Edging cab decals

[Pajo]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be putting on my TZ cab decals soon after more than 40 hours of prep work! I've read a lot about dry versus wet method so don't want to get into that discussion here but there doesn't seem to be much out there on how people finish their edges which seems to me to be a vital part of the process.

I found this article from Treasure Cove http://www.treasure-cove.net/DecalTips.htm
but it doesn't cover the trimming in a lot of detail but is great on the finishing. I would love to hear from how people do their decal edges, what works and what doesn't.

Thanks

[MartyJ]

Hey Pajo.  With that much prep work, they should come up a treat!

Trimming is very important.  I think the pro's like HEP & TC keep those secrets pretty tight.  I did a search a while back on RGP and there was mention of a 'special tool' but I could never find out what it is.

[madness]

Small stanley knife with a new blade,angled at 90 degrees.Start the cut and do not stop untill your at the end or it will tear up .
When finished with that cut wipe the blade with metho(glue residue from the decals sticks to it when cutting,so if you wipe the blade over with metho you will achieve a nice clean cut everytime)
Works atreat for me.

[qwertyuiop]

Hey Pajo,  I've just attempted my first re decal last weekend,  and it really wasn't as bad as what i thought it would be.
After the decals were applied and the edges trimmed, all I did was apply a very thin line of gloss acrylic paint (the same colour as the decals) with a thin brush, and after a couple of hours simply just wipe the edges down with a damp soft sponge.  This helped to give the cut edges of the decals a bit more of a 'seamless' look.

Hope this helps. 
Scott.

[Pajo]

Thanks for your replies.

Scott I was planning on using the same gloss paint pen that Treasure Cove use so what you say makes sense to me.  Did you use masking tape when you painted or did you do it free hand?

[qwertyuiop]

I did it freehand,  a bit of paint did get onto the decal but it came off pretty easily with the damp sponge.   I wanted to fill the area in between the decals to hide the joins,  yours should be pretty easy being black,   mine was a prick to match the colour -- Funhouse Blue.

[Caveoftreasures]

i have seen a professional do decalling quite a few times and what he simply does is to paint all edges of the machine black BEFORE he puts the decals on.
That way, when he uses a scalpal after the decals are done, and he trims the edges using a large metal straight edge, the black finished edge just appears from underneath.

If anything needs a touchup, he uses a very large black permanent marker (texta) which has a very large square head.

The trick is to do the black edge work BEFORE you apply the decals. Hope it helps.

[johnwartjr]

I'm getting ready to do my Scared Stiff, wonder what I can do for it since the edges aren't black...

[Caveoftreasures]

yeh, good point john. not every pin would look good with a black edge.
It doesnt mean the edges cant be sprayed white or whatever colour anyone wants really. choose any colour that suits.

i have seen popeye, fishtales, indianna jones, twilight zone, getaway, plus several others, and the edges were always a very small edge of black.

I havent seen any other edging ever done different to black except blue when marty did a real nice blue spray job on his resto.

white for scared stiff maybe. what ya reckon.

[qwertyuiop]

It really depends on how fussy you are about the appearance of your pinballs.   As for me having a black black edge on a blue funhouse cabinet would look shit house .I sprayed the whole cabinet blue, not just the corners for my funhouse, . 

I've seen people apply new decals over the bare wood than just run a black texta across the edges,  it all really just depends again on how fussy you are.