Hi all,

This is my first complete restoration and I want to "stand on the shoulders of [the] giants" here on Pinside to avoid making any unnecessary mistakes. I have read multiple pinball restoration guides including Vid's and others and want to start by thanking everyone for his or her contributions that keep this hobby viable.

I apologize in advance for my long post and many dumb questions.

Ok so I completely disassembled my machine to a blank playfield, scrubbed it with Novus #1, Magic Eraser and isopropyl alcohol, and then wiped it down with Naphtha to clean off the white stuff left from the Magic Eraser. Now I'm ready to move forward with working on the playfield.

Many of the arrow inserts were raised on the "pointy" end and so I have heated them with a heat gun and removed all of the raised inserts. On further examination I can see that all of the inserts are crazed (See below)

Insert Crazing

I figure if I am going to all the trouble to touch up the playfield and recondition the machine, I should go ahead and replace all of the inserts and not just the ones that were raised. I put together a list of the inserts I need along with the part numbers - but have not been successful finding them. I would prefer to purchase them from a single vendor, but at this point would be happy to get them anywhere to finish my project. Does anyone have these available for sale?

T2 Inserts Needed:
Quantity Item Unit Cost Part # Total
1 Amber 2"x1" Arrow Insert 03-7730-8
3 Red 2"x1" Arrow Insert 03-7730-9
1 Blue 2"x1" Arrow Insert 03-7730-10
7 Green 2"x1" Arrow Insert 03-7730-11
5 Orange 2"x1" Arrow Insert 03-7730-12
2 Clear 2"x1" Arrow Insert 03-7730-13
1 Red 1.5x.75 Stippled Rectangle Insert 03-8310-9
1 Blue 1.5x.75 Stippled Rectangle Insert 03-8310-10
1 Green 1.5x.75 Stippled Rectangle Insert 03-8310-11
1 Orange 1.5x.75 Stippled Rectangle Insert 03-8310-12
1 Clear 1.5x.75 Stippled Rectangle Insert 03-8310-13
1 Red 3-9/16"x1" Crescent "Hot dog" Tr. 03-7570-9
12 Red 2 1/4x1 1/8 Rectangle 03-8188-9
3 Red 1 1/2" Arrow 03-7644-9
3 Green 1 1/2" Triangle 03-8148-11
2 Red 1 3/4" Light Hood Double Sided 03-8204-9
2 Red 1 3/4" Light Hood Single Sided 03-8205-9
1 Screened Playfield Plastics Sets (50013) 31-1-50013
12 Red 2-1/4"x1-1/8" TR. 03-8188-9
2 Red 3/4", Tr. 03-7641-9
3 Orange 3/4", TR 09-7641-12
2 Red 1", Tr. 03-7642-9
1 Orange 1", Tr. 03-7642-12
1 Clear 1", Tr. 03-7642-13
2 Red Light 1-3/4" Hood, Double-Sided Tr. 03-8204-9
2 Red 1-3/4" Hood, Single-Sided Tr. 03-8205-9
T2 Eject Shields
2 Eject Shield, TR. Red 03-7351-1-9

I purchased a decal overlay - but when it arrived I noticed that the decals seem to be pretty thick so I am wondering if it might be wise to consider using them to scan and then to create my own (thinner) waterslide decals? I also noticed that although they are not raised, the bottom two inserts are cracked around the edges. What is the best way to address this?

Insert Edges

Vid recommended laying down a coat of clear prior to touch up in his guide. I plan to take my playfield to a local auto body shop to have them spray the 2 part clear coat on the playfield. Since it will be more than 24 hours between coats, my thought is to clean it up as much as possible, replace (reglue) the new inserts, and then take it to the body shop and ask them to spray the first (and second coats) so that I can sand it when it is dry in a few days, and then do my touch ups - add new decals - and take it back to have them spray the top coat. Did I get this right or would that not be the proper way to do this?

Next, I sanded the shooter lane to remove the dirt I was not able to clean off. This is what it looked like before:

Dirty

Below is what is looks like after sanding:

Sanded

And this is wet after wiping with Naphtha

Wet

Should I sand this a bit more - or just stop and paint it as Vid recommends in his guide?

If you look at the below picture - this is the other wear I found. Specifically, the ball groove in the drain lane (and through the plastic insert) and a ball divot next to the special insert under the "Lite Hurry Up" insert. If you run your finger across both you can feel the depression in the playfield.

Ball Groove and Divot

What would be the best way to address this? Again, I am thinking about removing the insert, lightly sanding the groove and the ball divot, filling and feathering it in with Bondo, and then masking the area with frisket and touching up the paint with an airbrush. (Wondering if Bondo is the right product to use or if another product may work better?)

