If I was low on $$ and had no Backglass for the machine then I would consider it but with $$ and a bad Backglass I would most likely wait for a ink reproduction.

Ken

Could be a long wait for some of the less popular ones.

I would be very interested is trying this.

Anyone have a hi rez scan of a Gottlieb Sure Shot?

I think that is a very popular title that is due for a ink reproduction Backglass very soon and that machine is on my wishlist to buy in the very near future.

I bet it will be Shay Group or Ron Webb that does it.

Ken

I think Izzy up north of me is making backglasses for his games using photography and sandwiching the art between 2 pieces of glass. I saw one he did at the PAGG show last year that looked real nice.

I've been searching for a backglass for a Williams Jubilee machine for 2 years now with no luck, I would love to obtain a high quality scan that I could use to reproduce this backglass as this particular machine will probably never see a genuine reproduction due to its low rating. Anything would be better than the sun bleached and peeling backglass that I currently have. I just recently purchased a repro from Ed Cheung for my Space Shuttle, while it doesn't have the mirroring of an original and looks fabulous behind a cut piece of lexan, it is a hell of a lot better than no art at all and will get me by till I come across an original. After reading his website he put an enormous amount of work into it to match the colors and look of the original.

Your wish has been granted!

Contact Gary Conway

Phone 360-692-2230 or email at [email protected].

He can make a Translite for you.

Ken

You are my hero! Email sent!

Glad I could help.

When you get it post a new thread and post pics of the translite before putting it in the machine.

I have heard nothing but praises about Gary's work.

Ken

Of course cost is a weighing issue, if the cost is reasonable then I will move on it but if it is pricey then I may opt to put that money towards my next acquisition.

Got your pm devils. If the translite doesn't happen ill shoot pics of mine.

-Jeff

He may even already have a scan for it but you will find out soon enough price and all.

Ken

see this link. probably more informative on the backglass restoration process with before and afters than any of the other restorers.
http://www.bgresto.com

Thanks for the link cfh.

Gary's work is amazing. Compare his WMS Klondike to an original and try to tell which is which.

Frank -

I have done this exact thing a number of times.Basically when you can't find a backglass and yours is either totally trashed or missing altogether.You get the highest resolution pix you can find,photoshop the heck out of it to correct all the errors and expand it to the correct size.Go to your local office supply place and have them print a fuill scale color copy of it.Go to Menards and buy two 28"x 30" pieces of plexiglass for $10 a piece and cut them to the correct size.Sandwich the print between the pieces of plexiglass and you have your backglass.Cost for the print is usually about 10 to 20 bucks.It looks ok when the lights are off but when you turn the machine on you can really see paper.It looks not too good.But I use this to check the size and geometry and quality of the artwork and to get something up there before I spend the bucks to get a translite made.It gets the artwork back up there and and beats staring at those lightbulbs blaring in your face.Here is a picture of two of mine using this exact method.The right one (Eightball)is an original factory backglass in near perfect condition.The center machine (Blackout)is a translite I made using this method.The far left machine (Steeplechase) is one that I am still working on and it is a printed piece of paper between two pieces of plexiglass.When I get the artwork in better shape I will have a translite made of it.It's not a s good as an original screen printed backglass but it's a damn sight better than nothing,or a horribly peeling or cracked and broken backglass and you can use your machine without it bugging you horribly till you can find an actual backglass.

PC230177.JPG

Here is another one I just did also.That is a piece of paper between two pieces of plexiglass.It looks fine until you turn the machine on then you can see the flaws in the paper.Shine a flashlight through a piece of copier paper and you will see what I mean.But if the artwork looks fine with the lights off then you spend the money and do a translite.The Blackout translite in the pix above cost me $50 from GameonGrafix and the colors blazing out of that translite make that factory Eightball backglass look dull in comparison.

