Hugh's Gaming

My playfield is DONE!  Chris Hutchins saves the day, he did an excellent job on my playfield.  He fixed much more stuff than I asked for and did as usual a first class job.  I feel so lucky that he decided to help me out, I think without his help my playfield would have been trash.

Pictures!

http://christopherhutchins.com/gallery/album157?page=1

As with everything in pinball there comes a lesson.  Sometimes the lessons are easy and sometimes they are hard.  I had my Twilight Zone playfield restored  as some know I wasn’t totally happy with how it came out.  I was actually unhappy enough to consider waiting to put my game back together once a reproduction playfield came out.  Of course waiting for a product that is not confirmed is a hard thing to do not to mention risky.   I’ve had my TZ for 8 months now so I definitely want to get it back together.

I have spoken to a few of my friends trying to solicit opinions on what I  should do with my TZ and the initial thought was to just install the  playfield.  Although this was something to consider I just couldn’t pull the  trigger.  I have been very lucky that I have met and befriended quite a few  super nice people in pinball, one of which specializes in restoring games,  Chris Hutchins.  I mentioned to Chris about my TZ dilemma.  He took pity on me  (and my TZ playfield) and took on the task of refinishing my playfield.  Here  is where the lessons come in:

http://christopherhutchins.com/gallery/album157?page=1

Initially I was happy with the clearcoat on my playfield but once you go  through the album above you get to see a few issues that you can find with  restored playfields.  This is the first playfield that I have sent out for  restoration and definitely not the last but at least I can come from this  experience with much more knowledge than I had before.  I am  sharing this on my blog because asking the right questions in the beginning will save you a lot of heartache.  I have learned that there are a few questions that you have to ask before choosing a playfield restorer:

1.  How do you perform touchups?  Hand Painted or Sprayed?
2.  How many coats of clearcoat do you apply?
3.  How do you prep the playfield prior to laying down clearcoat?

I don’t have all of the correct answers but here are my opinions:

Question #1.  How do you perform touchups?  Hand Painted or Sprayed?

This question is important because depending on the area being touched up  painting by hand can be undesirable.  There were a few spots on my playfield  that were touched up by hand that didn’t come out looking very good like the  dark blue area underneath the left spiral.

Question #2.  How many coats of clearcoat do you apply?

Having way too thick of a clearcoat will cause all sorts of installation and  playability problems.  The clearcoat on my playfield was so thick that the spots where the ramp landings are were almost completely filled.  You have to have those ramp cutouts for the ramps to “flow” properly.  I am not sure what the ideal number of coats are but ultimately the clearcoat should not be super thick.

Question #3.  How do you prep the playfield prior to laying down clearcoat?

My playfield did not have the guide holes sanded down and ultimately a lot of dirt was caught and clearcoated over.  It doesn’t take much effort to sand these areas down.

In closing I hope this information helps someone.  I do not regret the process because in the end I learned a lot.    Anyone else that has had experience with getting playfields restored please contribute what you have learned to this post with a comment.