Stern Thincoat - Dimples & Craters

[Brunswick Brawler]

To those luckily enough to be able to get to Timezone: Did you notice if the playfield clear coast is thicker and shiner than previous pins?

[DSB]

To those luckily enough to be able to get to Timezone: Did you notice if the playfield clear coast is thicker and shiner than previous pins?

To me it was super shiny but hard to tell if it was thicker. I could see some in lane ball tracks so it has already had plenty of play and still looks good. It probably needs another week or so of balls shooting out of Gene's mouth to see how it holds up.

[GORGAR 1]

To those luckily enough to be able to get to Timezone: Did you notice if the playfield clear coast is thicker and shiner than previous pins?

To me it was super shiny but hard to tell if it was thicker. I could see some in lane ball tracks so it has already had plenty of play and still looks good. It probably needs another week or so of balls shooting out of Gene's mouth to see how it holds up.

It will be interesting to see how the ball drop(genes mouth)holds up over time :) hopefully there's a massive piece of Mylar.

[Strangeways]

To those luckily enough to be able to get to Timezone: Did you notice if the playfield clear coast is thicker and shiner than previous pins?

To me it was super shiny but hard to tell if it was thicker. I could see some in lane ball tracks so it has already had plenty of play and still looks good. It probably needs another week or so of balls shooting out of Gene's mouth to see how it holds up.

It will be interesting to see how the ball drop(genes mouth)holds up over time :) hopefully there's a massive piece of Mylar.

We don't really know exactly how this is going to work - so maybe the LE head drops and then drops / spits out the ball ?

If the playfield is anything like TWD LE, then it will have craters after one game. So there needs to be a thicker clear or mylar for sure.

[GORGAR 1]

To those luckily enough to be able to get to Timezone: Did you notice if the playfield clear coast is thicker and shiner than previous pins?

To me it was super shiny but hard to tell if it was thicker. I could see some in lane ball tracks so it has already had plenty of play and still looks good. It probably needs another week or so of balls shooting out of Gene's mouth to see how it holds up.

It will be interesting to see how the ball drop(genes mouth)holds up over time :) hopefully there's a massive piece of Mylar.

We don't really know exactly how this is going to work - so maybe the LE head drops and then drops / spits out the ball ?

If the playfield is anything like TWD LE, then it will have craters after one game. So there needs to be a thicker clear or mylar for sure.

Yeah true hopefully it tilts downs and balls roll off his tongue :) geez I'm excited :)

[Caveoftreasures]

Machine is awesome.
Clearcoat is just like previous recent releases, super shiny and thick.
Sterns playfields are now rock hard and shiny as shiny can be.

I think the Playfield clearcoats were made better 3 or 5 models ago.

The game with later code will be unreal cause it's excellent now.
John Borg designs work so well. Playfield colours and plastics are fantastic.

Nino will be very happy. Happy to call it now ! Excellent.

[Strangeways]

Machine is awesome.
Clearcoat is just like previous recent releases, super shiny and thick.
Sterns playfields are now rock hard and shiny as shiny can be.

I think the Playfield clearcoats were made better 3 or 5 models ago.

The game with later code will be unreal cause it's excellent now.
John Borg designs work so well. Playfield colours and plastics are fantastic.

Nino will be very happy. Happy to call it now ! Excellent.

This is a problem for me as TWD LE is wafer thin and has more divots than a teenagers face after 100 games. I REALLY hope is better - otherwise I'll just buy a second playfield and have it cleared by Tim and Stu.

[Caveoftreasures]

Could you share the dimples with some photos.

Every Playfield new has dimples on them because of the wood. I have not seen a playfield without dimples.
The clear fills in all the natural wood dimples and the clear stays undamaged unless the balls aren't right.

I have never seen a Stern machine or a Sega playfield (games dating back to 1997 to 1999 etc) with any damage done to the clear even after some games have been sited and played a lot. After cleaning and polishing plus waxing the playfields , they are as good as the day they were built, shined up and going strong.

You just never hear of anyone with a Stern playfield that has damage down to the colour or ink or wood.
I think the Stern clearcoat being "too thin" from factory is just a bit of a myth.

If you pay to have a new playfield cleared for $1,000, then perhaps people think that is thick, but it doesn't mean in my opinion there is any technical issue with Sterns factory clearcoats. If there was, we would be seeing damage and photos regularly. We never see it. If all playfields have tiny dimples in the wood, I am not sure how that relates to clearcoat. None of my Sterns have any issues after playing them.

I had my ACDC Pro sited at a special event one day with apx 300 games at 3 balls played on it and the clearcoat is still shiny and immaculate and undamaged.
I can't see the KISS Pinny being any different.

