Playfield paint touch up help needed please

[AlanJ]

So today I started on the long task of sorting out the paintwork on my Dealer's choice playfield. This is never going to be a pristine eexamplee - but I feel it needs 'tidying up' as best I can with my abilities.

The blacks worked out very well - using a nice thick 'lamp black' artists acrylic paint, so far so good:
This:

Became:

I tested a couple of other blacks, and this is the nearest match I have.

Anyhow, onto the real issue:
There is a lot of pink on the playfield and many cracks to fill:


There doesn't appear to be anyone making a really nice thick opaque 'neon pink' acrylic paint. All I've managed to get is one that is a bit watery, and this is what it gave me, once applied:

It works quite nicely over the existing pink paintwork, but will do nothing to fill the cracks and gaps.

So question is - how do I deal with the gaps?

I presume I need to fill them, but with what?

It needs something that will take the neon pink, which is rather translucent?

I did consider mixing up my own opague pink from good quality artists acrylics, white and a splash of red - but I have so much pink to do on this playfield, that it would be impossible to consistently mix the same shade of pink each time.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[J.C.Rox]

Maybe use a thicker white primer first in the gaps then paint over the entire pink section?

 

[Moonbus]

How deep are you willing to go ?
Is there any white text on the pink areas ?

I see two options.

Option 1.
Rub white into the cracks. Simply paint on a bit of white then rub the excess off with your finger. This should leave a white smear in the crack. This serves two purposes, firstly it seals the bare wood, secondly it brings all the wood colours to roughly the same off white colour meaning that any paint you apply on top should look the same all over.

Then once the white is dry colour match the pink and do the same paint on and rub off process. Remember to test an area first with the pink dry and wetted with naphtha as this is a good indication of colour change one clearcoat is applied.

Option 2.
If there is not any fine white text, scan the whole playfiled. Mask off the pink. Colour match a rough match and spray all the pink bits. Again it may be worth spraying a thin white coat first. Then print waterslide decals to replace black text and touch up the key lines by hand.

The problem with option 2 is that once you have done the pink you will probably want to do the whole playfield.

Good luck.

Guy

 

[Moonbus]

Something else to consider is leaving it as is. She is an old girl after all.
Some folks over the pond just touch up the keylines and text. Spray the white areas under plastics and then clearcoat.

They have a saying that "You play the ball not the paint".

 

[AlanJ]

Thanks everyone, I have some ideas. I'm going to try a few things in small test areas. I also figured that the first coat or 2 or 3 of the acrylic paint should eventually seal the wood, so that's another option.

My plan is to wax it rather than clearcoat btw.

 

[Marble Madness]

Hi @AlanJ unless you get a perfect match to the pink you’ll see the touch up. If you get a clear piece of plastic like a laminate sheet you can put it over the area to see how close the paint you’ve mixed up is. The easier but larger option is to block out the entire area and paint all of it. First fill the holes though either with filler or you can gradually fill them with layers of paint. Most probably you’ll have to sand flat. I’d fill with filler it’s more durable, paint the entire area, mask off then using an airbrush clearcoat over the painted area. Your other option is to repaint entire area then take to a spray painters and have them clearcoat the entire Playfield. Three coats will hide any slight bumps as it is self levelling. It will look better than new good luck