Well, while I build funds for pin #3, I'm embarking on a wall art project for a beater Eight Ball Deluxe LE playfield. I have the playfield, backglass, and Airfield LED kit for an integrated light show & attract mode.

The plan is to lift the mylar, clean & sand, touch up the art, and clearcoat. Once the playfield is ready to hang, I'll install the LEDs and board and somehow mount the backglass to the playfield. Not sure how I'm going to do that part yet.

The playfield arrived today -- typical beater playfield. Mylar was (badly) cut and set on top of the playfield after significant wear. I removed the top half of the mylar... along with much of the paint. I'll have to touch up much more than planned.

Tomorrow I remove the remaining mylar and clean/sand everything to prep for painting.

The goal is not to have a collector's quality playfield, but have some fun and end up with something neat to look at in the gameroom. Wish me luck!

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Top mylar removed... along with a ton of paint

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Pulled the bottom portion of the mylar -- and Good Lord, it pulled up basically all of the paint. My minor touch up job has turned into significant painting. I also discovered tons of Sharpie touch ups and Scotch tape.

I'm hand painting everything vs. airbrush -- I'm better at it, there's less mess, and it's relaxing. Ordered a 36 color acrylic paint set and I'm using a small detail brush.

It's extremely tedious, but if you're standing across the room and you squint hard enough, it looks decent.

All mylar removed and significant paint loss:

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Touch ups all over the playfield -- working in no particular order:

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Slow going, but almost there. Color matching is tricky, but details are much better around the guns and pool balls. Look at the before and after around the red at the top and bottom -- much cleaner.

Probably another week or so of painting, then sanding and clearcoat. LEDs are programmed and ready to mount!

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It's genuinely a lot of fun -- it gives me a relaxing project for a few hours a week. I didn't anticipate this much effort, but I think the final result will be a neat addition to the game room. Not quitting my day job, though.

Great idea, and much cheaper than the AirField option. I'll tell you, though, that the sky is the limit with the kinds of patterns you can make with the programmable LEDs. I've got around 15 patterns programmed so far (slow fade, fast fade, fan, star, explosion, etc), and I'm pretty excited to see how it looks in person.

Painting and touch-ups are complete. Sprayed the first layer of clear last night -- two more coats over the next two days, then sanding, then more clear.

I'm happy with the way it turned out, especially with the major paint loss after I removed the mylar. The lines aren't perfect, and some of the text is blurred, but it was fun project.

I'll update the thread next week once the clear is finished and sanded. Then the LED conversion starts!

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I used freeze spray, but the issue was that the previous owner installed the mylar AFTER the playfield started to wear. It was trimmed badly, so I assume he just cut some mylar and slapped it on top of the dirty playfield. I also found scotch tape, sharpie, etc.

I removed the mylar on my F-14 (freeze spray) with zero issues, but that was likely installed on a new playfield.

In hindsight, I probably should have soaked the playfield with Goo Gone and been more methodical. I simply didn't expect that level of paint loss with freeze spray, but it certainly gave me an opportunity to perform massive touch-ups!

6 coats of clear later, and I'm just about done. Still need to sand with 1200 grit and polish with Novus 2, but I need to wait 2 weeks for the clear to cure.

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Labeled the inserts on the back of the playfield. I also blacked out the open holes (pop bumpers, flipper holes, etc).

After I taped the LEDs to the inserts, I mounted the board and added the mounting hooks.

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Mounted! I added a block to the back after these photos were taken so it's more level with the wall, but it looks great in person. The AirField LEDs are amazing and the chase sequences I programmed turned out very well.

Next is backglass restoration and mounting, so I'll keep the thread updated.

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After painting, sanding, spraying, and lighting the playfield for 2 weeks, I hung it on the wall. My wife said: "It's just for the wall?? I thought you were going to play on it."

That's awesome! There's just something cool about hanging a playfield. Looks like you're using Christmas lights, which still looks great and is certainly much cheaper.

Spraying the second coat of krylon on the backglass tonight, then touch-ups. I'm not really sure how to connect a back-lit backglass to the playfield without heavy plywood. Anybody have a good idea?

Thanks! This is still hanging in my house. I bought another LED kit during the massive sale for my Mustang playfield.

It's a fun project for sure. Post pictures when you can.