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.

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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.

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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.

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 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?

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?