Some here may know my historical IJ debauchery from my early days of starting in this hobby.(if not you can read my story under my profile) IJ has, quite literally, been my holy grail machine. I have always looked and never found that perfect one. However I have never stopped trying and was able to hook up to get an amazing restored IJ with the modifications I want (ark, jackpot light board, color DMD, LED's, etc).

Toward the end of the process it was recommended to me (not by the person doing the restoration) that I should consider having the playfield touched up and clearcoated because of some of the wearing at the edges of some of the inserts. The wearing was not that bad but wanting the machine pristine, I went ahead and asked that the playfield be sent to Lethbridge, Alberta to some guys (I have never been in contact so dont know who) that apparently do really good work. They came highly recommended.

After a total of around 8 months of waiting I finally picked my IJ up a couple weeks ago and was floored to see that the inserts are faded to the point that they do not show the color when a bulb it put behind them. They are even faded to the point that the text and graphics on them are clearly missing. They look completely translucent compared to the originals which were full color and opaque. I am not sure if this was how the decals came or if something was rubbed on the decals after they were installed (perhaps something to clean before clearcoating?).

I have asked my contact to send the pics to the guys but I have yet to hear anything from them. Regardless of what happened, I don't feel this machine should have been clearcoated with the decals looking like this. I post this for two reasons - ONE... a warning for those doing playfield restorations. Careful who you deal with and if you are doing yourself watch out for this as it is truly terrible. TWO... is there anything I can do at this point to get the playfield decals to match the high quality of the rest of the machine? Has anyone seen or had this happen before? Here are pics of the full machine and close up of the choose wisely (worst insert) to show you what the mess is I am talking about. The last pic is of the choose wisely how it looked before the playfield restoration.

full machine-6.JPG
front-605.jpg
right side-133.JPG
wiselybad.JPG
original inserts 3 wisely.jpg

I agree but the person who recommended them has seen their work and had them do work. I do know the someone who recommended them very well and trust him 100%. The decals they used were from Classic Arcades... perhaps that was the issue? Still should they not have known how bad they were once they stuck them on?

Don't get me wrong, I have heard they do good work. However this was my experience. The fact that I have still not heard anything back with regards to what happened is the most annoying. Looking at the decals, they have a swirling look to them So I am left to wonder was it the decals or was it something else. Also the work they did in Lethbdrige might have only been 5-6months. I can't remember. The total resto was 8 I think.

It should not have taken a rocket scientist to look at the choose wisely decal and notice the text and graphics are missing.

Funny thing (but not really) is that originally we just asked for a touch up and then clearcoat. However they did not want to do that because they said that I would not be happy with it. Still we said that we only wanted touch ups and they said they don't want to just do touch ups because it will reflect badly on them when it does not come out perfect... So I ended up paying more money for the decal replacement and this is what I got.

With regards to sending a letter demanding something... What do I demand? My money back I guess? I don't have much confidence that these guys can fix the mess they made. Would be great if new and proper decals can be put over and then recleared but I have no idea about that. Where do you suggest me posting the question?

It's actually not a matter of exact replacements but a matter of the decals being completely translucent with no color and text faded out. I agree the decals were not their fault but it is not their fault for installing them and then clearcoating over them? When you pay decent money for a professional playfield restoration should it be the customer to make sure the product they are using is correct for the job? I had no idea what decals they were using... Also I still don't know if it was bad decals or something done to them as part of the process.

As a player I can live with it but as a collector I can not. I will have to look for another playfield if this one can not be fixed. You won't believe how bad it looks with white light behind... You can't see anything. I put colored lights in which helps but still really bad.

The machine has the metal can protectors installed. Also the felt ones just for EXTRA protection

I appreciate that. My restorer has agreed to do whatever he needs to to make it right (depopulate and repopulate playfield, etc). However he can not do the playfield repair. I have no direct contact with the playfield guys so I am waiting for them to be in contact with others. I will probably take over direct communication, if I can. I like the idea that you think they might be able to do the repair. I guess you would recommend and have confidence in them doing so?

