The more you put masks and water over paint you run the risk of damaging the paint. Also, then you have a mask edge that is the same as a fresh paint area (like a mask for a black outline of a place you just painted) the mask may not seal because of the paint edge.

There are others that say that you should always have clear above and below a paint area so the tension from the clear is the same above and below the repair. If you paint over paint then there is a chance that the tension from the paint-paint area will be different than the clear-paint area and risk delaminating over time. This information is from somebody I respect in the industry also I try and follow it.

I hope that makes sense. I try and do as much as possible between clears.

I have a little something planned.

Did a little work last night. I wanted to fix the insert cracks around the two larger dino inserts on each side of the main playfield area. I already fixed the blue areas as documented earlier. I cut some masks in hopes of airbrushing those. When I got them cut, I saw that it was going to be nearly impossible to spray the areas. The detail and small size makes it almost impossible to cut that detail. The only way to do this is to leave most of the black detail out and then add all the black lines back and I don't really want to do that. I also did some testing and any paint that is on the inside of the cracks will affect the inserts illumination. I matched some paint and started doing a little hand painting. I really wasn't planning on being able to hand paint that area so I didn't take any before pictures. I just kept on working and after a couple of hours, I had what I think is a very nice result. Of course, I wont have a final decision on it until after I clear. I still will have to airbrush the arm with the crack in it after I clear.
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Now I moved to the other side, Here is the before shot of the cracking in the trex face.
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Here id the finished Trex.
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I decided to chance it and paint the green rings. I used frisket to protect areas that were close to the rings and it all turned out great. I was kinda in a hurry to get this done so I forgot to take a few pictures along the way.

Started with the top rings. I didn't get many pictures of this one but what I learned as soon as I sprayed was that the green paint is very much like the yellow so after I sprayed the first coat of green, I knew I was gonna have to use white to get the coverage and then follow with the green. Since I already painted a layer of green, I just left it and put the white on top of it and then followed it up with the final green coats. Leaving the first layer of green will come in handy later. Forgot to take the finished picture.
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I then moved down to the set of targets below the targets. This time I started with the white layer.
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On this one, I got a hint of bleed under the mask from the white that I had to very delicately clean up. That got me thinking, I didn't get any bleed at all on the first one where I left the first layer of green on. Maybe the first layer of color seals up the mask and prevents the white from "wicking" under the mask. I am not sure why, but white is the only color that I have ever had do this. For the rest of the rings I sprayed the green on first and then the white and they turned out perfect. I will use this technique in the future when a white base is needed.

The two center green rings.
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The right target green ring. I forgot to take a picture of the white and final green. I know, I suck
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Here is an overview of all the rings done.
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Just have the computer stack and the black rings around the inserts that I cut out the clear last time to do. Then I plan on clearing. Then my plan is to finish everything else and then clear a final time.

Started working on some of the black areas today. I started off with the dinosaur between the flippers.
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This is a challenging area because there are no real good lines to separate the paint and it is too detailed to cut a full mask. I am not really a true artist so I don't really want to paint it solid black and then hand paint all the "texture". I decided to just paint the worn area and blend the best I can. This might work because black is the easiest color to do this with.

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First attempt at black. I thought it was going to be a good match because I used it to hand paint some details earlier and it blended perfectly. I guess when your hand painting and blending, you tend to put the paint on thinner so its "full" color doesn't come through.
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I don't have an after picture but when I took the mask off, it was obvious is was too dark. It was jet black and when I put Naphtha on it, it still stuck out like a sore thumb so I took the paint off. I worked mixing a couple drops of white with it to knock the edge off and I got a really good match. Here is the second attempt, you can see that it is not a jet black as the above picture.
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Here is the finished product. I took a paint brush and did some blending on the edges. You can still see the patch in the picture but remember the surrounding area is sanded which makes it appear washed out.
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Putting Naphtha on gives you what it will look like when cleared. I tried to capture this by swiping it with Naphtha in one hand and taking a picture in the other. It blends very well and the only reason you see it is because the white lines are not carried into the center black area. After I clear, I will take a needle and make some white lines into the center area to finish off the detail. If I am not happy then I will get a scan from my buddy and just make a new decal for the entire dinosaur.
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You can also see from the picture that there is a green leave with a small gouge out of it that I had not noticed until I was working closely with this area. I will have to address this area.
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Next was the upper right arrow insert that I had to scrape off due to ghosting.
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On inserts, I use a light under the playfield to make sure I get good coverage on the paint to block out the light.
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Finished and the vinyl text will be put in before I clear.
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Next was the two big red arrows in the center. The left one I had to cut out due to ghosting and the right one just looked like crap.
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couldn't get the light to show on the left much but the right one had enough showing to give me guidance since I will paint them the same.
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Nice and sharp.
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Crap Crap Crap. I thought I had all the inserts done.

