Arcade Collecting > Pinball
I finally got a pin...RESTORED AND LOVING IT.
Wade:
That looks a heck of a lot better already! The wear is not that bad. I don't suppose there's anything you can really do about the discoloration/cracking in the white areas, unless you wanted to go crazy with it and repaint those areas entirely. (I wouldn't do it.) That kind of cracking is pretty typical of older pins. It's something that 90's pins really had an advantage over the older pins. The automotive clear coats just hold up SO much better, fading and discoloration is rare, as is cracking. On the other hand the ball is travelling twice as fast and smashing into things much harder, too, so it's all a tradeoff.
I'm surprised by how good that playfield looks already so I might be tempted to not even touch it up. (Who am I kidding?) :) Truthfully, I find touchup one of the easiest and quickest ways to improve a pin. I use Testors though, which is different than what most people seem to use.
Wade
shardian:
I'll be going the acrylic route. I bought several shades for each color to come up with good matches. I am still torn as to spraying or brushing the clear on. The more I think about it, the more I think I should brush. Some of the inserts aren't true level, and brushing would probably even that up with thicker coats than spraying.
Wade:
I tried acrylics for touchup, but I thought they were sucktastic. They just don't cover very well, they change color when they dry, and they don't seem to dry as smooth or stroke-free as Testors. I'd rather match the color once and be done with it. I think the real reason many people use acrylic is because you can wipe it off and try again if it looks bad. With a playfield that already has a clearcoat on it, this would be even easier. So using acrylics seems less risky. Anyway, a lot of people use acrylics and are happy with them, it just hasn't worked for me.
Are you planning to clearcoat the whole thing or just the touchup areas? That might affect whether you want to brush or spray. I have found Polycrylic to be fairly self-leveling when brushed on heavy, but I'm not sure I'd want to brush a whole playfield. I would probably try to spray it. The Polycrylic I've used has also been sandable, so it might be possible to block sand it to try to level/smooth it.
Wade
ChadTower:
I am utterly useless at color matching. I stay as far from that as I can.
shardian:
I thought about the Testors enamels, but I don't have much faith in getting a good match with limited color selections. The acrylics were really cheap, so I could get multiple shades of the 4 base colors. As to clearcoating, I'll be doing the whole thing. After magic eraser-ing a whole playfield, brushing on a bit of clear coat should be a walk in the park! ;D
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