Addams Family, The
Bally, 1992
Alien
Heighway Pinball, 2017
Doctor Who
Bally, 1992
Eight Ball Deluxe
Bally, 1981
Grand Prix
Williams, 1976
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure
Williams, 1993
Joker Poker
Gottlieb, 1978
Phantom of the Opera
Data East, 1990There have been 11,043 images uploaded to this topic. (View topic image gallery).
Quoted from djb_rh:
Nice little corner with Funhouse, Whirlwind, and Earthshaker all lined up. All three were done by Chris. The first two are true prototypes, the Earthshaker a sample. Thanks Chris! Whirlwind looks excellent, as expected.
--Donnie[quoted image]
Thanks Donnie. That room looks awesome.
HG cabinet turned out really nice.
Even though the gloss is a little higher than I normally settle in on it is so perfect right now I am hesitant to do anything else to it.
I will let it set a couple days though and see how the clear settles in around the stencil edges.
Most likely I will at least sand it once and reclear it with a little less gloss.
Sometimes I let the themes help dictate the gloss level and so on a HG I could see going glossier like the hardwood on the court.
We will see.
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image (resized).jpgYour paint work looks like a guy with a little bit of experience! Being a guy that did a good many show cars "back in the day" it is always nice to look at stuff painted by a true professional. Most people don't have a clue how hard it is to lay down a perfect paint job. From what I have seen the only thing that surpasses your painting ability is your attention to detail. Keep up the great work Chris!
Quoted from too-many-pins:
Your paint work looks like a guy with a little bit of experience! Being a guy that did a good many show cars "back in the day" it is always nice to look at stuff painted by a true professional. Most people don't have a clue how hard it is to lay down a perfect paint job. From what I have seen the only thing that surpasses your painting ability is your attention to detail. Keep up the great work Chris!
Appreciate that.
These are tedious and expensive paint jobs. The materials cost alone more than the core games sometimes but as a true painter I just can’t stand to do it any other way.
We start out this week inventorying the parts that came in last week.
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Everything has a place. This makes it easier to keep an eye on my stock level and saves time all the way around but I have spent more time than I can track and money on that organization.
These cabinets and drawers are organized this way.
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image (resized).jpgBig stuff requires big drawers
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Heaviest weights go on the very bottom
These drawers are rated at 440lbs each. 
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I bought these to use on my Spirit projects.
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I notice they have this paper guard.
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With some modifications I think this will work better and look cleaner.
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image (resized).jpgBuilding up the special Centaur cabinet.
I am going with stock trim because I want it to look like the factory version but completely different 
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I like these Pinball Life rails the best. They are nice and thick.
Others make these but they are very flimsy.
It is important to peel the scratch guard off and check them over good before installing
7B5FD220-ECB7-4056-B26A-20DFDD5E053C (resized).jpegLeg plates and legs are installed new factory gray versions math the shading in the lettering well. I was torn on the bolt color standard or black?
Went with standard because it matches the trim and follows the silver rivet theme. 
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Cabinet is up on four legs now.
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D6959319-02DD-4879-9664-24686A04B438 (resized).jpegNext cabinet to build up is the TOM.
This person wants lots of gold etc
image (resized).jpgQuoted from High_End_Pins:
Head is on the TOM[quoted image][quoted image]
(That Centaur is going to be amazing, same with Harlem Globetrotters)
I did a ToM with an orangey-gold powder coating that matched the game's logo gradient that I think looks better than shiny gold trim.
rt_corner (resized).jpgQuoted from vireland:
(That Centaur is going to be amazing, same with Harlem Globetrotters)
I did a ToM with an orangey-gold powder coating that matched the game's logo gradient that I think looks better than shiny gold trim.[quoted image]
Yeah. The whole gold TOM and IJ thing here seems very rinse repeat sometimes but I understand it is hard to deviate when you know a formula works. The guys that let some creativity in like the Centaur and even minor touches like the HG keep it interesting though.
I have let the HG set a couple days and really studied it.
It looks great. 
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However I can’t stand hard stencil edges that I can feel.
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Another thing I can’t tolerate is the way that first paint and clear job settles in with texture.
