Nice, I was just thinking about doing the same thing to mine. I replaced the nails with screws the last time I did this. That way you can take it off easily if you need to.
Sanded the playfield with a block sander while I wait for my 4 to 1 mixing ratio cans of clear and hardener to arrive in the mail.
I’ll drip clear into the sunken areas and into circular voids around the inserts. Problem I’m trying to resolve is how to dam up the clear from just dripping out through the tops of the arrows. maybe build up some epoxy from behind and hope it holds the pool of clear in?
You can pretty much see clean through the top of each arrow and the clear was running through the bottom when I tried the eye drop method with the SprayMax the other day.
image (resized).jpg
I know absolutely nothing about clearing a Playfield but maybe try putting some modeling clay under the insert. That is what I do when plugging bowling balls when the holes meet at the bottom and I only want to fill 1 hole. After it is all set up just thank the clay out.
I ended up mixing a 2 part epoxy and using a toothpick to smooth a layer around all the inserts where it meets the wood. Felt like I was doing microscopic drywall. Should be good to go now.
Using the same method as the legs I sanded down the side rails.
2 coats of primer.
3 coats of Black.
Then 5 coats of clear.
I screwed up though, didn’t check the weather. It’s going to get down to 32 tonight. Paints probably going to freeze before it’s dry.
At the moment it looks amazing. Wondering if I should bring it into the basement in a few hours.
97EB579F-A21F-4804-998D-3D86AFA14AEE (resized).jpeg3E423825-5C5B-4E0B-B854-3AAA517524BA (resized).jpegDA38A394-ABDC-4E35-B865-8790DF51E355 (resized).jpegThe carriage bolts were rusted pretty bad and pitted. After the evaporust bath I put them in the drill and ran them over 220 600 1000 grit sand paper then buffed.
89C63F51-AFBB-4882-9E2D-6185DBA28D7E (resized).jpegF35B32F1-892B-4BA3-9FC0-63711E9E64A7 (resized).jpeg4F9000A0-3D76-4560-9B51-E85F318578E9 (resized).png
Wanted to see how the rails will look with the new buttons and stainless screws. I’m really liking the contrast. E0D2D4A9-79AA-4729-945E-6B836C536593 (resized).jpeg
Getting there I guess.
Inserts are still leaking like a drain. Need to figure out a plan for waterslides. The type I have look pretty bad on my test piece. They didn’t have a bad reaction or anything they just look terrible.
Quoted from mrm_4:Getting there I guess.
Inserts are still leaking like a drain.
You can always try damming them up from the bottom with packing tape to hold the epoxy/whatever in to keep it from flowing through.
Quoted from mrm_4:Also applied Satin black to the apron and shooter lane cover. I’ll actually apply this decal in a day or 2.[quoted image][quoted image]
Where did you get the decal for the apron? I've been hunting this down for a while.
Quoted from tflick:Where did you get the decal for the apron? I've been hunting this down for a while.
It’s a bad repo but it’s the only one on the planet
https://www.bestofpinball.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=Firepower+
Great job on restoration. I have restored many firepower’s in this condition. I enjoy the amazing before and after pics. After years of restoration I came to the following conclusion. Try to get a game working or almost working with limited cabinet work needed. Invest in a new reproduction playfield. This limits the work to a basic swap of parts and minor touch-up. It save many hours of labor. Your going to be about 2k in cost and end up with a 5k+ game. All playfield colors will be nice and bright with a perfect clearcoat.
I wet sanded the orange peel effect off of my side rails and applied another layer of clear.
Things were going perfect until about 3 seconds after my last pass and a fucking mosquito landed right in the middle of the rail. I tried my best to plunk it out of the wet paint but it made a mess of things so I did one more pass to flood that area and like always I used too much and it wrinkled the paint. This hobby is stupid and I hate it. Burning this whole thing tonight in my fire pit.
In other news I have now 6 cans of SprayMax on my playfield.
Finally every imperfection is ABOVE the inserts so now I’ll be able to block sand the drips.
But we all know what will happen. As soon as I start to get it level, all of the low spots where the inserts meet the wood will reveal themselves again and I’ll be back to square one.
Stay tuned to see how I become my own worst enemy and completely ruin a decent project, next on “Matt Sucks at Everything!”
