I received my spatter tool today. I bought it on Amazon. I’m not sure what type of paint to use and of course haven’t done it before.

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I sprayed the last coat of clear on the playfield. I’ll let it cure for a few weeks before I do the final sand and polish. Pretty happy with the results so far.

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I tried my hand at speckling tonight. After practicing for awhile I did most of the cabinet and head. As usual I’m about 90%. With the exception of being a little heavy in a couple of spots I’m OK with it. Naturally I had a major drip on the side of the head that is a real bummer. I waited for or it to dry and then scrapped it off with a plastic razor blade. That was my second mistake. Although the black was dry enough to scrape it also softened the white. Now I have a bare spot. I’m bummed about that and will need to find a way to fix it. Here are the pictures of the big drip.

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I repainted the side of the back box that had the big blob on it. I also added the splatter. Next is to order a stencil set from pinball pimp.

Thanks
Sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading this.

The lower apron is very faded and won’t look right next to the repainted playfield. I’ll strip and put a fresh coat of white on it. I’ll paint the upper piece as well. This is what the apron looks like now.

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I plan to buy a decal, but would prefer to paint. Does someone sell stencils for the apron?

Striped, primed and painted.

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Looks like I forgot a piece. Bummer, but I still have enough stripper, primer and paint. It’s just a time thing.

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I ordered an apron decal from pinball rescue and cabinet stencils from pinball pimp. It will take a few weeks for the decal since it is coming from Australia. I’ll pick up the stencils this Wednesday. If the weather cooperates I can paint one of the colors next weekend.

I placed another order with Steve Young today. I found some of my receipts and was shocked to discover I’ve spent a little over $1900 so far. Next time I’ll throw out the receipts.

I sprayed clear on the side rails and tilt board. I also received my order from PBR and stencils from Pinball Pimp.

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I sprayed red on the back box today. It’s nice to finally see some color.

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I’m not a happy camper. I ran into problems with using the stencils today. I noticed they are slightly longer and wider than the cabinet. This wasn’t an issue with the long sides and they have location marks on them. The front gave me the most trouble. There aren’t any reference marks on them so I decided to even the stencil left and right and use the top edge as a starting point. The stencil went down fine then I noticed the design would be hidden behind the door and the stencil needed to be raised up. I tried to remove it, but of course I destroyed it in the process. My fault for not knowing I guess. To top it off my peel on the hearts wasn’t very clean. I’m not sure how to fix that. I think I need to take a deep breath and maybe have a beer.

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I bought a new stencil from Pinball Pimp today for the front of the cabinet. I adjusted the stencil to align with the bottom of the cabinet instead of the top. I gained a little, but it’s still not what I like. I sprayed the red. It is what it is.

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Bye the way I don’t think there is anything wrong with the stencil. I looked at a few pictures and realized this is the way they were from Gottlieb. Sometimes I’m too picky.

I finally applied my water slide decal to the top apron. Small touch, but I like it.

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I painted black on the sides of the back box today. As usual I learned a couple lessons. The first is to not trust what the can says is inside. I sprayed two lights coats of gloss black (according to the can) Before I realized it wasn’t shiny. It was very dull light Matt black. I pulled out a second can that also said gloss black and it was as expected. Unfortunately after drying the finish is a little wrinkled. Next time I’ll test the can for color and finish first. Really how often has this ever happened? The second can produced a nice gloss finish on the other side.
The second lesson was using lacquer thinner to clean up a tiny spot of black that I got in the wrong place. It removed the black as expected, but also dulled the finish of the red.

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I painted the black on the front of the back box. It’s done while I decide what if anything I’ll do to fix the rough finish on the black for the left side.

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One more piece to the puzzle.

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The black is going on.

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The black is on the sides. I’ll paint the black on the front tomorrow. I can’t wait to stop painting. It was fun at first. Now not so much.

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I painted black on the front and am finally done with the stencils. I may go back later and try to correct a few mistakes, but for now the cabinet painting is done.

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One more

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I fixed the heart on the right side of the cabinet today. I applied some frisket over the heart and traced the outline with an exacto knife. A few light coats of red later and it looks pretty good.

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Now that the cabinet paint work is done I started to clean and get the other parts ready for assembly. After working on the legs for awhile I realized they were never going to complement the cabinet. There were too many issues such as plating lose, rust and paint that I need to remove. So another call to Steve Young and a set of new legs are on order. The cost of this project keeps climbing.

Only an hour of work tonight, but installing the legs and back box made me a happy camper.

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I’ve been spending my time polishing and installing the metal parts that go into the cabinet. I’m pleased with the shine on some of the parts particularly the chime unit. While I really want to move onto the playfield I’m going to focus on the coin door next.

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I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to go with the coin door. Truth is without coin mechanisms all that crap attached to the inside of the door is useless and I don’t have coin mechs. I started with the idea of separating the door from the frame and one thing led to another. It looks like I’m all in. It scares me.

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I polished a few of the visible pieces and painted the brackets on the inside of the door. The painting was pretty straight forward. The polishing is a different story. Lots of work there.
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It would look so much cleaner if I left it like this.

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I finished the coin door.

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The door is back in the cabinet. It even looks good from this angle.

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From the front

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I don’t keep track of the hours. I’m sure it’s out of control. For me this is just a hobby. If I didn’t enjoy the process I wouldn’t do it. Financially this level Of restoration doesn’t make sense.