retroshaun
Active member
Time for a long overdue restoration thread!
I picked up this Scramble ages ago from a guy about an hour from here. He sold it to me for $80 and said it was a non worker. When I got there it had been stored in a tip of a damp garage for years. I actually thought twice about taking it but for $80 it was probably worth it for parts if nothing else. Anyway heres how it looked when I got it home and started investigating a little more... pretty disgusting!
The majority of the sides were in OK shape, very dirty and discolored. I tried a magic eraser which worked OK but started taking the paint off too - Stern cabs must be some of the worst constructed and painted cabs ever!
The good news was that a simple adjustment of the +5 got it up and running in no time! It could probably use an eventual overhaul or replacement of the PSU but its OK for now.
Inside - check out the creative lighting solution! This was removed immediately and the inside given a bit of a clean out.
Vaccuumed the inside... everything was intact. Found the original Stern warranty card.
Now the real problem... very rotten wood around the base, both sides. The wood literally flaked away when touched.
The pics make it look a lot better than it was!
But this is the real problem... see the small holes? I was very worried it was termite damage, and on further investigatuion it went at least half way up the inside of one side. I found spots where I could break the top few plys away easily with a screwdriver in the middle of one side of the cab. It was starting to look bad
Very dirty underneath and a lot of broken away wood. Again, the pics don't really show the full extent.
And the other side. The damage went way up the side in places with "exit holes" at least half way up.
I contacted an exterminator who said he thought it looked more likely that this was caused by "powder post beetles" rather than termites, which is actually a relief. They are a little less damaging. Bad news was that the defumigation was gonna cost around $500!
My eventual solution was a few treatments internally with "Boracare", a Borax solution that penetrates deep into the wood and dries really quickly too, avoiding further water damage. I made probably double the recommended treatments and made sure I went way beyond the damage areas, just to be sure there wernt any remaining infestations in the wood. Its not a cheap product but it seems to have worked and is extremely easy to apply.
OK - the insects are gone - lets get started. First job was to break away all the loose wood until I found something solid. I treated it with wood hardener and cut away the worst until I got to something semi decent. I added in a new piece of replacement ply on both sides, stabalized with metal brackets on the inside and bondo'd the gaps and around the base edges.
Next I stripped all the paint with an orbital sander and fine grit sand paper. In hindsight I would have used a different replacement wood as this is fairly heavily grained, but its not too noticable as its on the lower back corners.
I constructed a new base and added plates and leg levelers because I really wanted to get this cab up off the ground a little to protect the renovated wood. The design of the Stern cabs have a very deeply recessed base making it impossible to add standard levelers and get any sort of lift. The new base will also help to protect the bottom edges when moving the cab.
There was a big piece broken off on the inside edge above the monitor, several plys deep. I bondo'd it and sanded it back. You can't notice it was ever missing!
The coin door was a bit of a mess! It had had a security bar fitted, was a bit bashed and just really old and sad looking.
Coin door removed...
Stripped all the mechs and mountings...
And started to remove the paint. Paint stripper didnt work so the wire wheel attachment for the drill did the trick.
Mechs in pieces!
Inserts ready for a deep soapy cleaning.
RUST!
Base coat applied. I couldnt get all the damage smoothed out perfectly but it actually looks pretty good in the flesh.
Textured semi gloss applied...
And the mechs, cleaned and reattached.
New STERN sticker and - voila! What I also did (not in this pic) was attach a small coin-up button into one of the small holes left from the lockbar. The others were filled and painted over.
Back to the sides. Heres the stripped cab.
And here it is with a base coat applied! Sunny California summer days help paint dry real quick!
And finally a rollered, color matched yellow. Looking sweet! I made a lot of coats, sanding between each one with fine grit. Took a long time but its worth the extra effort.
Speaker grill, removed and repainted. Looks brand new.
And here it is - very very yellow! Coin door has been re-attached and the marquee brackets have been repainted too.
