Some of you may have seen all this before, so i hope im not boring you. But it all got lost when Invent Forum went down, so i thought id post it again. That way it will be here for good and i hope a help for anyone attempting this kind of work. All "tools"in this thread i make myself and if anyone needs help with a restore then email me and i can supply what you may require.
The original thread turned out to be HUGE, so ive edited it a bit and ill do it in stages.
Game in question is a Stern Wild Fyre in very poor shape. Normally this kind of damage would see a machine like this be scrapped out. But i hate to see that with anything, and with a bit of effort and time a dead machine can be brought to new again.
Nothing on this machine is pleasant to look at, so im starting at the apron and working my way through it.
Apron looked like this when i got it
Most of the artwork has been rubbed off, so its removed, sanded back to smooth, primed and sprayed with white for my base. Ive made files with Correl Draw and will cut template vinyl to reapply most of the artwork. Some of the lettering on these aprons is too small to work properly so ive left off the "ILLINOIS"text etc.
But templates are applied
This gives me the red on the apron
Once dry - process is repeated for the blue till finished product looks like this
The same was done with the shooter gauge. Then both were clear coated so next time it gets cleaned with meths or whatever, we dont lose the artwork.
PLAYFIELD
Well this was just peeling away in many parts. A lot of work required on this. But this kind of damage was everywhere on it
Doesnt look too bad??? It does when you rub it back to a point where the paint is actually still sticking to the PF
As you can see, this expands our problem further, but this is essential to do so you have a solid PF after you have done all your work.
First job is the prime the bare wood. Paint hates bare wood and will lift over time, so it must be primed first. Doesnt have to be thick, in fact you can thin the primer down so it soaks into the PF better. We only want to prime the areas we are painting and so templates are made - this time by hand. Vinyl im using is a low tac clear available from sign suppliers for approx $50 for 50M.
Vinyl is laid over the PF and i carefully cut around the bare parts. Ive highlighted these with a texter so its more obvious in the pictures. be careful to do this gently, you dont want to cut into the wood itself.
This is then sprayed with the primer
Vinyl is removed and she looks like this
Vinyl is applied once again, but this time im going to be spraying the orange colour. Paints im using are Pantone soft Enamels. These can be matched with a Pantone colour chart to the nearest match and then tweeked from there. Firstly, i apply a very thin coat and allow to dry.
Now the reason i do this is because this coat will show up any digs in the pF that will need filling. Paint shows defects not covers them and this can be used to my advantage.
Builders bog is applied - hard wearing and fast drying. Here its already been rubbed back to smooth. I also take this opportunity to lightly sand the whole PF - any paint will stick better
Once again, vinyl is applied and my top coats are sprayed on.
Now matching colours exactly is quite hard sometimes, so we have a choice here. We can replace the whole section which is possible if there are no other graphics on it, or we can spray where needed and fade out to the existing paint. Ive done the latter method on the orange. good application on the bald spots and light on overspray. This way any slight deviations in colour are not noticeable.
You can see here where ive overlapped onto the black detail in the orange. This can be replaced later with a fine brush. Also any lettering that is still in good condition is sprayed lightly and wiped back with a cotton bud.
Areas of bleed can be cleaned up with a cotton bud. Just dip into turps and flatten with your fingers. this gets rid of excess fluid and gives a fine tip to work with. Flip the bud over and you have a drying tip also
..Coming next - More colour application, the dreaded black lines and clear coating to protect your work