Divot

Finally, as pictured below, the ramps dug through the playfield paint. I am thinking about doing the same thing to correct this - Bondo, feather, and air brush (or hand brush) to touch up the paint.

Ramp
Ramp2

I don't believe these touch ups are too difficult for a first attempt. I am most concerned about matching the florescent red lines around the inserts and would appreciate any advise from anyone who has mixed this color in the past.

Thanks in advance for all of your feedback - I really appreciate your assistance!

_{Post edited by Pinterest: Added T2 Terminator 2 to the title}

@Robotoes

Thanks for your response. Yes, these seem to be difficult to find. Strange because I thought that all of the dies had been purchased by someone and should be able to be reproduced. I suppose I will order whatever I can where I can. So far - I have only removed the inserts that were lifted because I was not sure I would be able to find them all. Yeah, this was my first attempt to add photos to a post and failed the first time but edited my post and think I have it now!

@Lovef2k

I always try Steve first because I live in Poughkeepsie. It looks like he has the start button I need - but that was about the only item. I called and talked with him - he has all of his insert inventory online.

@Blitzburg99

Good idea - added it.

Exactly Pinballer22 - that's why I was thinking I may just paint it as Vid suggested

So will sanding them help to remove the crazing on the insert?

Okay - so I was able to find many of the inserts for my game.

Still looking for the following inserts:

Qty Item Part #
1 Amber 1X2" Arrow Insert 03-7730-8
3 Red 1x2" Arrow Insert 03-7730-9
1 Blue 1x2" Arrow Insert 03-7730-10
6 Orange 1x2" Arrow Insert 03-7730-12
1 Blue 1.5x.75 Stippled Rectangle Insert 03-8310-10
1 Orange Stippled Rectangle 1.5x.75 Insert 03-8310-12
1 Red Crescent "Hot dog" 3.5x1" Insert 03-7570-9
12 Red Rectangle 2 1/4x1 1/8 03-8188-9
3 Red Arrow 1-1/2" 03-7644-9
5 Clear Arrow 1-1/2" 03-7644-13
2 Red 3/4", Tr. 03-7641-9

Please PM me if you have any of these you can sell!

The Orange 2" arrows, and the 12 Red 2-1/4" X 1-1/8" inserts are critical - so I would really appreciate your help finding them!

It sure is! I have been finding there are a lot of Pinsiders in this area! Let me know if your coming to the area and maybe we can go grab a cup of coffee or something

Hi Anth -

Thank you for your response - I really appreciate and value everyone's assistance in helping make my project a success!

I agree with you that the inserts may not NEED to be replaced but the old inserts are so dingy and crazed and the new ones look SO much better - I can't help but believe new inserts will transmit light much better - and since I'm taking the time and effort to touch up, polish, replace all the other worn items and to clear coat my playfield with 2 PAC - why not? I'm not restoring this machine as an investment - I'm doing it because I love pinball, enjoy this game, and want to preserve it for another 35+ years. I'm assuming this machine will be around long after I'm gone.

In regard to the ball trails in the playfield - if I level the ball tracks out with the clearcoat, will the tracks still be visible when I'm done if I do not fill them and touch up the paint?

My goal is to make the machine look (and play) better than it looked when it rolled off the line new. When it's finished, I plan to light the machine with LEDs to lessen the load placed on the power supply (plus I love the look of LEDs).

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Ah, so one will not see the ball tracks because I'll airbrush over the leveled playfield after the first coat of clear levels everything and I've blocked it out with some 500 grit? That makes sense. Are there examples of how this looks in a thread somewhere? It sounds like this same approach will work where I have ball dents in the red areas shown previously too!

Sorry - I'm a bit slow on the uptake - but catch on eventually!

So I have been moving forward in my restoration efforts. Still cleaning everything and getting parts together. Have not found all of the new inserts - but if I have to I'll just keep the old ones.

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Sorry it has been so long since I updated this post. I'll try to catch it up over the next few days. Mainly using Vids guides as a reference I am really happy with the forward progress of the restoration. My plan is to have the playfield touchups and 2PAC completely finished before the fall.

So at this point I have removed everything from the cabinet and playfield. I have disassembled, all sub-assemblies, ultrasonically cleaned, polished, and replaced worn parts, springs and anything else not in excellent condition and upgraded some parts that were! I still need to pickup some new coil wrappers, but still pretty much done.

Before:
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After:
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Before:
Before.jpg

After:
After.jpg

All of the electro-mechanical assemblies are re-assembled and stored nicely away in parts bins to be put back in on the playfield and in the machine when the playfield restoration is finished.

