Flash Gordon
Bally, 1981All that time and $ to seal a junk pf with auto clear just for an overlay? Wetsanding inserts before sanding pf?
I commend your energy, but damn, you are running in circles.
You could have sanded the old pf flat, inserts and all, sealed with 3 coats of aerosol lacquer, sanding in between, and been ready for overlay. Total cost, $18, and done in your garage, no shelter needed.
Quoted from Sideways:fatpanda Ahhh, I didn't know that! Thanks for telling me – it does sound like something I would consider. What does it look like? Is there a link to it?
Looks like this 
Quoted from Jjsmooth:All that time and $ to seal a junk pf with auto clear just for an overlay? Wetsanding inserts before sanding pf?
I commend your energy, but damn, you are running in circles.
You could have sanded the old pf flat, inserts and all, sealed with 3 coats of aerosol lacquer, sanding in between, and been ready for overlay. Total cost, $18, and done in your garage, no shelter needed.
Haha, you're right, @jjsmooth. I definitely could have saved money and time, but I didn't want to just install the overlay (obviously). I'm going to make sure this FG looks gooooooood when I'm done, lol.
I grew up with this machine as you've seen earlier in this feed, and I just wanted to go as far as I can with this restoration. I want this pinball machine to last for generations to come, and in the middle of all this, I'm having fun learning. This is my second pinball restoration project, and I've never replaced inserts (now I have), and I've never used auto clear coat (now I have), and soon here I'm going to install an overlay which I've never done either.
The first pinball project I did – I went crazy with watermark decals, frisket, and airbrushing, and it was a blast! Here are some pictures to show my before and after project. I learned so much, and was ready to try other things. On top of that, from what I learned before I decided to post everything and log everything to benefit other people's projects so they can learn from my mistakes or whatnot.
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Quoted from Cliffy:Looks like this
Thanks for sharing, @cliffy! I'll probably order one as soon as I install the overlay, and get the play field back together.
Flat playfield = brutal FG 
....."Emperor Ming Awaits"
Quoted from Captive_Ball:Flat playfield = brutal FG ....."Emperor Ming Awaits"
Yes, totally!! Haha Captive_Ball
Quoted from Flyrod:That Grand Slam was AWESOME! Fun to watch you do your thing. Keep it up. Looking forward to the end product!
Thanks man!! Definitely keeping it up, lol. Flyrod
Quoted from nikpinball:I'm super excited for the clear inserts and color choices made. Keep up the good work.
Thanks - really appreciate it! I’m stoked and excited about it too. nikpinball
Great work and attention to detail.
I have done things on some of my past projects (pinball and beyond) that make people scratch their heads or could (should? ) have been left alone. Sometimes the result works out as I expected, other times I fail and I learn from the experience. Your ambition should provide you with a sound foundation -- looking forward to the finished playfield.
Quoted from TractorDoc:Great work and attention to detail.
I have done things on some of my past projects (pinball and beyond) that make people scratch their heads or could (should? ) have been left alone. Sometimes the result works out as I expected, other times I fail and I learn from the experience. Your ambition should provide you with a sound foundation -- looking forward to the finished playfield.
Thank you, @tractordoc! Really appreciate the encouragement! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one making people scratch their heads, haha. Looking forward to not only finishing the playfield, but also learning from you as well. Cheers!
Quoted from Sideways:Looking forward to not only finishing the playfield, but also learning from you as well. Cheers!
Try not to learn too much (from me), we do not want the blind leading the blind! 
Now that I have the experience, I will say that installing the overlay was nerve-racking! On the top playfield overlay, you'll notice the original manufacturer cuts weren't lining up correctly. I could have lined up the holes, but then the lights underneath weren't lining up, so I decided to line up the lights, and the rollover inserts correctly. This way the playfied is lit correctly, and I can hide the original cuts with the pinball plastics.
In the timelapse video above, this is why you see me using lights underneath to position the overlay before installing. Below is a picture showing that I've lined up the overlay correctly, and you can see that the original cuts were off.