1BEDEB71-BBBF-4592-8F6C-E6A13C1B8ABB (resized).jpeg20169BAE-EBC4-477F-A887-3138F45B8CCA (resized).jpeg
Quoted from mrm_4:I wet sanded the orange peel effect off of my side rails and applied another layer of clear.
Things were going perfect until about 3 seconds after my last pass and a fucking mosquito landed right in the middle of the rail. I tried my best to plunk it out of the wet paint but it made a mess of things so I did one more pass to flood that area and like always I used too much and it wrinkled the paint. This hobby is stupid and I hate it. Burning this whole thing tonight in my fire pit.[quoted image]
Even more of a reason to hate mosquitos, haha
Quoted from mrm_4:It’s a bad repo but it’s the only one on the planet
https://www.bestofpinball.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=Firepower+
Thanks for the link, great job so far on the restore, looking forward to more pics
I have had clearcoat cause the wrinkled paint effect on model rockets before. I have finally learned to let the color coat dry at least a week before clearing and hasn't happened since. Very frustrating but looks great so keep at it!
Quoted from mrm_4:In other news I have now 6 cans of SprayMax on my pile of shit playfield.
Finally every imperfection is ABOVE the inserts so now I’ll be able to block sand the drips.
But we all know what will happen. As soon as I start to get it level, all of the low spots where the inserts meet the wood will reveal themselves again and I’ll be back to square one.
Stay tuned to see how I become my own worst enemy and completely ruin a decent project, next on “Matt Sucks at Everything!”[quoted image][quoted image]
I really hope this comment was a joke. Your work is amazing to me. This is one of the best threads on Pinside, and your knowledge will help others. Sure, I can certainly understand your frustrations, but you'll get through it.
You're doing great! I wouldn't even attempt something like this.
Chris
Thanks for showing us when things go wrong, best way to learn is from the mistakes. It also makes the feeling at the end when it all looks awesome that much better! Looking forward to further progress!
Quoted from Da-Shaker:Even more of a reason to hate mosquitos, haha
Quoted from tflick:Thanks for the link, great job so far on the restore, looking forward to more pics
Quoted from swillie:I have had clearcoat cause the wrinkled paint effect on model rockets before. I have finally learned to let the color coat dry at least a week before clearing and hasn't happened since. Very frustrating but looks great so keep at it!
Quoted from SilverUnicorn:I really hope this comment was a joke. Your work is amazing to me. This is one of the best threads on Pinside, and your knowledge will help others. Sure, I can certainly understand your frustrations, but you'll get through it.
You're doing great! I wouldn't even attempt something like this.
Chris
Quoted from ReadyPO:Thanks for showing us when things go wrong, best way to learn is from the mistakes. It also makes the feeling at the end when it all looks awesome that much better! Looking forward to further progress!
Quoted from gdonovan:Keep trucking brother! Will be awesome when done and you will have a tale to tell.
Thanks for the motivation guys, after i get out of my pouting crybaby mode I'll get my brain into recovery mode for that rail. I'll probably use the Rustoleum 2in1 primer and filler to fix the wrinkle. I sanded the wrinkle down and it removed a lot of chunks of paint. It looks pretty terrible.
I sanded the playfield level and the inserts actually turned out pretty good. So thats a load off...
Quoted from mrm_4:Thanks for the motivation guys, after i get out of my pouting crybaby mode I'll get my brain into recovery mode for that rail. I'll probably use the Rustoleum 2in1 primer and filler to fix the wrinkle. I sanded the wrinkle down and it removed a lot of chunks of paint. It looks pretty terrible.
I sanded the playfield level and the inserts actually turned out pretty good. So thats a load off...
Your should probably quit pinball and sell me your firepower real cheap...
I got my waterslide decals printed today and I sanded just the inserts up to 3000 grit then polished with Ultimate Compound.
Laid down 1 waterslide on the FIRE insert to test it out (go big or go home) then decided to lay another waterslide down on that one to double up the text.
Damn, it looks good!
85312CE8-2CEC-41E0-A3E0-A99A3E4202B9 (resized).jpeg6E3501BA-FAFC-4095-9C40-51BAEC11948A (resized).jpeg
1 waterslide AC68992C-1134-425A-BDE6-4C3FABEDAA52 (resized).jpeg2 waterslides 6FA271DA-BDF8-462F-A263-535FEB2C6C36 (resized).jpeg
EFB21905-A0C5-4B69-93D9-D3B55E51DED5 (resized).jpeg
Looking good!