Next I started replacing damaged inserts. I had planned to replace ALL of the playfield inserts - but because I was not able to find all of them - I decided it was better to keep them than to risk having a mix of faded versus unfaded inserts. I removed the ones that were protruding from the playfield, sanded the edges to give them some tooth, coated them with plastic primer and then re-glued them with Harbor Freight 5 minute epoxy.

While I was trying to find all of the inserts - I moved on and started repairing damaged wood. Here is a picture of the playfield with the inserts removed prior to repairing the damage. I heated up the raised inserts, and used a nutdriver to tap them out. Almost every 2" arrow insert was raised.

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I masked off the areas needing attention and used epoxy stick to effect the repairs. After the epoxy had a couple of days to harden - I sanded the area prior to removing the masking. After I removed the masking - I carefully sanded a bit more to feather in the edges.
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When wood repairs were complete - I spent some quality time with my Dremel on the playfield spinning out the old mastic-like glue previously used to hold in the inserts. This was probably the most difficult part of this as it is important to remove the glue - but equally important not to enlarge the insert holes. Finally, I re-glued the inserts as described above in preparation to spray a blocking coat of 2PAC to flatten and protect the artwork prior to beginning the paint touch ups.

So this is what my playfield looked like just prior to application of a blocking coat of 2PAC.
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After reading about how nasty the 2PAC can be - I decided not to risk it and purchased a Hobby Air fresh air supply. I was willing to pay the $400-$500 needed to buy a new unit - but was fortunate to have found one on eBay for $250.
Hobby_Air.JPG

I posted a video of the inside of this unit in another thread here - and I would not hesitate to recommend making your own unit (cheaply) if you don't have one. All of the parts are readily available on eBAY.

One thing to note - be sure to have everything in close proximity when using a fresh air hood or you may be forced to disconnect to reach items you may need. I learned from my first experience and spent more time setting up a table with everything I needed the second time I sprayed. With Vid's help - I found a local source for the 2PAC and supplies I needed. Other than my respirator, I purchased a 1-piece bunny suit at Home Depot, and this stuff!
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I used the PPG Omni MC161 with the MH167 Fast Hardner as recommended by Vid. Was my first experience spraying this and I'll say that it sprayed nicely with no fisheyes or problems. I did use a glass dropper to pre-fill the low areas prior to spraying the playfield.

Here's my playfield right after the first blocking coat was applied.
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I was really impressed at how it made the colors pop!

This shot shows how I built up the place that had a "ball trail" depression in the playfield with 2PAC from a glass dropper prior to shooting this blocking coat. You can't really tell from this picture - but when you feel it - the center is raised higher than the rest of the clear.
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Clearly it's not perfect at this point - in fact it looks quite horrible - but it's fine yours may look similar at this point and it will look beautiful when it's done. We still need to block sand it.
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If you don't have one - I recommend you buy a 17" auto body hand sander! They are only $8 at Harbor Freight -- cheaper on sale.
image_18332.jpg
I used this with 400 grit sandpaper to flatten out my playfield and prepare it for painting. I have purposely called the first coat of 2PAC a "blocking" coat for a reason. You use the auto body sander to "flatten" or "block sand" the playfield. Using this long sander will help ensure you attain a flat surface. It will also help you avoid sanding through the clear into the paint. You use this tool by carefully sanding in an X pattern across the playfield. It will help you to easily identify the high (flat) and low (shiny) spots. When I finished sanding - I saw I had missed some low spots in a few places - so I wiped the playfield with Naptha, mixed up a bit more 2PAC and used my eyedropper to fill in the areas I had missed.

Okay so I waited a couple of days after filling in the low spots with 2PAC and an eyedropper and then re-block sanded the areas I had built up level with the rest of the playfield. Here is what my playfield now looks like after sanding it flat.
IMG_0376.JPG

The playfield is now flat and its finally time to start color matching and touching up my paint with the air brush. I am definitely not "Mr. Artistic" by any means - and UNTIL TODAY I HAVE NEVER TRIED TO MIX PAINT OR MATCH COLORS!

I mixed this on the first attempt - BY CHEATING - and I'll share my secret at the end of this post. My point is - if I can do this - anyone can. Below are pictures of my progress. I'm not as fast as the professionals - but when its finished I'm confident I will have a collector quality machine.

I decided to start with the light blue area first.

