Chomping Quarters|

Since “Part 3″ I’ve been able to wrap up the Frenzy restoration. Amazing how all the small final details seem to take for ever. However, the end results are always very satisfying when a restoration finally comes to a close.

First, I cleaned up the monitor a little bit and even thought the 4900 that came with the machine had a great picture I opted to install a freshly capped chassis that I had laying around. Unfortunately, when I fired up the Frenzy the first time it had short term memory. The monitor didn’t remember that it had fresh caps installed and bench tested so we had some technical difficulties. So, I ended up pulling that chassis and reinstalling the original chassis until I can further troubleshoot the problem.

As far as the coin door, I stipped and sand blasted it and was then planning on either dropping it off to be powder coated or paint it with Rustoleum Hammer Finish. However, the spare coin door from “Rob Carroll” from RGVAC ended up being better than what I had. Then I stripped the parts off the door, cleaned it good, gave it a very light sanding and applied a few coats of “Krylon” satin black to the door and frame assembly. The end result turned out great.

Using Autosol® Metal Polish which you can purchase at most hardware stores or Amazon.com I was able to make the silver coin insert trip and coin return door shine like new.

I purchased a new Stern decal and backlit “quarter” inserts for the coin door from This Old Game which really helped make the door look like new.

Overall the control panel wasn’t in horrible shape but the control panel overlay (CPO) wasn’t perfect. I thought about vectoring the CPO and having it outputted using solvent ink jet but wasn’t that thrilled with that idea seeing the original CPO should be painted / screened directly to the control panel (CP). Then I came across flynn54321’s Frenzy restoration over at KLOV and liked how he saved his CP and decided to give it a try on mine.

I first gave it a good cleaning with Naphtha and a cotton rag (Oh, and do not use denatured alcohol. Trust me.). Then masked the bottom edge and gave it a wet sanding to remove the rust and to”level” out the areas in which the paint had warn off. After everything was level and smooth I removed the mask and then masked the center artwork of the CPO and applied 3-4 light coats of Testors Model Master “Racing Blue” spray enamel. The color match was pretty close and now the CP is worthy enough enough to be installed. I opted to “ignore” the other scratches but may “try” and touch up some of them with a brush and some enamel and then spray the who CPO with clear enamel. But for now, it looks much better than it was.

For the original Wico joystick I installed a New Old Stock (NOS) grommet and a NOS red ball-top and it looks and works as good as new. Then replaced the buttons with NOS red and white leaf buttons which I purchased from “dj dns” over at KLOV.

As with the marquee I applied a few coats of “Krylon” crystal clear “Triple Thick” to the Bezel to help prevent the art from getting any worse. Then I created a new instruction card to complete the bezel assembly.

Finished hooking up the harness and power supply and triple checked everything and it fired right up.

Nothing completes a full or partial restoration but a nice clean manual and complete schematic set which I also purchased from “dj dns” over at KLOV.

Installed new 1-1/8″ lock on the coin door and a 7/8″ Cam lock on the back door and closed closed her up (Until I can get back to the monitor issues). The locks can be purchased at Bob Roberts as well as most hardware stores.

That concludes of the frenzy restoration. I’m very pleased with the end results and glad I was able to try some new techniques and was able to preserve the side art and control panel. Now off to play a few games of Frenzy and Berzerk and start my next restoration.

AS POSTED AT COINOPSPACE.COM