Medusa
Bally, 1981I was able to get the light panel wet sanded, cut and buffed. The 3" buffer wasn't cutting it so I rigged up a jig to hold the panel in place so I could pull out the 7" makita.
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There's that pretty shine.
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I'm struggling to fine a suitable powder coat match to the automotive gold. It doesn't have to be exact but close. I've already burned through 6 samples. I'm not sure how many more they'll send me. LOL.
I hate making stupid simple mistakes. I was working on adding a medusa "M" to the coin door insert blank. All was well until the paint mask left some glue residue. Instead of waiting for the gold to dry, I messed with getting off and nicked a fraction of the gold. Enough to have to redo it again.
Masked and gold shot.
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My stupid mistake
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Mocked-up to see how it looks. Other than my screwup, it looks sweet imo. Time to redo it.
Quoted from Skins:No, in order to sand and level the clear without going through the clear to the color base coat, it has to be relatively thick. The plus side is you can't feel the stencil edges at all when it's all said and done. It's completely smooth when done. I would guess 4 coats.
What about the time between each coat? Thanks!
2 coats wet on wet 2-5 mins between. I then let it set 30-45 mins and repeat one more wet on wet application.
Quoted from eh97ac:This would be a great time to show you protective gear!
Besides my positively charged spray booth that ejects vapors and particulate nearly immediately, this is all I need/use
Looking forward to seeing how you tackle a playfield, @skins. I have really enjoyed this thread and gotten some ideas!
Quoted from Skins:I'm going to try clearing my cpr silver myself. The existing clear is abysmal. I see how that goes.
Let me know, I got one I would like to clear.
Quoted from xeneize:Looking forward to seeing how you tackle a playfield, skins. I have really enjoyed this thread and gotten some ideas!
Thank you.
Quoted from KornFreak28:Let me know, I got one I would like to clear.
We'll see how it goes. I'm a little ways off before I tackle that. I need to build a playfield jig too.
Quoted from Skins:Besides my positively charged spray booth that ejects vapors and particulate nearly immediately, this is all I need/use
Is your spray booth diy? Do you have any pictures of it or did you follow a build guide if it is DIY? Love your work.
Quoted from roar:Is your spray booth diy? Do you have any pictures of it or did you follow a build guide if it is DIY? Love your work.
Thank you. No it's not a traditional spray booth, it's diy. Nothing over the top. I just followed online guides for sizing the intake fan to sufficiently pressurize the room. With the window in the room open the pressurized air rushes out the window to try to equalize the pressure. The room clears in moments. The room itself is just half my garage finished with the intake fan mounted in the wall. Like I said, nothing fancy but is highly effective in evacuating noxious odors and overspray.
Quoted from TKDalumni:Wow..just Wow
Thank you.
If you're doing 2 part clear please at least wear sealed goggles with that respirator. You don't want to mess with that stuff when it comes to your squishy bits. 
Lots of gold done today.
Coin door trim/hardware, neck vent screen and hinges.
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I also bought new side rails. I had new side rails custom cut with medusa that were measured wrong and showed the plastic glass channel through the cut out. I instead went the stencil route on the new one. The saving to not recut them paid for my vinyl plotter purchase.
Red laid and stencil in place
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Gold shot
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Stencil removed and clear shot
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Mocked-up on the cabinet. We have a winner.
I will sand and buff them and the coin door tomorrow.
Quoted from Skins:With the window in the room open the pressurized air rushes out the window to try to equalize the pressure. The room clears in moments. The room itself is just half my garage finished with the intake fan mounted in the wall. Like I said, nothing fancy but is highly effective in evacuating noxious odors and overspray.
....of course, your neighbor looks like The Elephant Man! 
Quoted from Skypilot:So impressed with the level of detail. You make me wish to step up the game.
Thanks man. I appreciate it.
Coin door going back together.
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I love making stupid mistakes. 
