I've been working on a FH restore for a friend in the Sacramento Pinball Group (SPG), and I've been sharing some semi-regular updates with SPG, but I thought I'd share a few pics with Pinside. I started this project in December, and I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! I hope to be finished within the next few weeks! If you're interested in seeing all the pics so far, you can follow the link to my flickr account: http://tinyurl.com/88su47n

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Thanks! The touch up in front of the scoop hole was easy! It was replaced with a repro pf from IPB! This is a full pf swap.

Can you post a before picture here?
Robert

Here are three before pics, but there are a bunch in the link I provided. I didn't want to post them all here because there are 50+.

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The decals were purchased from Gene (Illinois Pinball) at the PPE show last fall.

The paint is a PPG product in oil-base gloss. A mom and pop paint store did a custom match for me. It blends very well, but it's not exact. From one angle it looks darker, from another angle it looks lighter, and other times it looks perfect. I think that has a lot to do with the gloss.

I don't have the code, but the paint store has my color on file. The problem with sharing codes and FH blue matches is the decals are not always the same color. Another friend of mine in SPG brought his decals to my house, and they were different. My blue paint wasn't going to work for him.

Everyone's methods are different, but that's the basics of it. I do the following:

1. strip
2. remove adhesive
3. fill large holes/edges/corners with Bondo
4. sand
5. prime
6. fill small holes with wood filler
7. sand/prime again
8. paint
9. scuff sand areas getting decals

Here's a pic of the underside of the playfield before the harnesses are re-installed.

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Nutty, here's a pic of the same area. Looks like the post broke off in the t-nut, which is under the subway.

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If you have the set-up for HVLP, that would probably be best. I use a quart of oil-based semi with foam rollers. For the areas getting decals, one coat with a scuff sand it sufficient. For the areas exposed, at least two coats with a scuff sand between is necessary.

The quarts are about $12 - $15 and will do the entire cabinet. If you spray with rattle cans, it will take 6 - 8 cans at $4+ each. The exposed areas will have sheen striping because the spray paint dries too fast. You get a wet edge on a dry edge, and the sheen will be different. In small areas, you won't notice, like the front of the head, but the back of the head or interior panels won't look very good.