Complete Baywatch

[Beowulfz07]

This is my first shop log and first complete restore.
I have started a TOM but I got this and apart from the bad repair to the backbox, it was only secured to the pallet by one strap which broke during transit and effectively ripped the front off so I had to do something.
I started stripping the machine exactly 5 weeks ago, and I have to do sanding etc in the garden as I don’t have a workshop so the weather has made life difficult to say the least.
First up some pics of it when I got it -
The front was hanging on by a thread and wouldn’t push back flat even after cleaning debris from behind it so I had no choice but to remove it.
The backbox had external brackets screwed each side and loads of black rubber like filler, also the front was 1/2 inch wider at the top than the back, also the bottom of the backbox was loose and did not sit flush

 

[Beowulfz07]

I took loads of pictures with my phone and stripped everything out of the machine.
I then stripped the paint with a heat gun.

 

[Beowulfz07]

I sanded the cabinet and backbox and began filling.
I cleaned up the removed section from the front of the cabinet and then glued and screwed it and used some weight on it overnight to maintain pressure

 

[Beowulfz07]

Machine had also had some water damage but luckily just one corner of the bottom panel and only on the outside but it had blown.
More sanding and filing.
I also decided to save the back of the cab and backbox with the writing on as it was very good.
I took the backbox to BnQ and scanned it to get a paint match.

 

[Beowulfz07]

Filling and sanding almost complete.
2 coats of grey undercoat.
2 coats of simoniz satin black spray and the inside of both the backbox and cabinet are done

 

[Beowulfz07]

2 coats of blue on the backs of each, the top panel on the cabinet and the bottom of the backbox

 

[stumblor]

It's all about the Baywatch tonight! Excited to see this one come together. Looking great.

 

[russdx1]

looking great, how are you spraying? using rattle can or proper paint gun?

 

[Beowulfz07]

looking great, how are you spraying? using rattle can or proper paint gun?

Thanks
I brushed the undercoat on then fine sanded it.
The black is rattle can as it’s so cheap, I think it was around £20 for 6 large cans and takes around 2 per machine to do 2 coats.
As Baywatch has a lot of blue next to the black and having to get a matched colour I brushed the first coat on, fine sanded and then used a combination of brush and gloss roller for the final coat and I’m very pleased with the quality of the Valspar mixed paint, even when brushed it covers well, dries quickly and the finish is very good.
Hoping to get the cab decals done on Sunday - wish me luck !!!

 

[Vimtoman]

Keep it up. Your nearly at the end of the build.
Looking really good . Great colour match on the blue.
Decals next will make the cab pop

 

[russdx1]

Thanks
I brushed the undercoat on then fine sanded it.
The black is rattle can as it’s so cheap, I think it was around £20 for 6 large cans and takes around 2 per machine to do 2 coats.
As Baywatch has a lot of blue next to the black and having to get a matched colour I brushed the first coat on, fine sanded and then used a combination of brush and gloss roller for the final coat and I’m very pleased with the quality of the Valspar mixed paint, even when brushed it covers well, dries quickly and the finish is very good.
Hoping to get the cab decals done on Sunday - wish me luck !!!

Thanks for the reply, I am not having much luck with rattle can on my build so might try and brush approach I have put the primer down with sponge roller then sanded smooth and will try rattle can final coat one more time if results still not how I want them I'll give brush a go What type of paint did you go for on the final cost the B&Q Valspar gloss?

Good luck with the decals that's my next nightmare as well

 

[Beowulfz07]

Thanks for the reply, I am not having much luck with rattle can on my build so might try and brush approach I have put the primer down with sponge roller then sanded smooth and will try rattle can final coat one more time if results still not how I want them I'll give brush a go What type of paint did you go for on the final cost the B&Q Valspar gloss?

Good luck with the decals that's my next nightmare as well

Thanks
The blue is Valspar V700 gloss.
It’s the more expensive one but as only need 1 litre it’s not that expensive, and 1 litre is more than enough, it’s also suitable for metal.
The primer I used was Valspar Wood primer and undercoat in Grey - very good.
I used a different primer with my TOM cab and it reacted with some of the existing black cab paint that I’d sanded.
The Valspar one doesn’t, so you don’t have to remove all the old paint, just get the shine off it and smooth.
Then the Simoniz satin black spray paint goes on the interior of the cab, it covers really well, takes about 10 mins to spray the whole of the inside of the cab and dries in 20 mins to give it a second coat and the finish is totally smooth and looks professional.
For large holes and rebuilding I use Ronseal high performance wood filler in natural in 1kg tin - it’s absolutely Brilliant and does exactly what it says on the tin
For touch ups and fine filling I use Toupret wood repair in a 1kg box, quick and easy to mix, dries fast, Sands exceptionally well.
As with my Baywatch, sometimes spraying is difficult, so the brush / roller combination was the easiest method.
Sometimes you have to compromise and step back and think of how it will look once everything is back on and not get stuck trying to make every part perfect.
I do try to make things perfect and that way at the end, hopefully I’m close enough to look good.
When decals are on tomorrow I will know if this approach has worked or not lol
But even then there will be a huge difference once the side rails, coindoor etc go on and will probably find that you can’t even see where all the hard work went !

 

[Beowulfz07]

Front and one side decal done.
Had a few heart in the mouth moments but it’s getting there and makes all the time and effort worthwhile

 

[stumblor]

Bet you had a few hand on cheek moments too

 

[russdx1]

looks great, did you use wet or dry method?

