Yes, Radical! is the best game from 1990 and my favorite System 11 now. Picked up a nice one a few weeks ago. Hard to believe they made so few of them.

Can you name that movie? Came on a week ago so I took a snapshot.

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Movie is Thrashin' from 1986. Featuring a very young Red Hot Chili Peppers performing live. Never saw it before, but blew my mind when I saw that Skate or Die poster. Not really that out of the ordinary because at the time it was a popular catch phrase. Just that it was so long ago.

Or as I told NimblePin upon acquiring Radical! "Now I am truly gleaming the cube".

I totally agree. As a System 11, the only thing I can come up with that might have affected production numbers or sales was the Bally back box at the time with the speakers mounted on top. Doesn't and never did bother me, but to some it might have been an oddball kind of thing.

Certainly more to do, and more fun than some of the higher production Williams System 11s of the same time.

Another successful mylar pull. Lost some lettering on a few inserts, but recently received insert decals from our friend vbobrusev in Russia, so I am working on that now. Already did a few touchups, and I think overall this playfield will turn out pretty nice. What a clusterfk it is tearing this thing down though. I'm sure it will be the same putting it back together.

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Liking the progress so far. Those decals are a lifesaver. I've got all the time in the world to finish it, but want to get back to playing it.

I painted a skullcap today.

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Better to have any Radical! than none. And I've seen worse. You still have plenty to work with there. A set of insert decals will help out a lot. Or just play it.

Only reason mine is down is because mylar sucks and we had a 110 degree day that made it super easy to peel. And the glue had returned to it's original state.

110 was a few weeks ago, now we've just been sweltering in the 90s. Going down soon they say.

I painted my entire living room this week, now it's time to get back to painting the final details on my Radical! playfield. This one's been down long enough.

Much, much cooler today. Freshly sprayed playfield is nice and shiny. This seems to be the perfect temperature to do it. Not using auto clear, but Polycrylic gloss seems close to the original topcoats from back in the day. Easy to use, and I have had great success with it on other older playfields.

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After I put the final coat on the other night, I left it sitting there to dry halfway under the garage door and went inside to have dinner. Came out 15 minutes later and didn't realize it had started to sprinkle. Wasn't supposed to start until the next day. Although the topcoat was already dry to the touch, it left water spots up and down one side of the playfield. Doh!

So I waited three days and lightly sanded and did it again. Pure sunshine today so water drops won't be an issue.

The instructions say to use several light coats with sanding in between, but that always leaves orange peel. So I do one light coat and then one very thick coat a half hour later. When it dries, it is super smooth and shiny with no more sanding to do. It's in the process of drying now.
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Mylar. Not sure how many of these if any had diamondplate.

I'll see how it looks once completely dry. Should only take a few days. I may just give it a good polish and wax it. It's looking pretty good so far this morning.

If it turns out as nice as my Comet, I'll be happy. So far so good.

So, this playfield has taken a few more coats, sandings, and touchups than I had previously thought. But, I wanted to get it level where the new insert decals are. Now, it is. I'm not worried about that little burn ring in the right white area as it was there before and you can't see it when assembled. A couple of the touchups don't match perfectly either, but I'm over it. Colors look a lot brighter in person than my cheap camera shows. Especially those pinks. No fade here.

Did the last sanding yesterday, and now I will wait patiently and give it a good polishing before it gets waxed and put back together. It's pretty darn smooth top to bottom now.
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Thanks, and yes they are. Probably could have been waterslide, but they were not. But, they did the job where I needed them. Including all four around the Knockout drop target bank and a couple below that.

If you use those, it might be better to cut the black borders around them and do the outlines with paint or a Sharpie as that is where they are raised. After a few sandings, most of the borders on those had to be redone anyway. The lettering sits pretty flush though.

I use Polycrylic, not auto clear on these older playfields and it works fine. Done several like that. Once it's down, you can't even tell it's a Sharpie.

I tried paint pens, but they just make a big mess that I don't like to have to clean off a playfield.

I had to mix and match several of the other colors and the yellow/ orange could have been a little closer, but better than bare wood. It'll be fine. The neons were a bit tough.

This is the area I probably spent the most time on. New decals and lots of Sharpie in there. Is it perfect? No, but can't see it when your playing it. It's covered and smooth now. Don't know why the camera can't pick up the bright fluorescent pink because it sure is pretty.

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Nice. If you look at the upper part of the picture of my entire playfield, you can see the pinks are bright which they all are. Something about the camera or the lighting makes the lower pinks look faded which they are not.

I had very little pink to touchup, just the "K" in Knockout, so again it was a neon pink Sharpie to the rescue.

I did my Comet with Polycrylic as well, and none of the black sharpie outlines bled through. I did test it first though. Thin coats of the Poly dry pretty fast, but the thicker coats and more layers take much longer. I wait over a week before I start sanding and/or touchup and re-coat. I also give it some time between sandings. Starting with 400 grit, wait a couple days, working my way up to 2000 grit. The last one I did slightly wet. It's like glass now. You just can't be in a hurry.

The can says yes, but the buzz it gives me says otherwise. Good stuff.

I get it at Lowes in the blue rattle can. Clear gloss. Home Depot ain't got it.

It looks like this. Nice can for a nice product. In a week or two I might explain why Novus 2 is now obsolete and a waste of money, elbow grease, and effort once you've tried Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. But that's all for now folks.

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The way it was hyped up, you would think it would have at least have made plastic ramps shiny.

There, that should do it.

"Skate or Die!"

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But, it didn't. Most of it shined up nicely, but a few spots of haze and a feeling tells me it's not quite dry yet. Fortunately, unlike the last couple days, one where I passed out on the couch and left the back doors open, the weatherman says I can set it outside for the next few days and let it bake, and try again next weekend.

Mylar sucks. And removing it can be risky business.

Cheers!

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$3700- $4300 sounds about right for a decent player. I wouldn't sell mine for $5000 now.

You have to understand there were only 1328 confirmed units of this System 11C from 1990 and who knows how many survivors there are in decent shape.

Everyone that has played mine prefers it over Whirlwind and FunHouse, two other games from the same year with far more made and reproduction parts more readily available.

Totally rad, dude. But, no thanks.

Just out of curiosity, how does the ball enter the VUK on the prototype?

Thanks! As if there isn't enough stuff on the production version as it is.

And I never thought I'd see the day Radical! is worth as much as I got when I sold you that TronLE. I sure wrapped it good though didn't I?