Defender Multigame

I recieved this gutted cabinet from a fellow KLOVer for some monitor chasiss I capped for him. I always liked the shape and artwork of Williams' Defender cabinet and my intent was to turn this one into a MultiWilliams utilizing the JROK MultiWilliams board. The cabinet was structurally sound with a couples nicks and gouges here with the original artwork covered in black paint. I figured I would try to use some Citrus-Strip and see if the artwork could be saved.

The Citrus-Strip proved too strong and was also removing the original Defender artwork underneath. At this point I used 60 grit sand paper on my orbital sander to remove the black paint. I also used Bondo to repair the deep gouges and frayed wood along the bottom.

I smoothed out the cabinet using the orbital sander and 220. I then followed up with two coats of Killz primer rolled on with a foam roaller and a very light sand with 220 grit. After the primer was dry I applied two coats of Rustoleum's Painter's Touch Semi-Gloss black paint with a foam roller (sorry no pictures of the black).

I ordered some Defender stencils from www.gamestencils.com. I started with the red stencil on the front of the cabinet since it was small and I wanted to see what I had to look forward to as far as peeling and adhering on the sides. To my surprise it actually was not too difficult. Going slow, having patience, and cabinet prep is key. I masked off the cabinet to prevent overspray and used two cans of Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel spray paint (Sunburst Yellow and Regal Red) to apply the colors to the stencils.

I sprayed light coats of red color all the way around. Again... light coats. By the time I finished my first light coat, the side I started on was dry enough and ready for another coat. I continued until I had a nice, solid red color on all sides and immediately removed the stencil. I let the red dry for a week and then continued with the yellow.

The final result speaks for itself... truly a work of art. I cannot speak well enough of the stencils I received from www.gamestencils.com. They are high quality and definitely worth it if you are thinking about restoring a Defender.

Next I needed a to focus on the control panel. I purchased a Defender-themed control panel overlay from Rich at This Old Game.

A fellow KLOV member, RetroActive, mentioned that he created a wooden control panel, drilled, countersunk, etc. for his Defender MultiWilliams. I inquired if he could do the same for me which he agreed to.

When the control panel arrived I was amazed at the level of craftsmanship. RetroActive did an amazing job and it was well worth the wait. Best of all he wasn't expecting anything in return (that's not to say that I didn't take care of him!). It is great to have arcade enthusiasts willing to help out fellow collectors like this and this project would have been a whole lot more painful if I couldn't get the control panel from him. Thanks again RetroActive!

Completed... New short-leaf switch buttons from Bob Roberts, t-molding from t-molding.com, and some 4" WICO sticks from KLOV.

Wiring the game for JAMMA was pretty straight forward. I ordered a harness from eBay and connected it within an hour.

The monitor... Fellow KLOVer Darryl (aka DJDNS) had an arcade party in late 2011 where he was raffling off a new 19" Vision CRT. I purchased a ticket and wouldn't you know... I won!!! I knew exactly where it was going.

All metal parts were spray painted black and clear coated.

This was a REAL long project; almost two years. However, the end result is amazing and makes all the work that much more satisfying.