Repainting a Trashed Pinball Playfield By Hand! - Did We Ruin It????? 

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Great job. I love watching you restore and rescue these old machines. Need to make a trip to your shop soon.

I think you've done a fantastic job. I don't think people actually realise the amount of time and effort goes into these machines 👍

Nice Work Joe, don't sweat the haters! I really enjoy watching your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

It looks beautiful. You made it work with a reasonable budget. Not ruined at all.

I thought the ol' pinny came up a treat,If I was the owner coming in to pick it up I'd be chuffed. Thumbs up mate!!

Don’t beat yourself up. That playfield looks awesome! You did an amazing job on it!

That looks like a really fun table to play. The "spinner" in the middle is something I haven't seen before. And it plays fast! Great job with the restoration.

Having painted a bathroom (all one color), I am in awe that you managed to do that without masking tape

Soo much better then it was. Great job. As someone that worked in an arcade in the late '80s/early '90s to me you did a perfect job. Get it to be presentable and playable without putting 'too much' time and money into the unit. Spend way to much money on the last 5 to 15% to get it perfect only to be dinged up in the next few months by customers (wear and tear). Perfect shape now to go into an arcade and get the heck played out of it.

I enjoy the HELL out of these videos. Please keep doing it. I love watching the old mechanical pinball machines and the jukeboxes work and get fixed. I love the problem solving. :D

Greens and blues are the hardest colors to match because our eyes can see more shades of green and blue then any other color. Starting with a good white primer is key to keep the color from changing from the oils in the wood too.

Love the sounds of an EM pin! After ball drains, and it starts calculating score. Awesome job!

I love pinball! I am subscribed because I like to see the different types of machines being repaired and your voice and presentation skills makes it great to watch a long video.

Thats the fastest EM that ive seen, its a cool game playwise too considering. Great job on the painting it looks excellent.

Looks great... Buuuuut! Just kidding. Nailed it. That smudge technique! Exactly what I need to do for my hurricane in one spot. Thx for that. Loved the long play vid! Watched start to finish!

Great video, I enjoyed the relaxing disassembly and painting with the music overlay. I think your paint looks nice, Especially the blue and purple and I bet in person the machines look used in a good way, like a cherished belonging with a history.

Leave it alone! That looks freakin awesome! I'm glad I found your channel. Makes me want to get a pinball machine.

looks great, and you definitely didn't ruin it. I'm a big fan of patina so I would have probably been happy with just clear coating what was left

I've learned so much watching your videos. Thank you for taking the time to film these.

You are an artist!

I really enjoy your videos, thank you for sharing!

hey ..love that music playing or the video when your taking of playfield parts...THAT JAMS!!!

Turned out amazing. Nicely done!

I think you did a fantastic job fixing it up, and it will bring joy to it's owner for years to come. And about the negative comments, forget them. You just keep doing you! Now I'm off to find a pinball game to play.

looks great! well done!

hey guys thanks for the video,a definate improvement ! well done ! enjoyed this refurb project ! :) x

I am truly impressed with how it turned out. :) It looks fanfreakingtastic! Great job! I hope the customer feels the same about it. :)

Looks Great!

Great video and it looks a lot better good job man!!

I hung out at a arcade/laundry mat when I was a teenager. The owners always found extra work for me to do and I once got to touch up a Bally Strikes and Spares pinball. It didn't look as good as your job here but... Thanks for the video.

This is real artistic dedication!! Nice work! 👍👍👍👍

Might be worth you looking into those paint pens that are becoming quite popular. They could make doing the black outlines so much easier; Especially the circles.

Yeah...Nah, looks fine... Unless you point out the difference in the orange, it's mostly hidden by the poppers and no punter is really going to notice...just put in the dark corner of the room 😊. Sure as the guy that fixed it your gonna notice any flaws you're not 100% happy with. I'd be more worried about that 'B'...Great sympathetic restoration Ron...you did good. Cheers!

every game saved from the scrap heap to entertain us again, is the most important thing. and maybe 20 years later this is a collector edition "'specal painted by Joe!'''

The end result is more than pretty decent when compared to the initial cosmetic status of that pinball. Kudos Ron !!

You did a really great job on this one considering what you started with. The owner will be impressed I am sure.

Another Job well done! happy to watch great vid again. It's as calming as a Bob Ross vid! you say you're not an artist but you sure have the blues! One remark on the magic eraser you use, i guess it's the same i frequently used, white sponge like blocks, they get the swirl off pretty good but i noticed they are somewhat too abrasive for some uses and dulled the shine. No, you definatly did not ruin it! so another one saved!

A fine Job to my untrained eye!! Good Work!

I'm old enough to remember playing electromechanical pinball machines. There was something about the sounds of the relays and scoreboard gearing that made them more fun. This looks to be one of the better ones. They were obviously not as complex as the more computerized ones that came later. Is there something you can coat the playfield with to protect it from wear? I seem to recall there was something a lot of people used for that in the old newsgroups, but I don't recall what it was.

GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hell ya... you did awsome,most people would have scraped this machine. I think its well worth saving. You film it! I`m probably going to watch it ....keeps me in the mood to fix mine hehe.Oh ya before i forget when you spray your clear what do you use to cover switch contacts and light sockets etc?

You did a great job!!!

It looks great way better then before

very very nice! My Hobby Lobby changed paint brand and they are $5+ per 2 ounce bottle. Should have stocked up when they were $.79...

Great job!

Don't sell yourself short, it looks so much better. The difference is night and day! Great job !

nice job.. "it's not horrible, buuuuuut " LOL just kidding , great work with what you had to work with. Had fun watching as usual =)

You did a good job on that upper pink target and I bet you spent an exorbitant amount of time recreating that “B ADVANCE BONUS” stencil work done, but out of sheer morbid curiosity, I wonder if you could have come close finding a letter “B” sticker at a hardware store or even the place where you bought all the paint? Also, I wonder if you could have printed out “ADVANCE BONUS” in the right font, weight and size on a sheet of clear photo or sticker paper and applied it directly to the playfield, then clear coated right over them to seal them up permanently? For that matter, you could theoretically replace all of the missing or damaged font work or scoring that way? Just my 2 cents, hope I don’t upset you, love your videos, keep up the great work!

Dont know if you were aware,but there is a channel on here who uses a lot of your machines in snapshot format for his videos..the unique carpet is the give away ! ;) x

Nice one

ya done a goood job there buddy , looks great :-)

Imho The difference in tone in the orange works because they're supposed to be spotlights and it looks like shadows in the beam of light. If you didn't know it was redone I don't think the average person would even notice, it looks like it was planned that way.

If you have decent images of missing artwork or lettering, or can make them from other places on the board where there is less damage, you can print them out (you will have to scale the image) and then using carbon paper, transfer the lines to the work surface.

A projector would be great for that. Take perfect artwork and project it down over the playfield. Then you could fill in the gaps. Expensive but fun idea

Looks great and seems to play well. I did notice that your "Spinner Scores 10's When Lit" is never lighting up though.

Pinball playfield looking good.

Great paint job. Not easy!

I meeeeeaan.... It's not horrrrrrrible. Good job.

The orange just looks like a shadow is being cast by the bumper so looks nature to me!

I’d say a damn amazing job on the painting.

Love your videos..can you show how you clear a playfield after touching up worn spots?

You are the Bob Ross of pinball 🐵

In the videos of yours that I have seen so far, I have heard you say your brothers first name, but I have not run across any that I have heard you mention your first name so far, I am sure you have in some, but what is it? I have been an electrician for over 30 years, and while I am familiar with relays and transformers and the like, I am not too deep in the electronics portion of things, like the chips that you work on. But watching how you troubleshoot them, you have made me see that perhaps it might not be so difficult after all, and has inspired me to dig a little deeper into learning about them. Thanks for sharing your videos, and giving the little nudge I needed to want to up my own repair abilities up a few notches!🙂

I owned this game back in 99' I bought it from a church that had it in their youth building. They had trouble finding someone to work on it ,so I offered 100.00 to take it off their hands.I took it back home and had it up and playing in about an hour . Its a fun action packed game and a definte must for any home game room

Good job on the medium blue color match. I honestly could not see where the new paint was.

JOES CLASSIC VIDEO GAME 1.) What kind of clear coat do you use? 2.) What kind of Wax do you use? I have noticed to use Acrylic Paint, any reasons why you use Acrylic? The Step sequences are use a Magic Maker Eraser on the playfield then use an Acrylic Paint, then use a Clear coat, then use a Wax?

Thanks for going over the painting process again. I need to do this for my Dealer's Choice. Just haven't pulled the trigger on it. I would have loved to see the customer's reaction to the work. Good work!

This upload was like watching paint dry :)

Has anyone started making something like a full-playing-field vinyl adhesive overlays? Adhesive issues aside, one could sand down the paint smooth, apply whole decal, then top coat with some kind of hard clear coat. Hard part is the digital artistry in capturing/recreating the original design for reproduction. And niche market too, but it would be sharp as a tack when coated and done. This just came to mind since I ordered a giant vinyl wall decal (>3'), so people are printing and cutting huge decals. Oh, and big props on painting straight lines with no masking! Wow!

I didn't play many pinball machines. But, I did play one at the bowling alley when I set pins for my grandmother 40 plus years ago. Well, besides the Atari pinball in the 80s at home. Wish I could remember what the machine was called. That one sounds familiar and looks similar. I vaguely remember the part from "Single, double, triple" and down looking the same. The rest looks different. That machine looks great.

...Just as a question: have you ever considered getting a vinyl-cutter to make lettering masks and such? Most of what you're doing is small stuff, so one of the desktop types that runs A-size sheets would probably work. I'm pretty sure they make vinyl with weak adhesive just for the purpose of being able to remove it without damaging anything afterward.