The worst part of the whole thing was making cuts for the rollover inserts, kickout saucer (thankfully the cliffy protector will cover this anyways), and the ramp settings (especially this one, but again, it'll be covered by the ramps). This is largely due to my thick plastic sheet on top of the printed overlay; if yours doesn't have this, I imagine it would be a lot easier.
Below are pictures of before and after cuts of the overlay.
The next thing for me is now dealing with all the crap of the overlay, lol. I'll be installing a watermark decal for the "4X" circle that's apparently blank on the upper playfield, and I'll probably paint in some circles where it was originally cut out. I will also be sanding and installing the rollover inserts (stoked for these)!
I'm also tempted to throw on a couple layers of clear coat, so that the edges of the overlay would be sealed, and everything would be flat flat flat. What do you guys think? It couldn't hurt, would it? Flyrod
TractorDoc
Captive_Ball
FatPanda
Cliffy
nikpinball
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Since you already have all of the stuff for the clear, I would definitively throw on a few layers to seal everything up. Everything looks good! Good choice to line up the inserts instead of the holes. I think once you repopulate the topside, it'll difficult to see that all the holes are misaligned.
And also, great choice with the clear and starburst inserts before installing the overlay! Both for the look and sealing the wood due to the misalignment of the overlay.
The overlay won’t last without the clear. The biggest prob you will have is the bunching/lifting under hardware like posts etc. it’s going to happen in several places at least...
Even with the clear? You could always put a washer underneath posts to help distribute the pressure and keep the clear from chipping when doing the topside.
I cannot help from having experience in this area -- but I would think a layer of clear would protect all the hard work/effort you just put forth.
The only thing I would recommend is testing whatever clear you are using on some of the overlay remnants to check compatibility. I know some chemicals can be aggressive and Id hate to see you spray clear on your new playfield only to have it melt before your eyes!
Quoted from TractorDoc:I cannot help from having experience in this area -- but I would think a layer of clear would protect all the hard work/effort you just put forth.
The only thing I would recommend is testing whatever clear you are using on some of the overlay remnants to check compatibility. I know some chemicals can be aggressive and Id hate to see you spray clear on your new playfield only to have it melt before your eyes!
AMEN! Tractordoc, it looks like you cut off the shooter lane from the overlay (good call in my book). You could test it on that pc. I also think the clear layers before should minimize the bunching and lifting.
Clear star inserts look awesome! LEDs will make those really pop.
Quoted from Flyrod:Also noticed the overlay on the upper playfield drop targets on the left does not have the 4X on the green insert.... another decal like you did on grand slam between clear coats would fix that.
duh.... just saw that you already mentioned this...
Just finished sanding and gluing in the rollover star inserts! As you can see, I put an orange LED under one of them to show what it would look like LIT; best part is that I can change that orange color to whatever, and it would still look awesome!! (thinking maybe color changing RGB LEDs under these)
Next step is now adding a watermark decal for the "4X" circle on the upper playfield.
It's been 9 days since I've installed the overlay, and I noticed a bubble. 
First thing I tried was to squeeeeze out the bubble, but it wouldn't do squat. Then I tried to pry it up a little to see if I could throw some epoxy glue underneath, and seal it, but it was too tight.... 
Then I thought maybe a heat gun would help relieve stress on the bubble/playfield and make it easier to press back in, but this was definitely a mistake. Instead of making the bubble disappear, I ended up making a crease. 
Learn from my mistake!
So now I've got it clamped in (tightly), and I'm probably going to leave it for another week or so – hoping that'll fix it. Let me know if there are any other ideas, or better solutions.
Quoted from BJM-Maxx:Did you prick the bubble to let the trapped air out?
I didn’t prick it (thought about it), but there was an opening edge where air could get out. This is where I tried to squeeze the air out, but the bubble just kept going back. It’s like the overlay got stressed when I laid it down, and I think that’s why I couldn’t squeeze the bubble out.