On the decals, if you have access to the printer, it may be easier to just run them through twice to get the right darkness for the letters. I think I did screw one up with poor alignment, but the printer did get the second aligned without a ghost image on the letters. That might be easier than aligning multiple decals by hand. You can always try first with a regular piece of paper to see how consistent the printer feeds.
Quoted from setzkor:Looking good!
On the decals, if you have access to the printer, it may be easier to just run them through twice to get the right darkness for the letters. I think I did screw one up with poor alignment, but the printer did get the second aligned without a ghost image on the letters. That might be easier than aligning multiple decals by hand. You can always try first with a regular piece of paper to see how consistent the printer feeds.
i had to go to Staples to get them printed so I couldnt get the double run. I should be ok with the alignment as I layer them. We'll see how it goes.
Quoted from setzkor:Looking good!
On the decals, if you have access to the printer, it may be easier to just run them through twice to get the right darkness for the letters. I think I did screw one up with poor alignment, but the printer did get the second aligned without a ghost image on the letters. That might be easier than aligning multiple decals by hand. You can always try first with a regular piece of paper to see how consistent the printer feeds.
I’m so glad you resized the outline on these decals man. They all fit dead on and cover all the places I was worried about. Makes the transition from insert to playfield seamless
I think most were sized to what I saw on my playfield. Some I might have fattened up since I had a pretty poorly registered printing on my playfield. A little extra never hurt anybody...
Ehhh it’s good enough for decals.
I should’ve sanded it down to wood and skimmed it with bondo but the filler/primer “looked” like it had a perfect surface. Can’t be for sure until it’s glossy though.
The 5 on the "x5" looks upside down compared to the others. Is that correct?
or will you rotate it?
Looking good!
Quoted from bernieberg:The 5 on the "x5" looks upside down compared to the others. Is that correct?
or will you rotate it?
Looking good!
...good eye.
Quoted from bernieberg:The 5 on the "x5" looks upside down compared to the others. Is that correct?
or will you rotate it?
Looking good!
Nicely spotted - if you rotate it, it'd be "5x" and then look odd compare to the others. I guess very few would spot the 5 being upside down once on the machine, however once you know it's there you can't un-see it.
Edit: Clearly rotating would fix the issue as all the other multipliers have the "x" after the number - clearly my eyesight is shot
As soon as the temps are back in the 60s I’ll clear the playfield
In the meantime I’m doing a few things to get the backbox finished.
Decided to lacquer the transformer and make a new label for it.
The screws had some paper wrapping that I just replaced with electrical tape.
118312CB-D7DD-4999-A241-DE9CB5758A16 (resized).jpeg
Old 2F6A520C-21E0-4F50-8F3F-60D09258EB04 (resized).jpeg
New348D9404-1A30-4C40-A88F-6FFBC0BAFCCA (resized).jpeg
Quoted from mrm_4:It’s fine fellasThanks for checking tho[quoted image]
Playfield looks great!
Quoted from ChipScott:Playfield looks great!
Thanks can’t wait to clear over the decals and get it finished. It’s been a battle, if anyone has been following me crying like a baby in the SprayMax club thread you’d see my gripes about sanding and decals. But it’s ready to go.
Quoted from Manny65:Nicely spotted - if you rotate it, it'd be "5x" and then look odd compare to the others. I guess very few would spot the 5 being upside down once on the machine, however once you know it's there you can't un-see it.
All the 5s match except the one on the orange arrow. Wonder why they did that when making the art.
Same reason the 100 and 1000 near the spinner have different "1's"...as well as the 1000's near the outlanes. There are so many font errors on Firepower it should become a drinking game. As I recall though, the 5 for the triangle on the decal for the orange arrow did match the original 5, albeit different than the other "5's"
I laid the backbox on its side to install new footers and decided it’s time lay the decals.
28248613-D20C-4D73-BA1E-2ADF2086B5B5 (resized).jpeg
I missed a photo op for my method but I lined up the decal and clamped it down at the top and in the middle on the side of the opening. Then I peeled the backing off the bottom and folded it under to adhere the bottom 6 inches or so.
Then I use my fingers and a microfiber towel to slide back and forth as I gradually pull back on the backing.
