First time playfield touch ups - advice needed please | Playfield restoration

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#1 1 year ago

OP

???

moonrakercat

Pinside member

Elora, ON

1y 20,650 17

Hi - this is my first post - please be kind. I recently purchased a 73 Gottlieb big shot - this is only my second pin -- yes I'm getting addicted - it is mainly for my kids & I - I have them on weekends - they love it - we have a game room - with a pool table, air hockey table & ping pong table, multi arcade table & pinball machine. It's great for bonding. I love the pinball machines - especially the older em machines - slower action - but so enjoyable.

My first pin I bought a few months ago is a Fan-tas-tic with a 9/10 playfield - wonderful machine I had to troubleshoot the electrical on it - tough but fixed. The big shot I just purchased - it has a good playfield, excellent backglass and needs attention in two areas as shown. Initially I bought some basic craft store acrylic paints meaning to just touch things up. But after spending an hour or so reading Vic's posts - realizing the work of a master - I know I better seek some help if I want to do this better than average - I'd like to fix it up nice - not perfect - but quite good - and I'd like to do it once - not over. I know I could spend many hours reading his posts - but I'm a dad - and run my own graphic business - and have so many things to fix around the house that it makes my head spin - so I have limited time. I'm no stranger to an exacto knife - and use high power reading glasses at times for detailed work - I also have a large format roland inkjet printer at my disposal. My work is mainly with vinyl graphics - not painting.

After doing some reading I know I should get some createx paint and an airbrush - the area below and to the left of the 8 ball graphic is where the kick out ball lands - and it's a bit of a depression - I was going to add some bondo here - put some frisket around it - sand it flush best I can then shoot it with some mixed matched color - I don't know if I should shoot some automotive clear over top ? or just wax it several times - the existing clear on the playfield is old thin and cracked - albeit in fair shape and any clear I add will stand out - so not sure how to complete this fix. I'll probably try to slightly bend the kick out arm so that the ball does not land in this spot any longer - should help the fix.

The area near the flippers has the typical wear near the 3000 and bonus value - and has been previously been touched up. It's not too warn here - so I was thinking just a few layers of paint and some careful brushing with some matched red, black outlining for the target - and maybe some off white for the lettering to bring it back up - again - not sure if I need to add some clearcoat or just a few wax jobs to fix it.

I'd like to fix these two areas so they last for a few thousand more plays - which will be many years with my kids. Am I taking the right approch here ? Am I going overboard and should just fix it with some simple brush strokes with my basic store bought acrylic paint then wax overtop ? I've got some new LED bulbs coming and new rubbers as well as a new ball, I'm in the process of taking things apart - so I figured I might as well spend a bit more and try to fix up the playfield. This is my first attempt at any playfield work

Any advice is appreciated - Thanks in advance - Matt.

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1

#2 1 year ago

TAB

DanMarino

Pinside member

Clarksville, MD

3y 97,300 4,303 6 15

I'm working on a Fireball EM right now as my first time painting a playfield and attempting touch ups. This weekend I'm spraying layers of clear. I'm looking forward to the re-assembly.

My recommendation is to use acrylic paint and a toothpick to touch up the areas.
I don't think airbrushing is necessary, unless it is something you want to try. I already had an airbrush, but hadn't used it in 32 years. I only used the airbrush to spray the areas white under the playfield plastics since mine was so discolored.
If you go the airbrush route, you will need to spray a layer of clear first over the entire playfield. Because masking off and using frisket is likely to pull up old/original paint when you remove it.

After touching up with acrylic paint, I recommend clear coating the entire playfield, unless you can apply some sort of playfield protector over the entire thing.

If you are going to clear coat everything, it will take months before the game is playable again.

Touchups and waxing is the quickest route. In my experience the newly painted areas will wear away unless you clear them or apply mylar or a playfield protector over them.

Yours looks like a great first project to attempt. The damage is minimal. You can always do the touch ups with acrylic paint by hand, wax it, and see how long it lasts.

