http://www.pinrepair.com/restore/index1.htm#bg

That should tell you how to seal a flaking backglass to start to stop it from spreading and the best tips to touch it up. Backglasses are very hard to make look right. Good luck!

Currently working on restoring some backglasses. In short: clean, seal, acrylic touch-up, seal again. If you screw up on the acrylic touch ups you can start over without messing up the base artwork. This is just my approach, not necessarily what the "pros" are doing.

I have a Devil's Dare BG that was real bad. I scraped off the entire section and am going to try scanned replacement on transparency sprayed with thin layers of zinc white until the opacity matches. Might look like crap, but it'll be better than just junking it.

Here's a couple of mid resto pics. (1, taped score windows before sealing, 2, front view, 3, removing tape)

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Hey Pinster-

A worthy pursuit to save this glass. I have read several places it is best to leave a small amount of the glass showing when taping off in order to seal the edges. My understanding is changes in humidity/temps. can allow moisture to lift the ink in these vulnerable areas. I am not a scientist, but sounds good in theory to me. I go back and clean up the edges after removing the tape from triple thick. Let us see your end result. Photoshop is a powerful but complicated program, wish I was a wizard with it!

good luck!

Thanks!

If you look closely at my score windows I masked just inside the paint line for that very reason. The large lower right section of the BG was trashed ... completely lifted. I figured it would look like hell trying to seal it down with the plastic wrap trick, so I'm opting for this stitched in approach. I have another DD backglass, but my scans on my little scanner leave something to be desired. So if anyone has tips on getting a good scan (maybe a graphics shop?) I'd like to hear it.

You might want to consider something like Pinster is doing where you create and image in Photoshop and then make a decal (waterslide type?) for the whole white section(s). Since those areas around the reels are backlit, they will show anything that has variations ie. paint brush strokes, touch ups, partial repairs.

Those are solid-colored areas, I don't think my patch approach is necessary. I would mask the squares, then hit with Crystal Clear (not triple thick) to seal the damaged parts. Remove the masks and re-apply masking for the solid colored areas. Apply your acrylics until you get a good color match. They're water-based, so if you screw up you just wipe off and start again. Once you have a good match, re-seal with Crystal Clear or Triple Thick. Again - this is my approach and I'm a noob at this, working on scrap backglasses. My info was gained from other "pros" recommending to me, along with a little common sense approach. So far the results have been very good. Please confirm this by reviewing info from the various sources, etc. before making matters worse.

Brian

Not sure about that particular game, but most other EMs are translucent in those white areas surrounding the score reels. Hence my previous comment about brush strokes. Perhaps the OP, or someone with this game can verify one way or another. I have attempted to do very meticulous touch ups with white in those areas and it always shows up when the game is on.

Nice work Pinster!

Me too.
My Space Mission's head had a few severe coil burns which stained a couple of those didgit-surrounding white areas. I tried to clean those areas with a couple quick swipes of alcohol on a soft rag but it also removed a bit of the translucent paint.
I tried to touch it up with a very light bit of pure white acrylic.

I think it looked better before I tried to fix it. Lessons learned.

Thanks man ... this was the easy part. The real art comes with paint matching and actually putting the brush (or airbrush) to work. I have little experience. We'll see what happens.

Brian

That Aladdin's Castle backglass looks a lot easier to touch up than mine.

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That'll buff right out

ohhhh, man!! Sorry you made me laugh, I hope that never happens to anyone though!

OMG That is ***SO*** disturbing to see !!!!

I'd probably break down to my kneese and just weep

I would say no to the triple thick first

I would follow Pinster's advice he gave you above.

Isn't this the seal part from what Pinster said above?

Triple thick is ... Well "thick". I heard a recommendation on Krylon crystal Clear which goes on thinner. Bare spots might look substantially better with this thin layer on first. Remember that coating it first protects the old paint layer ... Then your touching up on top of that, then when it looks the way you want it go for the final seal. Maybe Triple Thick for the final seal is a good bet. And remember surface prep and humidity are the key factors. You want good adhesion.

Buy a little airbrush and the you can use acrylics to spray it on. I use craft store acrylics and water them down for the airbrush with invisible glass.

Yes...
clean the BG...seal with Krylon Crystal Clear Triple Thick #0500 (not just crystal clear) touch up with acrylic paints thinned with an acrylic paint retarder (which helps with brush strokes and translucency)...the beauty of sealing first is that the original art is protected and if you are not happy with your results you can wipe it off and try again. Once you are happy with your work seal again with Krylon Crystal Clear Triple Thick #0500...

