Pinball project is coming along. I feel like the next steps might take me the longest. Going for gold on mainly trim, but doing the whole playing board as gold. Gold wasn’t even in the vision at first, as I had this gold in the acrylic marker set, but that looked more like bronze with a green tint to it.
It was only till I ordered some 15mm jumbo acrylic pens that I noticed that company had a nice gold color. Since this is for my Dad, and I know he loves gold I figured I would try to bling it out.
I was afraid of painting the floor as it has so many holes, so I skipped the thick gesso, but it worked out great with the marker as it was thinner, I just blew in some bubbles that formed over holes, and used a tooth pick for the few small holes that got covered. It only took 5 coats of paint .
Many ideas and techniques have changed over the construction of the pinball. Hoping to finish it by another week, but not hopeful.
Thank you. Hoping so, getting nervous with not breaking the delicate parts on the next steps and hoping all the electronics work. Even if they don’t it will still be a nice playable display piece though .
That sounds amazing! I love how you adapted along the way, switching to gold because of your Dad’s taste and experimenting with different pens and techniques really shows your dedication. The way you handled the tricky floor with all those holes is super clever, and 5 coats later, it sounds like it paid off beautifully. Can’t wait to see the final result. It’s clear this pinball is going to be something really special and personal!
Thank you. It has three different purples actually, due to running out of paint and swapping brands . Was gonna rework it but just gonna roll with it at this point .
Thanks .Once I decided to get gold I figured I would use a metallic purple to go with it, which looks a lot like purple with glitter in it, which doesn’t look too manly, but makes it pretty . I told myself the 4th coat was the last, until I saw thicker layers here and there.
I used a large foam paint brush that I had from many years ago when I used to paint. Had a whole bag of them, wasn’t even sure what they were for, but they worked great for blending all the ink I poured out from the marker to make it all smooth.
These large markers you have to be careful for if anyone decides to use them, they can put out a lot of paint, and the dispenser head is pretty rough. Going up and down rather than against the grain can make it start to shed the wood making it rough and bumpy, it becomes almost like a wet paper towel .
oh no! I hate when the paint gets to thick too! I usually have some tissue paper around me to wipe excess gunk, or cotton swab. Glad you got to trouble shoot! Your progress is amazing keep at it!
Thanks, markers for the floor, kinda just poured it on to where it was super wet looking, spread it around a little to cover all surface area with the marker(lightly, it will shed the wood). Then I blended it with a sponge brush.
I pour out some paint from the markers, using a tiny brush for the line work though. Something I said I wasn’t going to do at first, but I am glad I did, it really makes it pop with the gold. I Was about to bust out my expensive digital microscope for it, because my vision is getting really bad in my early 40’s for up close work. Didn’t want to get my microscope dirty, but felt some eye strain on this one lol.
This electrical work is like the end boss in a game. The puzzle eases you in nice and slow, then it gets a little crazy. The thing that held me up the most was the flippers though. I redid that like 5 times because the dang left flipper kept sticking. Thought I had too much wax on it, but was using the measurements for the rod as a 2 on the tool rather than a 1. Every little detail matters .
This is what one coat of paint looks like btw, just kinda threw it on there to give it a coating for protection. Its nice to get a break for painting things, probably 20% of this could be left unpainted and unseen.
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And it’s perfect with the purple!
. Was gonna rework it but just gonna roll with it at this point 
. I told myself the 4th coat was the last, until I saw thicker layers here and there.
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keep at it!
