Picture gallery updated: http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=4711&g2_page=3
I’m starting to get more done on Earthshaker. Tonight I sprayed the yellow and it came out pretty good. Unfortunately the frisket pulled up some of the red in two places, I will have to respray that. I am going to do some more touchups where I don’t have to put frisket over the red and yellow and then clearcoat it again before doing any more.
Finally! It’s been a long time, I can’t wait to get in some great RTS action. I talked myself into buying the Collector’s edition 
What a great series Halo is. I just finished up Halo 3. I love the background story that follows the action and number three did exactly what it set out to do; finish the story and provide a suitable ending. Now although I loved the ending, the enemies, level design, music and pretty much everything about Halo 3 there is one major problem with it. YOU HAVE TO PLAY WITH A FRICKEN GAMEPAD!!!!
Seriously that was a painful experience at times. I just simply cannot see how people play FPS games on a console. The sad thing is today’s consoles can support a keyboard and mouse but for some reason Sony and Microsoft choose not to. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have built in USB ports, why not use them? I wish I understood why Sony and Microsoft won’t support a keyboard and mouse, at least for the shooters. There are absolutely zero advantages to playing with a gamepad (And no I’m not counting being able to sit back lazily into a chair as a benefit for a gamepad).
Come on Microsoft and Sony! Start supporting the peripherals that REAL gamers like to use.
I sprayed the first color on my playfield, red. It’s coming out pretty good overall. I read on Createx’s website that you have to cure their paint with heat so I hit the playfield with the heatgun just enough to get it warm. Hopefuly the frisket film doesn’t pull up the new paint, I still have blue, green, yellow and black to spray!
I’m still alive! Some family emergencies and work related issues have taken me away for a while but I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. Last I left off I had sprayed the first layer of clear on my Earthshaker playfield. The next step is to repaint the areas of the playfield that are in bad shape. Before I start repainting I need to practice a bit with the airbrush.
In a previous post I mentioned that I purchased an Iwata Revolution HP-CR. I hooked it up to my compressor for the first time last night. I have installed two moisture filters onto my compressor to ensure I have dry air. I took some frisket film and masked out some simple and complex shapes on a piece of wood. I am very happy with how the airbrush works. The HP-CR is a dual action airbrush so I can adjust the volume of air and paint it sprays at the same time. My previous Badger airbrush attached to a can of air was putting out too much paint. This works much better.
Pictures are here:
All I can say is too bad its an MMO
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/hope-cinematic-trailer?sourceid=eag2350
I’m still working on this!! Got sidetracked with a few console games like Mega Man 9 & 10, Afterburner Climax and Aces of the Galaxy.
Pictures are here:
http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=4711&g2_page=3
Its taken me a bit of time to get this done but finally I have sprayed down the first clear on my Earthshaker. I have learned quite a bit over this restore:
1. You can never be too careful when spraying clearcoat.
2. Insert decals are not perfect and sometimes not even accurate.
3. Trimming insert decals may not be the way to go.
4. Prepare for lots of work!
First safety. I prepared to be as safe as possible spraying this stuff. I have a Tyvek suit, a 3M cabon respirator, swim goggles, latex gloves and a long sleeve shirt and long pants under the suit. Second regarding insert decal accuracy. Some of the decals were not the right size in terms of the black border. This was most evident with the decals for the arrows. They were too short so I had to cut the text and lines from the decal. The text itself seems spot on but not the rest.
I had read that a few people trimmed their decals so that you only lay down the text and not the clear part. The problem I have found with this is you get a “lip” at the edge of the decal. Hopefully by the time I have laid down the last shot of clear it will level out. I wish I applied the decals to the insert prior to putting them in the playfield that way I could trim them to the size of the insert.
I used the Spraymax 2k Aerosol clear. I like how it sprays, nice and smooth. I first sprayed a mist coat on the playfield. After waiting 10 minutes I sprayed the first heavy coat. I had planned on doing two heavy coats but I quickly found out that the can really only has enough for one heavy coat. When I attempted the second heavy coat it started to spurt. I’m not worried since I will sand most of that out before the touchups start. This is probably the main reason why it would be better to go with clear that you mix since you can mix enoughso that you don’t run out. I thought about using a second can to clear this problem up but since I will be spraying a final coat of clear I didn’t bother.
Spiderman is still here!!!! Yup he is not going anywhere
I picked this up in Alexandria on Sunday! I have been wanting one of these for years since seeing them in person in Singapore and Malaysia. They are small little cabinets with huge 29″ monitors. They are made to house JAMMA style boards and I have always wanted one because they are so easy to move around and change boards. Here is a reference photo of what the cab looks like (not mine):
Mine is in pretty nice shape overall. I’m going to stick 1943: The Loop Master in it. It does need some cleaning and other work done but nothing major. Pictures to come!