On those score windows. I would use masking tape to cover areas that should be clear (where the score reels show through) make your thin black edge then after that is dry either brush or airbrush your white.

Phoebe

What do you recommend for a Funhouse backglass that has become somewhat translucent? Meaning, when the lamps are lit you can actually see the bulbs through the artwork - just basic lamps mind you not LEDs.

nice info in this topic

Agree with Butterflygirl24 that is basically the method I used for my backglass.

Is one of these a good thinning medium to use with acrylics?
http://www.aaronbrothers.com/category/art-supplies?page=2&tags%5B%5D=Liquitex
Do I want the medium or additive?
-mof

That Aladdins Castle bg is an easy fix.
You have enough of the score window squares to work
with. Carefully tape the back of the bg with precisely cut
squares where the score windows are. Mask off the whole
white area. Scrape of the old white with a razor. Blast it with a
rattle can of white primer. Once is good maybe twice at most.
Peel off tape and you're done.
The yellow above is the tough one. Not sure if it's translucent or not.
If it is get some of that gift paper, or flower wrapping stuff. Fold it up
and apply. Fold til it looks OK. OK is the best you can hope for on something translucent.
If it isn't translucent just start mixing your yellow til you get it right
then brush it in. Dry it and cover it with a thick silver.
Not very scary. I could do this in an hour.
Jimmiex

Forgot to add, put something over her
glowing boob. or pull the bulb out.

My approach was to scrape out all the failing paint, triple clear, then shoot with an airbrush. Shoot with white on the back after the colorl

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A couple more. Note, I took the after shots backlite. I think I ended up putting in binkers in some of the areas, as this helps as well.

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That repair is fantastic! Are airbrushes hard to use? I've never tried using one.

Not really. Just practice spraying even coats on a piece of glass first. Although if you triple thick first you can always wipe off a botched attempt if you need to. Back light it to check that it's even enough and you don't have dark/light areas.

Yep, that was pretty much my approach. I practiced on some blank glass and actually shot over a tracing table. The other couple of hints are to use a hot knife to score the original ink. I think it best to cut out your bad ink prior to triple thick. As you build coats, dry the paint with a hairdryer on cold or the air from your 2 stage airbrush. To remove your friscut, score at the edges of the friscut with an xacto and even heat the friscut with the hairdryer. A lot depends on exactly what materials you use, so be sure to practice.

That is a brilliant job. I am amazed that whilst you only removed the flaky sections that the finish is beautiful with the 'filled in sections' not discernible. I have used airbrushes & I must say I think you are being extraordinarily humble in downplaying your own expertise.

Your repairs on that bg are the best I've seen.......

Just had to add my agreement, this is an order of magnitude more difficult than play field repairs of similar complexity, very very well done- can you post a shot of the back of the glass after your repairs? Curious if you sprayed with silver etc. etc. etc.

I have to admit, I had not been brave enough to pull out an air brush and try to fix a trashed back glass, I just walk away and don't buy the game. Not sure I plan on changing my strategy but honestly, I was not sure you could repair something this trashed and make it nearly invisible.

Would you be willing to write up a more detailed step by step for just a single or maybe a couple different areas that you fixed. It would be very nice to see how your masking, if your spraying it with a clear prior to working etc. etc. etc.

Yes I agree, this is amazing work.

My question is this. What kind of paint did you use? I am assuming you used Createx but what variety works best on glass? Opaque? Transparent? The obvious answer seems to be transparent but I know better than to assume anything.

Liquitex soft with airbrush medium to cut it. I only buy opaque. Use good paint. Golden or Liquitex. Use airbrush medium, as it retains the original properties of the paint. Don't cut with water.

Todd,

I am unsure I follow how you fixed the cue and the guys yellow checkered pants. Did you scrape all the paint of and then repaint with a airbrush or did you actually blend new paint in?

Steve J.

This machine is long gone and I struggled to even find these pictures, but I do remember scraping off all the pants, including the lines and re-drawing the black key lines. I think I used a paint pen of some type. I have no clue on the cue. I think it was opaque anyway, so It really didn't matter? but I'm not sure.

No touch ups in the translucent areas were blended. Everything was new. This was quite helpful as close counts on a color match at that point. Same as playfields.

Hi, I have the same problem as badbilly27, my funhouse backglass is good except I can actually see the bulbs behind it. Somehow the light is not diffused like it should be. Any ideas on how to fix this problem?

Best way to diffuse bulbs I have found is to buy the white rubber bulb condoms. Bulbs still work great but takes the glare away. And use 47's as less bright than 44's.

http://www.pbresource.com/lampcov.html