You already know the answer....
Get out the heat gun.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

I have had similar questions with regard to the value of the original cabinet work, though not perfect, versus sanding it all off and putting on decals. Is there any way to prove it was originally an MM cabinet, for instance, or does nobody care if it was or not?

Applying decals is a big deal to get right and not many can do it and I struggle and I have done a few .

The cabinet needs to be as straight as possible and I have never seen a cabinet that was straight!

This is what the cabinet needs to look like if you are getting close to final prep for decals . This is more work then most are willing to do. I see more fouled up decals jobs on this site then I care to mention .

Good luck and happy sanding

IMG_3696.JPG IMG_3697.JPG IMG_3698.JPG

Hope this video helps you:

Semi OT but is anyone putting the modern Stern leg protectors on B/W restores? If so do you trim and remove the surrounding decal like Stern does first?

I had a game where decals were applied I over decals and it actually looked pretty good. If your cabinet is pretty good just stick them on and see. Worst case, you have to buy new ones again and sand everything. I doubt they will look worse then the faded mess you probably have now. It sounds like you've decided you won't be sanding the cabinet. Do your choices are to apply over the decals you have or do nothing. I say give it a go.

I'm doing this on all my restores and yes, I trace an outline of the protector and remove the decal. With these, you're guarenteed the leg will come no where close to the cabinet.

There are other options also if you're looking for "better than it is now" results. I have patched small sections with stickers from my laser printer.

image.jpg image.jpg

This was done with my scanner, photoshop to fix the image colors, and print. It won't pass critical inspection in sunlight on a resale. But otherwise you really can't tell. It looks pretty good.

Hey McCune,

Would I be correct in thinking that cabinet has been stripped, filled with Bondo/your filler of choice, sanded, primed on the stand with a gun, sanded some more, or am I missing a step?

Luke

I had a pin that someone had applied the decals over the original and they looked pretty decent until you got close and really paid mind to it. So you can do it the quick way and go over, just might not get any added value to the next buyer.

That is about right .

a faded cabinet is better than a half-ass redone one.....

i doubt a "non pinball enthusiast" would walk up to the machine and comment on it being faded... and it's really only a small subset of "enthusiasts" that would care if its faded... a faded cabinet has ZERO effect on gameplay...

I would be putting new decals on my TZ if the front didn't have lock bar holes drilled.

What do you pros do in this situation?

2013-03-04_17.23.48.jpg 2013-03-04_17.24.19.jpg

My guess is bondo and sandpaper

I'm no pro but I've always found the best thing is to cut out a piece just a tad larger than the hole. Then sand it down slowly until it's the right size to where it will slid in with a fair amount of pressure. I use wood glue before I put it in for the final install. Then I bondo over it to fill in the small gaps that will happen. Then sand smooth. Again, I've never worked on pinball cabs but that is what I've done with wood working projects that needed something filled.

Someone local in my area did a set over the old ones on a TOTAN. The light areas in the decals showed the graphics underneath. If you could get them aligned perfectly, it would help, but keep in mind that a few mm off and you could be having a bad case of double vision.

I sand the cabinet to the bare wood, starting with 60grit, then 150, then 220. Seal with 3 coats of Varathane while sanding with 300grit in between each coat. That way you get a smooth glass like finish for the decals to adhere to with no bumps. Here's my TZ and I did my IJ too.

IMG_0598.jpg IMG_0628.jpg IMG_0637.jpg

More TZ

IMG_0644.jpg IMG_0654.jpg IMG_0702.jpg

last two

IMG_0703.jpg IMG_0705.jpg

I'm not a pinball restorer so don't take what I say to the bank at all. I just had my first floor of the house redone. It had wallpaper on all the walls. Three painters came in and all thought they could get the paper off since it looked to be properly and professionally done. However, two did mention that if they started to get underneath and it wasn't coming off well, taking off drywall or had two layers of wallpaper then they would advise painting a base over the paper (with some special base paint) then paint right on top of the wallpaper. Essentially the base paint on top of the wallpaper would hide the wallpaper design and be the primer. Cost to re-drywall whole first floor would be nuts. Thankfully, wallpaper came off as expected.

Point, if that works for walls in your house - why not pinball machine too? Good topic by original poster.

A decal over a decal is possible but not the best way to do it. I have done decals on a few of my games and its really amazing that your THINK a decal would cover any imperfection but it actually highlights them. The 1st time you try it yourself the prep work will become a lot more clear how it impacts the results on your finished job.

Strip it, seal the wood with polyurethane or your favorite sealer, sand flat then decal.

I know this is a dead topic... but I'm wanting to replace the decals on a Funhouse... I do not mind removing the old decals. My issue is if I have to stripe the machine, it may never work again...LOLOL!

So I was thinking, remove the playfield, and SS rails and work on the cabinet with heat gun removing the old decals. I would carefully protect and cover the cabinet internals from dust. Cabinet is in good shape, I would fill bad sections, sand area and then repaint cabinet with a primer. Again lite sand and apply decals.

So my question is, can I do this without removing all internals and striping the cabinet?

Thanks guys!

I know you are thinking about the painful experience that you foresee in removing all of the connectors on the cables from head to cabinet, and then pulling the playfield, but as others have said previously, I think you would be much happier with doing exactly that before you start refinishing the cabinet. Removing the connectors carefully is straight-forward if you label them first. Pulling the playfield is straight-forward when you have someone to help you and you have someplace set aside to set it down carefully. (remember to remove the balls (which become missles) before you start pulling the playfield. LOL)

It's amazing how a tiny defect in the existing cabinet shows through a new decal. Even a fingernail dent in the wood will show through. The flat surfaces and the corners usually need some repair, so it takes some wood working skills to get those right. And don't forget to watch some videos on applying full cabinet decals (wet or dry) and pay close attention to the wrapping needed on the front corners.

For Funhouse, the biggest problem I have seen is the coindoor panel decal is relatively hard to position since you have the START button centering in the printed circle along with the Funhouse wording below the coin door which must be kinda squeezed into a space that is barely big enough.

My 2-cents...