Hey Guys!! Sorry for the huge delay on updating this. Summer came around too quickly, and I found myself really busy. Not to worry though, this Flash Gordon overlay project is still moving forward and I'll get you all up to speed.
So after the crease incident as mentioned above, it actually got better from clamping it down, and throwing on a few layers of auto clear coat (that's right, I sprayed on auto clear!!).
Meanwhile, I scanned the upper playfield and the lower playfield so that I can have a "4X" watermark decal for the missing "4X" on my overlay. Hence, I photoshopped the "4X" from the lower playfield to get what I needed for the upper playfield.
Then I applied the watermark decals on the overlay (after one layer of auto clear), and it went really well.
One thing to note was that I had to put two watermark decals on top of each-other for the "4X". This way when the insert is lit from underneath – it won't make the "4X" transparent.
And here's some pictures of the overlay finally COMPLETED! (I actually have to clean out the clear coat on some areas, but that'll go away as I reassemble this machine)
In the next few weeks/months, I'll be reassembling everything back together. Whoop whoop!!!
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Quoted from Sideways:Hey Guys!! Sorry for the huge delay on updating this. Summer came around too quickly
Nice job on the playfield...I don't think it's summer yet. 
Thanks guys!
Quoted from Captive_Ball:Nice job on the playfield...I don't think it's summer yet.
Haha, you're right, @captive_ball. I guess it's not summer yet, but here in Kentucky it sure feels like summer (the temperature is around the mid-80s). Plus my wife is on "summer break" from school, so either way.
Quoted from Flyrod:That should play faaaaassst!! Nice job.
YES!!! Can't wait to have it back together, Flyrod
Quoted from Sideways:here in Kentucky it sure feels like summer (the temperature is around the mid-80s).
mid 90's here...upper 90's coming next week...just in time for June
Hey Guys! The Flash Gordon machine is coming along, and it's almost all back together!
Since I finished the clear coat, I re-assembled the wood supports on the sides, and I got the tracing paper out of storage that I had since the beginning; soooo thankful I did this!
Since the overlay still had the potential to "lift", I used a very small drill bit (from my dremel tool set) to use as a pilot drill, and then I would carve out the rest of the holes with an exacto blade (used about 10 fresh clean blades total for this, lol). This way when I put the screws back in, there would be less tension on it.
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Here's a picture of the bottom play-field that I've had to put back together. I'll spare you the details of all the solder work that I had to do. You can see there are still some wires I needed to work on, but as of today, everything is soldered back together!
One thing I will say, is that the STANLEY 68-012M All-In-One 6-Way Screwdriver is literally THE BEST screwdriver to have when it comes to any projects on a pinball machine. If you don't have one – I highly recommend getting one.
Here's a link directly to Amazon: http://a.co/iIdiRLx
It's usually only about $6, and here's a fun video review of it:
After multiple fixes and getting things back together, I was able to turn on the pinball machine for the first time in a LONG time, and all the LEDs came on!!!
For those who are wondering, all the LEDs on this machine are from https://www.cometpinball.com/ . I think they're fantastic, and their help support is very fast if you need anything. Highly recommend checking out their matrix kits too. Big thanks to ryanwanger and Comet LEDs.
Here's a video of it:
and here's a picture with the ramps installed.
And now to where it is today, I'm cleaning a bunch of parts and pieces (with mean green, magic erasers, and the nylon brushes I've had from earlier). Attached below are some pictures with before and after they were cleaned. Totally worth keeping any old parts instead of buying new ones if you can (such as the star rollovers, and flippers); just takes a little time to polish/clean to make it feel new again.
I also ordered a play field protector from https://www.playfield-protectors.com/ ; I figured this would be a good thing to have to protect all the work I've done thus far. It'll play super fast, and it'll feel like a brand new machine!
Cheers guys!! Alllllllmmmoooost there!!!
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Check out the pictures below, and the time lapse video here: 
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