The quick silver here needs the hole drilled and the star roll overs painted. Its good he addressed the issue, I guess that is the advantage of everything being done digitally.

I really sand the first set

Here is something you dont see every day, a semi-flat Paragon.
I can only afford to do a couple restos a year and right now i am allready way booked up. I did send you an email this morning. Right now I stay busy with most of the repros need some paint work before clearing. Most all of the nos need at least insert keyline paint except the pfs made in the last 5 years maybe.
I am finishing a NOS AFM this week that is so awesome. 80% of the inserts had a crack or line around them, needed to be dimpled, little damage at a pop bumper lug hole.

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does anyone know what size T nuts go where on AFM? I want to start doing this for folks, and I have 2 used pfs and the t nuts have been swiped on both
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I think I know what you mean. I bought 100 of a couple sizes of t nuts that are the common sizes, and I think 2 of the 3 sizes I ordered were the correct thread but the wrong head size. I am guessing if used on the back they could be used as long as they dont have to fit in a counter sunk spot.

What I need to do is find a place for t nut info, and start making lists for the common titles, since none of the repros are nutted.

I have a customer looking for a nos paragon if anyone has one of knowledge of ones whereabouts. thank you

here are some pics of a firepower. The 2 big shield inserts were lifted. There is a problem with this run as well as cyclone. The maker of the pfs got a new supplier of inserts and they didnt realize the glue they were using wouldnt work. Often the loose inserts crack the clear, as was the case with this one, though not as bad as mine which is still sitting in the studio because it is too damaged.
So all inserts were glued, all insert key lines painted, and I removed all of the clear in the star roll over inserts.

I dont know about now but most reproduction pfs with star roll over inserts, are clogged up with clear. You dont want to realize this after installing (which is often the case). I cut the bottom nub off a star, and i put it in the inserts to make sure it fits nice and lose and moves as it will need to, then I can take it out, since I removed the nub

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Concerning CPR Taxi:

I just started prepping a cpr taxi for a customer, and for some reason cpr installed 6 t nuts on the front for the pf hook that pivots. anyway they are always higher than the surface, an most of the pfs show white touch up because the screening got caught on the t nuts. Then they cleared it. I was removing the t nuts and they are cleared in there good and not easy to remove after the 4 years that pf have been alive. I was going to thread a screw in them from under to help me pound them out. No way! every t nut is clogged.

So if you are going to install your cpr taxi, do your self a favor and check those t nuts before you start. I bet you will have to replace them

Garage sale:
I have a big box of classic stern pf parts that came from stripping a Viper, flight 2k, meteror and wild fyre I think. Its all nice stuff that I would install or I tossed it.
super nice 3 and 4 drop target banks both totally complete with all of the "s" targets, switches, nice and clean
3 full pop bumper assemblies, coil up to plastic on top of pf
2 apron gates
flight 2k and viper ball holder thing with coil. holds the balls until time for multiball
2 full flipper ass with flippers
4 more full pop bumper assemblies looks like everything but cap
2 nice yellow and blue S pop caps
5 ball hole kick outs/kick out to the shooter lane
4 full sling shot assemblies
2 ball hole kick out assemblies
white shooter apron
3 ball gates
another drop target assembly with part of the linkage missing as well as 1 target gone

140 plus ship for everything

also cpr plastic sets how about 110 each, plus ship
wizard
matta hari
nitro ground shaker

Dont forget I also sell pfs.

Garage sale:
I have a big box of classic stern pf parts that came from stripping a Viper, flight 2k, meteror and wild fyre I think. Its all nice stuff that I would install or I tossed it.
super nice 3 and 4 drop target banks both totally complete with all of the "s" targets, switches, nice and clean
3 full pop bumper assemblies, coil up to plastic on top of pf
2 apron gates
flight 2k and viper ball holder thing with coil. holds the balls until time for multiball
2 full flipper ass with flippers
4 more full pop bumper assemblies looks like everything but cap
2 nice yellow and blue S pop caps
5 ball hole kick outs/kick out to the shooter lane
4 full sling shot assemblies
2 ball hole kick out assemblies
white shooter apron
3 ball gates
another drop target assembly with part of the linkage missing as well as 1 target gone

140 plus ship for everything

also cpr plastic sets how about 110 each, plus ship
wizard
matta hari
nitro ground shaker

Dont forget I also sell pfs.