EE589B2A-E845-4C35-ABF2-88C247D27A1A (resized).jpeg
The decals are great!
0B74FD3D-2D77-4977-BF11-5772E87BB800 (resized).jpeg
Installed the backbox metal cut out the lock hole and I polished up the carriage bolts too. Looks pretty snazzy.
9309574C-0400-409A-B86E-AB31391F29A7 (resized).jpeg6DCB5A56-B8BF-46AE-90E8-DA04719F628D (resized).jpeg0D8960FF-BF9D-4FCA-B155-4A34B1F69ACC (resized).jpeg
Time to put the guts back in the back box.
First I needed to desolder the connectors from the old rectifiers. Not sure if this was a hack or if this crap was done in the factory but what a pain.
A2B114F4-05BA-4B5C-B231-B53F2A1885F0 (resized).jpeg
The new rectifiers are smaller than the original that’s for sure. I hope I have the orientation right with these...
454210AB-2583-4480-B664-E58ADC9BA917 (resized).jpeg513CDA37-0A22-4643-8A9D-5D147EA22FF4 (resized).jpeg
Got the boards installed and spent more time than I care to share trying to figure out where all the wires were supposed to go.
Also made new labels. Seemed odd putting labels back in for a board that’s not in use but oh well.
C64DB71B-46B9-485D-B55F-19B55D3856EF (resized).jpeg9EE6F022-A724-413F-B7C5-C6FF48E5BAE9 (resized).jpegB8E0DE8E-E80A-41F4-9D2C-52BD0B64666C (resized).jpeg
I really hope everything is where it’s supposed to be and actually works...
Doesn’t look to bad compared to what I started out with.
C985D6FD-8490-4427-BCDE-430BAB31CC7F (resized).jpeg
Quoted from mrm_4:Time to put the guys back in the back box.
First I needed to desolder the connectors from the old rectifiers. Not sure if this was a hack or if this crap was done in the factory but what a pain.
The new rectifiers are smaller the original that’s for sure. I hope I have the orientation right with these...
Got the boards installed and spent more time than I care to share trying to figure out where all the wires were supposed to go. Also made new labels. Seemed odd putting labels back in for a board that’s not in use but oh well.
I really hope everything is where it’s supposed to be and actually works...
Doesn’t look to bad compared to what I started out with.[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Please don't "hope" you have the bridges wired up correctly, please verify. You can do lots of damage if they are wired incorrectly (blowing the big blue cap, boards, etc).
On the new bridge rectifiyers, the single lug that is turned differently than the others is the positive lead, the lug diagonally from the postitive lug is the negative. The other 2 lugs go to the transformer.
I got a back glass to replace the nightmare this game originally had. Thanks to Deez he gave me one from his current game because he lucked out and got a really nice repo. So my new glass had just minor blemishes. Few scratches here and there. The green, yellow, black, and red were able to be touched up either by hand or airbrush. But I noticed the blue was just flaking away if you looked at it funny.
79E56FA4-13C4-4158-B33A-34DDB37DE40D (resized).jpeg89CF9405-F33E-4EC1-B4CC-3969EAF66809 (resized).jpeg
434394F6-65B1-4C05-9329-883F7623A202 (resized).jpeg
4D8DD4D6-3201-48A2-85C7-B52350A6B9F5 (resized).jpegC2011943-642F-439E-BB24-C1DDB0E00172 (resized).jpegF40D2A07-C5C1-4A50-B477-63299C584DF4 (resized).jpeg
I tried to paint where I could but just having the brush touch the blue paint would cause it to dust off so I sealed it using the tape method Steve from BGResto makes you do before you mail him a glass.
6137DA80-E2D0-492A-847B-76F5B5D0094C (resized).jpegEB7314BB-3C77-4404-AD78-AFF5433CBD22 (resized).jpeg7D3BC797-FE0E-4E31-9B5B-D71B89668B66 (resized).jpeg
Then I painted the blue areas the best I could over the tape.
450651C0-2878-4746-A571-B1C91FEE990A (resized).jpeg5E8C6A99-CAC2-439E-AD22-D66EDA8438BB (resized).jpeg
I think it turned out ok and in 30 years when the tape starts to yellow you guys can yell at me.
D21D886A-5832-416B-AFC1-7A1F3432A01F (resized).jpeg
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dumpster-firepower/page/4 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.