February 19 2010
Detailing Exidy Mouse Trap – Part 1
Tagged Under : detail, Exidy, Mouse Trap, restoration
In January I let one of my restored games go for a an Exidy Mouse Trap and an Atari Asteroids. I’ve wanted a Mouse Trap for some time so I quickly got it to the basement so I could start detailing it and getting it into the lineup. After a short distraction due to another game, I was finally able to use the last few weeks to get Mouse Trap looking real nice and ready for the game room.
For the control panel overlay (CPO) I used a Magic Eraser remove all 30 years of dirt and grime. From there, I applied a few coats of Armor-All to give the CPO a nice sheen.
Before
After
The Bezel and Marquee are in great shape. Gave them a good cleaning a couple of coats of Novus Polish #2 and #1 and they looked almost new.
The coin door had some rust on the front so I sand blasted it and gave it a fresh coat of Krylon.
The white vinyl and the side art cleaned up very nicely with a Magic Eraser and a little naptha.
Before
After
Unfortunately after reassembly I was having some sound issues. I then discovered the interconnect cables which connect the two PCB’s didn’t have a good connection. I tried to repair the cable but ended up making a new set of cables. Not a pretty repair but between cleaning all the molex connectors with contact cleaner and the new cables the sound issues seem to be gone “most” of the time so still have a little troubleshooting to do but in the meantime I can play some Mouse Trap.
I must say, Mouse Trap looks great next to Venture!!!
I’ll continue troubleshooting the sound issues if it arise again. I also plan on repairing the base and putting a fresh coat of paint on it and replacing the T-molding. I’m not too happy with the original joystick so I plan on replacing it with a Midway 4 way leaf joystick or a 4 way Wico. But until then, I’m done with mouse trap for the time being but stay tuned for more.
Bill,
Mousetrap looks great…I like the armor all idea for cpo…looks great with the black overlay….interesting that you mouetrap has the led buttons..I’ve seen mostly just plain black version used with no LED…I guess they used both…I might swap mine..
The buttons look stock but the spare CP had just black buttons. It looks stock see they have shrink tube about the diode (will take some photos) but you have me wondering if someone upgraded them. I used Armor All on the black vinyl on my Frenzy and it made it look great. You just need to keep applying until it looks even and won’t soak in anymore. Figured, I’d try it on the Mouse Trap CPO and it worked great. The cabinet in person looks better in person. The flash from the camera really projects the flaws worst than they really are.