KSUWildcatFan thanks for sharing the detailed pics. I like how the upper playfield is red/blue/white across the top.

I ended up going with all 1smds. Got 2smds for a different project and they were too bright.

I'll be trying again on the inserts tomorrow. There were still a bunch of swirls from the sander. I'm going to try wet sanding at my sander grit and work up again. All more helpful advice from mrm_4

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No matter how you slice them those clear ramps are a game changer. I'll get my chance one day.

The clear ramp is amazing, no doubt about it! Really pleased with how it changed the look of my machine. Worth every penny.

Are you going to clear or just high polish your inserts? My shuttle was cleared, but I high polished my high speed because I hate spraying clear. High polish came out fine, imo

Oh, and I think I really like the red/white/blue but I want to eventually go with evos (like I did for high speed) and they only come in wedge. So until I'm ready to rewire lamp leads (not any time soon) these are going to have to do!

Those inserts look like they are ready for novus 2. Then just rattle can clear them and put black lines around them.

Don't forget to let them cure for a LONG time (1-2 weeks) before applying the hardtop if you do end up clearing. You don't want them outgassing after that's down.

Great point KSUWildcatFan The rule I've heard and used is when you stop smelling the clear, it is done outgassing.

I considered clearing inserts on my high speed but after the hell I went through with the shooter lane.... No thanks.

I honestly can't tell the difference between my shuttle and my high speed, as far as inserts go.

Yeah, I hit these with novus2 last night. What you see in the photos is post-novus.

My goal is to wet sand with naphtha so I don't have to clear them. I have a can of water-based poly for clearing, but my concern is that they might ghost at some point down the road as the poly unbonds from the plastic inserts.

Plus, if I just do the wet sanding I don't have to wait as long to throw the hard top down.

That's exactly what I did, and for all the same reasons mentioned. Wet sanded to 3000

I had good luck with novus 3-2-1 and buffing with a 6" orbital DA and meguiar ultimate polish. Hundreds of ways to skin this cat.

The only reason I’m clearing my inserts is because I’m also clearing the shooter lane and the bare wood under the apron. Otherwise I would just move through the grits and polish away.
The original reason I liked the hardtop was the thought of restoring a playfield without having to clear coat, but the shooter lane definitely needs it!
Tip, make sure you really de-wax anything you’ll clear to avoid fish eyes. (preferably before sanding so you don’t dig it in) I use naphtha with multiple clean rags.

Shooter lanes often look pretty crappy after this much time. I definitely cleared mine but that's all I cleared. Rattle can clear can bite me.

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Love the smell of coffee and naphtha in the morning...

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Well, I gave everything another pass this morning and I think I ended up going too far on some of these guys. Isn't that what the cracking look is?
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Do those need to be replaced or can they be "fixed" by clearing? Honestly, I would love this thing to look great but I don't have the time to do inserts. This is where my laziness/real-life responsibilities start kicking in. Maybe just clear the worst ones and live with it for the long term if they ghost. It's also just balancing the goal of perfection versus perfect enough. With the Hard Top, the things gonna play like a boss and playing is the reason I have it anyways!

Plus, my fingers are toast!

Don't fret!
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Well said.

I can't even count the number of times I thought that project was completely F'D. Somehow it ended up just fine and my biggest concern--the shooter lane--looks great. Blind squirrel... It'll work out.

The encouragement is appreciated. I wouldn't say I'm down about things. There is just a certain gravity and finality that comes in the box with a Hard Top. I think it's line 2 on the instructions.

Most of them look pretty good. Especially those hot diggity dogs!
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I rested the Hard Top on the playfield to get a sense of how the inserts would look (another good mrm_4 and KSUWildcatFan suggestion) and there are only a few that I'm concerned enough about that I will plan on hitting them with polyurethane. I need to get the shooter lane too, so I masked it all off and am looking to clear on Saturday when we'll hit the 60's.
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And yes, I did make sure to arrange the masking by category...
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As one does.......

Haha, looks good. Those hotdogs REALLY polish up great, even without clearcoat. Sure wish all the inserts did! Same thing with high speed. The inserts for flashers really looked great.

I was looking to get some weather stripping to go behind the targets. What thickness should I get 1/4" or 1/2"?

I would go with the quarter inch, I used an old can koozie I had laying around.

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If you’ve got an order coming up with any of the suppliers you can buy target foam. It’s just the right amount of squish.

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Well, we need weather stripping anyway. So I'll order that and if I don't like it, I'll add the target foam. All my orders are placed right now. And I'm certain that I got every single thing I will need for the entire rest of this project...

Apinjunkie

Please ... no applause,.... Just throw money

I am selling a pretty nice space shuttle cab with coin door for 50 bucks. Pm if interested in pics.

Say whattttt

Yes, my son takes lots of pictures, bags and labels parts and uses our dining room table for the large items (which is also being used as my new workplace)

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Question for those of you who have added strips of wood to the back of your playfields to protect the ramps/plastics when you raise it, how thick is the strip of wood? Do you have any pics of where/how you placed it?