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These two things are what make me sand and reclear it just one more time.
When I do it will be at a 80% to 85% gloss level because full gloss is just a little much.
Ready to sand.
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As soon as I start sanding the texture and gloss from the clear act as a guidecoat.
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I can clearly see where the clearcoat natural builds against the color edges with the colors acting like a dam in a way. This is what I don’t think most people will ever see or understand but I just do no want it.
image (resized).jpgI don’t care what it cost though I will pour one out that I hate before I will drink it.
Cost the same either way no point in torturing myself.
Could always use them for shampoo or cooking, unless it is really foul.
Quoted from pinwiztom:
Could always use them for shampoo or cooking, unless it is really foul.
Beer is good for plants, too. Gets the microbiome revved up in the soil.
HG cabinet is prepped and ready for minor tweaks and final clear.
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Minor tweaks will be painting the neck blue
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Catching a minor break through in the lower head from leveling 
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A touch of overspray on the lower trim of the face.
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Small contamination on the front white square mostly covered by the door frame but I can’t unsee it.
image (resized).jpgQuoted from Mr_Tantrum:
I really dig these last couple of white painted cabs with stencils - beautiful work on your part.
Thank you.
HG final clear is done.
We will know more in the morning but it should gloss down just right and the blue neck looks pretty cool and it really helped bring the spray pattern out in the basketball making it look less texture based and more paint based.
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image (resized).jpgI remember playing HG as a little kid and thinking it was the best thing ever. Then when I had my retail game store I picked one up to sell. I couldn't keep it on the showroom floor for more than a couple days at a time before something new was broken. I think I owned that game for the last 90% of the time my retail store was open (maybe 3 years?) and then for another couple years before I finally got rid of it.
Completely soured me on the title.
But man, I need to stop watching this thread. Seeing this one done is gonna give me pains to own one again. But obviously this time it would go to you. That cabinet is so much better now than they were new it's not even funny.
--Donnie
I remember playing HG as a little kid and thinking it :Dwas the best thing ever. Then when I had my retail game store I picked one up to sell. I couldn't keep it on the showroom floor for more than a couple days at a time before something new was broken. I think I owned that game for the last 90% of the time my retail store was open (maybe 3 years?) and then for another couple years before I finally got rid of it.
Completely soured me on the title.
But man, I need to stop watching this thread. Seeing this one done is gonna give me pains to own one again. But obviously this time it would go to you. That cabinet is so much better now than they were new it's not even funny.
--Donnie
We should do a Globetrotters to Tar heels conversion in Carolina blue and white one day to put in that basketball room. 
Globetrotters is all set so it is untaped.
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The neck shows the shade of blue best in this lighting. 
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The final gloss is very close to full but not quite and the slickness of the surface is even better.
The thing about cabinets that is different than playfields is they really can’t be sanded and polished for a perfected surface. You have to achieve that straight out of the gun or keep trying.
C081D70B-ADB9-4248-B00B-FFB4E26CC7AD (resized).jpegI was also able to squeeze the SCared Stiff cabinet in late last night and get all my painting out of the way for a couple days.
It was sanded of course.
Then based 
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Then cleared.
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A3835B06-FBA7-48D5-8FBE-4C4279511407 (resized).jpegScared Stiff cabinet is now untaped as well.
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B06139EF-A30E-4E77-998E-B33A376899FE (resized).jpegThe trim and mini for my TZ project have cured long enough so I can sand and polish that stuff. 
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It takes some rigging to set these type of parts up for polishing so they don’t get bent or fly across the room.
The rails just need a little attention 
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The issue there is just typical material settling that is most obvious on black especially coating over powder coating. 
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The mini has some graining. This may ultimately return or it may not. It is pretty much impossible to predict but prior to assembling I will eliminate it which is all you can really ask for or do.
image (resized).jpgWe should do a Globetrotters to Tar heels conversion in Carolina blue and white one day to put in that basketball room.
I don't know that I could bear to do that to an HG, though! Maybe an NBAFB re-theme? Then I'd do a P-ROC for custom software and UNC logos. Hmmm. 
