(Topic ID: 208217)

Comet restoration project

By pinheadpierre

6 years ago


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#25 6 years ago

How did you “reveal” your little people??

1 week later
#41 6 years ago

This is high-quality. On the edge of my seat to see more.

2 months later
#63 5 years ago

Drill press for those rail holes = much less headache!

#69 5 years ago

Polishing the guides really does make a difference. I know that my Firepower ones were not mirrors originally, but I couldn't help myself, as I thought it just looked too awesome.

#75 5 years ago

For the targets, you can also print stickers. I printed mine on some adhesive backed peel away printer paper that I got on Amazon. I also used a roll of mylar that I had for elsewhere on the play field, and smoothed that down over the printed sheet. I then used an Xacto to cut them out as a combination. Bam: mylar-protected target stickers. You can't even tell.

#80 5 years ago

Those stencils are amazing. What exactly did you use to make that?

1 week later
#114 5 years ago

When I did my FP, I had a similar, though less troubling issue. I noticed, as my successive coats of clear dried between sanding, that the inserts were no longer smooth the day after. "I could have sworn they were smooth to the touch yesterday" I would tell myself...what the heck? It was only AFTER I had repopulated that I learned from Vid that he recommends spraying your second to last coat of clear, then waiting a MONTH, sanding flat, then shooting the final coat. I had no idea that I had to wait that long, and I was experiencing dieback, where clear that is thicker and filling in divots is progressively flattening with time while curing and outgassing. I was fooled by posts that said the clear would be "rock hard in 48 hours" or something like that. I have a feeling that this is exactly what happened to you, only with far more serious results.

I'd take the stuff off, wait for it to cure a few days, wet sand it down flat, wait a few weeks, spray your last coat, then sand and polish for shine and then repopulate. I'm sorry this happened!

1 week later
#117 5 years ago

I am glad that you are back on track! It will still be a wonderful table when done.

Just a slight correction: 2PAC doesn't have solvents; the reason it requires the constant, higher temperatures is that it hardens by endothermic reaction. If you recall middle school science, that means that the chemical reaction (between the clear and the hardener) requires energy input to catalyze properly. That's why paint will "dry" even though it could be 40 degrees in the winter (the solvent will still evaporate), but 2PAC will not harden correctly.

As an aside, when you do have it sanded and then put a final coat over, do as you said and leave it for a month...

...THEN, go and sand it one last time, and shoot another layer of clear. I didn't do that ("wait a month" was not in Vid's instructions), which led to slight dimpling in over the inserts that I had filled by dripping 2PAC into them. After a month of waiting, any areas that may dimple in slightly (according to Vid, called die-back by the professionals) can be leveled easily by now sanding them down. Then, once the surface is totally smooth, you shoot the last layer, let it cure, and then use that layer to do the progressive sand and polish to a mirror finish.

I was just lucky that the die-back was not bad enough to affect play: you can't notice it by eye, and balls still track straight over it, but you can feel it if you run your finger over it.

All the best in making this thing as good as it can be!

#119 5 years ago

I'd assume that the chemical reaction releases some kind of a gas as a byproduct. That's probably what it is. Definitely something I avoided!

3 months later
#127 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

I think you meant to say it has a ton of solvents?
There are lots of solvents in 2PAC. That's why it eats decals if you put it on too heavy. That's why it sticks to plastic. That's what gives it that perfect flowout viscosity when sprayed. That's why it's super flammable
There is Acetone, Benzene and MEK in most 2PAC

Apologies. I meant it in the sense that evaporation of solvents is not what causes 2PAC to "dry," it's the chemical reaction with the hardener that does.

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