My playfield is stripped bare and out of the game at the moment so I don’t have a reference to check. I’m about to pull out my table saw to make new wood side rails. I’d love to get this strip made at the same time cuz it’s a major PITA to get my saw out

I'd love some examples of this..I'm so sick of that alignment! Mine seems to prop up very poorly also. Bleh

I see new oak rails and I want them painted black.

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I apologize if someone answered this question already (after I asked, but this thread is moving so fast, it's easy to lose track), what lens' go in the coin door for the 25c displays? I need a set, but have no clue what goes in there.

Well I may have been a little overly ambitious. Or schizophrenic. Both? With ideas for my clear ramp... but it's dry enough now and we'll see how it looks in-game soon enough...

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I'm curious about what is being solved by doing this. Like, the plastics catch when moving the playfield and these extra rails will prevent it?

how did you accomplish this?

Rock Star!

These new black rails are replacing the crappy vinyl covered wood side rails on the playfield. I didn’t want to reuse them in with my new hardtop.
Earlier today I had asked about a wood rail people have added to the back edge of their playfield so they could lift the playfield all the way and rest it against the backbox for service without breaking the ramp or plastic up there. When I started working on this game and before I posted anything here I read all 50 pages and this wood strip was mentioned a few times. I don’t want to hurt my new ramp so I’m still looking for the info.

I saw what you did with your time fantasy build, and noticed on Starships thread you ordered a clear ramp. I knew you'd do something amazing but this is over the top.well done sir. Reverse painted, dyed?

It should help stabilize and take the strain off the Plastics when it's in the service position

I sincerely hope you're going with some sort of crazy light scheme! I love it!

MrArt2u please share if you get them installed. I'm not totally grasping how they will get installed so I would like to understand it better.

Thanks.

Whoops, I guess I was on to something after all! So quick first installation impression: about what I expected....

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I wanted the ramps should be more purple, but I can work on that with bulbs, maybe. Trouble is that would mess up my other hues and I couldn't be happier with the blue! And the return ramp contrast over the shooter lane, as a lighter blue to seem more like earth's atmosphere, came out almost better than I hoped.

Thanks... Time Fantasy UV won Best in Class at LAX, the last pre-Covid pinball show... and Brian Eddy played it and shared war stories about trying to get the UV effects on Stranger Things... so I guess my reputation is preceding me aaaarrgh!

I reverse-painted the ramp with Krylon Stained Glass paint... masked for the 3 colors I used.

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WARNING: that paint is like no other spray paint I've ever used... it is not fun at all and incredibly easy to ruin a project. It's almost like water (actually it's alcohol-based) so it's EXTREMELY runny and to make matters worse each pass is almost invisible. You have to keep layering for color and what you see on my ramp is about... at least 20, maybe even 30 coats. Its saving grace is the fumes aren't bad and recoat wait times are only one minute. But it's a horribly unfriendly paint. The ramp is super awkward to balance and level so the paint doesn't run. And the purple... isn't. At all. Even after using half the can on just those small sections! But I do kinda like it in terms of my intent, so I might stick some cellophane under there to darken it. That would eliminate my bulb hue concerns... thinking out loud here.

I will say that cobalt blue paint is a *perfect* hue with high build, and probably what most folks had in mind for this game. I *love* how the plastics are fully illuminated!

As for the ramp itself, it gave me some fitment issues as all of the holes for the plastics were too big and a few weren't aligned properly. I had to drill new holes in my shuttle. But WOW does it shoot smooth!

Holy F$CK that looks outstanding! Love love love the pop rings. I'm grabbing evos when I feel like installing new bulb sockets (it's got bayonets in it right now)

LOL... I tend to implement my ideas half-cocked sometimes but I've been fortunate that I have a "gut" knack or vision. To wit: I never once considered how it would look installed with the game off! But now after seeing it... I think I kinda like the reddish-purple ramps. In my head I wanted purple to imply more "deep space" as well as tie in with the purple in its sequel, Space Station... but when I realized the color was not coming out I made peace with it instead of pushing my luck. Maybe that was for the best, especially with that pop over to the left! It also coordinates with the red trim on the plastics well.

I'm really pleased with how the "atmosphere return" color shift kicks in after the switch gate.

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This was my very first pinball machine, purchased as a non-working project in October 2014. My very first posts and threads on pinside came from here. What an awesomely strange trip the last few years have been for me and my family since then, thanks to this machine and the incredible folks we've met! So I figured it deserved some more love.

(...and for me to replace that missing shuttle thruster, d'oh!)

Once again really ,my hat's off to you that looks so nice. Like the approach you took ,the idea of cellophane under the ramps also seems promising. The color choice for the lamp return Lane really works well with the color of the green multipliers. I knew you'd knock it out of the park, great job! How about a close up of that Lander you have tucked in the corner.

So a question to anyone who hasn't attached their new ramps yet. Could you post a picture on this thread of the underside rivets that hold the flap in place. I just received a set from Larry, and I may go a different direction when attaching them.