(Topic ID: 33446)
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Quoted from vid1900:Have you played Dragon? It has a plexi playfield.
Nope, sure havent. I've only been into pins for less than 6 months and I didnt really grow up around them, so I havent played much.
Regarding inserts: I recently popped out all my arrow inserts, which were lifting quite a bit at both ends; a heat gun and flattening session took care of that. I plan to further sand them a bit so they're totally flat & smooth, which will of course remove the screenprinted numbers/outlines on them. Since that printing was originally badly registered, I'm scanning them first so I can replicate that with homemade waterslide decals. Any particular decal paper you recommend? I will eventually be brush-clearing the playfield (no room or chance of using a spray gun), should I seal the decal to the insert first with a spray-can clear before reinstalling? Also, there's quite a bit of glue still stuck to the inserts after their removal; soaking in water softens it but no matter how much I scrape, it won't all come off. What chemical will remove this hardened glue without harming the insert plastic?
Vid, Thanks for putting this out. I have a few ?'s. If I read right you "one coat" clear the playfield before you touch-up. of course you clean and sand out all the grime. I have laminated decals should I have got the water slide? My clear coat guy said it would not be a problem. I have started taking out inserts, who has the blue arrow-head inserts for F-14? I have a little fade but not bad, but if I'm taking them out why not put in new. Thanks again for this post. 
Quoted from Soapman:If I read right you "one coat" clear the playfield before you touch-up. of course you clean and sand out all the grime.
Yes, lock down all that flaky paint.
Quoted from Soapman:I have laminated decals should I have got the water slide?
Waterslide would be better. Much thinner and the clear coat has no problems sticking to the matte surface.
Take your laminated ones to the copy store and have them Xeroxed onto water slide decals. Tell them to turn up the "darkness" all the way up.
Troy, MI
1 week later
What would a good "Starter kit" be for someone doing his first playfield restore?
I am wondering what items from Createx to get? I want to do some playfield touchups.
thanks!
-mof
Quoted from pinballlizard:do most copy stores have suitable water slide paper?
http://www.decalpaper.com/category-s/3.htm
I'd get it here where you know it's fresh.
Who knows how long the stuff has been sitting at the copy store.
Hey vid1900
Do you have a scanner you can recommend for playfield and cabinet decal work? I'm assuming you need something you can put directly on the spot you need to scan to get the colors and everything right?
I use the VuPoint Magic Wand Scanner.
http://www.amazon.com/VuPoint-Solutions-PDS-ST441PU-VP-Portable-Resolution/dp/B008LG8DFE/ref=sr_1_6
Quoted from jdoz2:Just to give some background, my FT was in a building next to a fire and had some smoke damage. Everything looks okay minus the playfield. In addition to the normal fish wear, it seems like almost every insert has a grove around their perimeter. These fish have peeling decals the the previous owner put on. The photo isnt too great, but you can see on the bonus multipliers and the tackle inserts have this grove. The inserts dont seemed raised at all though.
I really want to make this game nice so would you recommend just buying the CPR pf or trying to restore it or have it restored? Ive never done anything like this before so Im leaning towards the cpr pf. Thanks!
Shit! that FT looks NOS compared to the ones I had to restore.
Quoted from vid1900:http://www.dickblick.com/items/25308-1003/ This kit is a good start.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/createx-airbrush-colors/?clickTracking=true Then get any odd colors here.
Has anyone tried the Createx wicked color line?
Quoted from selmo:Did you find any significant difference to the wicked colors?
No, not really.
The opaque colors obviously cover better than the translucent ones. But the translucent ones are easier to shade into another color.
The metallic ones look great, but not a lot of pinball uses for those, lol.
Quoted from erichill:Hey Vid, can you recommend a source for the clear trays you use for mixing colors?
Not a tray, but Hobby Lobby sells clear plastic containers about the size of the old film canisters. They have a nice cap too, so when you are done you can snap the cap on and keep your excess for touch-ups or whatever. I think 6 of them were about $1.
I tried plastic packages that some RAM came in that I brought home from work, but ended up ditching it for the Hobby Lobby containers. I use the tray to put my airbrush parts in to soak when I tear it down.
Quoted from erichill:Hey Vid, can you recommend a source for the clear trays you use for mixing colors?
Often I just use whatever blister pack waste that is sitting around the shop
You can get clear artist's pallets at Dick Blick if you want something official looking.
Quoted from jyfly:Does this wear look possible to repair? The blue and purple look to be very challenging. The purple is actually a bunch of small dots. I am not very artistic so I am not sure if this is possible for a beginner. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Yes it's fixable and not it's not going to be easy. That compensator area in the purple is damn hard to do. Each dot has to be done by hand (that's the way I do them anyway). Otherwise you'll either have to go with just solid purple in that section or do a airbrush fade. Detail areas like this get expensive in a hurry when it comes to restoring.
it can me restored. but for someone new to touchups, your jumping in the fire, as it's one of the more complex touchups out there. Halftoning, Lettering, detail. All the banes for us restorers in a nice little 3" square. Only way it would be more of a PIA if it had an insert damaged in the mix.
Quoted from jyfly:Does this wear look possible to repair? The blue and purple look to be very challenging.
Yeah, that's a fun one.
You need a clean scan from someone to make a decal.
First seal the wood and paint the damage white.