--Donnie
Polishing of the TZ parts
Sanded from 800 to 1500
This shapes them and cuts any grain or dust nibs flat instead of just rounding them off. 
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Now ready to polish.
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C38782FC-0B3C-4975-95F2-800FAADC7398 (resized).jpegThe Theater of Magic has such a unique cabinet. I wonder if anyone has made corner scrollwork out of metal to overlay the decals
Trim is on the TZ now b
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F1A0FF14-82AF-4115-82D3-B10E668DEC3E (resized).jpegEverything is nice and dry and I can start the final assembly of the playfield
Wireforms were done in gloss black.
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That included the stand offs. 
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Even though I had these done as well I am going with the decals too.
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The mini should be interesting I am trying to really black it out.
I even did the switch blades screws and plates.
image (resized).jpgThe playfield itself is coming along.
Lots of reworking and protections put in place.
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Some as simple as just better routing some wires that typically seem strained in the factory form like the white and blue trough wire 
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Others include extending,rerouting and protection the shooter gate coil and lugs. 
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The jet switches are new and on individual plugs with strain and leg protection.
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image (resized).jpgPolishing of the TZ parts
Sanded from 800 to 1500
This shapes them and cuts any grain or dust nibs flat instead of just rounding them off.
Sorry for the nitpick question, but which (if any) grits do you step through between 800 and 1500? I have a CPR Centaur playfield with graining, and was hoping to shave it down & polish without having to reclear. End result doesn't need to be perfect, just minimizing grain is the goal.
Quoted from yancy:
Sorry for the nitpick question, but which (if any) grits do you step through between 800 and 1500? I have a CPR Centaur playfield with graining, and was hoping to shave it down & polish without having to reclear. End result doesn't need to be perfect, just minimizing grain is the goal.
800,1200,1500
If you know you have plenty of clear to work with you could go 800,1000,1200,1500.
I don’t like to go finer than 1500 because it is a good final grit for playfields and creates a surface that looks appropriate once properly polished.
They make grits into the 3000s but they are too fine and a waste for anything a ball is going to be rolling across one day.
Great for show cars with a velvet rope around them though.
800,1200,1500
If you know you have plenty of clear to work with you could go 800,1000,1200,1500.
I don’t like to go finer than 1500 because it is a good final grit for playfields and creates a surface that looks appropriate once properly polished.
They make grits into the 3000s but they are too fine and a waste for anything a ball is going to be rolling across one day.
Great for show cars with a velvet rope around them though.
I was gonna ask the same question about the HG cabinet that you sanded and re-cleared. What grits do you step up through for that? RandomOrbital sander? How do you know when you are done with each grit? Sorry I know you are an expert at this and I’m obviously a newb. Just curious. Thanks
Quoted from Rickwh:
I was gonna ask the same question about the HG cabinet that you sanded and re-cleared. What grits do you step up through for that? RandomOrbital sander? How do you know when you are done with each grit? Sorry I know you are an expert at this and I’m obviously a newb. Just curious. Thanks
Cabinets are sanded more aggressively since they will be recleared not polished.
320 to shave the stencil edges
500 then 800 and Ready to reclear
I use a DA(dual action) sander. The pad must be perfectly true/flat and you really need to know how to hold,guide and watch it.
Block sanding has a tendency to trench surfaces not to say it can’t be done properly but everyone has a natural sanding stroke and this is what ultimately creates less uniform sanding than the random and more perfect machine sanding.
The key again is the use of the tool.
I have painted late 60s and 70s vettes that I water sanded for hours with a paint paddle wrapped in sand paper. A machine just can’t form around all those body lines so application and subject matter are key but a pinball cabinet or playfield is as flat as it gets so the machine sanding is ideal for that.
Worked through the lamp harness on the TZ now the solenoid.
image (resized).jpgIs there a good online resource for higher grit quality sand paper from the 500-4000 range? Maybe in popular RO patterns and/or sheets.
Quoted from Jarbyjibbo:
Is there a good online resource for higher grit quality sand paper from the 500-4000 range? Maybe in popular RO patterns and/or sheets.
Amazon.com
TZ playfield wiring complete then placed in the cabinet.
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