Not really unless you are lucky and got one of the early clear coated ones. too many times the insert art comes right off on BoP

I was just deciding whether to do this as well on BOP.

As far as the insert art coming off, wouldnt that just be a case of getting replacement inserts like available on Ebay (and vendors)? ebay.com link: Williams Bride Of Pinbot Pinball Machine Insert Decals LICENSED

If it is that simple, and your mylar is wasted, I would seriously think about the freeze spray option. There are also new full board mylar sheets available on ebay (and some of the vendors) to put back on if you want to go that route. I did the same on Pinbot a while back (took off the mylar) and a beat playfield went to being pretty damn good!

Not really. The inserts are bigger than most of those decals (those just repair the words and the boarders). Also, the chances of that large center decal matching the color of the paint on your PF now is slim at best.

OP - If the mylar is nice I'd leave it alone. My PF was real nice and I did the freeze spray method. I was fairly lucky in getting everything off but I lost my billion heart decal completely.

No.

The real playfield does not have ANY decals on it.

All the lettering on the inserts is SILKSCREENED ink.

Decals are crap; the edge deflects the ball, they peel after a while, and the colors are seldom correct.

Leave the Mylar alone to do the job it has done for 30 years - protect the playfield from wear.

The glue is too old to get it to stick back down again.

The needle+hairdryer trick only works on much newer games.

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See all that Crazing on the inserts? Those are shrinkage cracks. If you tried to peel the Mylar, much of the cracked material would come up with the Mylar.

Your playfield looks really good, you are one of the few lucky ones on that title.

Mylar was all gone from my BoP except under the pop bumpers ... freeze spray did not work on this one, I had to use heat and adhesive remover (sparingly and very carefully) and it did pull up some of the silk screening. I have been playing with it unprotected for 6 months now, I did touch-up the playfield to at least make it presentable and it has held up unbelievably well. Getting ready for the big overhaul in the next few weeks ... as soon as I find some time and finish a few other little projects.

Get a repro playfield and replace...or just leave it and enjoy. It's too hard to improve those old mylared pre-diamondplate playfields, IMO. I did a test section on my BK2K, and the insert ink was coming right off w/ the mylar.

That playfield looks amazing. Most are totally trashed.

You will never notice the air gaps in the Mylar when you are playing, so just be glad you got a nice one.

If it really bugs you, buy a new playfield, or send your existing one out for restoration.

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=PP&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-36-50002R (says more are due in June 2016)

I have done this before on many different types of air bubbles and I have also had success with this on a mylar bubble on a insert.

This is not for the faint of heart, I am a professional Automotive painter for over 30 years so I have many experiences at this and many other kinds of paint restorations that would require repair and not a refinish.

You will need a syringe and your wife's / girlfriend's clear fingernail polish, paper towels, clear scotch tape, and patience and a period of time. Catalyzed automotive clear coat works the best but is not the most user friendly or cost effective. Leaving your playfield in the machine (gives the angle for the air to escape) You will need to make a pin prick at the top most point of the air pocket. Then you will take the syringe (smallest one you can come up with) and get some of the fingernail polish in it just like a doctor would from a bottle of antibiotics. Next you will "inject" this into the air pocket making the insertion at the lowest point, opposite of the air escape hole you made previously. This will fill up the pocket and air will escape out the top hole. Stop just when the liquid starts to leak out of the top hole. Have your scotch tape ready to cover both holes, while leaving the needle inserted cover the top hole first, do not apply any more pressure than needed to seal the tape around the hole. Then with your tape ready remove the needle and apply tape.
Now you play the waiting game. Fingernail polish is a air dry type of coating and will take a while to "harden" as it is semi sealed under the mylar. I say semi sealed because almost all surfaces are porous to some degree or another, it will take some time for it to harden by way of evaporation of solvents. How long depends on the Temperature, humidity, thickness of the application, and in this case how porous our mylar is based on its overall condition. Any liquid that leaks out will need to be smoothed lightly with 1000 to 1500 grit sandpaper after it has cured or dried. This could take a few days so be patient, and after it is smoothed you will use the Novus 1, 2, and 3 to shine it up and get out the small scratches from the sandpaper.
So as I said this is not for the faint of heart, it takes some skill and practice. Do one at a time and start with the smallest out-of-the-way one and see how you like the results.
I also want to note here not all fingernail polish is the same .... if you need to go buy some do not get the .99 cent bottle, pay more like $8 for the good stuff. It will have less solvents and more solid product to its composition. This will be easier to use and will not leak out so bad and also dry quicker. Also with less solvent in the product you will have slim to no chance to melt a insert or make the silk screening move under the mylar.
PLEASE ... Please do this at your own risk and responsibility and if you think you are not capable to do something like this then DO NOT attempt. Call the cousin that paints cars for a living and show him what you need done, buy him a 12 pack and cook him a burger and let the professional handle it.

I got a new playfield from [email protected]. It looks amazing! Incredible clear coat job. Highly recommended! I believe he's doing a new batch. Seriously, it's like glass... I can send pics if you'd like.

You have mylar bubbling which is bad. I had that too but my mylar pulled right up with no heating or freezing and left the printing perfect. But the problem I had was that the mylar glue where the mylar had bubbled had hardened from being baked from the incandescent bulbs and was hard as a rock. I scrubbed them with flour and alcahol so hard to get the rock hard glue off I took the printing off and that still left the insert surface looking like crap.

For what it's worth, yours looks to be in nice shape and agree I've seen far worse examples of BOP. Like yours, mine has a very simiar small bubble in the wheel area, no other art damage let alone effect on gameplay. One quick board swap in 10 years owning. The bubble doesn't drive me nuts but as the advice above indicates, it's really a matter preference, time. and skill (or money) how far you go with it. Mine is a at a game of inches and not yards at this point so I chose regular cleaning, replacing bulbs, and pushing the start button.

Leave it alone, it's not worth the risk unless the mylar is trashed, cracked or peeling. I had a HUO game and that had similar air bubbles starting to form, you don't notice it when the game is on anyway. If you remove the mylar you'll just start causing wear around the inserts. EVERY single BoP without mylar or Diamond Plate (and even some of those) has insert edge wear. It would only be a good idea to remove if you were going for the complete restore & clearcoat, but it's not worth doing that because you've got yellowing outside of the mylar area.

In this case remember this: the opposite of good is better!

I had great luck using air duster turned upside down on my non-Diamond plated playfield. You should be able to find my pics if you search my username. Also recommend the goo-off or goof-off (I always get them confused) and all some purpose baking flour to get the remaining glue off. Then lay down 5+ coats of Carnauba only-wax and it should knock your socks off.

Freeze spray will work I've done a bop non dp field. Properly frozen you cannot remove art. Properly frozen the Mylar comes off and the glue is all left on the field. All the art is under the glue. If you leave the glue the art we'll be left in place. Any art loss with the freeze method can only occur during glue removal, if it was frozen fully to get the Mylar off. But if you take the art during glue removal you'd have the same issue with the heat method.

Just leave it alone why wreck a nice playfield .

Thank you everyone for the great info and real life experience! Mine is not quite as bad as the picture posted by romulusx and I have very little wear outside of that--just where the ball drops and near switches. So I think I will leave mine alone, put some new mylar protectors on the spots that were uncovered from the factory, and shine it up. Thanks!

Bop_Wheel_(resized).jpg

Looks nice leave it alone. I freeze Mylar all the time but almost never on system 11s