I used to use mirror blades in all my games. In my last two games I have gone the direction of side art. Both of the side art came from stern. First was TWD and it seemed tough to install and the material did not seem the best. Next was GB and it was super easy and the material was very thick and seems durable. On the secondary market who makes the best, durable and easy to install blades/side art. I have a WOZ and a bunch of modern sterns I may want to do. Thanks, Mike
Silly Old Elf made fantastic looking side art of good quality for Monster Bash and for The Simpsons Pinball Party and some pretty good side art for Twilight Zone, too. But he only does them for games he owns. PinGraffix makes their PowerBladez for a few machines, including Attack from Mars, which takes side art to a whole new level. If they make PowerBladez for any of your Stern titles then that is the way to go.
Tilt uses a very thick material and the adhesive is like time based so if you screw it up you can probably get it off. They actually demonstrated sticking the decal onto itself and it came apart. This made me wonder how well it would actually stick in the game but it sticks well.
Quoted from TheLaw:Uff I've never seen those before...those are horrendous.
That's the problem with most/all of the third party side art. It's just bad integration with the existing art and looks generally terrible. Official Stern GoT, GB, and Aerosmith art look good to great.
Dirty Donny has said he's willing to make official matching Metallica art blades if he's asked. Vote for it here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/metallica-really-should-have-dirty-donny-art-blades
...so Stern can see the interest, and maybe get interested in offering this.
Quoted from PinMonk:That's the problem with most/all of the third party side art. It's just bad integration with the existing art and looks generally terrible.
That looks like someone was drawing with crayons, from memory, the side art from Wh20.
Quoted from littlecammi:PinGraffix makes their PowerBladez for a few machines, which takes side art to a whole new level.
Received PinGraffix PowerBladez for my AFM and installed them yesterday. They look absolutely spectacular!
Quoted from whthrs166:Here they are on MM I think they really add debth to game.
Thanks for the plug but that mountain design is not from Tilt Graphics. Here's a snap show of our design.
Quoted from tjc02002:Tilt uses a very thick material and the adhesive is like time based so if you screw it up you can probably get it off. They actually demonstrated sticking the decal onto itself and it came apart. This made me wonder how well it would actually stick in the game but it sticks well.
If you follow the instructions on how to install them you will never have any issues with them adhering to the inner cabinet.
Seeing how I'm in the business of designing and selling these things allow me to put my two cents in on the topic. Taking design out of the equation:
1. From what I can tell the European makers do not laminate their designs. This allows for a glossier finish while also making them more vulnerable to being damaged. Having said that I always recommend that you use a piece of poster board between the play field and the art. This should do a great job of protecting your side art regardless if they're laminated or not.
2. Both Pingraffix and Tilt Graphics use Air Egress Vinyl and Scuff Resistant Laminate on our designs. This allows for the art to be repositionable and also gives superior protection.
3. Stern uses durable materials but I believe their adhesive backing is too adhesive and makes installation more difficult. Stern also only produces side art for only a handful of games.
4. Now comes the plug for Tilt Graphics. We have close to 150 different GameBlade designs for you to choose from. Every week were coming out with more and we continue to tweak and refine the one we already have. If you have any specific questions or requests please feel free to PM me.
Quoted from jGraffix:3. Stern uses durable materials but I believe their adhesive backing is too adhesive and makes installation very difficult unless your removing the play field completely. Stern also only produces side art for a handful of games.
Stern pinblade adhesive isn't that bad and you can remove it if you stick a section accidentally. I've done three machines and didn't remove the playfield on any of them.
(FYI, there's a typo on your Ghostbusters GameBlade store entry. The heading says "Lime" while the body says "Slime")
Quoted from PinMonk:Stern pinblade adhesive isn't that bad and you can remove it if you stick a section accidentally. I've done three machines and didn't remove the playfield on any of them.
(FYI, there's a typo on your Ghostbusters GameBlade store entry. The heading says "Lime" while the body says "Slime")
It is possible they changed the adhesive they're currently using. I purchased one of the very first ones they started offering just to see what the competition was up to.
