Patching, Masking and Painting! (the B side)
The second side of the cabinet had less major damage, but more chips and gouges, complicated by the fact that a few were very close to the side art I want to preserve.
The first picture shows a scrape in the laminate that runs basically the whole length of the base art. The other shows some long scrapes right near the logo. I temporarily masked these so I could sand them without affecting the side art.
There was a pretty sizeable chunk out of the bottom corner. This was another spot where I made a cardboard template to maintain the sharp edge when applying the Bondo.
Here it is all glooped up with Bondo, and then sanded with the template removed. It's also apparent from the picture that the orderly state of my garage is rapidly reverting to chaos.
Both sides and the front (coin door area) of the cabinet are complete! The cabinet is not perfect, but I'm very satisfied with the results. All the huge dings and scrapes are filled, the sides are straight, it has a new coat of semi-gloss black and I was able to preserve the original side art. I could have made the cab perfect by sanding down to the MDF and destroying the side art, but once I got started I realized I didn't want to permanently change a vintage cabinet.