Theatre of Magic Playfield Restoration & Clear Coating

hsapinball

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Theatre of Magic Playfield Restoration & Clear Coating

Here is a TOM playfield I just finished for someone. It was basically your average condition routed TOM playfield. Nothing an airbrush couldn't fix.

http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa135.html

FAQ: I get questions ask to me all the time by people about color matching. The key to color matching is to first lay down a base clear coat and do all your airbrushing/touchup on top of the base layer of clear. This will prevent the paint to be sucked into the woodgrain and to change colors. Also by doing a base coat of clear you are sealing in the original paint and masking, removing mistakes and uniform color matches will be easier. Second, do not use a 2-part cheap polyurethane clear. Buy the good 3-part high solids acrylic urethane clear. The 3-part clears allow you to control the amount of reducer you add to the mixture. Third, mask off larger areas and airbrush them. Airbrushing will keep the paint layer thinner and if the color is slightly off you will not see it since you just painted the entire area that needed repair. Fouth, color matching takes a lot of practice. Get a color wheel and use primary colors to get your required colors you need for touchups. Don't just buy a pre-mixed bottle of paint and expect it to match.
 
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awesome job, you should put the before on the left and after on the right tho making it easier to see the change.

color matching is definitely a pain.
 
... you should put the before on the left and after on the right tho making it easier to see the change.

Like this?
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa41.html

I use to do this but people complained about that format too. And most of the time I did not have enough camera angles that matched up as a pair. So about 50% of my website was done the way you like it and the other half was done the other way.
 
exactly!

damn complainers... lol :D

I can understand with the camera angles. That format on Glamor is so much nicer tho i must say, hey can't make everyone happy.

Still awesome job all around.
 
Awesome thread! Thanks! I have my work cut out for me.

12%2520-%25202.jpg
 
Do you recommend always laying down a coat of clear before doing touchups? This would of course be after doing an extensive cleaning, which I prefer magic eraser + alcohol.
 
I am confused because he is recommending polyurethane. Others use rattle can krylon clear, and other people used automotive clear coat... :confused:
 
I am confused because he is recommending polyurethane. Others use rattle can krylon clear, and other people used automotive clear coat... :confused:

I run an auto body repair shop. I have access to a real spray booth and we use a high-solids urethane automotive clear coat. We use the same stuff on the cars we do.

The Krylon clear is junk. I would not use it on a playfield.
 
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I was looking at a TOTAN that Chris did today where he walked through the whole process. It's pretty crazy how much time, effort, and skill goes into this.

Have you seen the repros out of Germany? How do those compare to the original playfields?
 
Have you seen the repros out of Germany? How do those compare to the original playfields?

The issue with most reproduction playfields and even different runs of the original playfields is the quality, colors and type of clear coat they used. Examples:

Here is an original Monster Bash playfield vs an IPB reproduction:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa85.html

Here is an original White Water playfield vs a German (High Class Pinball) reproduction:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa84.html

Here is a NOS original EBD playfield and a reproduction IPB Eight Ball Deluxe playfield:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa65.html

Here is an original Attack from Mars vs a German AFM reproduction:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa69B.html

Here are two original Theatre of Magic playfields. Look how different they are:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa56.html

Also Bally/Williams used different vendors (Sun Process or SP, Linc Smith or LS, Thomas A Grant or TAG, and ESC (Electronic Sound Corp) to make playfields especially the the high production run games like Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Creature, etc. It is not uncommon to see four different companies make the same playfield. The Sun Process runs of Creature, Addams Family and TZ tend to have better colors and sometimes a better clear coating. You will see some people wanting a "Hot Pink" Creature From the Black Lagoon but there really is no such thing. The "Hot Pink" ones are just the Sun Process made playfields where the LS and the TAG ones have more muted colors.

* Disclaimer: I respect all the reproduction playfield companies (CPR, IPB, Highclassicpinballs.com, etc) who make reproduction playfields. It's takes the time, know how, money and balls to even attempt reproducing a playfield. While no reproduction playfield is perfect most of them are nice reproduction parts. The above examples are not to offend anyone but to merely show the slight differences.
 
The issue with most reproduction playfields and even different runs of the original playfields is the quality, colors and type of clear coat they used. Examples:

Here is an original Monster Bash playfield vs an IPB reproduction:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa85.html

Here is an original White Water playfield vs a German (High Class Pinball) reproduction:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa84.html

Here is a NOS original EBD playfield and a reproduction IPB Eight Ball Deluxe playfield:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa65.html

Here is an original Attack from Mars vs a German AFM reproduction:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa69B.html

Here are two original Theatre of Magic playfields. Look how different they are:
http://www.hsapinball.com/HSA_PINBALL/hsa56.html

Also Bally/Williams used different vendors (Sun Process or SP, Linc Smith or LS, Thomas A Grant or TAG, and ESC (Electronic Sound Corp) to make playfields especially the the high production run games like Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Creature, etc. It is not uncommon to see four different companies make the same playfield. The Sun Process runs of Creature, Addams Family and TZ tend to have better colors and sometimes a better clear coating. You will see some people wanting a "Hot Pink" Creature From the Black Lagoon but there really is no such thing. The "Hot Pink" ones are just the Sun Process made playfields where the LS and the TAG ones have more muted colors.

* Disclaimer: I respect all the reproduction playfield companies (CPR, IPB, Highclassicpinballs.com, etc) who make reproduction playfields. It's takes the time, know how, money and balls to even attempt reproducing a playfield. While no reproduction playfield is perfect most of them are nice reproduction parts. The above examples are not to offend anyone but to merely show the slight differences.

Thanks so much for the breakdown. It really leads me to think that restoration is the way to go over a repro as long as the original playfield isnt' too bad. There are definately some spots where the repros miss colors too! Thanks.
 
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