PC150177_(2).JPG PC150178_(2).JPG

John Greatwich in Canada is doing some good stuff with direct inking using inkjet(?) printing. I have seen samples that came to Pinball Resource for approval by Steve. They are not perfect (colors still a little less brilliant, and slightly less opaque where they should be)but are very nice compared to do it yourself. It seems like most of these alternatives to silk screening are just not quite the same in those two respects. I applaud all efforts to do this work as it's very skilled/precise to clean up scans, etc. Even the reproduction silk screened efforts are not always exactly the same as the originals. I guess it comes down to improving on bad or missing glass to make a game look decent.

You are right,they are definately not as good as a silkscreened backglass.But they are better than nothing.I will be the first in line to buy a Blackout backglass as soon as anybody ever remakes one.Until then like alot of other pinball restorers we do the best we can with what we have.It keeps from parting out alot of pinball machines and gives people some options that have some of the lesser known machines with no chance of ever getting a remade backglass.If you get it right the average person would never know that it wasn't an original backglass.Someone who is alot more into this thing will spot it right off the bat of course.

What about printing on mylar instead of paper?

Should give a cleaner look when backlite.

So for me the big question is where do you get the hires pics from?

I have a Williams Super Star and Gulftream in need of some backglass love...

I was thinking of going to a printing shop and see what they could do

How/where do you get a scan?
This is the only pic I've ever seen of the BG I need. It's not a very good BG, but it's much better than the one I have now.
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2112&picno=7503

You just have to keep your eyes peeled for a pix all the time.Check EBAY constantly,sometimes somebody will take a higher rez pix of the backglass to show a flaw.Try all the other pinball websites.Ask people here if someone can get you a high quality pix of the backglass.You have to be relentless till you come up with a good quality pix.You need 2000x1500 realistically for it to look anythig close to good and higher than 72 DPI if you can,although the Blackout in the pix above is 72 DPI and it looks pretty good unless you get right on top of it.

By the way,the "Top Score" backglass in the pix above that I made was from a pix on EBAY.

I had to repro the playfield glass in a '67 rifle range, and did something similar.

Scanned the glass in (a LOT was missing). Photoshoped everything back in as best I could, then took the image to Kinkos and had them print on mylar. Did one on a clear, and one on a white-backed mylar plastic sheet.

The white-backed stuff worked great! Diffuses the light. Looks perfect. Very close to Translight material.

Hand painted the fluorescent accents on it and sandwiched between two pieces of glass (I didnt go for plexi).

Go talk to your local printer or Kinkos.

If you have the file, they'll be able to hook you up. Some great advancements in printing and substrates over the past few years.

Good luck!

I think jukehero1 has the right approach but printing on paper will never give good enough results.

I took some hi rez photos of my Sure Shot backglass last night and have been cleaning it up with PhotoShop. When I get that done, I am going to print it on Mylar and see how it looks.

Mylar is frosted (gives a very nice backlite appearance with little or no hotspotting, stable (wont sag or wrinkle like paper) is moisture stable.

2 posts up (pin-it), this link: http://backlitposters.com/ is for a company printing on Mylar.

I have access to a new HP color inkjet (48" wide bed with continious feed from a rool) and we use Mylar for Engineering Design Drawings.

Anyone interested in a good material, check this stuff out: Inkpress Media Backlight film.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=backlight+film&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

It's a plastic material for inkjet printers and comes in sizes up to 60"wide (rolls).
It comes out with a good deep coulour, and is translucent after printing (some other films are somewhat transparent, and lamps are visible thru them).

I will have to try it on Mylar.Never tried that yet.The paper was never meant to be anything more permanent than checking your artwork.With all the work you do on the graphics file you need to make sure all your score window centering and feature lights and everything line up.It will almost always be off significantly somewhere,certainly enough that you will need to correct for it before you print something more permanent.Need to do a fullscale trial run first,and do it as cheaply as possible (hence the paper)...since it will be off somewhere and you will likely toss it to do the corrected version in a more permanent mylar or translite or whatever..I'm curious on the cost of doing this on mylar though.Does anyone have some numbers cost wise?

