F-14 Fixing Playfield Decals, I Screwed Up, Bad

butthead

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I started this playfield over a year ago,
I removed all the inserts and replaced the broken ones.
I then cleaned and reglued all of them in and Touched up the Playfield .
I put the inserts, decals on and waited a year for the bubbles to come out on some.
I Clearcoated last week , Yes I do this everyday for the last 30 yrs. I do know what i am doing.
This sucks, anybody ever cut one out and fix it?
Why do you get two Lites Lock ? Where does the other one go?
My Kid pulled Hot Streak out of the bottom cabinet after I asked him to sort the bolts and nuts and clean it out last night. It Fell In ?
Chit!!
Any Input?
Thanks , Tom
 

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You need to hand sand the clear coat in that area. Get to a point where you can find the edge of the decal/sticker and pull it up. Use a razor blade and cut the clear. The clear will still be flexible since its only been a week. Then wet sand the area to remove the edge of cut clear. Put new sticker on and re-clear coat.

Next time you do this type of job you need to sandwich the insert decals between a base layer of clear and a top layer of clear.

Brian @ HSA
www.hsapinball.com
 
Totally agree with Brian.

The only difference I see is if its a water slide decal it's not going to peel off but flake off.

note: Brian, your work is awesome! If I only knew some of your tricks...

VB,
 
This is part of the reason that your good playfield restoration guys (HSA, HEP and PFR) base clear coated their playfields before doing insert decals and touchups/airbrushing. Base coating the playfield allows the insert decals to lay flat on a smooth surface and seals the bare wood areas for painting. Base clear coating even allows you to sand off mistakes and redo it without damaging the original surface. All repairs are sandwiched between the layers of clear.

The newer guys who try to do playfield restorations do not do this because they are trying to save time and don't want the additional cost of clear coat materials to take from their profits.

Here are some examples of the other playfield restoration guys:

http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/Other_Guys.html
 
Thank You All For the Input !!
I am going to Cut Her Out, Replace Decal, Fill Her In with Clear and Sand & Buff
I hope it looks no worse than my other mistakes.
ANYBODY, WHY DO YOU GET TWO LITES LOCK ON, DECALS, WHERE DOES THE OTHER ONE GO?
I will post pics of the the poor playfield destruction.
Also, Thanks for the post of clearcoating first before applying decals. Makes Sense.
Da.
Thanks, Tom
 
This is part of the reason that your good playfield restoration guys (HSA, HEP and PFR) base clear coated their playfields before doing insert decals and touchups/airbrushing. Base coating the playfield allows the insert decals to lay flat on a smooth surface and seals the bare wood areas for painting. Base clear coating even allows you to sand off mistakes and redo it without damaging the original surface. All repairs are sandwiched between the layers of clear.

The newer guys who try to do playfield restorations do not do this because they are trying to save time and don't want the additional cost of clear coat materials to take from their profits.

Here are some examples of the other playfield restoration guys:

http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/Other_Guys.html

Don't meant to theadjack, but WOW Brian, great work. I have a WH2O PF that I need restored and can't decide whether or not I want to do a restore, or replacement.
 
Brian,

Just out of curiosity, do you airbrush most of your touch-ups? I also assume your using automotive clear?

I've seen your work and it's top notch! A great talent you have...

VB,
 
I have several artist working for me. It's a mixture of airbrushing and brush touchups. The amount of airbrushing or brush touchups depends on the area being worked on, what stage of restoration and which one of my artist is doing the work. My one guy almost airbrushes everything and my basic guy does limited amount of airbrushing.
 
Base Clear

I'm new so bear with me. I've read and seen a lot (TOP) about restoration. But nothing has explained putting a base coat before the repairs. Are you saying that you pull off all the damaged art, spray a clear layer, then start painting and placing decals? Ho this a coat do you spray? For some reason I am imagining a floating look of the repaired areas. Does this not happen. As much detail or a link is much appreciated.

Thanks
 
The reason for base clear coating is to get all your repairs on the same plane.

Example: Say you have a worn spot down to the wood and the surrounding area is red in color. You spot match the red color perfectly and start to paint the worn spot. The bare wood sucks in the pigments and now the red color is slightly different than the surrounding area. Base clear coating eliminates this problem.

Example 2: Insert decals - You want to seal the base surface and the plastic inserts so the insert decals lay flat. The insert decals will hold up better when sandwiched between the layer of clear coat.

Example 3: Once you clean the original playfield surface and sand it. You need to use a scuff pad to achieve adhesion for the base clear coat. Once the surface is base clear coated you need to sand this flat and scuff it down so your paint touchups/airbrushing has an adhesion surface. If any mistakes are made you now have a base coat of clear protecting the playfield surface so you can fix any touchups, color matching issues, insert decal problems, etc. Also when you mask off the different color areas for airbrushing your tape lines will not pull up any loose surface or old paint since you sealed it with a base layer of clear.
 
Here is a good picture example of why to base clear coat.

http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/Restorations_Examples/Pages/hsa32.html

This playfield was being restored by someone else originally. It was in good condition. It just needed some basic touchups in the center. The guy doing the restoration had the center section all done and when he removed is masking tape all the original paint started to fall off.

So now the playfield had to be repaired by me and an easy original repair became a larger project. I had to fix the adhesion issues, base clear coat it and then do all the airbrushing.
 
Here is a funny youtube link on how to incorrectly clear coat your playfield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fScfkS9GZoM

You need to watch part 1, 2 and part 3. Lots of bad info given, like clean your playfield with windex and use a fisheye eliminator (smoothie). Fisheye eliminators breaks the surface tension and causes lack of adhesion. He used the wrong flash times between coats. Etc, etc. I like how he used jack stands and his clean area for a spray booth (ya right).
 
Brian,

Out of curiosity what is a ballpark figure for repairing and clearing a play field?

I realize that each play field needs to be evaluated separately, etc. but I was just curios as to how much an artist gets to perform his magic... (Low-High)

VB,
 
Playfield clear coating is $225. Touchups/airbrushing add $75 and up. The average playfield restoration with clear coating is $500.
 
Brian,

Do you have the slide show presentation you did at the expo posted anywhere? It would be great to see along with the audio at pinball news.

Thanks
 
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Actually I lost it. The laptop crashed and it's gone.

I might do another type of playfield restoration seminar at the next Pinball Expo. Don't know yet.
 
Well it least it crashed after and not before. I'll be looking foward to your next one.
 
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