I agree ... fake carbon on a car looks stupid. And on most other things.

On my Corvette (there's only one ... my one ) that thing was a pig anyways so anything would have made it look better lol

rd

Teaser ....

rd

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Corvette Part Quatre!

The legs were the most tricky part of the job. Getting the right amount of heat is the trick, too much and it melts the plastic wrap. Not enough, and it doesn't contour. Up around the bolt holes was tricky, but take your time and it comes up ok. I did all four legs, 2 were pretty good and the other two not quite as good, so they went on the back.

I think my carbon wrap days are now complete!

rd

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Thanks for taking the time to do it right, and share, RD.

I have toyed with this unsuccessfully for 2 years, frustrating, in an attempt for myself,
or production.

Simple answer...Its affordable, looks fantastic, but is a PITA!

Big smile and applause for succeeding!

Thanks!

Honestly, it wasn't too hard to do.

The legs took the longest, I'd say about 15-20 mins per leg.

Came up alright in the end though!

rd

RD - how did you finish off the backside of those legs? Picture of that side please!

You can do two things ...

A/ continue with the tricky work and run the wrap right to the centre of the leg

B/ be lazy like me and do it about half way and trim the wrap straight with a knife.

Unless you're down on your hands and knees you're not going to see there anyways. And my legs were black to start so it looks fine.

rd

Here is my Getaway so far with red carbon wrap. I still want to do legs, and would look much better with faded cabinet graphics replaced.

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Thanks for the inspiration guys. Here's my final product (minus trimming the vinyl strip on the left side of the box.

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Mom always wants to do a craft project when she visits, and wrapping goes faster with extra hands...

I don't miss those rusty FT legs. FISH ON!!

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Great color choice, I love it. Keychain floaty is a nice touch too.

I love that. Wish there was an official Matrix pin.

Thought I give it a try on my Dr Who

No sure my blue is dark enough but if I did the legs also it might be the right contrast.

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Here is what my wrap job looks like with my new cabinet decals.

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I think the blue blends perfectly based upon the photo. Wrapped legs (and rails - quite easy) would look awesome.

I plan on trying this. I have some questions for you with the experience on doing this:

About B/W-machines and siderails - do you recommend removing the siderails for vinyl wrapping? The cabinet has decals on sides, so it would require cutting the two-sided tape from under the siderail and I am worrying about damaging the cabinet art in doing the process. I wonder how well the siderails could be wrapped when they are in their place (i.e. not removing the siderails). But also then one would have to trim them and one can cut the cabinet sideart when trimming as well - or is there some good practice with one would avoid hurting the sideart? And finally: if you have removed them and vinyl-wrapped them, do you again use the double-sided tape when putting them into place?

About Stern lollipop siderails: how to you vinyl wrap the part near the flipper-buttons, i.e. the round part of the siderail? One has to cut a slit when starting to wrapping the round part of the rail?

About legs: mine are steel and I would wrap them into black, so I would need some specific info, how to finish the vinyl wrap in the back of the leg? I would not work just wrapping the fronts of the legs I think since they are steel and not black, the steel would show from the behind of the leg.

Thanks for any info!

Q: do you recommend removing the siderails for vinyl wrapping?
A: Nope, keep them in place (you will damage the decals if you attempt to remove them - no way around it). Take the glass off if you want, but really simple to do, keep the heat focused on the rail, and use a razor knife to cut at an angle w/o contacting the cabinet. Also, do go ahead and remove obstructions (e.g. the backbox brackets - one side at a time, the front bolts under the lockbar, etc.)

