Gottlieb Buccaneer Restoration

[Steve2010]

When I see this level of attention, no question you have gone after the extra mile.  These parts of the restore, I suspect, are those areas which some of us would say "good enough, she'll be right, leave it as is".  Very commendable level of thoroughness Nino!

[oldpins]

Many hours of work there ! Excellent work ! 

[goodolddays]

Thnaks for the update Nino . I am just so lazy with my work compared to you 

[elkor-alish]

I'm not a big fan of EM's but I love reading your restoration threads.
The skill, and attention to detail you display is amazing.
Almost makes me want to buy one

Awesome work.

[Strangeways]

I'm not a big fan of EM's but I love reading your restoration threads.
The skill, and attention to detail you display is amazing.
Almost makes me want to buy one

Awesome work.

Thanks - I appreciate your kind words.

 I love documenting the restores and sharing the knowledge. Like others that document restores, the passion is "spreading the news" - and even if ONE person (like yourself) sees one of the restores that we do and buys a machine to "have a go", then my job is done. It is all worthwhile.

Thanks to all for the kind words. I appreciate them and it makes me want to do a couple more hours every day !

[ktm450]

That is awesome mate 

[Strangeways]

More painting. Although my airbrushing skills have gone from ZERO to OK - I still need to work on color matching. I still have "no idea" and I spend most of my time experimenting. I heard that acrylics dry darker - well that does not seem to be true for me !

Here's an EASY part - the whire area that is not really seen, located at the top right hand corner. The paint was falling off, so I primed the area, sanded and created a mask from a cut of "frisket". I mask the area off and paint the white color with the airbrush. Took 2 minutes !








Don't worry about the black lines, I'll cover them later.





The left hand passive bumper - there was a huge chunk missing, so I primed the area, sanded the old paint back for adhesion, applied the mask and some frisket for the unpainted areas and it now looks like this ;





OK - it is a little too light and Blue than Green. This will come with experience with the paints. I think it is the right color, but  it has not got that "worn" look. That's ok - better than it was before and I'm happy with it.


Close-Up - Really nice color and coverage. Not bad ! I'm pleased with the practice and "understanding" the airbrush and paints. Back to basics with color matching.





Lesson number 2 - Do lighter colors first. So I picked RED - Duh ! In this area, I need to paint the red, and red looks easy to match, but I found it difficult. This is the in-lane / out-lane on the right hand side.


Prior to masking, I primed the area and sanded the sections I want to paint, then cleaned with Metho. Mask the area with frisket and use a scalpul to cut the section out where I want the red to be painted. Mask the surrounding area.





No need to apply too much paint, just an even coverage. A light mist, then work the paint in evenly.





OK - the bottom section of the RED meets with the wooden lshooter lane guide. The reds don't meet, so you can't tell it has been painted. Just under the writing "when lit" you will see where the new paint meets the old. The camera makes it looks easy to spot. That's something that will improve over time, either by correct color matching or fancy cutting around the lettering.





I'm REALLY plesed so far. I know my limitations right now, and I'm going to keep the learning curve going. Comments by the gurus on improvement are welcomed and appreciated.


Looking much better !





Results are SLOW, but rewarding !

[Retropin]

What you can do is where the red meets the old and has a straight line is to sand this back very gently with some fine sandpaper... dont d it wet unless you can guarantee that you can keep it 100% contained. Reason is that the run off will leach into any open timber and then you have the task of pulling it out of the wood as it will tint it.

If you lightly sand that line, it takes the new paint back slightly and will "feather" the two paints together.

You can lessen this task by pulling up on the brush and create a greater distance between rush and PF as you near this line.. means you have a thinner paint here and so a lesser line.

The blue/green will match better when protective coat is down.. chances are on this that it has turned greenish over time as the linseed yellows..wouldnt surprise me if you didnt have a good match for the factory colour

[Mr Pinbologist]

Looking really good so far Nino, you're doing well  

One little trick i sometimes use when i want to blend new paint into original colour is to lift the masking along the edge of where the new paint will meet the old paint. So instead of sticking the masking hard down which would leave a line, i just leave the masking tape, contact or whatever im using, lifted and curled back slightly a few millimetres. This will allow the paint to slightly blow under and feather in with the old paint and not leave a noticeable line. I used a similar trick to this on my KISS pf for the white in the centre around the bonus inserts, (first time i tried it on a pf)  

i hope that makes sense   i hate trying to describe how i do things.. especially when im tired  

[Strangeways]

Thanks for the words of encouragement and advise, guys !

So now I'm moving onto the yellow and experimenting with BLACK lines. These look hard to do, and they make a huge difference if they are missing. Givin advised me to order 6mm hobby tape, and I found a cheap place in China that has them, but shipping was expensive. Anyway, time to improve the yellow area.

Here's a picture of what I need to paint and the fine hobby tape - which works REALLY bloody well !





This stuff is SO EASY to work with ! So I have a straight line and a bent line. No problems. I mask off the area with the tape.





Mask off the area properly. Prepare the paint - the YELLOW is almost a perfect match. Spray the yellow section - a "mist" coat first, then two thicker coats.





Remove the tape after 5 minutes and viola !





Now I prepared the upper section near the spot target in the update before this. It is painted white but has no BLACK lines. So I need to do this in sections (as per one of Gav's tutorials). It is quite easy, once you get the hang of it. So I'll do THREE lines first. I used the 6mm tape, then blue low tack 3M tape , and finally masking tape.





Shoot the BLACK paint from the airbrush ;





Now you can see the original line, and my new lines. I still have to finish off when it has dried.





In the final picture on this update, Ive painted the YELLOW arrow. I simply used the frisket, cut out the arrow with the scapul and painted. Simple !





 

[Mr Pinbologist]

NICE JOB with the yellow Nino, colour match looks perfect to me 

What paints are you using? and where did you buy it?

[Strangeways]

NICE JOB with the yellow Nino, colour match looks perfect to me 

What paints are you using? and where did you buy it?

Timbo recommended "Jo Sonja" brand. I know why - It is so easy to use and there are many colors to choose from. I originally bought the paints from www.artstore.com.au, but bunnings also stock them. I bought a 250ml Black, White and Flow Medium and mixed 50/50 - until it reaches the consistency of milk. Simply awesome advice from Tim in this area 

[Steve2010]

Beautiful work Nino - getting the colours to match must be challenging, especially hoping after it dries it hasn't changed to a slightly different colour. 

[Mr Pinbologist]

Thanks Nino, might have to give them a try next time im doing a pf resto!  

I always enjoy this part of a pf resto, spraying/airbrushing on the new paint, and removing the masking and seeing the results of the hard work starting to come together!! And its just as good to me, seeing other peoples pf resto efforts as it is my own.. its always inspiring to me! makes me want to start on the next game!!

[ktm450]

Great results Nino, great to how (reasonably) easy it is to do