Thanks for the heads up on the typo. Last week my son found a different typo.
Funny story. Last year I took a long vacation. Two days into the vacation I get a text message from my partner telling me that he accidentally deleted the entire website. Spent almost the entire vacation in front of a computer rebuilding the site. I'm surprised there are not more typos on the site.
Quoted from jGraffix:Funny story. Two days into a long vacation I get a text message from my partner telling me that he accidentally deleted the entire website. Spent almost the entire vacation in front of a computer rebuilding the site.
It may be a funny story now but I bet it didn't seem that funny at the time.
Quoted from jGraffix:It is possible they changed the adhesive they're currently using. I purchased one of the very first ones they started offering just to see what the competition was up to.
Thanks for the heads up on the typo. Last week my son found a different typo.
Funny story. Last year I took a long vacation. Two days into the vacation I get a text message from my partner telling me that he accidentally deleted the entire website. Spent almost the entire vacation in front of a computer rebuilding the site. I'm surprised there are not more typos on the site.
You didn't have scheduled full site backups? I bet you do now...
Quoted from PinMonk:You didn't have scheduled full site backups? I bet you do now...
We use a major vendor to host our site. They backed up the framework of the site but not the shopping cart. I wasn't happy at the moment but I take most things in stride. God knows I've made mistakes in the past and this was an accident. Plus I'm not afraid of work so I just jumped into rebuilding it. I was just grateful I still had access to all the art files. Otherwise the rebuild would have had to wait until I returned home.
Quoted from jGraffix:We use a major vendor to host our site. They backed up the framework of the site but not the shopping cart. I wasn't happy at the moment but I take most things in stride. God knows I've made mistakes in the past and this was an accident. Plus I'm not afraid of work so I just jumped into rebuilding it. I was just grateful I still had access to all the art files. Otherwise the rebuild would have had to wait until I returned home.
You definitely want to have them making full site backups, including databases, etc. Our backups are a rollup of the whole site, so if something happens, we can simply expand it and it's back up.
Quoted from littlecammi:PinGraffix makes their PowerBladez for a few machines, including Attack from Mars, which takes side art to a whole new level. If they make PowerBladez for any of your Stern titles then that is the way to go.
jorge5240 If you are looking for something simple to install and is also new and innovative... I would definitely check out our PowerBladez collection. We currently make them for #AC/DC,
Metallica (Pro),
Attack from Mars, #Lord of the Rings and they really make your machine look special. Here is the link to buy them - https://www.pingraffix.com/
Metallica
Metallica Creeping Death (also can be used on #Rob Zombie, #The Addams Family and #Tales from the Crypt!)
Lord of the Rings
AC/DC
Attack from Mars
Quoted from cheshirefilms:The best mods don't look like mods- they look like the game came that way. Case in point- Spiderman city art blades.
That's a very good point to make. As we were setting up the booth at Allentown show attendees that were playing afmrm thought the powerblades, translight, and cabinet art came with the afmLE . In reality they do not, but that's how well the design incorporates with the game.
Quoted from Colehvac1:That's a very good point to make. As we were setting up the booth at Allentown show attendees that were playing afmrm thought the powerblades, translight, and cabinet art came with the afmLE . In reality they do not, but that's how well the design incorporates with the game.
That was the best aftermarket product integration in recent memory. I'm not a huge fan of the third party blades in general, but that AFMr blades/sides/translite set is killer.
Quoted from PinMonk:That was the best aftermarket product integration in recent memory. I'm not a huge fan of the third party blades in general, but that AFMr blades/sides/translite set is killer.
Thank you for the kind words. We work very hard here at PinGraffix to make designs that are not only well integrated but unique to their title.
Quoted from yzfguy:I have pingraffix in potc, Ironman, wh20, Metallica and AFM. Nothing but happy!
They look amazing Yzfguy! I am very happy you are happy. Lots of work went into these and glad you are reaping the rewards. 
We have CFTBL design in the works.. I am posting a picture of it static for the time being.
Screen Shot 2017-06-12 at 11.47.08 AM (resized).png
We are planning on lighting up the stardust sign..the lights on the taillights ..and one other special thing..
