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This Black Knight cabinet needed a bit of work in my opinion but did not need anywhere near as much restore work as Flash, Gorgar or Tri Zone but I am REALLY fussy and I wanted this classic looking perfect again. So I started looking around for someone that may have sold reproduction stickers of the cabinet artwork and I found a company that, at the time was great but these days are hopeless with product and service so I will not promote them here as I used to. However, nowadays there is a couple of guys at a company called Pinball Pal who may be able to help you out with Black Knight "use once" cabinet stencils so that you can at least re-spray your Black Knight if you want it looking good again. Personally, I grabbed the repro cabinet stickers from the old company before they turned the company into a disaster and I found them to be extremely good, these sticker kits were not cheap, I think they cost me about $250 US Dollars but they are extremely high quality re-prints and I feel they were worth every cent. If you choose to use this type of product on any pinball machine- BE WARNED- you simply MUST get the placement correct BEFORE sticking them down because once these sticky bastards "grab" there is absolutely NO turning back, it is very nerve wracking stuff that should cause a few good family arguments BUT it is all over and done with in a day and a lot easier than stencilling and painting which can take weeks to finish.
Below are some shots of how my Black Knight PINBALL turned out after the decals were applied.
Maybe I am the odd man out but I cant understand the reason why so many collectors want the machines in the crappy condition they are in today- to me they MUST be pristine. People see an old car that is rusted and NOT restored and view it as an absolute shitbox, then they see that car FULLY restored and admire it- WHY doesn't that thinking apply to Pinball machines? Anyway , I guess it is a case of each to their own. Over time I plan to have ALL of my machines either re-done with stickers like these OR re-sprayed in their original colours.
If you do attempt to apply new cabinet stickers to your pinball, you should be aware that you will never again be able to take them off and see your original paintwork (no matter how crappy it was ) so that is the risk that you take. If you stuff up the application and try and remove the stickers your machine will look a LOT worse than when you started. So always measure the stickers to make sure they are the correct size and trim if necessary BEFORE sticking them down. Obviously fill in any divots and holes or gouges in your cabinet and sand them flat before applying any sticker. When I applied the stickers to the sides of main cabinet I removed the side-rails and then started the sticker at the front edge and made sure that the bottom of the sticker kept in line with the bottom edge of the cabinet as we gently smoothed the whole sticker down along the length of the cabinet. When I applied the stickers to the back box I made sure the sticker edge lined up neatly with the front edge of the back box and smoothed it down working towards the back of the back box. Both methods ensured that any mistakes would end up either under the siderails or at the back of the machine where it would be less visible- make sure you think about these things before starting out. Remember- once these stickers "grab" there is NO second chance to pull them up and start again- be VERY careful.
Black Knight Playfield Page 1 Black Knight Playfield Page 2
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