Q: About legs: mine are steel and I would wrap them into black, so I would need some specific info, how to finish the vinyl wrap in the back of the leg? I would not work just wrapping the fronts of the legs I think since they are steel and not black, the steel would show from the behind of the leg.
A: Absolutely, do both sides. Just cut plenty of material to do the wrapping. Focus on the non tapered part first since these are relatively square and since the tapered part is hidden when mounted it doesn't have to be perfect at the top. For me, I did the front face first, then wrapped back of one side. Ran a razor knife down the crease to cut leaving a slight overlap past center so no metal exposed. Then I wrapped the other back side and again ran razor knife down the crease at just about center. The only part I did not wrap was the very bottom of the leg where the feet screw in (either side). I guess that I could have cut out a piece to do this, but not worth the effort and since the feed posts are silver, that tiny bit is not an issue to me visually.

Helpful?

Yes it was, thank you very much!

BTW, I did mine on my own without any vice or other assistance (had to get creative with clamps). For my first effort, I would score my leg work probably at a 92-95%. If I would have had an extra pair of hands to help, I think I could have easily gotten to a 98-99%. If you're a pro or experienced wrapper, won't be an issue at all for you.

Also, work in a clean area and take your time. Can't tell you how torqued I was when working on the last leg and it slipped off the bench onto the filthy garage floor. Caused a scratch in my work and got the sticky side of the vinyl so dirty it was worthless. I was almost done but had to strip the leg, cut new vinyl and do it all over again. Which reminds me - buy more vinyl than you think you need. The stuff is cheap, and you want to have it if you mess anything up. Besides, with extra vinyl you'll find all kinds of things around the house you want to wrap!

Finally, if you think it would help I can give take some leg shot close-ups and post. Again, my work is not perfect, but might be helpful.

Thank you, closeups would be helpful! No, I am not experienced with this stuff at all. I tried to practice wrapping the end of the lockdown bar yesterday with different pieces of vinyl, but I just cannot get it right. Looking at a video someone posted on youtube, apparently one should make slits around the curvy end of the lockdown bar, but I did not have that great success. I will practice some more today.

I'll see what I can do, but may be a day or two given work schedule and my wedding anniversary is today (don't think my wife would appreciate me giving more attention to my pin than to her).

Yes, wrapping the lockdown bar edges is tricky. However - DO NOT CUT/SLIT IT - there is no need for this. I managed to do a pretty good job (not perfect), but if I had help (more hands) I think I could have nailed it. There is another poster earlier in this thread that wrapped his and it looks perfect. However, he is a pro wrapper but gave me some tips - what I am passing along to you. Also, since my vinyl is carbon pattern it hides some of the small imperfections. Ideally, you would use two hands to stretch/apply the vinyl while you instruct another where and when to heat it (I used a heat gun on low).

FYI, I've also seen the AFM at the start of this thread (played it too) in person, and it is gorgeous and perfect.

I have now made ca. 10 attempts with the lockdown bar round corner with different sizes of vinyl pieces and I haven't come close to nailing it. I will continue tomorrow without the cuts.

Are you using a heat gun or a hair dryer?

Heat gun. It seems to have an almost instant effect on the vinyl even on the lowest setting - I will try to keep it at a longer distance.

Green chrome on Congo. Looks pretty dope!
Only took a few minutes.
Got pretty near perfect!

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Love it! Are lockdown bar and legs next?

On a side note, you have got to clean your flipper buttons - yuck.

Yep! I fear my blowdryer may not be enough heat, we'll see. When I wrapped my JD the lockdown wasn't perfect.
As for the rest of the game, under heavy construction

If you have a Harbor Freight anywhere near you then you can pickup a heat gun that will do the job for like $14 before any coupons. This is what I have, and while not industrial strength it gets hot (2 settings - I use low) and it does the trick.

Okay, here are some pics. I was kind of surprised to see so many little flaws with the close-ups. I don't notice hardly any of these in real life when looking/playing the pin. At lease I have something to improve upon next time.