Garage sale:
I have a big box of classic stern pf parts that came from stripping a Viper, flight 2k, meteror and wild fyre I think. Its all nice stuff that I would install or I tossed it.
super nice 3 and 4 drop target banks both totally complete with all of the "s" targets, switches, nice and clean
3 full pop bumper assemblies, coil up to plastic on top of pf
2 apron gates
flight 2k and viper ball holder thing with coil. holds the balls until time for multiball
2 full flipper ass with flippers
4 more full pop bumper assemblies looks like everything but cap
2 nice yellow and blue S pop caps
5 ball hole kick outs/kick out to the shooter lane
4 full sling shot assemblies
2 ball hole kick out assemblies
white shooter apron
3 ball gates
another drop target assembly with part of the linkage missing as well as 1 target gone

140 plus ship for everything!!

also cpr plastic sets how about 110 each, plus ship
wizard
matta hari
nitro ground shaker

Dont forget I also sell pfs.

Ha oops. it was giving me grief

The stern parts sold a little while ago.
if you are looking at the plastics yes I will ship outside the us

I wouldn't think that over spray would get up under the inserts, but it sure does. Often reproduction pfs have over spray on the inserts. This one has it on about 8 inserts. I didnt count, but it got me thinking to make this a post.

I always mask the inserts so not to over spray, and also I spray polyurethane on the back to seal. Usually, my best method is rolling on poly clear coat with the pf standing, to get it to soak in to the wood. Then I apply additional coat or coats with a spray can.

When pfs come with the gray primer on back, I dont add poly, but if it is nos, and often needs it, I will repaint. I have been using 2 different materials. either tinted kills total one primer, or gray oil based rustolium

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I have used different clears that melted insert plastic. These chemicals are no joke!

There is some stuff on facebook about me doing pfs for spooky pinballs' rick and morty. Most folks on that platform dont know me, and i dont really want to get involved with facebook for several reasons I will keep to myself (though any advertisement is good). Anyway I posted this on the rick and morty thread.

Here is the pic floating on facebook. I have never seen it and dont know where it came from

Hello. Spooky is super cool to offer to customers this option. My price is the usual 575 plus shipping to spooky.
If you are not familiar with my process it does take a lot of time, about 12 weeks. I focus on building up a finish that will not wear and dimple like a production finish, and the only way to achieve that is time and elbo grease. It goes like this. I sand the pf including all of the edges of all of the holes and cut outs, I apply 2 coats, allow 15 days to cure, sand everything, including hand sanding all of the edges again... and repeat. after I build 8-10 coats, I allow cure time, and I sand the whole pf level and then up to block sanding by hand to 3000 grit. Then I polish out the surface for usually 5-8 hours. Then I go thru and clean the compound out of all of the cut outs and holes. Before this point, I have sanded and masked and applied 2 coats of poly to the back side to seal moisture and dirt. The high polish will magnify any flaw, and if they or it bothers me, I have to sand it down and do it all again. this happens occasionally.

The way this has been handled so far is people contact spooky and make sure its cool with them. contact me and tell me, and spooky will send me a pf. when it is done, I will contact you to pay me, and then I will ship to spooky. So this makes things real complicated for them, so definitely be cool to them or they will just say no more, and that will suck for everyone. My process takes a long time and it does hold up their production, so it is VERY cool of them to allow this. I would like to think it brings in a couple customers who otherwise wouldn't ,but that may just be ego.

