OP

Quoted from goingincirclez:

Thanks... it's been a lot of slow steady fun. The girls and I don't seem to get breaks all at the same time often, but I'm so gratified when I ask "OK who's ready to help with X" and they're always willing without hesitation
~~~
So yesterday, while the locking coat on the decals cured, 13 and I decaled the cabinet! Well, the sides anyway. A friend's Festool sander made quick work of cabinet prep, which I did first. Then 13 and I used the "wet method" and I have to say it went pretty smoothly.
But after this I will NEVER buy from ClassicArcades ever again.
I already expressed my "disappointing but tolerable" verdict on the color. But I am so glad my desire for instant gratification paid off for once.
See, for the cabinet sides, CA prints registration marks that supposedly key the decals to the corners of the wood, allowing an inch or so of excess around the perimeter. If you lay them on there, they align perfectly. Which would be great if the ART lined up properly!
Insta-Grat had me lay the siderails on "just to see how they'll look eventually" and when the decals were aligned to the marks, and the rails put on, the cat's ear and tail were covered!

In the photo, look at the marks on the white edge, and how far I had to move the decal to clear the side rail. Not expecting this, I'd already trimmed the rear edge at this point so realignment to avoid exposed wood was made tricky.
The left side was just as bad:

Yeah. While this is an easy fix, it would have been a total disaster if I had:
- trimmed the decals straight to the marked edges
- not mocked them with the siderails before application and let them dry...
As for the fix, the nice thing is the exposed area IS in fact hidden by the siderails, except the very leading edge where they curve by the flipper buttons. The proper fix is then to carefully trim the excess decal off the bottom of the cabinet, and then lay this strip over the exposed area on the top and trim again. When you install the siderails, they cover the seam so you'll never notice:

As you can see, the front panel and overall reassembly still remains....

OP

Quoted from goingincirclez:

This is my third pf restore with the bottom populated as much as possible to avoid undue hassle. You will want to unscrew the slings, targets, and other mechs that are prone of the pf, and let them gently dangle (or tie them to other mechs) below. Plug bulb holes with earplugs, plug rollover slots with folded business cards, and block other holes with tape. Easy!
I've done one with everything below completely depopulated simply by forced necessity due to how horrible it all was as found. It's more than a lot of work.
I used SprayMax 2K and loved the quality of the product and the final coat, but hated the toxicity and prep required.