Very interesting stuff. I have spent quite a bit of time creating a vector trace of my Klondike backglass. The reason for the vector drawing is to make the use of spot colors possible. Even though the inkjet printer I will use is cmyk, it has a set of spot color swatches that it does a great job with. My intention is to print the artwork on translucent vinyl with the windows cut out. Then create a second layer on opaque vinyl of just the lighted shapes cut out. Line up both and laminate them together and mount them behind glass like a translite.

I think you might be on to something there pafasa.

I think as long as your mask is opaque enough, and both pieces register properly it will look awesome.

Even though I sold Klondike, I am going to continue with this project. I think it will work great. Registering the two layers is no issue at all. Hope to have it done soon.

There's no doubt in my mind that this will work for translites. You would still need a second layer of some kind to replace the aluminum masking on a backglass. Maybe if a person were to scan and print the aluminum side and make a stencil, they could use light blocking paint from the hardware store.

The GameonGrafix web site says "Please do not upload scans of Original Reproduction pinballs. We can not print them, sorry."

If I send them a PhotoShop of my Gottlieb Sure Shot backglass, will they print it?

I didn't have any problems.I made sure to edit out anything that said "Copyright" on the scan though.Also if it's something that nobody is reproducing I doubt anyone will care.You are not selling them you are just trying to restore your own machine,right?

I've taken two of these to York.
It's a lot of work.
It's not cheap.
But a every pinball must have a backglass.

This GC stole from a friend of mine so I wouldn't deal w/em.

Printing e m pinball backglass art lining up score Wheels

wms_darling2 (resized).jpg

How do I make sure the score wheels are lined up when I have this picture blown up and print it on paper

cut out the windows and hold it up to the backboard

What's a good DPI size cuz I'm going to edit this picture in Photoshop to the right DPI size

Why does the image say Jubilee bottom center? Also, 1, 2, 3, 4 can play spot lights is not right on a Two Player machine like Darling.

Screenprinting yields a resolution of 200-300 DPI, so working with the latter in Photoshop should suffice.

I'm guessing the image was "borrowed" from the BGResto website. 72 dpi at 9" x 8" isn't going to give you the results you're hoping for. You can always scale down from a higher resolution but going the other way isn't going to work.

If Bgresto have spent the time and done the art why not get it from Steve?

I have had a few backglasses done at bgresto. It was about 4 years ago but my experience was great! There is a lot that goes into making your own. Probably more than you might expect. I tried to make my own in the past. Getting the art ready was extremely time consuming. Fun, but only if you you have the time. Steve at BGResto is a definite good option for a reproduction.

I just received a BG Resto glass from Steve for Hokus Pokus. It is beautiful. Earlier in the summer did my own for Triple Action and not nearly as nice, but Steve didn't have TA artwork and I had no glass to send him. In the case of Hokus Pokus, I got the machine cheap enough, that still would make a couple of bucks if decided to sell it. So one of the decisions is whether the game is worth the cost of a good reproduction glass, or whether you don't care if you are upside down in the machine because you are going to keep it.

Oh, and Randy, lining up the score reels, credit window, and all the ball count and match numbers and lights was a real challenge on the TA backglass. We printed several full size white papers with just the numbers, and outlines for windows to put into the back box, then noted corrections, then did it again until everything matched correctly. Then cut the numbers and windows out of black sign vinyl and applied to the back side of the image to create the black out areas and numbers. Would do it again if needed, but not fun.

I have contacted them via email but I have gotten no response that's what I have tried to do contact people companies to see if they have a file from when they restored one cuz mine is pretty bad off I rather get a translite made but nobody has the file if you could help me find one that would be great point me in the right direction that would be great thank you very much as you can see mine is pretty bad

15417093050621709040181 (resized).jpg

I have to go to work so I'll get back with you guys a little later here's my email if you find something you can send it to me thank you very much. [email protected]..