How to paint a pinball machine

Normal paint would not do as it would conceal any toning, for example look at the
following before and after image crops:

A normal (opaque pigment) paint would cover and mask the toning where the
top of the yellow scroll is.

Besides, I'm a crappy artist (being more of a techo) so with these glass paints I
can paint over the edges and where the "paint" falls on the black margins it just
disappears.

Before

After

One of the glass "paints" I use:

Their website: http://www.pebeo.com/asp/prod/fiche.asp?lang=us&id=4

They seem to be stocked at any reasonable art supplies shop and have a range of 26 colours (according to their website).

Thouroughly clean the area to be painted, grease and grime will not be helpful.

In use, if you can have your workpiece horizontal you can do a thicker coat which completely eliminates any sign if brush stroke. The down side is that you can only paint one surface at a time as you need to wait for the stuff to dry before flipping it over. Most of the time I just paint it as it stands.

NOTE: I'm not suggesting that you need to use this paint, only letting you know what I used.
There are no doubt a zillion other glass paints out there that will do just as well if not better
but at least this might give you a starting point.

Clark, just letting you know the Vitrea is actually better than Vitrail. I ended up having both on hand, so I tried dabs of each on pinball cabinet materials and also glass. In all tests, the Vitrea 160 is actually far more durable. While the Vitrail can be scratched and damaged with rubbing, the Vitrea 160 is extremely resistant to damage, even with aggressive scratching and rubbing. It dries much faster, and cleans up with tap water. If you ever do another paint job, you will get better results with Vitrea 160. Even without baking in an oven.

Regards,

Dan Rosen from Chicago

(See also Spray painting a gradient on the exterior of a pinball machine.)
(See also Video of how to redecal (exterior artwork) a pinball machine.)
(See also Video of how to make plastic protectors for a pinball machine.)

Pinball machines I've done up [*=recoloured]

Sun Aug  6 16:35:11 NZST 2006 Clark Mills