Regards
Russell

 

[Beowulfz07]

Bet you had a few hand on cheek moments too

That’s spooky, there was one spot that I had to rub for ages to get a bubble out

 

[stumblor]

That’s spooky, there was one spot that I had to rub for ages to get a bubble out

Suuure there was a bubble

 

[Beowulfz07]

looks great, did you use wet or dry method?

Regards
Russell

Dry with a heat gun, the front was a pain but the side was easy, really pleased with the front corner, looking forward to getting all the powdercoated metalwork on

 

[Beowulfz07]

Suuure there was a bubble

Honestly, well it looked like a bubble

 

[stumblor]

Might have been a booble

 

[russdx1]

Ah interesting, not come across using a heat gun before could you explain the process in a bit more detail?

 

[Beowulfz07]

I’d never done a cabinet or decals before so it’s been a steep learning curve.
The decals I got are from retro refurbs.
I’ve seen Matty Adams do decals and they may be different material as he using a hard plastic spreader as he puts the decal down to remove bubbles etc.
However with theses decals they can be put on either wet or dry but advisable to do dry and only use a micro fibre cloth to rub as you put the decal down.
Really easy and UV resistant, also glossy like radcals and quite cheap for a set too -
Anyway, once it’s been sanded etc, just go over the area with isopropyl and let dry, about 5 mins.
Lay the decal down and line it up, they are cut with not much waste so easy to get right.
Once in place just put a towel or something to protect decal on one end and put something with a bit of weight on the towel, I used a subwoofer in its cardboard box, then roll back about 2 ft of the opposite side and peel the backing back and let the decal lay on itself, cut the backing off and then simply start to lay the decal down while using the micro fibre cloth from side to side until it’s all down.
Remove weight and towel, roll that end back over the part you have just done, start to peel the backing off and then go the other way using the cloth and pulling the backing off slowly as you go.
Then use a Stanley blade (blade only so you can get it flat against the underside) and simply run it all round to remove the excess.
Cut out any holes you need to.
Finally, use a heat gun on low setting around 12” away or a hairdryer and move across while rubbing with the cloth and any remaining bubbles gone and it makes the glue go off quicker too.
Also, if you have any creases, even really bad ones, the heatgun and cloth will completely remove them, I made a mistake on the front and was able to rectify and remove a really bad crease.
They have a you tube video where there is a decal which is completely screwed up and in less than 5 minutes it’s completely flat like new

 

[russdx1]

thx for the detailed write up, i did not know about the heat gun trick sounds like a life saver. Interested to know how it removes the bubbles though?

I cant decide weather to go wet or dry :/ on my restore

 

[Beowulfz07]

thx for the detailed write up, i did not know about the heat gun trick sounds like a life saver. Interested to know how it removes the bubbles though?

I cant deside weather to go wet or dry :/ on my restore

I haven’t done a wet application but from all accounts it’s very messy and a lot more work.
Regarding bubbles, firstly there are hardly any, you won’t believe just how quick and easy they go on with just gentle pressure back and forth as it goes down.
Once you’ve cut off the excess and apply the gun some small bubbles appear in places, this must be to do with the adhesive and again just gentle rubbing along with the heat gun from one side to other removes all imperfections and seems to make the whole decal ‘pop’ and become super smooth.
I really can’t recommend these decals enough, I was extremely worried that I’d have major issues but apart from the front due to the huge hole for the coin door which I managed to crease and now realise that I needed to have my partner pull it sideways as I was putting it down, but even then, with the heat gun I managed to remove the crease completely

 

[russdx1]

I have the GEN2 decals hopefully they will behave the same way, you have given me faith to try the dry method (will try on backbox art first hehe) I'm quite good with the ye old heat fun (removed old decals with in very quickly) so its good no it can used used on the application of the decals as well

Thanks again for the detailed replys they are extreamly helpful!

 

[Beowulfz07]

I have the GEN2 decals hopefully they will behave the same way, you have given me faith to try the dry method (will try on backbox art first hehe) I'm quite good with the ye old heat fun (removed old decals with in very quickly) so its good no it can used used on the application of the decals as well

Thanks again for the detailed replys they are extreamly helpful!

I would try and check about the gen 2 decals before you start, maybe be a post on the forum to ask if anyone has applied those decals. Only reason I’m saying that is I read that the gen 2 were a different material and therefore may not behave in the same way with heat.
I would hate for you to ruin your decals.
I know the ones from retro refurbs and pinballdecals.eu are vinyl type, glossy and work with the heat gun.
But I dont know about the gen 2’s

 

[russdx1]

I have some retro referb blades, ill have to compare the matterial , I was planning on cutting off some cabinet excess and having a little trial run hehe

 

[Beowulfz07]

Lol
I have 2 TOMs which I will be doing shop logs for shortly, imaginatively titles TOM 1 and TOM 2
I have decals for TOM 1 from pinballdecals.eu and Radcals from Mirco for TOM 2, so it will be good to see the differences I find.

 

[astyy]

I helped @Solar Sailer fit his Retro Refurb decals to LW3 last week, first time for both of us and was really straightforward and pretty much as described above, once lined up and held in place we peeled and folded back tight a few inches of the backing at the front to secure the position then he applied it with a cloth up/down as I slowly peeled the backing away as we worked backwards. We attached the coin door first but with LW3 there's no complications lining up corner art. Like many things the majority of the work is in the prep and having the few proper tools (cough) ready. Didn't do the heat gun but sounds like a good idea too.
https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/lethal-weapon-3-okokokokok.43411/#post-312586

 

[Solar Sailer]

Ta da!