Only a couple of things to do before the next clear. One of them is to add the half tones to the shooter lane. The surface has to be perfectly smooth and polished for the decal to adhere properly. There was a couple of areas on the shooter lane that were scuffed a little from the normal work and sanding that has gone on.

You can see the scuff marks in this photo. The areas have been wet sanded and ready to buff. I start with heavy cut and work towards swirl remover.
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Buffed and polished to a silky smooth and shiny surface.
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I should have the decal ready to apply shortly.

I have never done the inside of the cabinet on any of my restores because since nobody ever sees it, I didn't care to spend the time. I also planned on not doing much to this one as well. Well, a couple of you guys are making me look bad so I decided to clean this one up a bit. (You know who you are ) To late to paint the bottom or anything like that but I will try and fix it up. I removed all the grounding braids and will install new ones.

Here is all the black overspray on the bottom of the cabinet.
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Got the bottom all sanded and back to the "stock" look. I will detail the components in the cabinet when I install them so it should look pretty nice once put back together.
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I am starting to get everything together to send to powder coat.

I know these updates are small, but I am just grabbing the little time I have had to work lately and trying to get stuff done. I got the halftones printed on high quality clear decal paper using Laser Ink. My original plan was to take the decal all the way up to the end of the red lane but I did not have decal paper big enough for this. So I just took it to the end of the halftones and then rounded the edges so there are no sharp points. I had to rotate the image just to get it to fit on the paper.

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Shooter lane ready to go.
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I cut each side so I ended up with 2 long decals. I cleaned the shooter lane and then applied some decal setting solution and applied the left decal first.

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Then the right.
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Really happy with the results and will let it dry overnight and make sure there are no delamination issues. You may notice that the black is a slightly different color on the decal and the halftone area to the left. This is because the left area has been sanded which washes out the color and also the ink on the decal is more of a satin color. After clear they will all be rich black color.

You might be able to tell from the picture where the decal ends because the black outline towards the end of the shooter lane was slightly thicker on the decal than on the lane. The thickness on the decal is what it should be. The black line on the playfield became a little thinner due to the painting of the red area. After the next clear, I will mask off and make the rest of the lane match.

Thank you.

The big helicopter by the T-rex had some significant wear due to the insert being slightly recessed. All that is fixed now so I have to fix the black around it.

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Here is the finished product. Once again, the black will all blend when cleared. I will let it cure for a day and then put the white tick marks on.

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I don't really have anything to do on the playfield this evening so I am gonna start taking care of some odds and ends to get ready for the re-assembly. I started with the speaker panel. I may upgrade to Flipper Fidelity or something like that since I am putting in a Pinsound board but for now I will put the speakers back in until I decide.
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Its amazing how you think something doesn't look that dirty until you spray your cleaner on it and as it sits for a bit, the white foam turns yellow. This thing was nasty. but all cleaned up now.
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Put the speakers back in and my OCD said, "something doesn't look right"
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Ok, fixed it, that's better.
You can see how bad the DMD cover looks. I will get some lexan and make a new cover.
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I am leaving the original DMD out but I am not mounting the Color DMD yet because it is in my Star Wars until this thing is ready. I wrapped it in plastic so it will stay nice and clean until I need it.
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Ok, now on to the metal backbox circuit board mount. Yuk.
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Last thing on the agenda for the night is the backbox light panel. This thing is nasty. And I don't know German so I have no idea what that sticker is warning me. The white area in the center is where I did a test clean when I took the game apart.
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Just to show the change.
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Finished and looking much better. Mine didn't have any 455 bulbs in it but I have them so I will add when I put it back together. I will LED the machine but I do not use LEDs in the backbox. I prefer the natural color of the art and LEDs tend to be brighter and make the reflections on the playfield glass worse. (Refer to the post above.)
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Did some more of the glamorous stuff involved in a restoration.