I hope this clears things up.
you can contact me thru pinside or
its better if you go thru [email protected]

As always I would like to thank everyone who makes my job possible, cheers

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One of our friends here on pinside, Mr Vitti, is looking for a JJp Pirates of the Caribbean CE pf. Its seems his is getting pretty dimpled.
You can contact me or him if you have a spare that you are using for art and would like to see it go to use, and make some scratch from the deal also.

If you are looking for a pf and I dont have one, feel free to ask and I will be happy to put it up on this thread. It cant hurt.

So yesterday I was prepping a pf for the first set of clear coats. I cant stress how important it is to not only go over the surface with a sander, but just as important is sanding all of the low spots where there are dimples, or counter sinks, and also the edges of the holes and cut outs.
As a clearcoater you dont see how important it is, because it dosent become disastrous until its gets installed.
So if you take a pf to a body shop or someone who has no idea how it is installed and used, they dont see any reason to spend an extra 40 min between each coat (on top of the regular sanding).
Every where you clear on top of gloss clear, it will hold enough to stay on... until you push a post thru a hole, or drill a dimple, or the edge of the pf rubs against the cab. Since the clear went on gloss, it has no mechanical bond and its going to come off really easy. So you may drill in to a dimple mark and the clear will ghost. Another place that is a pain the the butt to sand is the edges of the star roll over inserts. If you dont get good bonding, the edge of the white star will rub on the inside of the star-hole (ha) and lift the clear off or some layers.

I ran in to it yesterday on a ramp lip cut out. It obviously was not sanded between coats, so when I sanded it, the clear started chunking off. So I took some pics to help make my point. I admit when I started long ago, I didnt focus on this as I do now. Now days i get the pf under different lights and angles after I go thru it once, I clean and check again. This adds an extra 3 hours on to every job on top of the regular prep, but a pf seems like a 2-d object, but as far as we are concerned as restorers its very 3-d.

I should also mention that my install kit is designed to not only deal with this problem (if it happens) but I also use it to prep before shooting clear. one of the bits it perfect for taking the clear down in the edges where sand paper wont get to, as well as the t nut depressions. I grind the clear out of them to just leave the last coat. This way the t nut will go thru nice and easy. On the job in the pics I took it down to the wood since I can see it didnt get sanded between coats.

This is an example of a production clear and a custom clear.

I cropped the pics and marked them so not to show the title. Please do not post the title if you figure it out. It has nothing to do with this, and that is not my point.

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CORRECTION:
I meant this is the difference between a production clear and a custom clear

There are a couple flaws on the new quicksilver reproduction, and they are discussed another thread, but I want to point them out here also. I have 3 of them here in the studio right now, and all 3 are the same. They are missing a 3/8 in hole under the apron and the key lines around the star roll overs are missing. Since these will be getting clearcoated, its not a big deal for me to paint the key lines. If you are not intending to reclear, you will have to deal with them. I dont think any of my customers know about it, so hopefully they will see this and know that I will drill and fix the key lines.

I dont know what his sales look like, but it seems like reproducing a non A title game pf has plenty of interest. I think they just came out and I have all ready had 3 come thru.

I think I have heard that some of the quicksilvers (I am guessing later in the run) have the issues fixed.

Dont forget to test your star roll overs with a star that has the bottom nub cut off to make sure they are not full of clear, and the star wont have the room to move as it should. On this pf one star passed, and one did not. Once again the kruzman install kit comes to the rescue. How did I live before I had one?

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I got a call this weekend from a fellow pinsider who is looking for a nice lightning and an alien star pf's.
If you have something that can help him out, contact me, and I will send you his info, or reply on here and bump it.

when I wrote that the DEVO song "whip it" came to mind. I saw the video for it a couple weeks ago, and listened to the lyrics for the first time since like 82. awesome video for sure and great song.

