OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

Score Decal Update:
Got the waterslide. During mid-application, the waterslide broke into two pieces as I was removing the backing. I got the two pieces lined up pretty well, I think....the break occurred at the 1st zero in the 2000 score for the 4th target. There's a small blemish on that "0", but it's only noticeable if you zoom in fairly closely. You won't notice it from the player's position, even if you're looking for it.
As for clear coating - I've reviewed several options, none are appealing to me. I could send it off for a pro to do it for $500 and I won't see it for months. I talked to a couple local auto painters, one who has done this sort of thing before and 3 that haven't. I could do this for $150-$200 but I'd have to block sand it down myself, let it cure for months on end, and who knows how it will turn out (and these autoshop paint guys won't guarantee this kind of work...I'm on my own if it cracks, clouds, or is sprayed improperly). And I certainly don't want someone shooting a playfield who's never done it before. Lastly....I could do it myself. I'll still spend months curing and sanding, and this after I invest some decent $$$ into proper safety gear, air compressor, gun, pop-up paint room with ventilation, etc. etc. Not to mention I don't want to mess with stuff that toxic in the first place. All of this just to add the missing score numbers.
Instead of all that, I could simply use a strip of mylar, which I seriously considered.
The clearcoat purists are going to shudder at this, but, in the end I decided to use automobile clear touch up. I already had it, and I used it last year to protect the black paint I put on the saucer in my Mata Hari hardtop installation. With over 500 plays, it's held up perfectly.
So with this auto clear touch up, you apply it with a brush. I put on a few very thin coats, several hours apart. I may put on a couple more just to safe. If you look at it close up and at an angle, you can see the fine brush strokes. Looking at it head-on (or from the player's position), it looks just fine. And I think it will hold up based on my previous experience on the Mata Hari saucer.
The enemy of good is perfection, right? So far, I'm happy with the decal (despite me needing to re-align the two pieces I broke applying it) and with the protection (brushed on auto-clearcoat).
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OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

What went wrong....
New Dead Bumper Base Plates
They're too damn big to fit in the cut out on the CPR playfield. I can't get too mad at CPR...they're too big for the original playfield, too! I could dremel the circumference of the the plastic base plate knobby down a bit and make them fit, but I'd probably just booger it up. In the end, I used the originals from the old playfield. They cleaned up ok, but they're green (not white like the new ones) and while I thought that would bother me, you can't see it anyway once the bumpers are installed.

OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

I'm really disappointed in them not polishing up in the tumblers - the plating is just so bad. In fact, the METEOR bank actually got darker in color after a trip thru the tumblers.[quoted image][quoted image]

OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

With the playfield more or less done until I can reassemble everything and see how my swap went, my attention is moving to the cabinet.
While structurally sound and surprisingly with very little dings or gouges, both sides and the cabinet front suffer from some pretty decent planking. The ridges are fairly deep and rough to the touch. The ridges are present only below where the side rails went....the wood under the side rails is nice and smooth. This pin must've spent a lot of time in a garage or some other non-climate controlled area.
I'm experimenting with one of the sides to see how I'm going to approach the rest of the cabinet. I took the first layer of paint off with acetone and then used an orbital sander to see how the cabinet side would smooth out. While visually it still looks like there are ridges, the side is now totally smooth to the touch.
So now I'm wondering....if I proceed to the primer/paint stages, will this ridge/planking problem re-emerge at some point? Or possibly show thru the new paint and primer? I was thinking of putting down a thin layer of bondo but I hate working with bondo and would like to avoid that if at all possible.
I may section off a several square inch area of the cabinet side, put down some primer coats, and then put down a paint coat and see what it looks like. Fresh paint like that will come off in seconds with acetone when it comes time to start over for the Pinball Pimp stencils (or if I decide to put down a layer of bondo).[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

I picked up some Durham's today and practiced on some spare plywood with different mixing ratios for viscosity, from thicker putty for filling in holes to thinner glaze to smooth out scratches. Not too bad. It's more flexible than bondo in that way, and more importantly it does not set as quickly as bondo giving me more time to work. Within 20 minutes it was set hard and touchable. In under an hour, it was sandable. 4 hours later, hard as rock.
Going to finish stripping the paint this weekend and then working on rebuilding some edges with wood epoxy. After that, and perhaps a little more practice on scrap plywood, I think I'll try Durham's for smoothing out the cabinet sides (and front and rear) to cover up that planking.

OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

Left side stenciling done. Got a couple of boogers that should touch up fine....will do all the touch up work after the stenciling is complete. Weather permitting, will start the right side Friday.[quoted image]

OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

My family can't seem to remember "switch left for old, switch right for new" so I put in a sign to make it easier. [quoted image]