Ok so if mine has cracked decals, no freaking problem, ship it to this dood's house and I'll have his.

No didn't think so!

Lots of people have the view that if only a few folks on pinside are complaining its a small problem when probability says its most likely the other way around.

Regards,
Neil.

Is that because newer cabinets are made differently? Weren't old style cabinets brought to an angle at the corner to the point? Whereas these newer cabinets all appear to be flat box corners.

it seems to me that when they build these machines they are building them with the thought they are going to be put out on location where they get the heck beat out of them by the public. I don't think they realize these machines are going to collectors with a more discriminating eye and higher quality expectations for the home and our collections.

I know my TZ and CV have 45 degree angles at the corners. The decals are not wrapped around the corner.

What’s your manufacture date? I received two of them but no pinballs :/

Possibly all those cabs were made by CGC. Who's making American Pinball's cabs?

Exactly correct .... original Bally/Williams cabinets had the wood joint, and the decal seam exactly at the point of the corner. These new cabinets have the wood joint about 1/4" back from the corner, on the side panel, and CGC is decaling right over this joint ... exactly where all of these decal cracks are occuring.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have an SE with a late December build date that was built in a warm factory, shipped in cold weather, picked up by a friend where it sat for a couple of weeks in his unheated garage, where I picked it up in sub freezing weather and transported in the open bed of a truck for 6 hours to my house, where it was taken out of the box and set up in a warm environment. No issues with the cabinet, electronics, decals, etc......

That doesn't feel any better at all .... my LE took 5 days to arrive, did arrive in a snowstorm, I did get it right into my semi-heated garage for an overnight, then immediately the next morning into my game room where it sat untouched for 48 hrs. to acclimate. I removed the topper, threw open the top box flaps only to discover ... cracked decal.

And if we want them to continue selling to us home users, we need to be understanding and not expect an immaculate machine that is delivered on a silver platter with zero issues ever. It’s unrealistic to do so. Some of the issues here are blown way out of proportion while others are severe enough that they need to be addressed. But the minor issues are being treated as if the sky is falling and we are all doomed!

I mean, I'm not scared off yet, but I get the panic. The group on PS sometimes come off like they are more worried about the looks than the game itself. I'm surprised they even play their games for fear something might break. The problem is, regardless of 'who' these are made for, we are paying a premium for these. Getting something with visible defects out of the box is disturbing, especially when you KNOW down the road if you want to sell it, someone else (the majority of people on this very site) is going to say 'oh those decals are split, I'll only pay you X'.

I have a feeling CGC is just busy dealing with a multitude of problems at the moment. Doug sent me a message here on pinside about 6 days ago offering to work with my distributor to get my deposit back if I wanted out after the delays. I asked if he could tell me when my distributor would would get their tiny allotment so I could decide if it's too far out and I never heard back, after 6 days. Not sure what to think anymore. CGC reviews are very, very mixed at the moment.

Well crap.....sorry to hear that.

I have seen a lot of brand new pins in my life, been around for many an unboxing. Never been around when one was unboxed looking as flawed as the MBr and AFMr decals that have been posted here. I have seen cabinet scratches that make you cringe, and they went right out on route but they didnt cost $8k and your casual bar patron is not giving two schnitzles about it either. They know a majority of these are for HUO and the standards the collectors put on every nick and scratch. NIB and it’s worth plummets as soon as it becomes NOOB, and heads even further south if the cabinet is not an A+.

Would any collector look at these cracks and give the cabinet an A+ rating? But it was NIB... how can in not be an A+?!?

This is why we are complaining about our $8k “toy” build quality.

So what are your considered "minor issues that the sky is falling" ?

I'm really surprised that CGC not contacted owners on the tickets submitted or posted an update here. This can't be good for sales.

So many things wrong with this statement, but the glaringly obvious is that without the home market there is no pinball market. Are you suggesting GCG will exit the pinball market all together because people complain about faulty goods?

Thank you! I am glad that you got your SE in good condition!

