Finished the black lines around the “Return to Duty” and SOL inserts today:
Return To Duty insert ready for painting
New black line
I had to make the lines around the SOL inserts a little wider in order to cover the damage:
Applying the black lines around the SOL inserts
New black lines
As reported back in June, in trying to level the “Return to Duty” insert with the playfield I applied too much heat and created some delamination. Fortunately I still have the original playfield that was in my AFM and so (having learned from my mistake) was able to take the insert out of that playfield and “insert” it into the new playfield. I used Pattex Repair Extreme to stick the insert into the playfield, following several recommendations from my local forum. To be honest, the first time I had done this was back in July, prior to having the first clearcoat applied. But the insert wasn’t exactly level with the board and the clearcoat and sanding process didn’t bring it sufficiently level, meaning I had to repeat the process today.
Newly applied insert illuminated from behind to test for consistency
I also finished applying the fluorescent orange colour today. I didn’t use a white background, as I was only trying to accentuate the existing orange colour. The orange colour missing around the SOL inserts exposed a white background, meaning that a white primer wasn’t necessary here either.
Right inlane orange border repainted
Left inlane orange border repainted
SOL inserts' orange borders repainted
In order to cover a little damage, I made the black lines around the SOL inserts slightly thicker than the originals. To check that the thickness of this outline was adequate to cover the damage without them appearing to be too fat, I printed the outline onto a transparent foil and tried it out on the playfield:
Testing the SOL black outlines for size
Black outlines printed on a transparency for testing purposes
In my opinion, this looks just right!