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#3 1 year ago

OP

???

moonrakercat

Pinside member

Elora, ON

1y 20,650 17

Quoted from DanMarino:
I'm working on a Fireball EM right now as my first time painting a playfield and attempting touch ups. This weekend I'm spraying layers of clear. I'm looking forward to the re-assembly.
My recommendation is to use acrylic paint and a toothpick to touch up the areas.
I don't think airbrushing is necessary, unless it is something you want to try. I already had an airbrush, but hadn't used it in 32 years. I only used the airbrush to spray the areas white under the playfield plastics since mine was so discolored.
If you go the airbrush route, you will need to spray a layer of clear first over the entire playfield. Because masking off and using frisket is likely to pull up old/original paint when you remove it.
After touching up with acrylic paint, I recommend clear coating the entire playfield, unless you can apply some sort of playfield protector over the entire thing.
If you are going to clear coat everything, it will take months before the game is playable again.
Touchups and waxing is the quickest route. In my experience the newly painted areas will wear away unless you clear them or apply mylar or a playfield protector over them.
Yours looks like a great first project to attempt. The damage is minimal. You can always do the touch ups with acrylic paint by hand, wax it, and see how long it lasts.

Hi Dan - thanks for the advice - I don't want to clear the whole board - and the last thing I want to do is pull up the old paint - although the old paint has adhered quite well - I've cleaned up all the black smudging from the steel ball off the playfield with spray 9 - and haven't had any old paint come off. I think rather than a toothpick I'd use a fine brush as the areas are quite large - then put a few coates of wax on afterward and see how things last. That is what I'm leaning to doing now - definitely the fastest fix - maybe not the best - but sometimes easiest is the best way.

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#4 1 year ago

TAB

DanMarino

Pinside member

Clarksville, MD

3y 97,300 4,303 6 15

Awesome. Don’t be afraid. The best part is that the acrylic paint wipes off easily if you don’t like the way it dries. Be sure to post pictures of how it turns out.

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#5 1 year ago

GHL

Garrett

Pinside+ Frequent

Pinckney, MI

11y 92,300 3,268 3 45

If your time is limited then paint touch up and wax will work. As previously stated, the paint will wear over time. If the inserts are no longer flush then a round piece of Mylar are a quick fix. I’ve used this method with good results.

You can’t just clear coat a small area, it will be very noticeable. And doing a clear coat is a lengthy process. But we’ll worth it. Polishing out my first attempt now on an Aztec that had a really poor playfield. I would recommend getting an old playfield to practice on to get some experience.

Vid’s guide is excellent and highly recommend reading that thread. The prep is the key to a nice result.

Since I do not have the set up to spray an auto clear product at home I went with the water based Varathane. Most people use rattle cans but found using a fine paint pad resulted in a smoother layer than a rattle can. The paint pad required far less sanding than the slight orange peel caused by the rattle can.

I tried dry sanding and impossible to keep the paper clean. Wet sanding with naphtha was far easier and requires less time than dry sanding.

Also, if you decide to clear coat, the paint touch ups change color when under the clear coat. For paint touch ups you must ensure the paint is dry and wipe it with naphtha to see what the color is actually going to look like once under the clear.

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#6 1 year ago

OP

???

moonrakercat

Pinside member

Elora, ON

1y 20,650 17

Quoted from Garrett:
If your time is limited then paint touch up and wax will work. As previously stated, the paint will wear over time. If the inserts are no longer flush then a round piece of Mylar are a quick fix. I’ve used this method with good results.
You can’t just clear coat a small area, it will be very noticeable. And doing a clear coat is a lengthy process. But we’ll worth it. Polishing out my first attempt now on an Aztec that had a really poor playfield. I would recommend getting an old playfield to practice on to get some experience.
Vid’s guide is excellent and highly recommend reading that thread. The prep is the key to a nice result.
Since I do not have the set up to spray an auto clear product at home I went with the water based Varathane. Most people use rattle cans but found using a fine paint pad resulted in a smoother layer than a rattle can. The paint pad required far less sanding than the slight orange peel caused by the rattle can.
I tried dry sanding and impossible to keep the paper clean. Wet sanding with naphtha was far easier and requires less time than dry sanding.
Also, if you decide to clear coat, the paint touch ups change color when under the clear coat. For paint touch ups you must ensure the paint is dry and wipe it with naphtha to see what the color is actually going to look like once under the clear.
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Thanks for the advice - appreciated. That's a really nice job - beautiful clear - amazing. I bet you have a few hours into that one. I don't think I'm going to be doing a clear - I wonder what the machines looked like when they were new from williams/bally.