Picked up a Buccaneer a few weeks ago. Playfield great but cabinet was trashed. Two legs ready to fall off and literally yellow with smoke from wherever it lived. Lots of carved initials everywhere as well. Decided to re-paint it and fix the damage. This is a personal unit that I plan on keeping.

the start

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I don't think these parts where "original"

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Re-built leg supports and added some bracing to fix the bad corners

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Traced the graphics. No stencils available.

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Fixed the nasty corner with epoxy putty.

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Sanded to the wood, primed, based coated and Gottlieb "flecks" applied

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Blue applied followed by red...

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Clear coated to even out gloss and seal. Its heading downstairs tonight to get re-lamp. new rubber etc. Will post final shots when done.

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Very true stashyboy.....I figured that since I was painting the whole unit, which would be obvious to a "collector" anyway, that I would take some liberties on the color selection. I always hated the baby blue anyway so I grabbed a color which I thought gave it some pop. This baby isn't ever leaving the basement anyway

Thanks Swampfire.... Just got it inside to finish it up. Silly wife wants me to do yard work instead.

I thought the trick with the epoxy putty was not to rely on it for any great structural strength. I completely reinforced the corner before applying the putty. Seems very strong. The leg corners are cover to the wood pretty much so the only questionable part would be where the holes are drill through. I was contemplating putting in a metal "sleeve" to take some of the stress off of it. Still might do that. Let me know what you need to know about the stencils.

Odd you mention that... the original cabinet was spatter. Im not really sure why as I had read that all Gottliiebs of this era were webbed. This was the original paint inside. Maybe someone knows why...

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The Finish...

Re-lamp, re-rubber, polished metals and playfield cleaned and waxed up. Parked in its new home beside the Strato-Flite.

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This is the method I used. When I actually did it I butt flushed the tracing paper in sequence to the cardboard to make a giant stencil. Following is just an example

Trace outline on tracing paper.

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Tape to cardboard. You will have marked reference points on trace like "flush with bottom , front etc. You will want to make sure that you have same alignment on cardboard.

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Using an X-Acto knife on a cutting board...
Cut through trace and cardboard at the same time. Use a straight edge for the straight stuff. This is the most tedious part of the process.

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Most cabinets have a mirror image on the other side so rather than tracing both, I simply flipped the first cut over and realigned on a new sheet. You will need a new stencil for each side and cardboard will not survive re-use!

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Re-trace edge onto new sheet

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Now you have the reverse side. Cut shape out of the cardboard

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With out doubt you will have a seam down the middle as one sheet will not cover whole side continuous.

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If you have cut outs which cross through sheet to sheet simple align sheets on the table and tape down.

Run a piece of masking tape down the entire seam. This will hold sheets and alignment together and prevent any paint from leaking through the joint as well. I used lots of tape, except around the cutouts, to make sure it was sturdy.

Using the edge of the cut out as a guide, cut the tape from the cutout.

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This is the product I used to adhere the cardboard to the cabinet. It works very well and allows easy removal.
Run your finger down the edges to make sure they are stuck well. Small extensions will let go fairly quickly I found after paint so I had to be careful to get it down quickly. I only waited a couple of minutes for paint to set before removing stencil. I was afraid to let it set up to well and stick to the cardboard at the edges. Mine all came off real easy. Just use enough paint to cover ... to thick is not better here.

Hope this helps!

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Note: This method is not fool proof by any stretch of the imagination. Just a couple of tips to fix any boo-boos should they occur.

1) Save the cut-outs form the cardboard. If you get any over-sprayed edges, just let it dry down and use the cutout to mask over the detail and re-spray base coat to cover overspray.

2) If you get high spots on the edges from paint "pooling" against an edge, let it all dry and run a razor blade flat against the cabinet to shave them off. Carefully of course.

Hi Bump...
Sorry ... I was on holidays for a while. Ill take some photos of the cans and post the colors for you tomorrow.

Note... I have found better success in cutting the tracing paper itself first and then taping it to the cardboard. You can then pencil in the outline to the cardboard. It is much easier then to cut stencil out of cardboard with out tracing paper attached.
Live and learn!