I wonder if the back of the cabinet has been sitting stored vertically, on a concrete floor. It may have sucked moisture for years, preventing your primer/paint to fully cure.

On my Xenon, I had a similar issue where the back of the cabinet had sucked so much water and moisture from sitting on the ground/concrete, that it was warped and chipping. The little plastic feet are useless when it comes to isolating the cabinet from the ground.

Yes, try to isolate with Kilz (only the back), let it dry and paint one coat of yellow. Then place the machine against the wall.
You will never look at it again.

Yves

I had an e-Mail exchange with Jeff from Pinball Pimp, and he mentioned using the Rustoleum 2x Prime+Paint in Gloss for the Museum Quality restoration of his Mata Hari.

Of course, Jeff lives in Florida where the weather is hot but humid. Apparently, he has no problem with this brand of spray cans.

Mrm_4, I am like you, restoring a Mata Hari and about to embark with the Rustoleum spray cans that I just bought this morning. I have not started stripping the cabinet of its original paint and wondered how I will approach this delicate task:

- Roughly sand the original paint and patch holes and blemishes. Then paint over with the Marigold can, without any primer.
- Take it down to the wood as you did, prime it and then paint with the Marigold Gloss.

I think I am going to try the lightbox first, and see how it reacts to the first option.

Yves

Matt,

Don't beat yourself up for this. I think you suffered enough already.
Your experience will serve other pinball enthusiasts, starting with me.
Let's look at the bright side: your cabinet is almost finished and gorgeous to look at. I can see some plays looming in the horizons....

Yves

Yes, Naphta is a killer on these glossy paints.

While painting the back of the cabinet I, too, (like an idiot) used Naphta to clean up and remove the dust particles before painting. In a couple of places, the wrinkles started appearing. Bummer.

I stopped immediately, let everything dry again, sanded to the best possible result and try to re-spray again. The result was a little bit better but the wrinkles tends to re-appear so slightly.

I am not using these paints ever again, for my next projects. I will go with Latex paint, sprayed.

Yves

Matt,

I just got my stencils from Pimball Pimp. Needless to tell you I am very hesitant to ruin the cabinet/lightbox and the stencils with these Rustoleum Glossy spray paints.
I noticed that you have had some luck with the lightbox, applying the red and the black.

I am thinking about trying to insulate the yellow coat with Polycrylic. I have used that clearcoat on all my pinball cabinets with an enormous success. It dries very clear, smooth and is very resistant to the touch and handling. I may try to put some Polycrylic on an inconspicuous area of Mata Hari and then use the stencils on top of that. I am still debating.....

Yves