Not sure it makes a big difference yet... the delayed production has not given that many people cold feet, imo, but enough people getting a less than an A+ cabinet MBrLE NIB at $8300 delivered might affect sales a bit. Maybe they can get a buyer to pay $5750 for a refurbished CE and swap off the LE head? No disrespect to CE buyers, but maybe they can give those willing to accept the cracked decals a discount for buying a refurbished product and toss in a set of replacement decals for your effort maybe too? Just a thought.

I would keep an LE with the issues for a significant discount. The game will never leave our house but at 8k and a messed up decal job out of the box, come on man. The delays are bugging me. Do I want my game now, sure but its ok. The PF issues I thought were minor as in I could barely see anything in the pics and I doubt I would have noticed them at all if it was my game (well maybe one of them). But the split cab decals is extremely noticeable and some these AFMR pics are horrific.

From what others have said, CGC sends replacement decals for those affected.

For what it’s worth my AFMr LE has no decal issues.

If it is indeed a problem with the joint, that will need to be corrected before the new decals are applied (which is a lot of work in itself), or the same thing will just happen again. CGC uses a halving joint at the corners rather than a mitred joint. On my SE I can feel the joint through the decal - whether it will eventually crack or not remains to be seen.

I WISH!! I am paying over 12K Canadian lol. It had better be perfect!

Didn't CGC used to make the Williams cabinets, or am I dreaming? Why would they change their proven design?

No clue - maybe B/W dictated they use a different type of joint. Maybe the current joint is cheaper to do. I'd have to check my B/W cabs tonight, but I believe they used a type of lock rabbet joint:
Lock-Rabbet-Joint (resized).jpg

If you look close, you can see the joint in the pic that was posted earlier - it's right below the decal crack:

MB joint (resized).jpg

Out of curiosity, what are you guys expecting CGC to do about cracked decals?

I'm cool with an extra set of decals.. For those that don't work on games I'm sure that's very underwhelming.

I would rather have a discount instead of new decals which will probably just crack again. Would be a pain to have to redo decals and could end up worse after my reinstall. I would just live with the crack but would appreciate some discount since it would lower the resell value vs one without cracked decals

What’s the price of a new set of decals.. $300 ish?

$250 to $300 from pps I belive is consumer cost.

No way would I want to re-decal or slap another set on top of it. Unfortunately the cracked decal is the symptom... not the problem.

If mine cracks... I’m just gonna let it be.

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D9694171-AC47-4FBB-AA5F-200CFF9E0FDC (resized).jpeg

Would be nice if they would acknowledge the problem instead of avoiding it.. as a starter.

Then I would like to know what they can do to prevent this for others yet to be built.

and I agree with others..if you already have this issue..ether a new set or cash equivalent as a choice...I for one would not feel proficient in replacing them myself..being I never have attempted it

It looks as though yours has started to crack on the left side.

Earlier cabinets used a locking joint, but one that uses a 45deg edge.

cosmo (resized).jpeg

Maybe... I don’t see it though.

Williams used a superior joint.

Exactly why my Bally Williams games dont have cracked decals because the decals only go to the join not over it. Where it then is susceptible for a decal to crack if going over a joint as there is always going to be even a small amount of movement in a heavy cabinet.

I thought CGC built the Williams cabinets ?

Guess I will report on my decals. I've had my LE since 12/21, have around 150 games on it at this point, and my decals around the legs look fine.

I also own MMR-LE, purchased new in May 2016...decals are fine there as well.

**EDIT: I totally missed it, but it does look like a minor crack on the right side decal. I am not too concerned at this point...we'll see how it lasts in the long run.

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I don’t think the crack is what people are seeing along the very edge ... it’s when it cracks about 1/8” in where the joint is on the cabinet.

Either way... I’m hitting it with a marker if it annoys me.

From the man himself!

passionforpinball.com

Right from Cliff.
Passionforpinball.com

You beat me to it!

But be patient. Cliff is busy and in very high demand.

Thank you for the tip. I will be adding a simple right angle bracket with short screws on the inside of my MMr and my MBr LE when I receive it.

Do you have pics?

That "hair" in picture #2 wedged in the left leg would bother me more then that..

Its how the front joint in the cab is made. 1 is 45' the splitting decal cabs have a flush joint 5mm back from the front

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I will take one. Has to be better than my current MB cab

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