Hugh's Gaming

Yes he did!!!  I was at a crossroads after damaging the playfield with the mylar removal; do I clearcoat the inserts in place and try to make it nice or do I get all ballsy and remove the inserts to make sure they are pefectly smooth?  On one hand I don’t want to make the playfield worse and on the other I want it to be as nice as it can be while at the same time testing and improving my restoration skills.  I swallowed my fear and removed 6 of the damaged inserts from the playfield.

The last time I removed inserts it tore some of the art from the playfield so I was a bit apprehensive.  I’m glad I decided to remove them in the end.  Next steps are testing how I want to clear this area.  I still have more testing to do with Minwax Polycrylic and Auto Lacquer before I make a final decision.

Uh oh!!  Either I did something wrong or this was inevitable but I ran into an issue removing the mylar (?) from the playfield.  I question whether this stuff is actually mylar because it is not as rigid as the mylar I am used to removing.  So first I removed some traditional mylar around the pop bumpers.  No problems at all.  Next I started on the rest.  This stuff doesn’t want to budge!  I used an entire can of freeze spray with no success.  A whole can normally would have removed at least half of what was there.  So I fell back on the old method, heat.  I use a hair dryer, NOT a heat gun to attempt removal.  I have removed mylar with heat in the past with no issues… but as it goes with pinball nothing is a constant

It was going great until I got to the top of the playfield.  The area of the playfield with the repair inserts, beckoning me to remove this horrible mylar that has obscured its view for years, would prove to be my downfall.

See the A insert, 4th from the left?  The screened ink lifted off the insert!  NO!  That’s the worst thing you can see when removing mylar.  That wasn’t where the horror stopped either, check out the rest of the damage:

Not the best mylar removal job I have done that’s for sure.  Now I say mylar but I don’t think this stuff really is mylar.  Its much thicker and not as hard.  Whatever the stuff is it was the devil spawn.  As things go with these types of projects  I have to move on, no more wasted thoughts on what could have been.  So how am I going to fix that?  It’s experimentation time!

Luckily the majority of the inserts with damage have no art on them so I believe I can make it look pretty nice with a bit of care and attention.  I know what I have to do first, I need to fix the A insert.  I took some thin CA glue and wicked it under the insert:

[ INSERT PICTURE HERE ]

As you can see it looks much better.  Not perfect but better.  The inserts in front of the time expander will need a bit more work.  I know I need to clearcoat it but with what?  In comes two products to the rescue:  Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss and Duplicolor Paint Shop Lacquer clear:

I ran out and bought a quart of Minwax Polycrylic last night and tried it out.  I have the satin version of this product and it is excellent for protecting wood, I typically use this stuff to coat the inside of a refinished video game cabinet to lock out any smells that might be there from being in an arcade for years.  The first step was to remove an insert from one of my parts playfields, in this case a Funhouse playfield.  (Note I won’t be removing the inserts from the Dr Who playfield to repair it, too much risk with my skill set).   I sanded it down with 320 grit and finally finished it up with 1200 grit sandpaper to make it nice and smooth.  Next I put it back in the playfield and with a pipette I put some of the Polycrylic on top of the insert:

The Polycrylic is applied with a pipette

It looks milky when wet and dries clear.  Here is what it looked like after drying:

It looks pretty nice and clear.  There is a bit of bubbling from the drying process that will hopefully sand out as seen here:

But it is nice and shiny!

I bought a quart of the Duplicolor Paint Shop Lacquer clear today at my local Advance Auto Parts.  I will do a similar test tonight and post the results.

So this is what I am dealing with:

Holy crap!  This is the dirtiest game I have ever shopped out.  My gallery pictures don’t reflect it yet but I have almost the entire top of the playfield stripped.  Once I have everything removed I will start removing the mylar.  It’s not one solid piece in places so I have quite a bit to remove.

I’ve gotten a decent amount of work done on Dr Who.  I am about done with the cabinet now, all that is left is to get the launch and start buttons wired up.  I have reinstalled the cabinet wiring, cleaned up the lockdown bar receiver, installed all boards and connected all of the cabinet wiring.    Its looking pretty nice!

Next up is the playfield, then its gametime!

My gallery is updated.

I ran the ground braid last night for the cabinet.  I noticed when preparing to mount the power box inside the cabinet that it was hitting the new, much bigger leg plate I installed.  I ended up having to relocate the power switch so I could move the power box over to the left about an inch.  Works fine.  I need to put all the wiring back into the cabinet, install the coin door and install the boards in the head.  Next after that is the playfield rebuild.

I’m rollin’, rollin’, rollin’!   Reassembly has begun, my picture site was updated as well.  New parts installed:

• Reinforced Leg Brackets
• Start Button
• Launch Button

Other parts were cleaned up.  I can’t install the power box until my air stapler comes in which will hopefully be later today (ground braid must be installed first).  I have painted the head brackets that attach it to the lower cabinet.  Hopefully the cab itself will be completed by the end of this week, next up the playfield.

I got the cabinet all refinished!  Well mostly… I sprayed too much clear on the back of the cab at the bottom near the stencil.  Foolishly I reached for the paper towel to wipe it and got sticky.  it was super humid today so the paint was probably not drying enough.  That will be sanded out and you will never know it was there.

Pictures:

http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=7599&g2_page=2

I’m waiting for my furniture stapler and then I can replace the ground braid in my cab.

http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=7599

Full steam ahead!  I have started refinishing the replacement cabinet for Dr Who.  Once I have rebuilt the replacement cabinet I can start on the playfield.  I have stripped the original cab and have cleaned the wiring harness.  Once the cab is painted the harness will be dropped in.