Removing Vinyl from an Arcade Cab

[scarabaeus]

Now that I have a donor cab, I'm going to start restoring my Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road.  The current finish on the sides and front of the cab is some sort of thin, black, vinyl-like material.  The vinyl is in such bad shape (dried and cracked) in some places that, at first, I thought it was some sort of black contact paper.  My plan is to use a heat gun and paint scraper to try to remove it, but I wanted to see if anyone has other suggestions for removing it.

Has anyone had success with any other method? I've read possibly a heated paint scraper (decal remover)?

[RussG]

No that's pretty much what you have to do. It sucks but you'll get through it.
Sometimes you can heat it just right and pull off larger pieces to expose the particle board underneath.
I removed all the exterior vinyl, patched any issue areas, belt sanded and laminated with black Wilsonart.
It turned out great.
I'll send a few pictures later.

[scarabaeus]

No that's pretty much what you have to do. It sucks but you'll get through it.

That's what I was afraid of... 

Out of curiosity, did you just re-paint the exposed interior parts of the cab (above the speak grill) or did you also apply laminate there?

I remember your beautiful restore job.  If mine turns out half as good as yours, I'll be happy:

[Don Panetta aka 404]

Now that I have a donor cab, I'm going to start restoring my Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road.  The current finish on the sides and front of the cab is some sort of thin, black, vinyl-like material.  The vinyl is in such bad shape (dried and cracked) in some places that, at first, I thought it was some sort of black contact paper.  My plan is to use a heat gun and paint scraper to try to remove it, but I wanted to see if anyone has other suggestions for removing it.

Has anyone had success with any other method? I've read possibly a heated paint scraper (decal remover)?

Try a little bit of CitriStrip on a corner of the vinyl. It tends to react with some vinyls and will wrinkle it up in a matter of minutes. It's important tho not to get any on the particle board. That stuff is a disaster to remove from particle board.

[RussG]

That's what I was afraid of... 

Out of curiosity, did you just re-paint the exposed interior parts of the cab (above the speak grill) or did you also apply laminate there?

I remember your beautiful restore job.  If mine turns out half as good as yours, I'll be happy:

That's it.  I picked up some old but unused artwork from Villager Kurt of Pinball Lounge and was able to have it duplicated for the community and why side art is now available.   
Anyway I painted the exterior portions because those were still in reasonable shape but you can always replace those with vinyl from some place like Twisted Quarter if so desired.
Everything else came off and was bead blasted and repainted and it really makes a nice difference.

The hardest part of restoring that game is the control panel which I cleaned up but pretty much left untouched because it wasn't terrible.
You'll want to replace the steering wheel bearings too probably if there is wobble or play in them.
Thanks for posting the pic and good luck!!!   

[RussG]

And since you posted my old picture of it near completion here's one for you from your old OR bezel thread:



Notice the game was not completely torn down (inexperience from my first restore) as the marquee was still on, etc...haha

[PinPup]

Here is a guy sanding off Scared Stiff decals in four minutes real time using a Festool RO 125 sander. Looks easy.

Comments said he was using a hard pad and 80 grit sometimes 60.