Cleaned all the wire holders for the backbox. You can see the before and after.
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Cleaned the three vent guards. These things were dirty.
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I sprayed my cleaner on them to wipe them down. There was so much on them and in the holes that you can see what was left when I picked them up. I actually had to clean them several times before they would stop leaving marks on the towels.
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Created a new DMD cover out of Lexan. I will leave the coating on until I install the ColorDMD.
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I decided to go ahead and put the claw marks on the backbox. I set up some marks to place it where I wanted it with blue tape.
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Here is a question if anyone cares to answer. What are your thoughts on colored legs? I have seen some machines where the trim is colored but the legs are black and I have seen some machines that have matching colored legs. I am going to go with Red trim with black backbox hinges. I have not decided if I am going to do red or black legs yet. Some machines with colored legs are a little "too much" for me but then there are some that I like the color. Any thoughts?

I was not a fan of yellow either. I don't think I have seen a yellow trim that I like.

Applied the white tick marks to the helicopter insert.
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You guys almost let me miss the tick marks on the big blue insert in the pop lane.

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Got them applied.
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I forgot about that thread. I will skim through it. My plan is to try and airbrush some wood texture on that shooter lane after my next clear. If it doesn't work then it will just have to stay as it is.

With everything I am doing to this machine, I just couldn't leave the inside of the cabinet with a sloppy finish. I just decided to finish painting it all black.

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I have most of my stuff ready for powder coating. I have to wait on a few ne parts to get here and then I will send it all off.
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I think in the future I will probably paint the entire side panels and then paint the bottom a wood tone color. Since I was already past the original painting it was easier to do the black and I think with the details I am doing in the cabinet, the black will make it pop.

Yeah. I think black is about the only color that I think I would do the whole thing in. I'm not sure I would like the inside of my Star Wars all blue. That might be blue overload. Lol
Good thing about it is you can always redo it if it doesn't work out.

Did the last bit of airbrushing today.....Famous last words.

There were two more inserts in the center computer stack that were cracked through the paint.
This one did not show up as bad as it is in the picture.

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Here is the other one.
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I had tried to fix these a couple months ago and I couldn't get a good match on the paint so I skipped it. I not have what I think is a good match so I fixed them both.

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I will add the black "vent" lines after I clear.

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I will redo the black lines where the insert is cracked through after I clear.

Then I decided to do something I had said I wasn't going to do. The orange sunburst on the CHAOS inserts was faded. I originally wasn't going to paint this but decided to do it. I knew I wouldn't be happy if I skipped it.
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Here are the masks cut to give you an idea of what I am painting.
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Here is the OS
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CHA
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For some reason, the orange on the playfield is not as vibrant and rich in the pictures as it really is.

I will look after I clear to see if any of the black lines need to be gone over in the orange area. I think it will be good but I will evaluate it after I clear.

Well. I think I am ready to clear both the playfield and the cabinet so I will try and work that in as soon as I can.

I was able to get those decals from Bay Area a couple of years ago. I might have a few decals to sell since I have the new T-Rex so I don't think I will be using the mouth decals. The plastics I got are pretty darn close on the colors. So I ended up paying more for them but I am glad I did. When I put it back together I will do some side by side pictures with the plastics. I don't want to take any of the protective coatings off right now.

I fixed the black lines on the tip of the shooter lane where the ball rolls through.
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The rest of the day was building a new spray room and building a stand.