Just wanted to point some things out...As far as our PinBlades go (inner art blades) PINGRAFFIX uses nothing but 3M Airgress-vinyl which is the some of the best in the industry.
While they are other airgress vinyls out there.. they are not all created equally.
There is a difference. Some have low tack-adhesive, some use permanent adhesive. Whomever you choose to use..make sure that the vinyl they are using will not cause cabinet damage later down the line when you to remove them.
We have seen some real bad cases of the adhesive so strong that not only pulls the paint up..but even some wood.
Also clear laminated Blades..While they may look great initially...not a good idea in our opinion. The rip and scratch very easily over time. Most of the time they are used in conjunction with a permanent adhesive. So when they start to rip and scratch... you now have a gluey hot mess that you can't get off in one pull...time to break out the Goop-Off and paint scraper...
All of our designs have scratch-resistant over laminate material that is super strong and protective. Not only do they last longer but also seals in the UV resistant pigments. Which in turn means you have a longer lasting design that maintains their vibrancy.
We do all of the printing for our PowerBladez as well.
Quoted from joeraptor2003:We have CFTBL design PowerBladez in the works.
I would like to be first in line for your CFTBL PowerBladez whenever they are ready.
Quoted from TheLaw:Uff I've never seen those before...those are horrendous.
That was pretty rude. Dude. I just dont understand why people have to be so rude on here. To what gain ? Just belittle someone because you can...
Quoted from whthrs166:Here they are on MM I think they really add debth to game.
Sorry guys but these blades are not made by Tilt Graphics. These are our blades for MM.
https://www.tiltgraphicsinc.com/medieval-madness
I just ordered my first set for IM and am waiting for them to arrive. What really disappoints me about the websites that sell these is they all don’t have pics of them installed in the game. We need to see how they look installed so we know how they look next to the playfield art and how they go with the theme of the game. I don’t want to be searching all over the internet for a photo when it should be on the websites. I would have ordered four more sets for all my other games but didn’t want to waste any more time looking for pictures.
Quoted from mmuglia:I just ordered my first set for IM and am waiting for them to arrive. What really disappoints me about the websites that sell these is they all don’t have pics of them installed in the game. We need to see how they look installed so we know how they look next to the playfield art and how they go with the theme of the game. I don’t want to be searching all over the internet for a photo when it should be on the websites. I would have ordered four more sets for all my other games but didn’t want to waste any more time looking for pictures.
I’m not sure what brand you ordered but these are in my personal machine from Pingraffix
4DA5FBBE-D182-456B-BC7E-B78BB9254979 (resized).jpeg
C8547B7C-3779-4BA1-B1F4-4315841C1C6D (resized).jpeg
7F157481-463A-49F8-8395-15F518D272B2 (resized).jpeg
9ED32BB4-F55F-448F-A383-3F422117E122 (resized).jpeg
27847BF5-C348-4B67-9E2E-B67899DD449F (resized).jpeg
Quoted from mmuglia:Those look great! But those pictures should be on the Pingraffix website.
As a partner in Tilt Graphics and a designer of both Mirrorblades and Gameblades cabinet art, we do not have easy access to most of these pins, and are therefore a bit dependent on our customers to send us photos of installed blades (as I am sure that Joe at Pingraffix is too). When we get those photos we try to post on our Facebook page and add to the item on our store immediately, for this exact reason, so customers can see them installed.
If you or someone you know, has Mirrorblades or Gameblades from us installed, we would be more than happy to post them both on iur site and Facebook page.
Rey H.
Tilt Graphics.
Quoted from joeraptor2003:We have CFTBL design PowerBladez in the works. We are planning on lighting the stardust sign, the taillights...and one special thing.
Still waiting (impatiently) for CFTBL PowerBladez! When can I place my order?
Quoted from MANTO1975:Has anyone purchased art blades from Retro Refurbs? they have a couple of art blades that I like and I am interested in purchasing them, just don't know what the quality is like.
cheers
I purchased a set for BSD. They have the toughest laminate that I've come across. I didnt install them and ended up selling them.
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