Well...here's what's happened so far. I decided to try to restore one side of the case. Both sides were about the same condition. I cleaned the crate with soap/water/brush, the wood came out looking nice! Then I took a slightly dull knife & lightly scraped away the black paint. It actually worked pretty well, although took a long time. I went over the Black with the uniball/sharpie method that Barry wrote about. I still need to do the Red Diamond & rectangular outline but can't seem to get the right color for now. I think it looks alot better, plus I only have $5 into it so what the heck? -Roger