Yeah this was mentioned before and then edited. We only wanted them to do black touch ups but they pushed hard that we needed to do decals to make it look right... Oh well. Too late to go back on that decision. I can only look forward now and try to figure out how to fix. I did email a few playfield restorers to see what they recommend and what they will charge me to fix.

Just to restate and be clear.. I am not looking to lynch the guys who did the work. My hope is that when they respond they will be concerned and want to make it right. In the meantime I am just hoping to find someone who has maybe had to redo a playfield after clearcoating and can help me understand what needs to be done to accomplish fixing this correctly.

Maybe the guys who did it originally can or can not fix it. Maybe they will or will not fix it. I just don't know yet. There is a chance that they had no idea how bad these inserts look post restoration. I want to give them some benefit of the doubt until I hear from them.

I have done this. Just waiting to hear more specific as to what he suggests can be done. I would be interested in just looking for a playfield and selling this one but I do think they are hard to find in any condition... Never mind a minty restored one.

What do you mean by "knock all the inserts"? I understand that perhaps there are much better decals out there but how to get to the current ones with the thick clearcoat on top? It looks to me like just the 12 modes need to be done. The jackpots and faces below all look fine to me. What would you do to fix? How long would it take and what would it cost?

I don't know anything about clearcoating or playfield restoration. However that sounds really bloody scary to me. Have you ever seen it done or done it yourself with good results. Is it as hard to do with excellent results as it sounds?

Wow that's a nice comment. i bet you are proud of yourself for that one and you should be. I did not pick the powdercoat color as I purchased the machine and it was already done. It doesn't look so bad in person as the yellow matches the cabinet decal yellow perfectly. I am not worried as I can always change them to gold later. That stuff is easy but to fix the playfield is another story.

What decals did you use (from where)? Yeah I would have been much better off to have Kruzman do it but the playfield was not that bad and did not need much work. Ron is booked for over a year with restoration work. He is just doing straight CC right now. I have been in touch with him and sent him the photos. He could not believe how poor those inserts look and brought up the fact that the guys who did it did not even paint the decals in so you can still see the edges of the decals. I did send my email and pics to the guys who did it today. We will see what they say...

Thanks - I appreciate that! Each to their own. I like the fact that mine looks different. I was going to say the same thing about the gold but decided not to out of fear of offending anyone. As an update, I called the person who did the decals and clearcoat yesterday. He said he wanted to hear from me and sounded genuinly concerned about finding out what was wrong but he was out at the time so said he will call me back soon. Hopefully tonight.

To be fair, the company that did the playfield did not order the decals. The decals were ordered by someone else (not me) and were thought to be correct. The playfield guys just installed them and cleared over them without looking at them (i guess) and then someone else (the person who did the restoration) repopulated the playfield and put everything together. I was only providing the money and was going with what others were recommending be done.

My hope is that the person who did the restoration will help me out and swap the playfield in and out for me at no cost but at this point there is no guarantee of that either. I am the one at the end of the chain and so I am the one holding the ball. ON TOP OF IT ALL - I cant find the correct insert decals anywhere online. So I might be stuck with having to find a new playfield.

I have had a response from the guy that did the playfield but I am not sure I can post it here. I do need to let others know how horrible this guy is. I have never talked to the guy but I guess he just "heard" that I was not happy. His long, long and ongoing texts were so full of profanity and vicious personal attacks that I had to block his texts. I may post some of it here later but right now I dont even want to look at it right now because it is extremely hurtful and hateful. I can say that NO ONE should deal with this guy. I never even talked to him and his disrespectful tone and abusive language should not be tolerated.

What do you mean by this? Yes I realize it needs to go to a professional at this point. I plan on getting through this and letting everyone know how it works out. I appreciate the support here on the forum. The guy tried to tell me I am just too picky and I am never happy... But again I have never spoken to him so have no idea why he thinks that.