Up until this point, I had never had to deal with this kind of wear, but I guess it makes sense. There are plenty of examples where a playfield is completely worn to wood in the "high traffic" areas. Well I think this game was one of them. Thankfully, this game had "Day One" mylar (installed on the production line), so 80% of this playfield was protected and the artwork is intact. So you should be able to work out the areas where the mylar is. It ends under the "1000 Bonus" light - in the shape of a "V". So there are three different levels to contend with.

The highest section was above and beyond the "V" in the section between the flippers. This is where the Mylar is applied from factory. Then there is the area below that, which is simply the bare playfield with its protective clearcoat (factory). Finally, there is a section "worn to wood" - and within that section, there is some sort of reaction with either water damage or the adhesive backing from the gaffer tape than was applied.

So there was some method in my mad idea to apply a decal here. The first thing to do was remove the existing wear by creating a "flat" area. The areas left with artwork just peeled off - it was unstable anyway. So I used a chisel and just lifted it gently, but creating a border beforehand. This would give me a stable and flat area to work with.

The bare playfield is porous, so no decal will adhere to it for a long period of time - something I learnt from another pinhead . So I had to seal the area with some sort of lacquer or sealant. I found a can of Cabots clear lacquer finish at bunnings and started to experiment on pieces of wood. The aim was to have a level area that would be a great preparation to lay down the decal.

Decal

The trace was scanned into photoshop and with a bit of time and luck, some "mock ups" were printed out - using no colors - no color matching yet. Just the size and alignment were important here. Here is an early sample of the decal ;





Bit of fiddling around, but the idea is starting to look like it might work. So once the size and aspect is right, we add color ;





Were is the writing ? There is no such thing as a "Rollings Stones" font, so it had to be created. Few hours later and viola ;





The color matching was a headache... All the colors were close except the light blue. That was near impossible to match... So the art is printed on vinyl adhesive paper and left aside for a while..

So now the area that the decal will be applied needs to be sealed and raised to the playfield "artwork + clearcoat" level. By doing that, the decal can be added to that level and BE level with the MYLAR... so that the additional mylar I will apply to protect the decal, and to keep the bottom of the "V" flat will be one level.. Hard to follow

The aim is to have the entire area LEVEL, by raising the non mylared areas, adding the decal and then applying the new mylar..

So first the area is prepared with a light sand and then the surrounding area masked and covered.





Thin coat first
Wait 4 hours
Thick coat
Wait 4 hours
Sand with 800 grit
Thick coat
Wait 4 hours
Sand with 800 grit
Thin Coat
Wait 4 hours
Sand with 800 grit

Test for level with the mylar - and it is JUST under.. Perfect height. Now with the application of the decal, it will be level..

Remove the paper and test the section with a "mock run" of the decal installation.. The decal has to be trimmed to "butt up" against the mylar "V"..Note the "V" is "dead centre" between the flippers, but the artwork is not. So the Decal has to be trimmed ! I did this by tracing the "V" area on the playfield and transposing that onto the decal in "reverse" - ie the underside. I trimmed the decal so that it "meets" the "V" and it does !

Further trimming is required, with a straight metal ruler and an exacto knife.





After COUNTLESS hours working on this decal, I had to remove the backing and line up the four corners - with those lines in the artwork - and I had once attempt. It took 30 minutes of procrastinating, and it was all over in 15 seconds.. It was either going to fit, or I was going back to the printer

Here it is - installed ;





Keep in mind that with the flash on the camera going off - if "changes" the color slightly - so it might not look that great, but it looks better in real life !

This was the most time consuming and difficult process of the restore.