(Topic ID: 90804)

Restoring a Gorgar Playfield

By UvulaBob

9 years ago


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  • 12 posts
  • 5 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 9 years ago by UvulaBob
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 9 years ago

I've done a bunch of work on the electrical and mechanical parts of my Gorgar, but I think I want to clean up a few spots on the playfield. The kickers have some wear next to them, and the Pit has some pretty substantial wear on it that a previous owner covered up with Mylar. There's also Mylar around the base of the three pop bumpers.

At the very least, I know I should remove the Mylar in the pit and Do Some Work to get the wear touched up. I also should Do Some Work to clean up the other wear spots around the kickers and a few other places. Some light Magic Eraser work to get the spiral cracks cleaned out.

BUt my first question is: How do I know if there's some kind of protection on the playfield other than these mylar spots? Am I going to need to do some sanding? Assuming I get the playfield stripped of any over-coating and get all the pain touched up, do I want to seal it with Mylar? TNT amusements seems to do that with a lot (if not all) of their games - so why shouldn't I? If I leave it unprotected, it'll just wear off again, won't it?

I know this is a lot of random, unfocused questions - but I'm not sure where to even start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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#2 9 years ago
Quoted from UvulaBob:

Assuming I get the playfield stripped of any over-coating and get all the pain touched up, do I want to seal it with Mylar?

You are going to have to put SOMETHING over your repair work to protect it.

Mylar or a clear coat over the entire playfield.

Don't worry about stripping the overcoat off the playfield, just do your touch ups on top of it.

Some tips and tricks:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration

#3 9 years ago

Oh, vid. You're so dreamy.

#4 9 years ago

Gorgar was my first playfield I attempted to touch up and restore myself. I had a blast with it. It was a great learning experience for me. Vids the man that will point you on the right path. Here is the thread of my "restore".I use that term loosely.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-first-playfield-restore-gorgar

You can do it!

Brian

#5 9 years ago

Man. I think I might end up skipping the playfield restoration. I'm not particularly attached to Gorgar, and there's so much detail on this playfield that I could easily spend weeks getting it right. Everything else about this machine is pretty solid (assuming I get the speech issue fixed) so I think I might just end up selling it and letting someone else restore it if they want to.

#6 9 years ago

No shame in that.

Not every game needs to be restored.

Plop a Mylar piece over a wear spot and enjoy it !

#7 9 years ago

I've actually been looking around for advice on when each method of playfield protection is appropriate: Mylar, clearcoat, or wax. I feel like clearcoating is a ridiculous pain, and potentially hazardous to my health. TNT's pins always look nice when they're sealed up with Mylar (such as their Torch restoration) but I hear that unless it's done perfectly, there's a risk of bubbling and clouding. That leaves waxing, which may end up being all I need.

Like I said, Gorgar's not a machine that I have a real attachment to, and I'm not sure that doing all the work required for a perfect playfield is worth the extra hundred bucks I'd get out of it when it's time to sell.

#8 9 years ago

So I tried the Magic Eraser out, and I have to say I'm not that impressed with the results. Here's a the same spot before and after about 90 seconds or so of moderate scrubbing - making sure to check every now and then to make sure I wasn't removing paint.

I could just sit there and work on the same spot for another five minutes, but it seemed I was reaching a point of diminishing returns. Is it possible that this playfied has some layer that dirt goes into but never comes out of?

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#9 9 years ago

My playfield had many areas like that. No matter how much I scrubbed, the ball swirls would not come out. I even ended up removing some of the paint by being too aggressive. The guy I got it from never changed the ball and he had the machine for 20 years.

Brian

#10 9 years ago

I love my Gorgar, but realize that after nearly 40 years there are going to be blemishes. I made sure I just didn't make anything worse by being too agressive. You just need to know your limits. The only paint I can match is pure black and pure white, so I wouldn't even try touching up most of the playfield. I did by some paint pens from Michaels crafts and blackeded the worn rings around the various inserts, and that eneded up looking great. But otherwise, I think a mediocre touch up looks worse then a worn spot, so just have let mine stay.

#11 9 years ago

Did you use alcohol with your magic eraser?..have got this playfield myself, used the eraser and while not all swirls would vanish it's a lot better now. If it's any help i will post a photo later this day.

#12 9 years ago

I gave it another go and decided to be slightly more ballsy with my application and was able to get about half of the dirt out of all the craks. It's not perfect, but it looks much better than it did before.

The only question is - what now? There are lots of wear spots that need touching up, but if I do that, I have to then seal the playfield with Mylar or clearcoat. From all accounts, clearcoat is really, really difficult to do right. Is Mylar a better option for the amateur pinballer if I decide to touch this playfield up?

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