hi all, just thought i would start a thread on another experiment i have finally begun based on lessons learned from
my carelessness with my c37 playfield

since a laser cut vinyl decal process i worked on turned out so well for the c37 'fix' i have been meaning to try some similar 'decals' and application to a couple of my other games

although my strange world was home use only and in really really nice shape - the center of playfield at the inserts had begun to wear, with bare wood just at ball kickout and some pretty grimy ball swirls around the grid of numbered inserts

i want to try and apply another 'non permanent' vinyl decal, laser cut, over the whole area - to keep any further wear from occurring and as a challenge to see if i can do it well enough to pretty the game up even more, with out the perils of my good old magic eraser and rubbing alcohol!!!

if others are interested i can eventually post a more detailed 'play by play' ... but just sharing progress after some hours of work today on it

i took a digital photo over the playfield, brought it in to adobe illustrator and began work on a new vector art file to eventually pass on to my printer for the laser cut vinyl decals

i repeatedly print to my laser printer on clear sheets which i can overlay onto the playfield, mark up etc, then go back and adjust the art file so it is a near 'exact' match to the area being worked on

no laughing please .. i know the art file looks simple enough, but about 4 hrs and 10 overlays so far ... i am a bit of a 'perfectionist' and don't let all the geometry fool you - lots to line up!!

at any rate its all good now except the final sizing and tweaking of the insert circle positions so that when laser cut from the final decal, the inserts below register how i want them too

here's a few shots - i'm glad to have finally gotten this going, with the bulk of the effort now done

SW1.JPG

shot of playfield .. not bad but you can see the ball wear at kick out hole and some of the grime around the center inserts

SW2.JPG

just a shot of some of the print outs!

SW3.JPG

and a shot of a 'mock up' easier to see than the clear prints

... so next to line up the inserts cut outs, then some color matching and getting the file off to the printer

more to come, lets hope it works out !!

cheers, Ron

thanks guys

i bit more tweaking and aligning and overlays ... its getting close

not 'exact' as i am redrawing the text etc. as i couldn't find fonts
very very close ... and looks pretty good to my eye ... a scan would have made things much easier
than my digital photo (inevitably distorted)

line 'strokes' or widths are almost bang on ... just some of the letters are slightly off on edge angles and a wee bit on
some of the spacing, but barely!

i could go on for ever trying to get it 'exact' but am running out of patience!

now to assign the colors and send off to get a couple tests printed / cut

strange world decal 10.jpg

and a quick photo - just a start at color match on my laser printer ... got lazy and only cut out a few of the insert holes!

camera picks up the difference btwn waxed playfield colors and the laser printer on cheap stock paper, in reality the colors look really close - idea is to get my color print as close as possible then take that in for a start for printer to print to as well - end result will of course be a much much closer match too

swtest1.JPG

... its a LASER cutter / printer combo ... no clue if 4k would even come close ??!

will 'age' the off-whites a bit more, brighten the 'special' red and tweak the main orange a bit more
will tighten the 5000 a bit by moving the 3 zeros left a tad, increased the 'lights corresponding' stroke thickness a bit...

almost there

swmock.JPG

hi Bruce - sure if others need them i can get some extras done up to share

i have been done the decal graphics since my last post but just wanted to work a bit more on the color match to my machine - then will take down a color print and email the sign company the file

not sure what they will charge for this one but once i get it sorted to my satisfaction i will post asking for others who might want some, then i can put in an order for a few to send out

of course the colors won't be an exact match to each machine as they will all have aged a bit differently, but they should be reasonably close

will keep all posted

cheers, Ron

guys, i have plans to do some more stuff

although i am really picky and therefore unless i goof up (like i did on my c37 .. )(http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-c37-disaster-confessions-of-a-magic-eraser-junkie)
my playfields are all very very good

strange world needed some help at kick out hole and after the success of c37 i wanted to experiment with a 'larger' challenge which seems like it will work really well

next is my sky jump - but more on that later

if i can get around to it i also plan to do nice 'under bumper' decals for a variety of my wedgeheads ... i think others would find that really really useful too

hi guys ... my pinball projects have taken a bit of a back seat last while as life hands some other tasks .. but yes i have meaning to get back to finishing up some of the decals etc etc

Tony - i haven't printed any yet but of course i can make extras up and ship out (at least two other pinsiders will get some as well) - got to keep the strange worlds looking pretty as we can .. i LOVE mine - i will see if i can get on it and the other decals in next couple of weeks and will sure to post more as i progress

Ryan - yes the color matching will be a bit tricky and undoubtedly once i match mine, won't exactly match the other machines i send the decals out for - but hopefully it will be quite close and much better as an improvement and protector than what the other guys currently have too

cheers guys

regards, Ron

Darcy you're going to get one too whether you need / want one or not

Ron

Hi all, i went to my sign co to get ready to print some - will see how the first ones turn out in a week or so probably and will update further

can look at these as a 'protector decal' too - so far indications are that the removeable vinyl works really well with no bubbling, lifting or damage to conditions under them

so really a non permanent, non evasive 'fix'

cheers, Ron

Hi all - oh my - embarrassingly - has it been two years since I started this thread

Life often pulls me in unknown directions - but happy to say today I stopped by the printers shop to see if they had some files and info from my last visit many many many months ago ?

Yes they remembered me and yes they did ... So just a bump here ... I'm back on this one and hope to have an update soon ??

Although I don't really want to become a decal distributor by night ... If they turn out and aren't too costly I'll consider working something out for those of you who might still be interested -

Stay tuned - regards Ron