(Topic ID: 33446)

Vid's Guide to Ultimate Playfield Restoration

By vid1900

11 years ago


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Topic index (key posts)

143 key posts have been marked in this topic, showing the first 10 items.

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Post #7 Playfield damage assessment. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)

Post #8 Insert damage assessment. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)

Post #34 How to sand your new inserts flat. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)

Post #35 Cleaning old glue out of the insert holes. Posted by vid1900 (11 years ago)


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#19 11 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

When I mentioned that I was going to publish a "real" guide to playfield restoration, a few of the playfield restorers that I respect asked me not to do it. They worried about the income loss if people start doing their own work, and they worried that some of the hacks that spam the forums would step their game up

This is a BS argument at any rate...

People will pay, because people are LAZY. And regardless of any information you may be able to disseminate, a lot of this comes with practice, not by reading stuff online. Some people just aren't going to do artwork restoration....myself likely included.

I'll enjoy reading whatever you put out, but personally, unless it's something really minor, I'm leaving PF resto to the pros anyways. I don't have the time, the tools, the space, or the experience to do as nice a job, and if I end up ruining a playfield then I'm out the same amount of money either way....or more.

2 years later
#1689 9 years ago

And of course, Createx would change their stuff right as I'm waiting for my first order to come in....thankfully I'm going to be repainting whole colors at once, not doing spot touch up so color matching exactly isn't as much of an issue for me.. oy.

So, I have kind of a stupid question. I don't recall it being mentioned anywhere, but since their paints are water based and airbrush ready and don't need thinners, do you really need the "airbrush cleaner" they sell? Is there some big reason it would be preferable to just using water to spray out between colors or to clean out the tool? I didn't really think too much about it when I put in my order, but there's a local hobby shop that carries the stuff if I do actually need it.

#1691 9 years ago
Quoted from anubis2night:

id get the cleaner, though you can also get some liquidex cleaner or you can use some windex. A good cleaner will help keep it clean and save you time plus it will allow you to keep a nice even flow while shooting.

Buddy of mine said he'd been using windex, actually.

I'm planning on shooting one color at a time for the whole playfield, so will be fairly large sections on this specific game, and likely a good chunk of downtime between colors. Definitely don't want it to get jammed up with anything.

#1695 9 years ago
Quoted from MurphyPeoples:

I'm not so sure anything has changed. I wanted to ask the poster who said Createx was "drying darker" : What are they spraying on and letting dry for the color match? A "White" material? Something LIGHTER than the playfield color? I think the base color underneath the createx affects how the final color turns out. At least for me it does. I try to lay my test color down on top of an identical shade of what I'm actually going to paint. It gives me a "truer" color - if this makes sense.

Personally I was planning on doing test colors over the color where it's going anyways. Maybe that person is mixing and testing on white paper, like say printer paper or something, then it looks darker when it goes on the actual playfield. I agree that substrate color probably makes a difference, despite the paint being "opaque", as does the colors adjacent that are in eyesight. I'm sure either way I will make it work, just was kind of a Murphy's Law kind of deal.

1 week later
#1726 9 years ago

OK, so I get clear is all toxic and yuck and crap.. I am getting a PF re-cleared that has ghosting. I know the guy does an *amazing* job on NOS and classic playfields, I don't know how much he's done with DMD playfields. He's saying he is going to sand off the old clear before he shoots his. I don't think he can sand enough down to get rid of ghosting without damaging the playfield, right?

My wife and I are having a debate about what to do. She wants to chip out the ghosted clear and just fill it. I'm more inclined to follow the advice here, open it up and then fill it with 2PAC or UV resin and just have it filled and ready to go for our clear guy.

My question is this... I have no garage, no place to deal with this...that's why I'm letting someone else clear it. If I wanted to get a syringe and fill these inserts in, is it "safe" to mix up just enough to do that in a cup and do it in say my living room or not? I'm assuming NOT but I don't operate on assumptions. If it's safe, I want to take care of this before we hand the playfield over.

Also, if I wanted to touch up keylines, should I do that after he has sanded it down the first time, or after he has shot the first light layer of HIS clear? =\

#1728 9 years ago

I'm okay getting a respirator and doing it like out in our carport or whatever. It's not like dust is going to get under there. I guess I could have mentioned that part. It's just really friggin cold outside so I don't think it will cure up right.

How he wants it done...um...honestly, he doesn't want to deal with paint at all. He probably just wants to do his thing and be done with it. For what I'll be paying, I'd still rather have it done than not. I have an offer for him but I have to deal with the ghosted inserts first and foremost.

3 weeks later
#1774 9 years ago

I'll never understand why people want to hide people that do crap work. Even barring the planking issue, those touchups are just something awful.. sorry that happened to you man.

I've never heard of a playfield planking from clear being applied before?

#1780 9 years ago

Yeah, you did get 'lucky' in that the touchups were on top of clear and not directly on the playfield.. oy! PITA, but fixable..

2 months later
#1932 8 years ago
Quoted from mrgregb123:

3) Spray two layers of the bright orange mixture, waiting 3 days and then heat curing each (Createx says to do this).

Holy god, I wouldn't have ever finished Crescendo at this rate.. I'm not sure how my guy sanded it before laying down clear, but there was probably three days between me finishing the playfield and delivering it to him. Paint layers were pretty thin overall...maybe 2-3 airbrush coats dried inbetween with heat gun. Even bubbled the first two colors I put down a little bit...still came out okay. Just definitely realize that you don't want to get it TOO hot...lol..

#1935 8 years ago

Looks like either his frisket was not pressed down cleanly in a few cases (look right above the top tip of the right slingshot, the middle point of the big section on the right side), or it was not masked well enough to prevent overspray. I got to the point with Crescendo where I taped down all the edges of my paper that were over frisket, even when I knew the frisket went to the edge of the playfield, because I had a similar mishap a few times. I would tape down anywhere paper masks were intersecting above the playfield as well, and it was masked ALL THE WAY out to the edges on all sides.. that fine mist can float through some tiny places and land where you don't want it to, but like Vid said...if it's not dry and not set, you should be able to just wipe it up carefully. It's harder to get it out if you're having to remove it from planking cracks and whatnot though. =\

You shouldn't be using alcohol as a solvent for Createx as far as I know...just use a lightly damp rag or q-tip. It's water based.

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