Cabinet paint restoration

Nice work! I wonder who thought their repaint looked better than the original????

I'm just throwing in my usual reminder not to sand lead paint in your house or garage because you can never get the lead out .

That is an outside job only, downwind from your garden, with a respirator.

Nice! What an improvement. Great game too!

Wow.
Why would anyone put that horrible red over something that was not even bad in the first place?
Vandals?

ill have to show you my em cabinet. It was excactly the same... even think it was the same horrible paint.

Man, that came off great! Why, oh why do imbeciles paint over a perfectly good original cabinet!!!!!

Great job and good tip on the paint remover.

It could have been worse, I bought a machine with oil based paint covering the cabinet so no getting back to the old paintwork.

I picked up the same game once years ago which was all stained brown, then cleared over. The playfield had a sheet of plexiglass over it which was so tight, we couldn't slide it out. My friend smashed it with a hammer a few times, and It finally broke. Unfortunately, it also marred the playfield, but not too badly. I still haven't tried any removal or repainting of that game. It's pretty nice otherwise.

That has to be among the most terrible looking repaints I've ever seen.

Jesus christ, that repaint is a god damned horror show.

I was just on my way out to my shed to ponder my Sweet Add-A-Line project when I saw this thread. I bought the SAAL a few years ago, in terrible shape, because I thought I'd never find another one I could afford. I'm pretty okay with the mechanical stuff, but I've never done any paint or art restoration. This machine cries out for it. The cabinet is painted solid black. Goo-Gone doesn't touch it. Sanding reveals a pinkish hue underneath. I'd love to find even the outlines of the original paint job. Do you think that stuff might work? I suppose I'll run out now and get some - try a small spot.
image.jpg

Would you please respectfully not use the name of the Lord in vain (seriously)? It is offensive to some of us out here. There are many other expressions you can use. Not reporting it this time, but please be respectful of other's religious beliefs. Thanks.

Ugh. Now I see why they painted the Sweet Add-A-Line black. It looks like a 4 year old had painted it pink and orange underneath. Looks like I will have to start from scratch somehow. Anyway, no matter what I do, it won't look worse. Thanks for the tip, though!

Hmmm where have i seen that type of cabinet repaint artwork before. Oh yeah.

Child painter.JPG

Just curious, approximately when did pinball companies switch from lead paint? I'm about to sand down a Bally's Strikes and Spares from 1978, which seems to be right when lead paints were made illegal for household use...not sure about commercial usage though.

I would like to see pictures of your re-paint of Strikes & Spares.
Could you post them in another thread ?
How does this machine play ? I think I would like to find one.

Any suggestions about color matching for my Sweet Add-A-Line woodrail cabinet? I haven't stripped the whole black paint job, but it looks like no sign of the original paint underneath. So I have two problems, tracing and color matching. I can do both from pics on ipdb, but especially the color matching seems unreliable that way.

Have you checked:
- under the legs
- under the metal flipper guards (if still present, and painted over)
- under the two 'beehive' pushrod housings

Wow! Thanks. What a great tip. I had checked under the legs, and the flipper guards are gone, but I hadn't thought of the beehives! There are four colors there - maroonish one, lime green, yellow, and orange. I don't know what the green is, but I'm guessing the yellow is the base color, and the maroon is the original. The orange is the color under the black that was once slathered around. There is maroon under the ball loading beehive, as it should be. This is a great start - thanks so much!
image.jpg

The last game I checked with the lead tester from work was 2005 and it still had lead in it.

They may never have switched at all, and even if they did, China could still supply some tainted product at any time.

The CPSA keeps finding lead in the paint on children's toys, so you should assume all commercial paints are still leaded, unless you physically test otherwise.

Great information for those of us who restore. Thanks.