Newbie here, just picked up a pretty decent fire power. I hope I am posting in the correct forum. As an HVAC technician I have no problems with electro mechanical things and was able to get the machine working just fine however the inserts are raising and cupped so My first order of business is to fix that so it doesn’t affect play. That being said I am not much of an artist so I’m a little nervous about messing with the playfield. Hopefully some of you can chime in and tell me some good do,s and don’ts. I’m definitely a DIY guy so not interested in paying to have it fixed proper even though I could afford to do so.
For the inserts:
My first thought was to fill them with nail polish or superglue but after Watching some videos on the site I have decided to remove the inserts and sand them down and reinstall. I successfully removed almost all the inserts (some of them I plan on leaving because they’re not that bad.) After sanding my first eight Big ones I can tell you I am not looking forward to sanding those little bitty ones. I almost think it would be better to buy a new set it’s a lot of work sanding them suckers flat and smooth!
I purchased some lock tight superglue after watching a video and that’s what the guy used. my question is would it be better to use some sort of Epoxy because that is what was in there originally? See picture of brand and type of super glue I purchased and intend on using, again I don’t want to do any damage so looking for the wealth of knowledge on the site to help me with the proper techniques.
I guess the answer to my next question depends on how far I want to go with this thing but as you can see in the picture there is some wear and although the machine is in good condition mechanically, The playfield has some serious issues that need addressed depending on how much I want to do to the machine.
My initial thought was to just get a sharpie and touch up the dark spots and maybe trying to hand paint some areas but again I’m not much of an artist. If I do that is it possible to just re-clear certain areas (seems like a bad idea) or how do I protect the restored paint? I am not against stripping the machine down and I’m fully confident that I could do so although I never have and I bought another machine to play while I work on this one. I have seen several videos of people doing touch up work and was less than impressed, as a person with OCD I’m pretty sure I wont be happy with something that looks crappy or hand painted. Even though I plan on keeping it forever and this is not something I’m trying to make money at . Any advice on how to touch up the paint would be much appreciated thanks