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Got a little more work done. I got that red ring I missed earlier.

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Next up was the DANGER insert. You can see all the cracking and missing paint around the insert. The cracks were outside the edge so a light did not need to be used.
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Once again, it looks darger than the surrounding black but when you do the Naphtha test, it blends perfectly.
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Finally, I did the Shoot Again insert. Same issues with the cracking except these cracks were in the light stream.
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As much as I love doing this, I have had enough for one day.

Got the cabinet sanded and ready for primer.

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If you are talking about the inside bottom then I sanded it down and plan on leaving it that way. If you are talking about the underside, I am not doing anything to it. It's pretty ugly and if your not laying on the floor then you don't see it.

I got the first coat of primer on the cabinet and I am pretty happy with it. I ran out of primer and got distracted by a couple of Back to the Future mods I have been working on.

I will get some more primer tomorrow and hopefully finish it up. I don't see any major problems and black hides a lot of flaws anyways.

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White shows every little problem. Makes them easy to find. Had a few areas on the backbox and one on the front of the main cab where the wood was delaminating just a bit. No real way to fix this when its in the middle of a panel. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is take a screwdriver to it and dig out the wood that is not attached anymore. just work it until the surrounding wood is firmly attached and then fill with epoxy putty.

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The cabinet is primed and ready to paint. My last two projects have been full cabinet restores and this one was in the worst shape. I have learned that wood working is not my favorite thing to do but I am getting better. I might change my future restore order so I don't have to do another full cabinet next.

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I was planning on painting the cabinet tomorrow but when I was setting it up, the lighting revealed a few areas that needed to be fixed so I worked on those today. I hope to have it finished tomorrow. That is one of the problems when you deal with a cabinet that was in as bad a shape as this one was. I was able to put the vinyl on the two inserts.

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I think I have the cabinet ready to paint. Not sure if I will be able to get to it tomorrow.

Since I finished with the cabinet, I tried to finish up most of what I was doing on the playfield before I clear again. First of all, Gray color is from the Devil. For me it is one of the hardest colors to match. You look at two colors of gray and have not idea what color to mix to get the result you want. I feel I have a pretty close match and if it doesn't look good after clear then I will do it again.

Started with the center gray ring on the left side. It is really the only one that has major cracking issues and I think I am going to leave the other two alone. The cracking they have is very subtle and you have to be close and looking for it to see it. I really don't want to get into the text that is on the gray area of those two either.
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Next was the center computer stack. I started with the right side.
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First I put the micro masks on to cover the little details on the screens. There are some details like the 4 little black lines in the lowet screen that are just too hard to mask so I will paint those on later.
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Then I put the rest of the mask on.
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After the paint it is easy to see all the little masks.
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Left side.
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I decided to go ahead and hand touch up the black on the inserts in the stack. with black you can sometimes get away with this so I am going to try it. If it doesn't work then I will mask the entire area and paint the black after I clear. When I wipe naphtha over it the black touchups are invisible so I will see how it looks after clear. There is no harm in trying it because if it.
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You bet. The frisket is from Hobby lobby. Great stuff but it's challenging to cut precisely with the Xacto knife. Takes some practice but works very well when used.

Most of my painting is done using a mask cut with a vinyl cutter. I scan the entire playfield before I start work with a HP 4670 see through scanner and then fix the graphics to create the mask and then cut it out of Oracle 813 mask film.

For paint I use Createx airbrush paints. I also use Wicked colors by Createx. Sometimes the paint is thin enough to shoot but sometimes you have to mix it with W100 reducer. All this can be found in the model section of Hobby Lobby.

My airbrush is a $20 one from Harbor Freight. It works very well and as long as you keep the paint thin enough and have a jar of water to shoot between each section then it works really well.

Naphtha helps remove any residue from the playfield before painting and also help get any sticky stuff left from the masks.

The clear I use is Finish One by Sherwin Williams. If you don't know anything about auto clear, please educate yourself and the stuff will kill you. I use a fresh air respiration system and I even go overkill and where an organic charcoal mask under my fresh air hood. I also wear a full suit. I am always in my gear when I go outside to turn the air pump off. I keep joking that someday the cops are gonna show up because someone saw me and thinks I have a meth lab going.

That's kinda the playfield in a nut shell. I would be happy to answer anymore specific questions if you have them.

Thanks. I appreciate that. As far as the insert decals, there are a couple of ways to do it. If the clear is really attached (like my Fire) you use a chisel vertically to scrape it off. On JP I was able to just use an Xacto knife to trace and peel off.

If you see it, please don't look underneath.