Awesome video man. Definitely B- I mean I have some font making experience, but the center bar is way too fat. Otherwise freakin awesome man. Your paint matching is soo cool. Another boss video!

I think you did a great job, especially on the center bonus ladder. Some of the world's greatest artists reshaped their brush with their mouth for finer details. Some say the lead and other chemicals in the paint made them crazy. That might just be a myth though. Take a gamble and some day your playfields might be hanging in the Louvre.

nice work.

When you said Magic Eraser, I flinched a bit... you must have rubbed very softly because those things can strip off things like stains and such I never thought would come off. But you weren’t trying to scrub it, just clean it

Man, you have a cool profession!

not sure if you are thinning your paints but it can make using a small brush like that much easier to manipulate and prevent as much overlap. either way big improvement!

I use a lot of craft paint, and I simply paint the top of the cap with the color then write the name onit to make it easier to find/compare.

Good job. Couldn't afford the shipping to the uk else Id be a customer

Looks great, you're too humble. 👍

The mylar coming off didn't do as much damage as I thought it wood. Good job overall on this machine, no doubt. Right, screw the haters-lol!

That has a lot of Star Pool layout with drop targets , pop bumpers and center spinner . I take my playfield to Home depot or lowes and have the colors match there machine , then buy quart of each color . The fluorescent type colors they can't do

Hey Joe, have you ever tried to print slide decals for stuff like the B ADVANCE BONUS area? That might work out good.

It looks good for sure! I see what you mean about the yellow. Also you can add black to make a color darker white to make it lighter without changing the color hue itself. Also red, blue makes purple. yellow, blue, makes green. Yellow, red makes orange. 3 primary colors are red, blue, yellow. Say you add red to blue to make purple. The color hue will leave blue go towards red and middle of the hue of red and blue is purple the more red you add the color hue will go towards red then black or white will lighten that color or darken it. White black makes grey. I hope this doesnt sound like im being a know it all or anything like that and i dont know if you knew the color wheels or not i was only letting you know if you didnt. I say that in all honesty man.

Looks wery nice to me 😆

I happen to enjoy your videos. These are the games I grew up with. I wish I had one but have to settle for emulator.

And also at least most EM playfield have simple colors. I have a LaserCue that I am touching up and ugh that has so many colors I mean the majority is black but there is several different colors splashed in here and there.

Honestly, if you only fixed the playing surface so that it played the right way and was protected from ware, I would be satisfied. I like the look of a well loved machine.

I swear I saw a video of Tim Arnold saying this was one of his favorite EMs. I also have one, well sort of .. star action, the actual add a ball version according to ipdb. Some very interesting info on this title worth a look at BOM from 74 is like 250$

I really enjoy your vids guys! Keep up the great work 👍🏻

Impressive considering you knocked that out fairly quickly! I say that because I am in the middle my first attempt at restoring a 6M$M machine and I have already invested a significant amount of hours going through the machine and now am in the middle of tackling the playfield. I was wondering if you have had any issues with clear coat damaging the lacquer paint on those older playfields? I have done some research and many of the clears that many of the pro restore guys recommend are no longer available. I plan on shooting it with an auto clear coat. Do you or anyone know of a product that someone has used that doesn't damage the original paint? I would definitely be disappointed if the clear coat damaged the original paint. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Really enjoy and appreciate the videos! They have been a great resource and inspiration to my own attempt at bringing an old machine back from the dead for the very 1st time!

In all honesty having the game on while taking the plastics off is not as big of a deal as if it was a solid state. Basically a fuse will pop if you short something metal to a light socket with a SS you might have a blown fuse and something blow out on the board. EMs might take longer to get working but once working they are better in that fuses will pop and no boards to worry about boards blowing up in the head. :)

Looks good touching up a playfield isn't a easy thing to do. I have to touch up my Bally Night EM

You need to film when the owner comes in to pick it up after the restoration

Well, first of all if people need it completely original again, tell them to go and buy a NOS playfield then LOL. You can never get it really original, but you can do the best you can atleast. So you get a THUMBS UP from me atleast, a fellow handpainter :D

Looks much better, would like to play it! It is hard when you have a cool game but it just isn't worth it to restore to perfect. I like the pretty good job method. The fun factor is high. How about restoring paint a score reel? I used Windex on one and killed it.

Making custom decals of some known good artwork, like for the B and advance points would have worked well. When you clear coat the playfield, they would have been set in place. I would have also used a smaller brush for some of the work and masked up the lines using Tamiya tape, which always leaves a nice sharp edge. Not being critical as I know its done to a price, I am just suggesting these ideas, because I suspect it would reduce your time and improve the result for the customer as it would be quicker to paint.

I'm not sure if you have one. If you have a projector I bet you could super impose a picture of the play field over the actual field and just trace the lines.

You've mentioned applying clear coat to some of you playfield repairs. Do you have a video on applying clear coat to a pinball playfield?