Then match the light blue and spray the blue field back on. I'd probably paint over all the lettering and all the half tone dots in that section. It would be too difficult for a beginner to get the new dots to match the old dots.
Then in photoshop, remove the light blue background from the scanned image. Remove the white areas from the scanned image.
On a color laser printer, print the repair on clear waterslide decal. This will restore the black lettering and the tiny purple dot halftone.
Test how the purple dots look on the light blue background. They might need a little more red added to them. If they do, remove the decal before it dries and print another test patch.
It may take you a few tries, but once you complete this repair, you will be ready for just about anything a playfield can throw at you.
Quoted from vid1900:Let your decals dry overnight and you are ready for clear coat.
Two-part auto clear is "hot", meaning that it has very active solvents that will melt your fragile decals if you are not careful.
If this is your first time spraying clear, practice on some decal scrap stuck to a beer can or piece of sheet metal. Get the feel for how much clear melts the decals on some scrap rather than your precious playfield. When I say melt, I mean destroyed; the effect is not subtle.
Spray your first coat as dry as you can. Almost dust over the decals.
Ten minutes latter, give another very, very light coat.
Ten minutes after that, you can finally give a normal, light coat of clear.
Now your decals are protected. You can make any other last minute painting touchups you found, or go ahead and finish clear coating the playfield.
Vid, After applying a water slide decal I sprayed it with a clear gloss acrylic to protect it from melting from the final clear coat. Seemed to work ok. Is this technique ok!
Quoted from SJJ:Vid, After applying a water slide decal I sprayed it with a clear gloss acrylic to protect it from melting from the final clear coat. Seemed to work ok. Is this technique ok!
Satin finish might be better so the clear coat can adhere to it.
And of course, we always worry that the acrylic spray will yellow over the years.
Quoted from vid1900:The investment is quite small, as long as you can borrow someone's compressor. Way under $75.
You spend $150 on a plastic ramp, so by comparison, this stuff is cheap!
You'll need an air compressor with a bigger size tank, 30 gallons or larger (nobody ever complained they bought too large of a compressor). That's the High Volume part of High Volume Low Pressure (HVLP). If you are going to get a really big air compressor to use with air tools and the like (60-80-100 gallon), don't get a crappy aluminum head Husky or Craftsman. Get a real iron headed compressor (like a Saylor-Beall) used on Craigslist. It will outlast you and cost less than the Husky. The iron headed compressors can be completely rebuilt, unlike the aluminum.
You'll need a water separator:
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-tool-accessories/12-standard-air-filter-68279.html
You'll need a moisture filter that installs at the gun:
http://www.harborfreight.com/disposable-inline-moisture-filter-68224.html
You'll need a regulator that installs at the gun (you don't want to keep walking back to the compressor):
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-tool-accessories/125-psi-air-flow-regulator-with-gauge-68219.html
You'll need the HVLP gun:
http://widgets.harborfreight.com/wswidgets/common/displayCoupon.do?week=0813&campaign=b&page=coupon18.html&single=true&cust=77933728034&keycode=1012
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Of course once you have a nice sized air compressor, you can wet sand pneumatically and get the playfield really flat.
Can you elaborate on your technique and what equipment you use for wet sanding pneumatically.
Thanks Vid
I've just read this entire thread again. This was a really great one, lot's of info! Superb post man.
Quoted from SJJ:Can you elaborate on your technique and what equipment you use for wet sanding pneumatically.
Thanks Vid
I've got that coming up soon in the clear coating section of this guide.
I'm on the road for work, but it's coming....
Quoted from pzy:Any recommendations on a fix for this? Not a huge deal, but it's noticeable enough. Tiny little speck under the (new) clearcoat.
I would leave it alone. Looks fine too me.
Can I do any or all of this work without completely disassembling the underside of the PF? I know drop targets will need to come out, same with regular targets and pretty much everything that sticks up above the PF surface. But I've never stripped the underside of my PF and would hope I can leave most of the wiring and what not in place. Is this possible or am I deluding myself?
Quoted from sed6:Can I do any or all of this work without completely disassembling the underside of the PF? I know drop targets will need to come out, same with regular targets and pretty much everything that sticks up above the PF surface.
You have to remove everything from the topside.
Then you need some way to mask paint and clear from getting through to the other side.
Do not underestimate the volume of air that blasts out of a HVLP sprayer. You don't want your masking material blowing across your perfect clear coat...
HAHAHA... yes true indeed-
I spray mine leveled on a cart thats big enough for the entire play field guts to hang inside the cart... so I just drape cloth over the cart and when the play field sits down it presses down on the cloth (moving blankets) and whalla a nice seal and no overspray gets under it (I tape off all holes from BELOW with masking tape). You could construct a box out of 2x4 like this for a few bucks- but it would need to be high enough so that anything hanging down would not hold up the play field. Many ways to skin this cat. But this way requires no tape on the sides, just under the play field over the holes.
Just wanted to post some information.
For anyone using SprayMax 2K auto clear in a spray can. I tested clearcoating some waterslide decals using a piece of plexiglass and the instructions from Vid; spray a light dusting of clear wait 10 or 15 minutes, then another light coat wait 15 minutes, then start applying heavier coats. In all I put about 5 or 6 coats, the last 2 of them pretty heavy. The decals were NOT eaten by the SprayMax 2K and the decals look great!
Now on to applying them to the playfield....
Thanks Vid!
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