The Aussie Pinball Arcade

Aussie Pinball Forums => Restorations => Topic started by: Retropin on April 12, 2012, 07:33:50 PM

Title: PF cracks... colour spruce
Post by: Retropin on April 12, 2012, 07:33:50 PM
Ive had a few emails asking me about doing a playfield " wash" in order to spruce up a tired and worn area/ colour. Its hard to describe in written word and much easier to show someone.
Ive taken 2 videos and loaded them to UTUBE for anyone interested to watch.

Paints i use are ACRYLIC LACQUERS.. all are thinned down with RETARDER. Brush i use for this and most of my work is an ACRYLIC/ GUACHE brush size 00.
To do a wash, the paint is thinned down quite a lot.. too thin and it covers nothing... too thick and your brush leaves streaks.
First video shows some text ive cut around with the blue to show that this technique can be used for fine work..

&context=C4b3efa4ADvjVQa1PpcFPPXQtxParGyhWySHZRj_TPIynfMffysac=

In the video, you can see the text and some triangles that are already done... as the camera moves down you can see cracks in the blue showing the white primer underneath... its these cracks i need to paint out.

To do this, i load the brush quite heavily. As soon as i touch the PF, surface tension allows me to slightly lift the brush and drag my blob of paint around. Work from centre out pushing the paint into the corners and again lifting the brush as you reach a point.
 As soon as the paint starts to streak, you need to reload and apply again... you can drag the blob into very fine lines all the time its being held by its own surface tension.
The paint looks quite heavy sitting on the PF but if you watch to the end you can see that where i started is now flat as the retarder dries out... cracks are now coloured and the white is no longer visible.. i have a constant colour throughout. The slight difference in paint layers will be gone once the clear coat is applied and the effect will be one very smooth bright constant colour.
Main key to  the success of this is perfect colour matching... you need to take the time to match your colours. 2 -3 hrs spent doing this will prevent more work later..

2nd video is here... hope it helps those who have asked and also anyone tempted to do some PF restoration.

&context=C451a17aADvjVQa1PpcFPPXQtxParGyi5-fj9ZmBhLYPjGSHUu__s=

Title: Re: PF cracks... colour spruce
Post by: pinnies4me on April 12, 2012, 07:48:51 PM


Gosh I love seeing this sort of work done. Can't say I have the patience or talent for it myself, and do appreciate the artistic touch needed, thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: PF cracks... colour spruce
Post by: Wotto on April 12, 2012, 09:52:37 PM
Thanks Gav

Interesting to watch that with what I have ahead of me  ^^^
Amazed at how those original 'blobs' flatten out eventually.

Got me some retarder just today  *%*
Title: Re: PF cracks... colour spruce
Post by: ddstoys on April 12, 2012, 10:24:08 PM
Nice work Gav very hard thing to explain to someone but what a difference it can make
Title: Re: PF cracks... colour spruce
Post by: Strangeways on April 12, 2012, 11:17:21 PM

Good stuff Gav  ^^^

I also bought some retarder for my touch up on the Pro football !
Title: Re: PF cracks... colour spruce
Post by: Retropin on April 13, 2012, 12:18:52 AM
Thanks Gav

Interesting to watch that with what I have ahead of me  ^^^
Amazed at how those original 'blobs' flatten out eventually.

Got me some retarder just today  *%*


Good to hear!!!  You cant do this to all areas and to cover up heavy paint losses.. an airbrush is the only way to go.
I also havent used the paints you have.. they may behave differently, but i can do this with enamels and acrylic lacquers.. so im guessing you should be OK