OK, I'll pop the question that nobody dares to ask.....Ms.Pac decals, yes or no?

[level42]

Yes people, I am seriously considering going the "easy" route and order decals for the sides and kick plate.

Of course, I would prefer to stencil, but there are SO many things against it.....

- time
- no room to paint
- money
- tools
- more time
- and the unbelievable complexity of the Ms. Pac stencils...

So compare this to decals:

- quick
- doesn't require a special painting room
- still pretty expensive but less risk
- no special painting tools required
- less time
- pretty easy to apply

Also, we all know that the last Ms. Pac that were built actually originally had decals too. So it's not a _total_ "against original" idea....

Mind you, I'm not talking about Two Bits stuff here....

So, let the fight begin....try to convince me the other way.....

[Superully]

as you might remember, when i screwed up my pac-man stencils, i was seriously considering slapping on decals - for all the reasons andré listed. but as andré pointed out not the crappy two bits stuff, but i was told that arcadeshop carries a pretty good pac-man decal version. however, although the late pacs had decals as well, i simply couldn't get myself to going through with this. so i sat down, took a brush and corrected the stencil disaster by hand. in the end, it turned out fabulous - it really did (wait for the final pics). and believe me: every single time i walk into the room where the pac-man is right now, i take a couple of moments to look at the sideart thinking "I DID THIS!!!" and it somehow makes me proud. not that those decals would look bad, i've seen the pics on klov (in fact: the machines look great), it's just that feeling of accomplishment. and this has not necessarily to do with originality, because sometimes i leave that path to improve on the original (at least that's what i think ), this has to do with what looks better and what makes me feel better.

fortunately, i have finally been able to find a roller which produces REALLY SMOOTH surfaces and i will try that on my next stencil job, which is probably going to be jungle king. picked up some stencilling tips from phetishboy as well which leaves be pretty confident that it's going to work. of course, having a nice airbrush gun with compressor is the ultimate goal, but (a) this costs a lot of money and (b) i have no idea which one to buy, so i'll try rolling on the paint the next time.

regarding the ms pac: stencilling is the only way to go for me, but i can totally understand your points, andré, the most important one probably being the room issue. however, scr33n has proven multiple times that a job like that can easily be done in the living room. why not try it on the toilet . if i were you, i'd buy some rollers and do some testing to see if you can do this. i still have a couple of spare stencils lying around, so when you're coming over, take some of them with you and try it out. in the end, there's nothing more fulfilling than an accomplished stencilling task!

  GO STENCILS 

[Superully]

oh - and there's one thing i forgot:

applying those huuuge decals can be a PITA as well, it's always a matter of perspective

[level42]

Mmmm, you do a good job ad convincing me Ully....

Indeed the rolling is an option. What I just thought about is that I still have to do the Joust !
As you may know () I already have those stencils....but I have to say they scare me....

Well maybe after our technical weekend, we can have another weekend some time later called "stencil weekend" ? 

[DarthNuno]

Even If I went to decals of my Pac Man few years ago, I would go for stencils now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the current decals (even if it's not 100% accurate blablalba...) , but at the time, it was the only option to go.
The choice is yours... waiting for doing the perfect job may have a serious impact of on delay regarding all your other restorations to go.
Sometime, it's good to be a little bit 'lazy' and select the easiest option... or then you may give up or you may lost some motivation (it's the case for me sometime, when I see my long list of cabinets around me, waiting to be restored...).
For my Ms Pac Man, I won't need to use stencils to repaint everything, but I would need them for specifics areas, or curves to paint... so, I'm up to buy your stencils set if yon don't plan to use it at the end 

...ah... and ... at the end, finally no one can see the side arts on cabinets, because all our cabs are so close together... and they can't be seen anymore... it's a shame, isn't it? 

[Superully]

Well maybe after our technical weekend, we can have another weekend some time later called "stencil weekend" ? 

sure thing, andré! if you want to i can get some of those ultraflat rollers for you. they are more expensive than the regular ones though (if i remember correctly a set of 2 costs around 7 euros), but they are well worth the asking price! you can get them cheaper on the internet, but add the postage and the price is the same!

[WunderCade]

Hmmm...

I still have the JoyMonkey Ms. Pacman stencils.  They are the vinyl single-use stencils.  I never got to a point where I could apply them - still too intimidated to do it. Is the Euro still strong against the Dollar? I could be convinced to sell them. I paid $180 US for them.

[level42]

Sounds interesting Wunder....

Still, look at this, very nice IMHO (ignore the blue T-molding):







I'd thought that decals would look much more shiny, but this seems to resemble the matt appearance of the original very well....

[WunderCade]

Agreed, that's exactly what I plan to do if I don't use these stencils.

[gyruss]

I saw the pictures on Klov yesterday. They also amaze me, , much better then the 2 bit ones.

[DarthNuno]

I saw the pictures on Klov yesterday. They also amaze me, , much better then the 2 bit ones.

Do you have the link of the post on KLOV board, I would like to see how it looks like?

Now I'm thinking about a cabinet I've seen 2 years ago in LA (Hollywood Bvd...almost on the street!)... with a sticker on the the side art :



OK, this picture doesn't show you the quality (..and don't pay attention to the ugly conversion of course  ), but I as far as I remember, it was looking not too bad.

By the way, I didn't know the last run of Ms Pac Man was build with stickers/decals? There is a story behind this?

[level42]

Yes it's true, let me see if I can find the story. Someone found a NIB or NOS cab IIRC.

Bruno that picture is like a bad horror movie !!!!! YIKES !

The pictures mentioned are the one's I copied here but here's the KLOV thread I put up:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=139586

I found some pics of a stencilled cab: http://picasaweb.google.com/Talon.K/MsPacMan?feat=directlink#

Here's one of those pics:


Yes this is stenciled ! But it looks a hell lot more shiny than the original finish AND even much more shiny than the decals......

I don't like this look because the original was MATT looking not shiny. I guess the guy either used the wrong (shiny) paint or finished it with some shiny clear coat(s).....

Look at this, it's like a mirror !!!!

[WunderCade]

Wolfinator (over on KLOV) said those stickers have the NAMCO copyright instead of the original Midway copyright.  That rules them out for me, unfortunately.

[ckong]

I don't like this look because the original was MATT looking not shiny. I guess the guy either used the wrong (shiny) paint or finished it with some shiny clear coat(s).....

Look at this, it's like a mirror !!!!

Indeed, very ugly. But it's a though call, stenceling or stickering. I didn't make a final decision yet also for my Ms. pac-man (and pac-man) cab. Perhaps I will first try stenceling, and if that doesn't work out I always can go the decal route (but sure not shiny ones).

[level42]

Well, I made up my mind......decals it's going to be. Feel free to condemn me at will

Anybody want to jump in to share shipping costs ? (Or maybe get a discount for ordering more stuff in one go)