Thanks! I started touching up some black lines and filling up some cracks in the black area. I did spray some clear lacquer this morning to see if the color will blend properly. It's going to dry up today and when I'm back home I should have my answer. (My wife do not want me to spray in the house so I do it when we are away...)

Ordered my face mask yesterday so I'll be ready to give a few coats of clear when the weather warms up. Then I can see if it needs more touching up or I'm good to go and re-populate.

I'll try to do wood tone this week-end. I was planning to do only the shooter lane but I might do all the bare wood areas actually. Just a light transparent coat to even things out. I'll first try around the pop bumpers and see how it looks.

I sanded the clear and I freshen up the bare wood with a birch tone color. It's quite different but it cleans up the game real good. It also improves the shooter lane dramatically. Once cleared, the wood pattern should show up a little more. Overall I like it.

I got some tiny touch-ups to do in the black and I plan on redoing all of the stars as some are quite faded. To have tried it in one place it makes them pop really nice.

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Merci buddy!

I fixed the white text saying: LITES EXTRA BALL.

I stopped looking for a place printing white on waterslide decals. In my search though, I found a guy who suggested using a Cameo stencil cutter. He asked how large was the text and agreed to take a shot at it. He kindly offered to cut it and send it to me. Kudos to another dedicated pinhead.

He did cut the text as on the insert but also separate letters. I used the "as is" version and taped off the letter which did not need to be fixed. I only re-did the bottom tip of "I" and "T". Then the "X" and "T".

A few thin layers of airbrush color and the result is pretty good. Too good actually. The original text was a bit blurry and the new letters are sharper. From the player's POV it will go unnoticed.

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Ready for clearcoat I guess

Got my first 2 coats (1 full can) on. I clean up my shed, made some room and hang up my light.
I waited about 12-15 mins between coats. Looking good except I made a mistake when I mixed my white paint using straight up flow improver instead of my homemade mix. Result, the white paint seems to want to wrinkle. I'll see once it's dry and sanded if I need to touch it back up...

Before, first time it sees the sun in months.
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My setup and condition
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A few picture before I get the fuck out.
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Also, I decided to redo the white and do waterslide decals for the inlanes text. We'll see how it turns out. I'll install the decals after the first coat of clear.

Had to redo the white twice since my color match was wrong (picture)

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As I'm redoing some of my touch-ups, I figured I should post a video of how I cut frisket mask with an xacto knife. I am no artist and a beginner really but I guess it shows with a little patience and steady hand anybody can do it.

Tips I may share:
-Hold the knife lightly, no need to press hard, be gentle.
-Use you other hand to steady your motion. Like I play guitar, I use my pinky to add some control to the movement and slide along the surface better.
-When doing rounds, I prefer to start with my wrist bent and unwind, not the inverse. Bend as much before getting unconformable, you can get a good stretch with the same stroke. Move your body and a whole.
-Change position to get best approach and best lighting. Do not get lazy standing in one place.

Howdy folks!

Time to give an update.

First, I encountered problems when I did my first coat (I'm using spraymax 2k in a can) The white area and everything that got mixed with white craked and wrinkled under the clear. Some other color reacted as well. Disaster. I had to redo all the white, light gray, yellow, green, orange and blue. Again practice makes perfect.

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Rework.

Multiple light coats, heat cured in-between, knocked down the edge before clearcoat. Apparently the problem might have been caused by using acrylic lacquer to seal down touch-up between color. Funny enough, I as suggested to do that. I had no issues the second time around.

I also did my 2 water slide decals for each inlanes. These are tricky to install and nowhere near perfect. But good enough. I would need some serious practice before redoing all inserts text on a playfield. Luckily those 2 are kinda hidden.

So after the paint touch-ups, light layer of clear, wait 12 hours, sand for tooth, apply water slide decals, let dry for 12 hours, light coat of clear, wait 15 mins, wet coat of clear (that's the content of 1 can)

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So this morning I was ready to tackle final sanding and final clearcoat!

I started using 600 grit but it did not leave the playfield flat enough without serious muscle. I previously wet sanded but did not like it and decided to do dry sanding this time around going with 400 grit and "Richard's" sanding block. That was it. I was able to get the playfield completely flat except a few low spots.

I do not care that much about low spots under the posts, more importantly I took care of the places where the ball travels and the eyes can see.

I used a sheet and half of 400 and wiped with naptha after each 1/4 of sheet.

I finished with my trusty green scotch-brite pad and gave a light 600 grit final sanding. Pretty good!

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After, I vacuumed all the holes and blew with compressed air the whole thing. I did not want for debris to raise and fall once I shoot the final coat.

Wiped with naptha and tack cloth.

I then filled the low spots with clear using an eyedropper. I used my 3rd and last can of Spraymax. Sprayed in a cup and filled the low spots.

I then waited 20 mins to shoot the final heavy coat.

I was ready!

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I was able to do multiple passes from different direction since the light bulbs seemed to blocked the clear depending of what direction I was shooting from. I did not want that to happen on the final coat.

It went very well. Good coverage. 1 hour in I took those pictures and it looks flat and true.

After polishing, it should look pretty sweet!

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In the meantime, I continue cleaning other parts like flame polishing my lift ramp and cleaning my translite and back glass. Someone in the past used hockey tape (classic) to hold the translite to the glass and the glass to the bottom rail. I was able to remove all glue residue using naptha fuel.