Before:
Here is the area prior to touch ups with the airbrush.
Light Blue Crack.jpg
Light Blue Damage.jpeg

During:
Here is what this looked like while touching up.
Light Blue Masked.jpg

After:
Here's what it looks like with the frisket and masking removed!
Light Blue Done.jpg

Okay - so I promised to share the secret of color matching at the end of this post - and here it is.

Go to the App Store on your iPhone - (Not sure if there is a version for Android - but I'd bet there is) DON'T BE CHEAP! LOL - spend $3 for "True Color - Color Mixing Assistant by Snickerdoodle Software, LLC."

This application is awesome! You take a picture of the color you want to match and the application tells you how much red, green, blue, and white to mix to hit it. It really could not be more simple. I highly recommend this application as I would otherwise have no idea what percentages of color to mix to match. I seriously matched this color perfectly on my first try - and then added to the volume of mixed color simply by using this application.

Can you tell what areas of light blue were sprayed and what light blue areas were not sprayed?

Of course I will continue to share!

I am painting EVERYTHING that needs touch up (including the wood) until my playfield is perfect (or as close to it as I can make it!)

Yes - I'm using Createx paints - I figure why mess with the success others have had.

Good luck with your restoration - and be sure to share your experiences also so I can learn from you!

I just used the approximate percentages to mix it. Having some trouble with the deep maroon though.

I used all opaque colors for the light blue.

Finding that I need to use transparent blue when mixing the dark maroon though because only 1 drop of the opaque blue turns the red purple.

I switched to adding black to the red to go for the maroon, but then it was too dark. <sigh> I should have known it wouldn't be this easy LOL - I would also pay extra for an application to mix whites and blacks for different shades of gray! Still confident that I'll be able to pull this off though. It just seems like some colors are easier to mix than others is all.

So last night I had a tough time with the maroon - I think I've kicked it's butt at this point... Start with much Red, three or 4 drops of yellow, and a drop of black is the trick here! I'll dial it in the rest of the way tomorrow - and it looks ok - but I can do better!

No idea why - but the left lane looks better than the right lane. I mixed all of the paint at the same time and painted the left lane last. <shrug> go figure. I am wondering if it will help to spray down a coat of white first - maybe I'll try that tomorrow night.

Before:
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During:
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After:
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Work has sucked this week and came home late with a headache every day - but finally got some quality time with T2 today. I started by finishing the Maroon - as I said - Createx Opaque Red, 6 or 8 drops of opaque yellow, 1 drop opaque black is the ticket. Its still not absolutely perfect - but I'll accept this as my first try. It looks remarkably better than it did anyway.

See my before pictures above ^

AFTER:
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Then - I couldn't stand that the center was still looking bad so I hit it. I had been dreading the fluorescent red - but just used straight wicked fluorescent red out of the bottle. Yeah, I know it's not perfect - still debating whether I'll re-do it but again not bad for a first attempt and I still have to paint in the white stripes. I started out with a base coat of opaque white and then went over the top with the fluorescent. I think I just got the fluorescent on a bit too thick - because its a bit brighter than the surrounding color. Here's how it looks.

BEFPORE:
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AFTER:
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Planning to work on this some more - but there is only so much of this you can do at a time - and I'm in no rush - enjoying my other machines! Let me know how you are doing on yours.

REALLY debating getting one of these by the way...

http://www.harborfreight.com/professional-6-color-airbrush-kit-with-holder-95923.html

It is soooo slow cleaning the gun and changing color. I'll just use the brush holder, air brushes and put quick disconnects on all of them to use with my filtered air.

This will help increase my productivity significantly!

Thanks - Yeah I read that article.

Anyway - these are the cups I use to mix in and the water in the second cup is about how much red I started with.
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Hope this helps!

Sorry, I picked up a filthy Gottlieb "The Amazing Spiderman" last Wednesday that was pretty much dead. Spent the rest of the week and the holiday weekend cleaning the machine, removing the leaky battery, rebuilding the MPU, adding the ground mods, etc. Got it back together and everything running tonight - except for the displays - and will get back to T2 soon.

The wife and kids flew back from our place in Fl and I picked them up from an airport around 2 hours away from our place in NY on Saturday - and took this opportunity to stop at a large hobby store to grab a TON of different shades and brands of paint to match the wood on the playfield - so I plan to get back to the T2 soon. I also spent some time tearing down the cabinet, coin door, etc. Anyway -

Thanks for asking - look for some updates soon!

Ok - so like I said - I bought a ton of different shades and brands of paint to match the playfield.
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This one (third from left) is a pretty close match - so going to try to paint the wood on my pf tomorrow!
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Maybe - but I wasted a LOT of paint and time trying - and couldn't get this close. I still may have to use Createx though - time will tell...