Hi all,

I'm preparing my old playfields for touchups + clearcoating (varathane from the can) when the weather warms up a little. This'll be my first time so I'm not entirely sure what to expect. I have done minimal stripdown of the underside of the playfield, so I want prep appropriately so that excess varathane does not work its way down through the holes in the playfield and onto the components below. I'm sure there is info on this on pinside but I couldn't find it....

From looking at several Clay resources it seems he scrunched up bits of frog tape and stuck the holes with those, so I've done the same. I'm just not sure how blocked the holes need to be. I'd like to block them 100% of course but I just don't see how that's possible, particularly where drop targets are.

Any advice? Is this really that big of an issue or does the clear go on so thin and stick so well that I'm just being paranoid. Instinct tells its going to find whatever crevice it can find and drip down, especially if I do a final heavy coat as so many people suggest.

Here's a few pics of my prep so far....

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How long after spraying do you remove the paper towel? Doesn't it get glued in there?

Can ask how you applied? Several light coats? One heavy coat? Some sort of combo??

Good call. I think I have some already too

OK, this makes sense to me. I'm imagining the first couple light coats filling the small remaining holes between the tape, so you don't have to fill the holes 100% from the start. This fits my plan - I want to do 2 light coats, a one final heavy (wet) coat.

Now, just need this early spring to keep rolling in....

Yeah, that sounds like a nightmare. I don't want any part of that!