Un-"restoring" a spare Blast City Control Panel Housing

[tDRG]

I picked up an extra Blast City Control Panel Housing a while back. Never hurts to have an extra, but I'm mainly planning to use it for Monkey Ball so I don't have to swap out hardware on my Blast and can also use it on my supergun. I think it had been "restored" in China; some components seem to have been painted. I'd like to do what I can to undo that and clean it up.

Spoiler: Here's what it looked like before cleaning.

Spoiler: The hinge has a nice coat of paint.

Spoiler: The back definitely looked the worst. I was able to get some of this layer off with Krud Kutter, but a putty knife chipped it off cleanly. It looked so bad because it had a layer of dirt and grime underneath. The darker stuff is dirt that paint had been removed from, gray is paint on top of dirt, and white is what it looked like after scraping and cleaning.

Spoiler: Here are both pieces in the sun.

Spoiler: And here's what it looks like now after the first clean.

So far, I've:

• chipped the paint off the back.
• removed the old disintegrating foam from the back of the bottom piece (17, 18, 19).
• replaced the coin slot.
• cleaned the inside and outside with Simple Green/Krud Kutter.
• cleaned the instruction slot glass.

Some next steps are:

• clean the sticker residue to the right of the coin slot.
• replace the foam along the back of the bottom piece with 1/8" x 1/2" adhesive foam.
• clean the body as best as I can.
• remove the paint from the hinge.
• get replacement glass clamps.
• clean and repaint the glass.
• get replacement hardware.
• get a replacement locking mechanism.
• 3D print something to cover the hole in the back.

I haven't touched it in a while because of the cold weather, but it seems like an easier project to get back into. If anyone has suggestions, they'd be appreciated. Specifically:

1. What should I do to clean the rest of the body? The texture feels a little off, but it doesn't look noticeably bad like the back did, so I'm not even really sure if there's paint on it. The lock tang on the bottom was painted over, so I assume the whole thing has a coat on it.
2. What should I do to clean the paint off the hinge/metal?
3. Where can I get replacement clamps that hold the instruction sheet glass in place (13 + 14)? I tried these on eBay and they sent the wrong ones.
4. Some of the screws that hold the hinge ([7] 207/9) and lock bar ([4] 203/4) in place are the wrong size, so I'd like to replace them. I'm also missing the pieces on the top panel that the lock hooks clip into (9/2 203/4, 15 (not necessary) 203/1) and the locking mechanism on the bottom panel (5, 6). My Blast didn't include all the hardware to lock the control panel, so I'm not exactly sure if there's anything else I'd need.
5. Any tips on how to repaint the black border on the glass?
6. Has anyone made something that covers the back of the control panel when it's not attached to a cab? I'll feed a few wires through, but put it on a couple stools or something in front of the cab or supergun setup when I play.

So overall, I think I need these pieces (from the Blast City parts list, 13 - ASSY Control Box (HOT-1500))? Any suggestions on aftermarket screws that work well and where to get the other parts? I'm fine with Yaton for small parts like these.

• 5 - 220-5575 Cam Lock Master
• 6 - HOT 1505 LKG TNG
• 9/2 (top panel latch) - HOT-1507 Lock Brkt
• 13 - HOT-1512X Latch Inst Cover R
• 14 - HOT-1512X Latch Inst Cover L
• 15 (other piece for top panel) - HOT-1514 Service Sw Protection
• 203/9 (4 lock bar screws and 5 top panel latch screws) - 000-P00408-W M Scr PH M3 x6
• 207/9 (hinge screws) - 000-T00408-0C M Scr TH CRM M4 x8

 

[advans14]

I would remove the hinge and brush some. Citristrip on it. Make sure its in a garage on some cardboard or something that can be destroyed. It will eat the paint off and not harm the metal.

For the glass paint. You could use a nice frisket mask or gerber mask and airbrush black on it. Or use a fine brush and good quality black. I use createx for the airbrush black. If it doesnt look good. It is super easy to clean off.

Lots of options for adhesive removal. One of the “goo gones”. Wd40 etc. for a pre prep on paint naptha works good.