Advice needed for my Card Whiz playfield

[femto]

Hey guys, I have stripped my Card Whiz playfield and am cleaning it up but am unsure how to repair the cards near the target bank. Someone has removed the mylar previously but ripped up some of the paint in the process. I would love to hear some of your ideas how to proceed with repairs to this.

[Retropin]

Not an easy job... but it could be worse.
Playing cards are horrible to restore, but yours are damaged only at the top by the look of the pic.
The red can be replaced by placing down some clear application tape vinyl or even contact and cutting around with a sharp scalpel.. make sure its a brand new blade as it will cut with no pressure required and therefore not gouge a groove into the PF... the larger thick blades are best for this as they dont bend when you are using them.
The details on the cards will have to be done by hand.
If i do this kind of work  then i vectorise all the heart shapes etc and cut them out on my plotter.. this gives me airbrush templates to make sure all are exactly the same.
The card edges can be replaced by using Tamiya tape for all the straight edges and you spray inbetween the gap.. you then have to make the curve corner by hand,but to do this, you need to get the consistency of your paint just right and use a fine brush perpendicular to the PF... how much paint you load on your brush is also critical... very easy to ruin a good look with a bad corner curve.
details inside the cards will all be done by hand.
personally, i hate restoring playing cards on a PF, but there are plenty of card games out there and so i expect it from time to time.

[femto]

Thanks for the reply. It is not obvious in the picture but there is some damage to paint in the middle of the cards as well. There is a lot of detail in the cards which I frankly am not confident of doing. I have been wondering if I scan this part of the playfield I could play with it in photoshop and then print it onto adhesive paper or such then stick it over the playfield. I imagine getting the colours to match could be a problem and the line between the sticker and the painted surface could look up to shit but frankly I reckon if I get a brush to this I would stuff it up bigtime.

[Retropin]

Mate... Im really against putting printed decals over an area of a playfield.. i know many do it, but you did ask for advice..

What you can do is just do the red area and leave it at that.. learn to live with the wear on the cards... if you are looking for a pristine playfield, you are not going to get it by adding a printed graphic.. you are also not going to get it by just doing the red. What you will achieve though is a much better PF that can be restored later down the track by someone else for you if you choose to do so.
Or.. do the red and hold out until another PF comes up in better condition and swap over... the original PF could be sold as a restore piece... im always interested in this type of thing for restore. What i and many wont buy though is a PF thats had a decal stuck down as when i try to remove it, ill just remove more of the artwork that really needs to be retained as much as possible.
Just my opinion...

[Mr Pinbologist]

Mate... Im really against putting printed decals over an area of a playfield.. i know many do it, but you did ask for advice..

Same here, even though i have used decals to repair sections of playfields in the past, as a rule i dont do it now if possible, (with the exception of replacing missing text, i occasionally will use waterslide decals for this).

I'll actually be working on a Card Whiz pf real soon, after having just brought the game back to life next job is to restore the pf, which includes having to fill various holes drilled into it by some numbskull in its past   i'll be doing a resto thread when i start on it  

[femto]

Thanks again for the replies. I reckon I will try your advice Gavin and do the red above the cards and see how it looks. From there I can decide to keep going or to stop and leave it at that. I am planning to diamond coat this playfield to preserve it.

[femto]

I bought some acrylic paints today and started to paint the area above the cards. I decided to do this out the back under the patio but after a while I noticed some ripples apearing under some of the playfield. Then the paint started to lift. I am assuming the sun hit this part and started this process. Does this sound like the reason this has happened? The paint in this area was fine before and I didn't do anything with this part of the playfield.

[Boots]

Looks like there may have  been a crack and slight lifting before, not sure looks like the same is already there with the yellow next to it.
You might have to sand back any areas that look like lifting

[Strangeways]

Looks like there may have  been a crack and slight lifting before, not sure looks like the same is already there with the yellow next to it.
You might have to sand back any areas that look like lifting

I agree.

I think this might have been an issue during the production of the playfield. Not enough primer to "bite" into the wood. The sun may have dried the section up and as a result, it has split the paint creating the cracks in the playfield. not a common problem, but I've seen what appears to be this issue only a handful of times.

[femto]

I agree.

I think this might have been an issue during the production of the playfield. Not enough primer to "bite" into the wood. The sun may have dried the section up and as a result, it has split the paint creating the cracks in the playfield. not a common problem, but I've seen what appears to be this issue only a handful of times.

Trust me to get the one that does this. My reasonably hard playfield fixerup has now become a damn sight harder. This pinball has been teaching me one thing and that is patience!

[Strangeways]

I agree.

I think this might have been an issue during the production of the playfield. Not enough primer to "bite" into the wood. The sun may have dried the section up and as a result, it has split the paint creating the cracks in the playfield. not a common problem, but I've seen what appears to be this issue only a handful of times.

Trust me to get the one that does this. My reasonably hard playfield fixerup has now become a damn sight harder. This pinball has been teaching me one thing and that is patience!

This is one of the "trying moments" in pinball restoration. I've seen sections the size of 20 cent pieces fly off the playfield while simply using an air compressor to blow the dust off. What you are dealing with is a very thin layer of primer, just enough paint to cover the section and a thin layer of varnish. This has been slowly worn away over 40 years. The machine was only meant to last 5-10 years, so it is amazing that they are still around !

Patience - Yes - In spades !

[ktm450]

OUCH 

That is disappointing

[femto]

Disappointing it certainly is. What is worse is this appears to be affecting an area about 15 square centimeters in the middle of the playfield. All I can do is try to repaint these areas.

[Boots]

Disappointing it certainly is. What is worse is this appears to be affecting an area about 15 square centimeters in the middle of the playfield. All I can do is try to repaint these areas.

At least it looks like a straight colour without and writing or other art

[femto]

Well the damage has spread to areas besides the full colour area. As the pic shows the damage is quite widespread. The scary part is the differing colours with the words and numbers in the middle.