Marquee looking great now...
Old speaker (light bulb removed)
New strip light attached (need to tidy up wiring!)
And a new speaker from Bob Roberts.
New marquee light seems to do the trick.
Next - a new back door! Perfectly matched by a handyman friend of mine, routed and then rollered with the same paint used on the sides.
And fitted, with a new lock. Way better than the old, water damaged one!
Now the hard part... the stencils. I picked these up from This Old Game and they are amazing quality, but just a bit of a nightmare to apply over such a huge surface area. You really need 2 (patient) people to do this! Thanks to my wife for putting up with the F-bombs used throughout this process!
This is the first side, black (second color) stencil. You can just see some red underneath. I had experiemented with rollering this too, but it wasnt happening at all! Fortunately I read another Scramble restore thread first and he had the same problems (he rollered it initially but when removing the stencil it pulled the paint away and left jagged edges) so I opted for the spray can route. I managed to find a great, quick drying and almost perfectly color matched red/orange from a graffiti paint suppliers, and the black is simple semi-gloss from the hardware store.
Lining up the second color was almost impossible, even with the reference points provided. We got it as close as we could. Fortunately the original paint was far from perfect too!
We ended up cutting it in 2 pieces (you can see the cut line across the middle with the blue masking tape) which made application a lot easier.
Heres a pic from the red application. I made several coats and hand sanded a little between each, being careful not to damage the stencil.
Another view.
Stencil removed! Pretty nice result! You can see the registration marks in place ready for the second stencil.
Second color going on...
And there it is - the end result! Its not perfect but it looks pretty darn nice.
Heres a few pics with the new textured T-molding applied... I used a hot glue gun to keep it in place.
And the end result - one restored Scramble! I added a few coats of clear coat over the artwork to protect all the hard work. A couple of these pics make the clear coat look a little uneven but its actually pretty good... the camera flash definately makes things look worse then they are.
Voila!
retroshaun2012-03-05 00:59:10
I picked up this Scramble ages ago from a guy about an hour from here. He sold it to me for $80 and said it was a non worker. When I got there it had been stored in a tip of a damp garage for years. I actually thought twice about taking it but for $80 it was probably worth it for parts if nothing else. Anyway heres how it looked when I got it home and started investigating a little more... pretty disgusting!
The majority of the sides were in OK shape, very dirty and discolored. I tried a magic eraser which worked OK but started taking the paint off too - Stern cabs must be some of the worst constructed and painted cabs ever!
The good news was that a simple adjustment of the +5 got it up and running in no time! It could probably use an eventual overhaul or replacement of the PSU but its OK for now.
Inside - check out the creative lighting solution! This was removed immediately and the inside given a bit of a clean out.
Vaccuumed the inside... everything was intact. Found the original Stern warranty card.
Now the real problem... very rotten wood around the base, both sides. The wood literally flaked away when touched.
The pics make it look a lot better than it was!
But this is the real problem... see the small holes? I was very worried it was termite damage, and on further investigatuion it went at least half way up the inside of one side. I found spots where I could break the top few plys away easily with a screwdriver in the middle of one side of the cab. It was starting to look bad
Very dirty underneath and a lot of broken away wood. Again, the pics don't really show the full extent.
And the other side. The damage went way up the side in places with "exit holes" at least half way up.
I contacted an exterminator who said he thought it looked more likely that this was caused by "powder post beetles" rather than termites, which is actually a relief. They are a little less damaging. Bad news was that the defumigation was gonna cost around $500!
My eventual solution was a few treatments internally with "Boracare", a Borax solution that penetrates deep into the wood and dries really quickly too, avoiding further water damage. I made probably double the recommended treatments and made sure I went way beyond the damage areas, just to be sure there wernt any remaining infestations in the wood. Its not a cheap product but it seems to have worked and is extremely easy to apply.