[robm]

Brett, really difficult to photograph but i know exactly what Nino is referring to. Here is a spiderman i tried to take a pic of, although it didn't show it very well.



This has original code and was bought nib and has been in an office since purchased. It has 768 games on the audits. When looking you can see dimples all over it. My acdc that is huo and only had a similar number of games is exactly the same

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Stern playfield s dimple
End of story

[pinnies4me]

Stern does nothing wrong BS - *every* playfield that is made of *wood* (and that includes virtually every playfield) dimples from ball drops. QED. Bally, Williams, Capcom, and yes, Stern.

Perhaps not visible through rose coloured glasses, but they all dimple. All my WMS games have simples, even my BBB has some.

Strangeways has a WD full of dimples. I doubt he is making it up.

But what I notices a lot was that the WMS and Capcom games from the 1990's seem to hold up generally well, and better than a lot of Stern games I looked at recently out of box on site at the local Timezone where I go to play their latest games. I suspect that it is as much to do with where the ply is/was sourced as the clear.

But from first hand experience of having playfields clearcoated by experts like Tim & Stu, the Pinball Magic which has the sh!t played out of it by my mate who has it, has an amazingly low amount of dimpling. No it's not proof, but at least reasonable empirical evidence that clear coating by an expert compared to Stern churn 'em out thincoat holds up better.

[andypinboy]

Brett, really difficult to photograph but i know exactly what Nino is referring to. Here is a spiderman i tried to take a pic of, although it didn't show it very well.



This has original code and was bought nib and has been in an office since purchased. It has 768 games on the audits. When looking you can see dimples all over it. My acdc that is huo and only had a similar number of games is exactly the same

Hard to show in a pic but this does do a pretty good job. Talking about the playfield is NOT Stern bashing - it's customers wondering why a $8k to $11.5k new pin really needs its playfield re-coated if it's going to stand up well to use. If buyers don't talk about it Stern will never even think about addressing it. I had hoped Kiss was different as early pics showed a nice, seemingly thick glossy clear. Anyway, really looking forward now to the reveal of the LE/Prem gameplay!

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Let's keep the KISS thread on track :) dimples has been done to death or start another thread.

Yes mum :p

[GORGAR 1]

Let's keep the KISS thread on track :) dimples has been done to death or start another thread.

Yes mum :p

Thanks son :)

[Strangeways]

Could you share the dimples with some photos.

Every Playfield new has dimples on them because of the wood. I have not seen a playfield without dimples.
The clear fills in all the natural wood dimples and the clear stays undamaged unless the balls aren't right.

I have never seen a Stern machine or a Sega playfield (games dating back to 1997 to 1999 etc) with any damage done to the clear even after some games have been sited and played a lot. After cleaning and polishing plus waxing the playfields , they are as good as the day they were built, shined up and going strong.

You just never hear of anyone with a Stern playfield that has damage down to the colour or ink or wood.
I think the Stern clearcoat being "too thin" from factory is just a bit of a myth.

If you pay to have a new playfield cleared for $1,000, then perhaps people think that is thick, but it doesn't mean in my opinion there is any technical issue with Sterns factory clearcoats. If there was, we would be seeing damage and photos regularly. We never see it. If all playfields have tiny dimples in the wood, I am not sure how that relates to clearcoat. None of my Sterns have any issues after playing them.

I had my ACDC Pro sited at a special event one day with apx 300 games at 3 balls played on it and the clearcoat is still shiny and immaculate and undamaged.
I can't see the KISS Pinny being any different.

Not dimples. Playfield was like a mirror prior to first games with Greg, Marty and myself. Playfield looked great. No issues prior to first game.

I can take as many photos as you need. It looks like the surface of the moon. When I told Greg that I could not play the game as it has divots in the clear, his replay was "That's NORMAL for a Stern clearcoat". I have not checked his other Sterns, but EVERY single person that has seen his TWD LE has seen the ball imprints. Greg bought NEW playfields with his NIB Sterns. In fact, Tim and Stu have his Ironman playfield for clearing for exactly the same reason. He was in the process of ordering a second playfield for TWD LE. In summary, Greg was a Stern collector that accepted that the factory thin playfield clears Stern provide "are what they are", and he simply ordered a second playfield to be cleared properly.

I restored a Fathom 4 years ago. Professionally cleared. Not one single divot. Not one chip near any of the many target holes. Looks like it was cleared yesterday. The game is played every day.

If you want me to post pictures, don't complain that it is another "stern bashing thread" - because the clear is a problem. A know problem with astute Stern collectors that they simply accept. I changed my way of thinking. This is the way Stern present their games. If we all complain, they might do something about it. That's why I assumed the KISS playfield had a thicker clear. It looks much better than the two NIB's we have done recently.