Quoted from cooke

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 hear ya, but like I said, since I am still in the testing phase, it is not the right time to give a concrete price. What could happen is a cost for the job + materials if few concrete jobs come in. Plus, keep in mind that a simple clear job involves a bit of sanding and the equipment to do it, which I have. Technically, the more orders I get, the less it would cost for the job, as I can buy the clear by the gallon and not by the small can.

And on top of that, like I stated, I will not deal with shipping. That is a HUGE hassle. So I don't have to go to the post office or parcel service to pick it up, then do the work, then pack it again nice (since most send it in crappy packaging), then drive back to the shipper to send it out. That takes time.

And since there is a small network going on through MAACA meetings and such, there is little need for locals to ship. They can drop it off or pass it on to someone that will eventually see me. So by eliminating the logistics, the cost is lowered.

And then there is the professionnal aspect. I am not Bill Davis. I can do DECENT touch-ups, not invisible ones. I don't have an airbrush (yet) so I use a good old brush and lots of patience to fill in solids. What you would end up with is a nice playfield with an excellent clearcoat job on it. I can't guarantee the work, as it is possible to hit snags (like Playfield Renovations who had to redo a ton of System 11 playfields as the clear hazed on the inserts for some reason).  

Will it be 80$? ... 100$? ... 50$?  Time will tell. When I make it official, THEN I will confirm a price for a simple clearcoat job. And as for making money for my time, the expensive jobs will be touch-ups... that takes time. Clearcoats time-wise are easy... I could do 5-6 in one evening.

IMO clearcoating add good value to old 80's playfield and no more wear for the 25 years old, dry and often tiny cracked paint. Without clearcoating old 80's playfield wear very fast. With nice touch up and clearcoating they look better then they were new. I have 2 clearcoating project in my hand and i plan to make the rest of my pins this way no doubt about it. I strongly recommand clearcoating if you have this kind of 25 years old pins !!!

OK... I have clearcoated Playboy and Mars God of War.

Results:

Playboy is very nice. Some touchups show a bit but nothing a non-die-hard-collector would complain about. Smooth as a baby's butt. Nice shine to it.

Mars God of War...... O      M     G!!!!  THIs one REALLY came out awesome! The playfield REALLY has come back to life! This hing was BADLY flaking all over uptop, and the black all over the place was not as deep as it could be. But the clear on this one with 4 coats of DuPont looks like a mirror!!! The black is REAL DEEP black. This playfield looks BETTER than new! It did flake a tiny bit between my touchups and clearcoat, but barely noticeable. With this playfield in his game, BZM will freak!

So I learned a lot with these two playfields... on to more tests!

OK... here is the next test... Evel Knievel! This one will be quite a challenge. Most of the art is intact and actually very nice. The challenge lies in the ultra-bad chemical stains on the top part of the playfield. Someone dropped a highly reactive product on the playfirld at one time and it literally ate the finish on the playfield, and stained deeply the wood. I have included pics. I started scrubbing it a bit with a Magic Eraser and contrarily to Playboy, the grime came off like nothing... and so did some art. The paint is very old and dried. This thing is begging for a clearcoat...

So after a decent scrubbing, I started sanding the top part of the playfield... I am as low as 150-grit with my Mouse sander and it is much better, but still stained. I mihgt have to paint some grain over it. Should be fun.

So as you can see, this playfield will need a lot of work, but if I can make it nice and find an insert for it which is missing, I will then proceed with clears.

This being said... if anyone has a playfield on which they really want a clearcoat and are willing to give me a playfield, let me know. Send me pics by email and I can give you a quote for a complete job, or merely a clearcoat. Email me at sparky@maaca.net  .

Here are the pics...

And post-scrubbing and some detail from up-top...

Quoted from Sparky

This being said... if anyone has a playfield on which they really want a clearcoat and are willing to give me a playfield, let me know.

Factory Fresh LOTR PF   (... still crated )

Are you up for it ?  

Check you PMs

Steph

Quoted from Steph

Factory Fresh LOTR PF   (... still crated )

Are you up for it ?  

Check you PMs

Steph

Why not... this would be a test for me as well on a newer playfield, but I firmly doubt there would be a problem.

Well, so far so good for the EK test, but I am learning that some jobs are longer than expected, so I will have to keep an eye out for that later on.

I have so far sanded and bleached (!!!) the playfield for a total of 4 hours. Remenber the top of the playfield which was blackened by a chemical stain? Well, I removed as much as I could with light sanding, applying bleach and rubbing down, then sanding more. I have decided to retouch the top area with paint. I found a color match which should match the wood once clearcoated. I will just sand it very lightly to match the texture a bit.

I also did a color-match test on the lower part of the playfield. I retouched the entire area in front and around the left slingshot to give a contrast of the difference. This only took me 45 minutes in total with the color match of the wood. I haven't painted the black lines yet, but I like what I see. Once this one is done, I am opening for business.

I may not be able to bring Evel back from the dead, but at least I can bring back one of his dead playfields!!!  

OK guys... here is the situation. The EK playfield is taking a long time to retouch as it needs a TOTAL repaint... and I need to test clearcoat techniques PRONTO. So here goes...

The EK playfield will only get a partial paint job, unless someone REALLY wants a pristine playfield. I am using this one as a guinea-pig, so it won't be perfect unfortunately... I am practicing techniques. Once done, as I stated, Twilight Zone gets first dibs, and then Tuborg if Duane turns it down. I don't have time to make it super nice due to me wanting to get this thing off the ground.

And here is another offer... if you have a junk playfield that you don't care about, contact me, and I will clearcoat it for dirt cheap if you want it on your wall. Offer goes to the first 3 that give me a concrete YES.

This being said, Steph, your LOTR playfield, since it is a test, I will do it for 50$ only...

... and again, if any of you have a playfield you want to have retouched and/or clearcoated, and would like a quote, send me a request by email at sparky@maaca.net with pictures, and I will try to give you an estimate. Please be clear on what you are looking for (pristine condition or simply make the play-area nice (and not touching up anything covered by hardware and plastics).

Clearcoat alone will be 100$ flat. This will include a light sanding, cleaning of any residue, and clearcoat. Any touch-ups, playfield component dissassembly, insert levelling, wood fix and mylar removal will be extra.

I rather not use any shipping due to the sheer trouble and cost of it... that is where the MAACA network may come in! The advantage of this? ...

YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMOVE EVERYTHING FROM UNDER THE PLAYFIELD, AS LONG AS EVERYTHING ON TOP IS OFF!!! Since shipping is not used, thus weight is not a factor, leave everything under the playfield, as long as nothing sticks out from the top. I use foam plugs to cover all light sockets and components. You can build a small rack out of 2x4s like I did for Playboy to help support the playfield and keep it level, or I can build one for you for 10$... this will also protect anything under the playfield from getting snagged.

Clearcoat will be a very good quality automotive clear such as PPG. Minimum 3 coats.

If anyone wants in, PM me and email me the pics... I can get your PMs from work, but estimates will be done from home.


Sparky

Quoted from Sparky

This being said, Steph, your LOTR playfield, since it is a test, I will do it for 50$ only...

Sounds good.

I've got a trip planned to Mtl at the end of August.

I'm thinking of bringing it then.

Thanks,
Steph