tech: playfield paint & finish
Ray Slaugenhoup
Just wanted to share some restoration experience with the group for
comment. Please bear in mind, I AM NO RESTORATION EXPERT!!!!!
Here is a long-winded version:
I am a novice, recently acquiring my first pin, an old 1973 Gottlieb
Big Brave that has had many years of wear & tear particularly high
humidity. The humidity has taken its toll by cracking the playfield
veneer and chipping the paint. I wanted to refinish the playfield, but
the numerous areas with chipped paint and bare wood looked terrible. I
searched the hobby stores for enamel paints that might come close to
matching the bright colors of the playfield. No dice. One day the
wife dragged me into her favorite arts & crafts store, a chain up here
in New England. I found a complete aisle of artist's acrylic paints
with at least 100 different shades of color. The paint comes in 2 oz.
bottles - 99 cents each. Picked up some magenta, turquiose, various
yellows, reds, whites, and blacks. I also bought a kids paint set so I
could wash out the little sealable plastic cups & mix up my own small
batches.
The next step is probably not for the faint-of-heart. I figured I
would either destroy the playfield or get the results I needed. I
stripped the playfield of all parts. I took 600 grit ultra-fine
wet/dry carbide sandpaper and gently WET sanded the playfield, small
areas at a time, not keeping things too wet too long. This dramaticaly
brightened the playfield by removing the embedded grime in the original
topcoat finish and also smoothed the raised cracked areas. The
playfield now felt like glass. A word of caution: you have to make a
semi-intelligent decision --> If I rub this area with sandpaper, will I
completely break off more old paint (that might be currently held in
place by gravity -;)??? Time to paint.
This paint worked great for me. It's water cleanup and is
translucent to a certain degree. I mixed up small batches of colors,
slowly adding a little of this and that, testing the match on the areas
covered by the wood rails. Took a lot of patience, the good thing was
that the acrylic paint drys in about 15 min. and like all paints drys a
little lighter in shade than when wet. I was able to achieve very
close color matches, and if my current batch was off, I just rinsed out
the cup in the sink and started over. I used a super fine 0 (zero)
bristle brush to touchup the cracks and chips. Time to apply a finish.
I chose Varathane Elite Diamond Finish clear gloss advertised as
being twice as durable as polyurethane. Water cleanup, dry to touch in
1 hr., recoat 2-3 hours. I am now in a holding pattern waiting to
hopefully hear some comments before proceed with using this stuff. I
tested it on some wood and the above mentioned acrylic paint. Looks
pretty good. Has anyone used this on playfields? Does it hold up?
Thanks,
ban...@ix.netcom.com
Rod Onotera
> I mixed up small batches of colors,
> slowly adding a little of this and that, testing the match on the areas covered by the wood rails.
I keep the clear plastic packaging that screws, nuts etc come in. They
make great little mixing trays and you can hold the "tray" up to the
area that you're trying to match as you can see the playfield color
though the clear plastic.
I've Varathaned playfields with great success. Use the spray in a well
ventilated garage.
--
Rod
rono...@infobahn.mb.ca