I bought a CPR Fish Tales a while back and going to start my restoration sometime this winter.

It's a Bronze and only issue it has it's warped about 3/4". With the rails on, it's about 1/4". Once populated it's going to lay flat. Nice score.

These Fish Tales are notable for having some ripple in the clear and inserts lower than the playfield as the wood continued expending. Call it whatever you like.

Also got the mini-playfield with minor black paint missing on the edge and i'm going to address that as well.

Now I had this playfield for more than a year. I'm going to sand flat and shoot them again with SprayMax 2K. I got to do it before winter times hit Canada, which could be tomorrow...

My Pinbot playfield restoration gave me the confidence to tackle this and take a step back with a "perfectly" good playfield
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You can see how the insert sits lower and also how there is sanding swirl marks in the current clear.
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I handsanded with green pad the holes and scoop. I'm going to try a different technique this time and machine sand using a random orbital sander using 800 grit dry. If I'm not happy with the process, will go back with wet block sand.
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Mini was block wet sanded as it is very small and insert were flatter than on the main playfield.
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Correction, it's actually 800 grit I bought for my sander.

About that, I did sand the playfield this morning. It went well but I decided to go wet as it much easier to clean the sandpaper. Since the playfield is unpopulated, it will be easier to clean.

After I finished sanding, I could notice swirl marks from the sanding. Orbital sander are still agressive even with 800. So I did another pass but with pretty much no pressure, just let the 800 wet float over the playfield. It came out immaculate.

My sander is not rated for water and started making noise. At the very end, the random motion stopped working and it was only spinning... will have to take it apart see what's going on.

The paintshop was closed (damn you google) and will have to wait Monday to shoot the clear. Weather is supposed to be fine but i still plan to put some heater in the shed for the overnight temp drop.

Will report back. Pictures coming

Nice flat surface.

I'm sorry to report that I killed my sander. Burnt smell...

Will take half a day off from work to clear Monday morning. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!

Before:
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After:
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Setup to shoot tomorrow. Added a small heater to warm it up and maintain a decent temperature over night or the first 48 hours.

I "improved" my setup from last time with Pinbot to try minimizing the dust that could fall from the ceiling by adding a tarp. It was a non-issue with Pinbot but for $1.50 it rather not take the chance. Why not. Of course I vacuumed the hell of the shed prior.

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Was able to shoot Monday morning. Overall it went well. I had some trouble maintaining consistent flow while spraying and had to shake the can in the middle of passes.

I could have afforded more material thus some people using 3/4 of 2 cans instead of one. I still got a yet coat throughout.

I got some slight orange peel at a few places but very hard to see, I could not get a good picture of it.

I also got some speckle, probably dust. I did not have any with my Pinbot and I took extra safety measure this time and ended up with some. Go figure.

I'll be using my mini-playfield as test bed to see if buffing alone can get it smooth. I did not want to wet sand if I did not need to but this test will tell. Worst case I do yet sand probably starting at 800 or 1000 grit.

The finish from this clear from Spraymax 2k is noticeably shinier than the production clear from CPR. No complain, just better shine imho.

Most importantly, I filled in all my inserts and smooth over bare wood area. The clear will continue to cure over the next few weeks before I try to buff the mini. I'm in no hurry on this one, well that's the plan...

I shot my clear in the morning and was able to take the playfield inside in the evening. Odor were not an issue and outside temp was not either.

Before:
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After:
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Dust speckles:
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Overall results:
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Thanks guys.

I did not even think of compatibility issues before now...

I'll probably wet sand as you suggested. A stripped playfield cleans up pretty easy. Also, on my Pinbot, I had to level high spot after my final clear and started at 600 grit thus giving me more work and having a hard time getting rid of sanding marks. Using my orbital sander and higher grit should be a non-issue this time around.