Did some preliminary painting of all the cutouts that don't paint easily with a gun. Since I don't really care about the bottom of the head and I cant paint every side at the same time. I sprayed the bottom so I will be able to sit it on the bottom and spray the rest of the head. Dscf5574 (resized).jpgDscf5573 (resized).jpgDscf5572 (resized).jpgDscf5570 (resized).jpgDscf5571 (resized).jpg

The last area that I will work on before clear was the damaged area at the very bottom. This was one of those times I just used Frisket instead of a cut mask.
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Had to use a white layer due to the wear area.
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I will add the black outlines and details after I clear.
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I will check the paint I added to the cabinet holes tomorrow and if it looks good and does not need another coat, then I hope to spray black tomorrow. Got mu stuff ready.
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I know, I know. Lol

Got the cabinet painted today. I painted the cutouts one more time before I sprayed.
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Overall I was real happy with how the paint sprayed. The backbox may not have to be painted again. Once the paint dries, I will pull it out and look at it in normal light and see if I need to shoot it again.
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I let the air get a little low when I was painting the right side of the lower cabinet so I will probably go ahead and shoot the lower cab again tomorrow. Paint is a little thin on the right side. It looks solid from a color standpoint but just not enough paint on it to give it a smooth looking finish. I want to have a good uniform look before I clear the cabinet.
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So the plan is to scuff up the lower cab and shoot it again tomorrow. I will take a look at the upper cab and decide tonight.

Repainted the entire cabinet today and am really happy with the results. I have a very nice uniform finish that will clear very nicely. I used a Satin paint. I tried to get some pictures with the light to show how nice the finish is. My plan is to clear the playfield tomorrow. I will need to let the cab dry a few days before I clear so if my schedule works out I will try and clear it on Monday.Dscf5589 (resized).jpg
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Thanks. I will be cutting vinyl to make the artwork for the sides. This is the same method I used on my Fire if you followed that thread. I really like the way it looks. It's much sharper of a look than the original. Just my opinion.

Yes. I will clear the cabinet and then apply the graphics and then do a final clear.

Thanks. They both should be back this year and BTTF has a few surprises added.

My plan is to bring this if I can get it done.

I watched JP on the big screen last night for inspiration as I finished up the masks that will be used to finish the playfield.

Got the playfield cleared today. Very happy with the results. Will let it dry for a few days then sand and do the last few things. I will try and get some better shots of the finish after it cures today. Its nice to see it cleared. You spend so much time looking at a sanded dull playfield that it is nice to see those rich colors pop when you clear it.

Clear coat Selfie, its all the rage.

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Not much I can do until the cab is cleared and the playfield is ready so I am back to the BTTF mod/extra I have been working on.

I'll be making it myself. I will be documenting that process in a week or so.

Couple of pictures of the playfield. My camera doesnt do this thing justice. It really pops. The orange is much more vibrant than in the pictures.

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I feel your pain on the insert issue. I have several DE games with raised insert. The best I can say is to use heat and a big clamp and try and press them down. I use a big acrylic block so I don't damage the playfield. Then you would have to try and glue them underneath to keep them in place. The best option is to remove the inserts and re-glue them but with most DE inserts, they have full artwork on them which will just damage more when you take them out.

You cant sand them down without taking off the artwork. So unless you want to redo all that, don't do it. The other option is to clear then sand very carefully because you want to take as much clear off the inserts as you can to level with the rest of the playfield. When you blow through the clear, you will take art pretty fast, it sneaks up on you. You might have to do this a couple of times to get everything even. Of course if the inserts are raised too far then this becomes a problem because you will end up with too much clear on the playfield.

Been on a trip so couldn't do any work over the last 4 days. U had a couple small runs. one on the front and one on the side of the backbox. Got those sanded and primed. Then taped off the rest and shot them again today. Hope to clear the cab in a couple of days. The art is ready to cut so I might do that tonight or tomorrow and the playfield is also ready to sand.
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Paint for cabinet turned out great. I hope that is the last of painting. I don't enjoy painting cabinets. lol
I hope to clear it on Monday.
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Got a start on sanding the playfield but didn't have a whole lot of time. I concentrated on leveling the insert decals I put on. It is a delicate procedure to sand down the clear off the letters until it is level with the surrounding clear. You have to be careful because normally the vinyl is about at the right level so if you are not careful, you will take all the clear off and start removing vinyl. Sometimes it takes two clear sessions to get it perfectly flat. I was able to get it flat on this clear, so I hope that I only have to clear one more time but I may have to shoot a final coat. I will just have to make that decision after I shoot again. I hope to sand the rest of the playfield tomorrow.
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Got the rest of the playfield sanded and ready to get back to work.
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