OK - the insects are gone - lets get started. First job was to break away all the loose wood until I found something solid. I treated it with wood hardener and cut away the worst until I got to something semi decent. I added in a new piece of replacement ply on both sides, stabalized with metal brackets on the inside and bondo'd the gaps and around the base edges.
Next I stripped all the paint with an orbital sander and fine grit sand paper. In hindsight I would have used a different replacement wood as this is fairly heavily grained, but its not too noticable as its on the lower back corners.
I constructed a new base and added plates and leg levelers because I really wanted to get this cab up off the ground a little to protect the renovated wood. The design of the Stern cabs have a very deeply recessed base making it impossible to add standard levelers and get any sort of lift. The new base will also help to protect the bottom edges when moving the cab.
There was a big piece broken off on the inside edge above the monitor, several plys deep. I bondo'd it and sanded it back. You can't notice it was ever missing!
The coin door was a bit of a mess! It had had a security bar fitted, was a bit bashed and just really old and sad looking.
Coin door removed...
Stripped all the mechs and mountings...
And started to remove the paint. Paint stripper didnt work so the wire wheel attachment for the drill did the trick.
Mechs in pieces!
Inserts ready for a deep soapy cleaning.
RUST!
Base coat applied. I couldnt get all the damage smoothed out perfectly but it actually looks pretty good in the flesh.
Textured semi gloss applied...
And the mechs, cleaned and reattached.
New STERN sticker and - voila! What I also did (not in this pic) was attach a small coin-up button into one of the small holes left from the lockbar. The others were filled and painted over.
Back to the sides. Heres the stripped cab.
And here it is with a base coat applied! Sunny California summer days help paint dry real quick!
And finally a rollered, color matched yellow. Looking sweet! I made a lot of coats, sanding between each one with fine grit. Took a long time but its worth the extra effort.
Speaker grill, removed and repainted. Looks brand new.
And here it is - very very yellow! Coin door has been re-attached and the marquee brackets have been repainted too.
Marquee looking great now...
Old speaker (light bulb removed)
New strip light attached (need to tidy up wiring!)
And a new speaker from Bob Roberts.
New marquee light seems to do the trick.
Next - a new back door! Perfectly matched by a handyman friend of mine, routed and then rollered with the same paint used on the sides.
And fitted, with a new lock. Way better than the old, water damaged one!
Now the hard part... the stencils. I picked these up from This Old Game and they are amazing quality, but just a bit of a nightmare to apply over such a huge surface area. You really need 2 (patient) people to do this! Thanks to my wife for putting up with the F-bombs used throughout this process!
This is the first side, black (second color) stencil. You can just see some red underneath. I had experiemented with rollering this too, but it wasnt happening at all! Fortunately I read another Scramble restore thread first and he had the same problems (he rollered it initially but when removing the stencil it pulled the paint away and left jagged edges) so I opted for the spray can route. I managed to find a great, quick drying and almost perfectly color matched red/orange from a graffiti paint suppliers, and the black is simple semi-gloss from the hardware store.
Lining up the second color was almost impossible, even with the reference points provided. We got it as close as we could. Fortunately the original paint was far from perfect too!
We ended up cutting it in 2 pieces (you can see the cut line across the middle with the blue masking tape) which made application a lot easier.
Heres a pic from the red application. I made several coats and hand sanded a little between each, being careful not to damage the stencil.
Another view.
Stencil removed! Pretty nice result! You can see the registration marks in place ready for the second stencil.
Second color going on...
And there it is - the end result! Its not perfect but it looks pretty darn nice.
Heres a few pics with the new textured T-molding applied... I used a hot glue gun to keep it in place.
And the end result - one restored Scramble! I added a few coats of clear coat over the artwork to protect all the hard work. A couple of these pics make the clear coat look a little uneven but its actually pretty good... the camera flash definately makes things look worse then they are.
Voila!
retroshaun2012-03-05 00:59:10