If you are going for a gloss finish on a cabinet, it is a whole lot easier to do when praying the surface flat rather than vertical. I never liked the idea of laying a finished cleared side on a stand or on the floor. Just too many chances to scratch it up. I had an idea and I ran across this at Harbor Freight and with my 20% off coupon, I decided to give it a shot.
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Wheels Wheels Wheels. I gotta have wheels.
Almost everything in my shop is on wheels. I like having the ability to move stuff around easily. when spraying something as big as a cabinet, its great to have the ability to turn it 5 or 10 degrees to get the perfect light reflection as you spray. And also just moving it in and out of the booth. So I added some wheels.
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Finished. I will take the handle off when I spray. The tire trays were installed upside down to give a little height and to provide a good area to hold the game. I also placed rubber pads on top of the part that touches the game even though it holds the game under the payfield level. So its not touching the game in an area that would be seen when the game is assembled.
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I was able to load the cabinet by myself. Obviously it would be easier with another person to help but very doable alone.
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Here you can see the clearance underneath. Also the top of the bottom rail wants to rest against the base of the arm so I have a little padding there. It works out perfect because you can move the cab forwards and backwards and the part against the arm stays fixes so you can level it perfectly.
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I decided to take down my old spray booth system and build one like the one I had in my other house. I liked the one I used here but I was having some ventilation issues so I decided to build a new one. It is in the same area as the other one. Having the canopy, helps with garagedoor operation. You can also see that I taped up the vents on top.
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One of the "upgrades" I did was to cut 2x4s and place them at the base of the wall. I then pulled the plastic tight and got rid of any areas that the plastic bunched up. This should help seal up the floor to keep the fumes inside until they are vented and also keep any contamination out. I will pull the extra plastic as far towards the center as possible. I will then put a tarp down over it that will cover the entire spray area. The combination of the wood edges and overlap of the plastic and tarp should keep things sealed.
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The canopy is 10x10. The plastic I use is 25 feet long. When you start at the corner, you will have a 5 foot overlap on two corners. I seal one up and use the other as my door. I cut the 2x4 along the "door" wall 2 feet short to allow me to pull the inside plastic back a bit so I can then slide to the side out the door. This overlap means that there is never a full open door to the outside of the booth when I enter or exit. When I exit, I putt the inside plastic behind me and attach it to the bottom of the canopy leg creating a full inside wall again and then I tape the outside wall closed. So any mist that comes out when I exit is mainly from drift and it has to go through the five foot slide with me. I think that is better than just opening an area to the outside.
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Filters installed sealed and ready to go. There will be an exhaust fan placed on the outside when the garage is raised 2 feet when I spray.
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I really hope to spray the playfield tomorrow.

Thanks, but I have to finish all mine first.

Did most of the prep work tonight and got all my stuff ready for tomorrow. Just some final cleaning tomorrow and its ready to shoot.

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Playfield is cleared. I will let it clear for 5 or 6 days and then sand it down. You get so used to seeing the faded colors because of the sanding so its nice to see those colors pop again.
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I may try and get the cabinet cleared next week.

Turned out really nice. Except for the area that my hood touched the apron area.

Easily fixed but just one of those "Iwasn't paying close enough attention" when I was looking at other things. After the next clear it won't be visible so it's all good.

I did a preliminary light sand last night to take the top surface off and to open it up for curing. Also since the clear is still "softer" it allowed me to take some of the "bumps" off where the white tick marks are. They are almost flat already. I will let it cure for another 3-4 days and then give it a good sanding.

I'm going out of town for work for 4 days so not much will happen this week. I am hoping to get some of the cabinet cleared next.

Nothing real exciting but I was able to get the playfield sanded and I am really happy with how it turned out. I was able to get all the white insert marks sanded completely flat without breaking through the clear. I will do a few more touchups and then I will be ready for the final clear.

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Ok, I couldn't take it anymore. The bottom of the cabinet was the only thing that wasn't "finished" so instead of clearing today I decided to go ahead and paint it.

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Yes, the white vinyl causes small ridges due to the thickness even though it's super thin. Block sand and it will take more off the bumps than the surrounding area. Just have to be careful not to go to far and start sanding the vinyl down.

Got one side of the cabinet and the back of the backbox cleared today. Had to leave town this afternoon and get back Thursday night so I hope to get the other side of the main cabinet and one side of the backbox cleared Friday if the stars line up.

Super shiny.
These were taken with my phone because I was running out of time but you get the idea.

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