?

don't know, i'm no expert either i'll have to do some more experimenting when i have my new paint, with each layer and roller i hoped it was going to work this time ...

perhaps scr33n could film a short demonstration video the next time!

[Superully]

the restoration continues ...

because i haven't figured out the paint problem yet (although i've received some got input from max which i'll put to the test later), i'm concentrating on something else: the control panel!

just a couple of days ago, i got it back from the powdercoater - he had done it for free this time as a late christmas present



time for that wonderful repro control panel overlay to enter the stage!



i'm using a combination of old buttons and the patented scr33n method™ this time to hold the overlay in place



and after the usual cursing and sweating, the overlay is firmly attached to the control panel



before continuing, i had to fix two joystick components first! the rubber centering grommets on those taito joysticks is often worn after years of use and mine was no different: the rubber had cracked open in various places



i had some problems finding replacements, but eventually a small package from the usa arrived



in it, replacement rubber grommets for taito games - i ordered two just in case i discover the same problem on another taito cabinet!



the other component to fix was the joystick itself, because it was full of rust



well, it isn't anymore



with those problems solved, i was able to continue with the panel. i decided to use some artistic freedom on it regarding the choice of button and screw colors. here's how an original jungle king control panel looks like



i exchanged the white jump / knife buttons for red ones in order to fit the joystick and to set them apart from the player select buttons. as for the screws, i replaced the rusted old ones with shiny new ones, but the silver color scheme didn't match the control panel colors at all. so i checked whether the sideart colors light and dark green would match the control panel overlay. not a perfect match, but fair enough (you can only see the dark green vs. the cpo in the following picture though)!



i also prepared some screws in red for the joystick area and after giving them a lot of time to dry, the whole batch was ready!



originally, this was the control panel on the cabinet - shinobi!



i exchanged it for this one - jungle hunt!



and this is where we are now - jungle king!



the panel has gone from this ...



... to that! like night and day



i love how the screws blend in with the artwork



in a hopefully not too distant future, i'm going to press either of these buttons to finally play the game



to be continued ...

[Belike]

Great job as always, I like those intensive colour combinations.

[scr33n]

Woooowww !!! 

Fantastic control panel resto .... so stylish  Love it!!!

[Etienne MacGyver]

Great work Ully ! 

[Brry71]

Damn, that looks pretty sweet. Love it how it blends with the panel. As usual.... a very good job!

[Superully]

the restoration continues ...

inspired by scr33n's fabulous defender stencil job, i decided it was time to finish my jungle king paint job as well! as you might (not) remember, i was having trouble applying the paint without getting tons of hairs / dust onto the paint layer. while the final outcome is not perfect, i'm extremely happy with how it turned out, but before showing you the money shots, here's what went down

after each layer had dried, i sanded lightly in between coats











paint layer number three done





before rolling on the final layer of dark green paint, i added a new paint conditioner to the paint. i had read about it on the internet and it is supposed to even out the color, to create a flat surface and to prevent the orange peel effect. if i had known how fabulous that stuff was going to work, i would already have added it to the very first layer!

reminder to myself: paint conditioner all the way!



with the conditioner thrown into the mix, it was time for the final layer (part of the protection already removed on the following picture)



let's find out if the stencil job on the speaker board was a success



looking very good



yes!





let's turn our attention to the front panel



smooth finish



yes!! 





fingers crossed for the most difficult (and most important) pieces: the sides



carefully removing the protective stripes



successful operation - but this was the easy part!



now on to the stencils! those first few seconds when you start pulling the stencils off are the most intense, because they already tell you whether this is going to work or not ...



as always, i'm being "helped" by my cat gnocchi



i have a feeling this is going to be a winner!





im approaching one of two critical areas: the copyright message



much easier that i had expected: no paint lifts at all!



YES!!!



re-usable stencils?



one final thing to be revealed: the large taito logo at the top



letters being unveiled!



i can see an A



and the copyright symbol



YES!!!



what once was a set of stencils is now a pile of jumble!



and what once was an overpainted former jungle king cabinet (with one side already sanded down on the following picture) ...



... is now a freshly-painted shiny piece of art!













man, this paint job took (almost) forever, but now i can finally start re-assembling the cabinet!!!

btw, I still have some hairs / dust in the paint, but it's much better than on the trials before. i guess lifting the individual pieces further up from the ground, waiting a while after entering the room (for the particles to settle down) and then wiping the sides with a damp piece of cloth did the trick. for future paint jobs (probably distant future) i'm planning on switching to more professional painting equipment plus i've been thinking about building a small paint booth with a dust extraction system!

to be continued ...

[jcp]

That's perfect Ully  .

[Etienne MacGyver]

Looking Good ! 
 
(not to self:  find time to finish the bezel vector... )