Both corners of the lockdown bar
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Outside bottom and inside bottom of leg
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Outside top of leg
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Two shots of inside leg to show how I finished the wrap (one w/ flash and one w/o)
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Honestly, you're really the only one that's going to know those are there. That's great work. One thing I would suggest, though, is you might want to look into getting some nylon washers for the leg bolts. You may not be taking the legs on and off repeatedly enough to warrant the use of the washers, but it only takes one time to have a bolt head catch and really pull/tear those things. You might even be able to soak those nylon washers in some red Rit dye and you'd hardly be able to see them.

Good idea on the washers. Maybe just get some red filament and print on 3D printer.

If it'll cost you less than about $10 to do, go for it.

For some red leg bolt washers:

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2517

Thank you for the info and pics - you've inspired me to try some blue chrome vinyl on my "old" rails, lockdown bar and legs for a Funhouse I'm fixing up. Worth a try.

Any brand recommendations for the vinyl?

PBL to the rescue. I'll include washers on my next order.

Well, you could go pro grade but expensive, especially for first timer. That is why I went cheap on eBay. It was good quality vinyl and very inexpensive, so I bought plenty so wasn't afraid to mess up (5', I think). Search vinyl wrap from seller m2-racing out of California. I purchased 3 mil, and he has all kinds of options.

Who knows, but we just got a 3D printer at work, so playing with all kinds of things.

Congo is looking good! The corners were difficult, I didn't get them perfect but good enough. I think the chrome is a lot harder to manipulate than the carbon fiber. I tried wrapping a leg in the chrome and quickly gave up.

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I do like the chrome, looks great!

I'm toying with doing this to my Xenon. Any recommendations for color and/or pattern? I was thinking just black gloss on the rails and bar - planning on wrapping the apron too, but want to do something that will contrast from the bar. Thinking maybe doing that in silver with custom decals in black red and blue to match the sides.

Start with the legs. They are easiest and you can decide if you like the color. If you don't like the color, try those legs on another pin.

How easy is it to remove the vinyl wrap?

I have a couple NOS pinballs and I would like to add some color to their armor, but would not want to go and have the armor painted - it sounds as a good solution to have the armor vinyl wrapped, so the new owner could take out the NOS parts if he wants at some point - but in reality, is the vinyl wrap easily removable? When I made some trials with vinyl wrap, I noticed that some residue or something similar was left on the lockdown bar atleast.

I've only had to remove vinyl once, and it was fairly simple. Mine came up well and then some light cleaner picked up all the residue. On another note if you are trying to add some temporary color then plastic dip could be an option. Mostly used on cars and comes in dozens of colors with pearl, matte, gloss, etc., and I don't see any reason why this would not work on a pin. Also, very simple to remove as long as you spray on 3-5 coats of the material.

That's a nice idea. With vinyl wrap I would not have to remove the Williams' siderails though

I thought legs are hard to do? I just did the lockdown bar and side rails on my Mushroom World and would love matching legs but it was tough to do the rails and bar (bar mostly).

Nope, just time consuming. Best part is that any little bubble that remains, you will never notice on the leg.

Just mask them off and the overspray will peel off nicely. Personally, I vinyl wrapped mine. Side rails were easiest, lockbar was a little more difficult with corners (if you have a person to help you and a vice to clamp the bar in that would be ideal), and the legs are the most challenging to do well based upon my personal experience. Still absolutely doable by an amateur like me, just took effort to get laid down well with all the concave and convex curves on the legs. Good news is you don't have to worry about what the backside looks like that butts against the pin. My Getaway result pics are a few posts above if you haven't looked through the thread yet.

Just watched some videos about this stuff. Lockdown bars are so tricky, this might be an easy solution. I guess it takes about 5 or 6 coats with 15min each to dry. It seems like for HUO, it should be about as permanent as vinyl. I see they sell matalizer and pearlizer to finish the plasti dip. (and gloss finish)

I have plasti-dipped all kinds of stuff on my Z and it works great (wheels, door handles, badges, fender accents, etc.) Would be interested in trying it on a pin as it should hold up well as long as 5-6 coats are applied. My only concern would be how well the high touch areas held up over time.

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good ideas here. thanks!