Have you ever played I500 with a good clear? That is am amazing game with a good cleared pf. I love it. between taxes and the Mirco releases, I dont have any time to put on a restore unfortunately. I can do it for nos stuff that has damage but thats about all i have the time for. I have been tryng to get this DE simps done so I can sell it. I would love to work with ya on that one. I just cant commit to restores right now. sorry gryz

I have had a couple requests for pfs that I dont have this week. They are old school collectors and good people,

Looking for a bally playboy.

and a Bally Fireball 2.

Until about 5 years ago both Bay area and marco had nos fireball 2 pfs in stock at all times for less than 400. I know that were a lot of them, so if you are using them for art, its totally each persons business, but I have lots of used pfs that are super nice condition, and the nos stuff can be used to be installed. I just want to make sure everyone understand I am not making a statement on my beliefs, Just food for thought. I understand collecting nos pfs. That is how I got started in this .

I was up working in the studio till about 11 last night since the temp is above 32, and the heater can get the spray booth over 72 easily. I have had this cpr medusa here for a while trying to get the warp out. Like I have said before a little warp is no problem at all. They come and go with temp and humidity changes, or if it was standing at an angle for a while. This one is warped because the plys inside the board are not pulling against each other equally. I had it set up with a bunch of books and bricks on it, and nothing. So I attached some board stock to the back and screwed it to the straight boards.
If the board is sitting on the table and one side is up like a half or 3/4 in, thats no prob. the weight of the parts will flatten it out, but if it is more extreme, and it gets flattened out after I clear it while it is warped, it will cause a lot of stress on the clear to bend and stretch with the wood. So I will suggest the owner keep the frame on it until he is ready to install it.

Besides that I found another surprise. Medusa has 7 star roll over inserts and all of them were clogged with clear, worse than I have ever seen. since the pf was made about 3 years ago the clear is very hard. In fact I found it is harder than the plastic of the insert. I made no progress at all with several exacto blades, and lucky for me I have a kruzman playfield install kit that comes with a bit for this kind of situation

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Here is what one looks like after using the "kruzman playfield install kit".
I still need to sand it a bit and then I hit it with a stiff brush.
When I spray clear, I have little jigs that I put in the star holes to keep the clear out. The clear will clean up the edges and smooth it all out. Its still not easy

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I have said it many times before, but test your star roll overs before you install. Its much easier to do on the bench than in the game.
Now I have 6 more to do

first good laugh of the day!

I planned to take pics of it today, but the oil paint on the back is still very tacky. Its been 24 hours, but it does what it wants to do.
I have 7 completed pfs going out monday to doc, mike and david.

Well the gray oil paint on the back finally hardened, and I got some pics of the complete Frontier. The before pics are on page 4 of this thread if you want to go back to compare. It is nos, and dimpled, but it was stored upside down on cement, so the top 10 inches had paint flaking off. All of the inserts got glued and painted, and there was a good gouge on the upper right side that went thru the eagle wing, thru the red, yellow, blue, thru the guys arm, and all the way down the the grass that turns in to fur. I am really happy with the way it came out because it is difficult for me to paint chaos, like where the grass turns to fur.
Since I had to do a lot of paint work, (match colors) and glue, I didnt want to spend any more of the customers money than necessary. So the top apron only got one coat of off white, and the white area on the right side, middle has a scratch I left since its going under the plastics. Its not a huge money game, and even though i doubt the owner would ever sell the game, you have to draw the line somewhere.
My coats of clear are very thin (half of what they used to be) and since this pf is older I did 4 extra coats than normal to level it out.

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I let this captn fantastic cure for a month before I sanded it flat. This had some issues. Nothing that cant be fixed. The star inserts were clogged up with clear so that was the first thing. The pics show after I used my install kit on them. Paint was just the bonus inserts and the 3 top lanes and the arrows. Business as usual

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That first pic above is me matching colors. I find the closest color I have, then adjust it.
here is the after pics. I love that shooter lane!

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