I knew the coin door blank was taller than it was wide. I still somehow stenciled it the wrong way. I guess I get to do it again. I'm not liking the pricing inserts. It really clashes with the color scheme. I'm probably going to get 2 more blanks and stencil "free play".
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I have a cpr set but never looked at them. Not sure if my set had them in it. Either way, I think the black clashes with my color scheme to a certain degree.
You got me wondering. My set is sealed with the pps hologram. No pricing inserts. A key fob and two large circle plastics. Maybe my set was from and older run? 
This thread, and Crazy Mansion are the two best threads on Pinside!
I get chills, with every picture you post!
I honestly believe its needs a giant plexi museum box to display it in, and control the environment!
Quoted from bjsilverballs:Looks like the Bally on the coin door is off center? Door still looks amazing though.
Looks like something happened when he imported the Bally logo. It's not the same proportions as the regular door decal. The right side of the lowercase a should be right about the center line.. but see how in this rough overlay his gold letters are closer in the lly then they are in the B
The blue here is a rough approximation how it should look, you can see his gold letters behind
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Quoted from spfxted:Is it wrong that I look at Medusa and get hard?
Tmi, Ted. 
So I have to do the "M" coin blank, should I do the medusa head or "free play" on the other two? I already cut them and the head cut nice so no worries on the small size detail. Free play makes more sense but the heads look cool. IMG_3267 (resized).JPG
I'm about to start a medusa restore, I don't plan to go with this degree of detail.
I'm impressed, following with anticipation 
Quoted from Skins:That's the ticket. Turned out great. The "M" is a tiny bit high but there is zero chance of me doing it again for a 4th time.
Yup, that looks boss!
Quoted from Skins:Thanks Mike.
I'm trying to get primer on this weekend but I have my doubts. Getting the head back in shape has been rough. It was in bad, bad shape. Small update. The back panel of the head is made of pressed board and is swollen and warped in places. I first lightweight filled the major areas and then sanded and leveled. After that I skimmed the whole thing with glazing putty.
After block sanding the glazing putty, you're left with this. The spots of red are filler in the porous areas of the pressed board and over all low spots.
A couple thoughts. I'm still impressed with my choice to go with a new filler as opposed to using bondo. With bondo, I was constantly fighting gummed up sandpaper. Now I don't replace sand paper unless it's worn. No gumming. It makes up its cost alone in wasted sand paper. Curing times are still consistent it still applies buttery smooth.
The other thought is how did I live so long without a good quality air powered sander. On all my other restorations, I used an electric orbital sander. They're heavy, loud and difficult to adjust the speed on the fly. With an air powered sander, I can feather the speed with the air paddle or permantly throttle it with the regulator on the side of the sander. It makes feathering seem almost too easy. I don't know how got along without it.
Fingers crossed I get into primer today...
What glazing puddy are you using and where did you buy it?
I'd like to get away from bondo as well if I can
Medusa has some of the best artwork on a pin I've ever seen. Great job on this. It's a wishlist pin for me.
I can really appreciate your effort to get the cabinet back together. I didn't know about using resin until now. Cheers!
Final coin door pictures I swear.
Brand new coin door harness soldered in. I also switched out and added bayonet lamps holders in the event I ever go back to regular pricing inserts. Door back in place. Yes I know I have one wire loom screw gold and the other two are red. They were all supposed to be red. I wasn't about to redo on tiny screw. Call it a design flair, lol. I wanted to make a new lockout coil wrapper but there wasn't one on my typical site. IMG_3283 (resized).JPGIMG_3285 (resized).JPGIMG_3284 (resized).JPGIMG_3286 (resized).JPG
Time to redo do the crappy, ugly beat up and torn foil faced cardboard ground panel.
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I picked up a cheap metal brake and cut the sheets to size.
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And it's all done. Looks great. I still have to transfer trough holes and staple it in place.
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Covington, LA
Toronto, ON
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