To continue the Playboy pinball thread about clearcoating, Sylvain wrote:

Ian,

Wow, nice work, congrats !

Please let us know if you would consider doing similar quality retouching (and maybe clearcoating)
for some of our playfields in the future... if you are interested, when you get spare time, of course.
(incidentally, do you use acrylic paint ?)
I am sure there will be a demand (I have a few PF for sure needing that service).

Just make sure that you quote an upfront fair price for both yourself and the PF owner,
so that you do not get low-balled like your mame building 'bad' earlier experience...
(but price hopefully still competitive compared to the well-known US playfield restorers).

Please post or PM. I am interested in this type of service.
(heck, I would even fix a machine/boards for you +/-$ as a trade if wanted).

Thanks and Cheers !
- Sylvain in Ottawa.

Sure, I am considering it, but this time, it would be easy... no playfield in hand and no cash, no work done. Yes, I use acrylics but I am by no means a pro like Bill Davis or any of the others redoing playfields these days. I can do some decent touch-ups, but I want to do a couple of playfields for myself first before actively doing complete jobs.

And as for cost, it all depends on what there is to do. A clearcoat job on a standard sized stripped playfield is not that much work. On a populated playfield (well, under anyways), it is much more cumbersome. Add the widebody factor and a multi-level factor and it can add up a bit.

But the budget-killer is touch-ups. The Mars God of War playfield I did for BZM was easy color-wise as most of it was black, but there was a lot to do, as most of the top part was flaking off bad, and I retouched all the white that is generally under plastics. That took me about 8 hours of work on and off. That included light sanding, thorough cleaning and touch-ups. Playboy had less wear, but it involved lots of extensive graphics and color matches. I have about 14 hours of work on it, on and off.

And as for insert graphics, I am still at a newbie stage with Photoshop and I don't know if I will be ready for a recent pin soon, but I can do my best for now.

So the key to having your playfield done is to send me a crapload of pics, and details on exactly what you want and don't want fixed.

And as for my testing phase, as stated I am working on 3 playfields right now (an Alien Poker on which I am struggling to get the mylar off, a Meteor, a very rough donor from Azatotht, and an old Evel Knievel which should end up near mint when done and will be sold probably on Ebay with an insane-cheapie reserve (something stupid like 75$ to start) unless someone on MAACA wants to buy it). If I am satisfied with the results, then I will do others, with no deadlines (it is ready when it is ready...).

If interested, email me with pictures of what you got, and I will be able to tell you if I can do it, or if it is way out of my league.

Wow... there seems to be a big interest on the clearcoat business. 7 people already have inquired. Looks like I will be doing some if I like my test results. I will post pics of the results anyways, and you can be the judge.

And as for the Evel Knievel playfield, TwilightZone has shown interest in acquiring it once done, so he has first dibs.

Ian,

I'm not surprised with the interest in Clearcoating.

It enhances a PF in many ways.

I was just curious though, for a straight-forward
unpopulated PF clear job, (no touch-ups, just clear ),
how much do you think you would charge ?
(..I'm just looking for a ballpark price, ...nohting I'd commit you to !  

LMK,

Thanks,
Steph

I must have missed some stuff here....

Sparky, you have an Evel Knievel playfield????

One thing most people miss when doing a cc playfield,glue all the inserts because if they move after it's done you will have a hard time fixing it.

Quoted from Steph

Ian,

I'm not surprised with the interest in Clearcoating.

It enhances a PF in many ways.

I was just curious though, for a straight-forward
unpopulated PF clear job, (no touch-ups, just clear ),
how much do you think you would charge ?
(..I'm just looking for a ballpark price, ...nohting I'd commit you to !  

LMK,

Thanks,
Steph

Somewhere around 80$ if it is a standard pf, a bit more for a multi-level. Depends on the cost of the clear.

Quoted from Bally Boy

I must have missed some stuff here....

Sparky, you have an Evel Knievel playfield????

Yes I do... you see the top part of it in the Playboy restauration thread in the Projects section. It barely has any wear... just really dirty. I also have a Meteor playfield and 2 Alien Poker playfields I could do.

Quoted from poolman

One thing most people miss when doing a cc playfield,glue all the inserts because if they move after it's done you will have a hard time fixing it.

That is CRITICAL. If I get a playfield and that is not done, I have to do it, no exceptions. I did it on the Playboy playfield and it is a good thing too because many had sunk in or were even popping out to the slightest touch. Any inserts which are sunken in will look bad once cleared.

Besides, most sunken-in inserts have wear on the playfield around them, so they need to be leveled and glued before being touched up. A cleaning with q-tips and glass cleaner never hurt either!   I have only bought 1 pin in the past on which the inserts were cleaned. Often a neglected area.

HOLY CRAP! Seems now everyone wants an EK playfield! !!! Looks like I will be looking for old and busted playfields here and there from now on...  

Ian, I applaud this initiative and I understand the good intentions here, but unless you want to do this out of the goodness of your heart forever, I'd suggest charging a higher price and making it more worth your while. Your time is important and a service like this is in high demand. $80 is a generous price, imho, and I don't think you're looking to do this out of generosity. I'm not suggesting that you should gouge everyone, but I think your time is worth more than that. The clear alone would cost you at least half that much per playfield, I would think.

Know what I'm sayin'?

My meager two cents.

Corey

I started to work on my stern ali project cabinet is done , now is the playfield that have major wear a lot worst than the kiss playfield I have seen post around I will try to get a digital camera and take piccs I hope my job will look good I would welcome any advice to do this job ! It is so beat up that it is imposible to ask anibody to do it ( $$$$ involved would be a lot more than the pin value ) good luck in your new area sparky . If I had $$ I would ask you to do it

Bill davis started out charging $100 per playfield....

for fellow maaca'ers, you should be charging at least $400 & up.

you'll sleep easier at night.