Prepare the Cabinet

Galaxian has Full Side Art painted on a White textured laminate. It depicts a huge blue sky with Moon base and large green bug ships attacking. It is really quite nice. The conversion involved painting over the side art with two coats of yellow latex paint. I hoped to use a safe stripper to remove the latex and preserve the underlying screen-printed art. I failed last night.

I can discern the art is there. In fact the blue is coming right off with the yellow latex. The white laminate is coming clean. Some of the black and green are sticking to the laminate, but mostly I am losing the art.

Reproduction side art for Galaxian is about $250. When I add the reproduction marquee and monitor glass this project becomes very expensive. I still don’t have a working game PCB.

Time to seriously consider this reclamation project. I have the working Pac Man PCB, Joystick, Buttons and harness. I can get artwork for Pac Man at TwoBits.com for $350. Pac Man does have a broader appeal.

I called my fellow hobbyists and asked their advice on paint removal without art removal. It was suggested I try the aerosol Goof-Off. So I went to the Home Depot and bought a can of Goof Off (with Xylene!) and tried it.

It very effectively removed the remaining artwork and left the overcoats of yellow completely intact. AAARGHHHH!!!

The Xylene gave me a headache, too. It rolled the game out to the garage. I opened both doors. I even put on the safety glasses! That is some powerful stuff.