Using Novus 2, I was also able to remove quite a lot of brown stuff from behind the translite even though it looked clean at first sight.

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Thanks man. I feel it's all worth it now.

Thanks. The area where I filled low spots took way longer to cure and I got 1-2 spots where it bubbled. I guess I did not leave enough time before spraying over top the puddles.

I'll let it sit for at least a week and see what sanding does.

Today I wet sanded my playfield in prep for the final polish. I started with 400 and hit some high spots. Then 600, 800, 1000, 1500. At this point, the playfield is ready to polish and I can start seeing the shine back on. What a mess wet sanding makes...

I have Meguiars M105 (Ultra-Cut Compound) and M205 (Ultra Finishing Polish) is stock and waiting on my polishing pads I ordered (unfortunately from china...)

In the meantime, I finished re-graining, polishing and waxing my ball guides and ball through. I find a coat of wax helps them keep there shine and prevent oxydation.

Before
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After
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Stored and ready for assembly.

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Thanks! Still waiting on my polishing pads from China... then it's back on the rotisserie!

I'm done! with my playfield. It made it's way back in the basement to repopulate. I was waiting for my polishing pads and I sanded the playfield prior. After the initial buffing pass, a bunch of scratches from the sandpaper showed up. I was disappointed. I thought the playfield looked way better when it came out of the last clear coat. I thought of may be re-shoot for a last coat and buff from there instead of sanding. But before, I then tried a more aggressive buffing and most of the scratches disappeared. Before, I re-sanded the whole playfield with 1500 and 2000 before buffing to get rid of the scratches.

Overall, it looks very good. I'm sure Kruzman would find a lot to work on but I'm happy with the result. Time to move on.

Here is the playfield before my first buffing:
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The scratches showing up:
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Second sanding and agressive buffing:
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After polishing:
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What I used:
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A few more:
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Thanks buddy!

Thanks for the great word. Give me a boost to finish this project. I'm glad I could entertain

The playfield is back on the rotisserie and what a change in look since I pulled off the mylar. I gave a shoot at installing a few posts but I'll need to open up the holes before as some clear sunk and is blocking the easy way in.

For deep scratches, start with 120 grit sand paper, it will get rid off about pretty much all trails. Then you smooth out with finer grit. 320 to 600, then I use green 3M pad (i like it because it gets into corner and round area like lockdown bar corner). Then it's autosol metal polish with a microfiber rag, it will get smooth and shiny. I finish with a wax.

I do it by hand in 1 direction only. If you can clamp the piece in bench vice it helps get some muscle to it.

It won't get to mirror finish by hand but it does a great job no matter what. Clean your hand often to avoid fingerprints all over, autosol eats up metal and it gets messy.

This technic is also valid for side rails and lockdown bar. Mine came out like new.

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Installed the posts tonight. Takes way more time to put them back then take them off. Fun times though. My fingers are all cut from turning a fresh drill bit through the hole openings to shave some clear off.

Did not forget the washer underneath the left post near the target bank. Offset towards the back for max efficiency.

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Sorry for the post without pictures, I'll upload them tonight.

I spend 3 hours Saturday night (way past my bed time) to continue populating the playfield. So much fun!! I'm working the bottom part first. I started putting the pop bumpers back together but will need to undo a bunch or wires underneath to make room for my stapler... These wired socket are a pain to work with. I'll try to wiggle my way around and get the stapler in there.

I went with black skirt for the pop and I think it look bad ass. Also went with the black grommet for the way out of the pops.

Even though I took a bunch of pictures, I sometimes wonder what goes where... Also, Even though I compartmentalized all my screws and hardware, some mechs hardware were split and I find myself digging in multiple stash... I'm also missing some screws and stuff but I'm sure they will turn up and. As long as I used the correct screw size and type...

I also finished rebuilding the flippers and put back together. Here you can see my custom bracket for the return spring since I have the old style flipper bracket. All i'm missing is solder the wires the coils back as I'll do most of my soldering all at the same time.

Here
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Bad ass black skirts:
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After deliberation, I'll actually go with the gray post on the left.
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Custom spring bracket added to the switch stack, made of aluminum:
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Thank you some much pal! I will keep posting these.

Like Dudah said, it distributes the force of the ball hitting that tiny post at repetition. This post is famous for chewing up the playfield or simply breaking.

My post was broken and the shaft still in the threads, someone put in a big wood screw in front with a rubber sleeve around as replacement. Very common. I filled in the front hole and repaired around the correct hole with the T-nut underneath. This post is a 6-32 instead of 8-32 used pretty much elsewhere, especially in a vulnerable location. Design flaw.

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What yours looks like?

Spend 2 and half more hours late last night. Really, you can't put the screwdriver down, it's so much fun.

I was able to do the slingshots, the advance planet posts and most importantly the drop down targets assembly. What a bitch. There is a very particular order you got to put things back together.

I'm still waiting to finish the pops, I fear how I'll be able to solder and staple the sockets...

Pictures coming tonight.

Pictures. I know it's not as exotic as other steps before but still I'll keep documenting.

I ordered new star posts for the front side and I'm going to re-use the old ones (they cleaned up very well) for the back and hidden places. The new blues are darker but that's fine as long as they are grouped together.
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Every bolt and screw from the top side is polished using a drill, autosol metal polish and rag before being put back on. Get the shine on!
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Slingshots
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Drop-down target assembly
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