Man, that sucks.

I think LOTR was screen printed so if you put a decal on one side, it will not match as they look very different due to resolution etc.

Good luck with it.

AS someone said above. You are going to have to decal the whole machine to make it look right. or find a new head for it. I doubt Stern still has one because I think I bought the last one a few years ago to help another guy out who had a similar issue. as for Tmoding Try t-molding.com That is Who I used for some of the more strange colors. Also could check to see If Stern still stocks it.

Who was the freight carrier?

So sorry to see that happen.

Is this the t-molding you have on the game? It appears to be the same as what was put on the LEs.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/545-5883-18

https://www.t-molding.com/gold-t-molding.html

That's an awful pic, no scale, can't even tell what I'm looking at.

The damage is on the folded backbox.

I hope they used more than a thin Amazon box to protect that thing!

How deep are those gouges? Can't really tell from the pic, are you going to have to use wood filler?

Shame... packing blankets with a good outer shell of cardboard (real cardboard not Amazon cardboard) would have prevented this damage.

Where are you going to get a decal that Stern never made?

RetroRefurbs has some in stock
http://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/lord-of-the-rings-pinball-cabinet-decals/

How much does that cost? I would think that would be cost prohibitive for a single game?

LOL....

Hate to say it but your wasting your time on this endeavor. They will give you a specified amount for the damage or keep the game and pay you what you insured it for or only a price per pound if you did not insure it. It's a lotr, in no way does it make sense to rescreen this game. If it is going to bother you a lot, sell this one and find a replacement game. I've been down the insurance road with shippers, it generally doesn't end well for the property owner.

Thats why I asked which shipper. Any of the major Freight carriers on a Used game Coverage is Pennies per pound. Unless as you said you add coverage. But more and more insurance coverage is starting to exclude Pinballs and Coin op games and you don't find that out until you read the fine print.

Increase Hourly rate to $99/HR

Add 1 More hour to Sanding (Im Assuming you are only doing the one side?)

Change Cleaning Room to Prep Time

Drop Depreciation of game.. They won't pay it. Or they will opt to just pay it and nothing else.

JJ

Wrap a pin in shipping blankets for pete's sake. That's awful.

I wouldn't buy a pin unless seller agreed to do that at least. So easy.

Tha last playfield I got was wrapped in a blanket and 2 layers of cardboard. That was only a playfield.

Ouch...sorry to see that happen...Its easier to get to Valinor than it will be to get them to pay $2400+...

It's been 2 years now and still haven't made it.

You could have covered it for double, does not mean they won't do market research and see what something like this sells for. They will allocate a percentage to the damage of the market value and that will be it. If it were me, I would push for them to just take the machine and get your money back out of it and find a new one. You will be better off in the long run.

That sucks

If I were in your shoes I'd be pissed but...

IMO your best bet is to just fill it & touchup to match as best as you can while receiving some type of compensation from the shipper to offset its new reduced value. Put it between 2 games, buy a color DMD & FYI T-molding is cheap.

If you decided to get the decals- i'd love to see what it turns out like if you do the whole cabinet. LotR with High Res art decals sounds like an improvement over the low res screen printing it came with. Ive considered getting a set for mine.

good luck

Seriously, whoever packed that machine should take at least some, if not all, responsibility for the damage. I say that based on the assumption that a used Amazon box was the extent of prevention.

ETA: I looked again, there was at least something besides Saran Wrap where the damage occurred, yes?

Okie dokie.

Id light sand it fill the divots with bondo and sand smooth, apply a coat of black and get a decal. That sucks, but at least its on the head, in a lineup once fixed if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't notice it.

I think devaluation would depend on how nice the machine was, players machine, not much difference, mint/cq would be a bit though.

Marco sells t molding thats close, get the full amount thought since its not perfect:
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/545-5883-18

4 moving blankets, plenty of corner board and 4 double wall boxes were used here. Even if your game was wrapped like this, you would have had some damage. It would have not been nearly as bad but it would have caused damage. No matter how well you wrap them, shippers will find a way to damage them. It's a risk we all take. It sucks but not the end of the world. If you sold the game and bought a new one to replace it, I think you will find that will be the least stressful approach to this situation.

IMG_8440 (resized).JPG
IMG_8441 (resized).JPG

The wear on the game almost look like they were caused by ratchet straps.

Have you checked to see if a good airbrush graphic artist in your area could do something with this?

Wait, you added the rainbow puke??

You'd be surprised...I got paid out nearly that much on my Jackbot that got flipped off a pallet and they shattered the glass in... thank god the guy I bought it from knew what the hell he was doing in terms of documentation and everything dealing with filing these claims.