All of our stencils are cut from premium Spray Mask Vinyl with a paper application tape applied over the top. Every attempt has been made by FLIPPERESCUE to make the use of these stencils as easy as possible. With care and appropriate time taken, the finished result on your cabinet will be as good as the original artwork at the time it left the factory.

All Gottlieb ® stencils are made under license, they have been subject to verification by Gottlieb Development LLC and found to be true to the ORIGINAL design. This attention to quality control allows you the user to have the chance to restore your machine to originality.

The spray mask vinyl is slightly porous and will help to prevent leeching on the edges. FLIPPERESCUE recommend using Acrylic Lacquer paints. These are fast drying and finish flat and smooth. Most paint specialty shops will be able to mix your colours and some will provide these in pressure packs for easy use. Gloss enamels are very prone to leeching. If you use enamels then try to use the flat finish type, these will give better results and will be easier to use.

Originally, stencils were applied by hand and a VERY light spray was used on the cabinet. Because of this, no 2 machines will be EXACTLY the same. Registration faults on one machine may not appear on another.

When we make the stencil files, we try to minimise these errors. If you follow the correct colour sequence when applying and pay particular attention to your registration, you should achieve a perfect result. There is a small overlap of colours which is why the correct sequence MUST be adhered to.

This overlap allows you the user some slight movement in your registration, however, it is a small amount and so we cannot emphasise enough the need to correctly align the stencils. The more complicated the stencil - the more critical your registration.

Please allow your colours to COMPLETELY dry before applying the next. The more time you take, the better your results.

The cabinet must be rubbed back and completely smooth to achieve the best results. Nicks, digs and gouges in the cabinet can be filled with a fast drying bog and sanded back to a smooth finish. Once this is done, you can prime the cabinet with an appropriate primer for the type of paint you have chosen.

It may take several coats and a light sand back to get this primer to a smooth finish. The better the preparation, the better results you will achieve.

Paint does not cover flaws - it exposes them - remember this.
A great finish is in the amount of surface preparation you do.

You must ensure that the cabinet is free from dust and completely dry.... This will give better adhesion for the stencil material.

On many machines originally, a light coat of lacquer was applied to protect the artwork, FLIPPERESCUE recommend you do the same.

There are many clear finishes that can be applied. You must however ensure that the finishing coat you use is compatible with the choice of paint - hours of work can be lost with the wrong finishing coat. It is heartbreaking to see your perfect work bubble up like melted cheese because the wrong finish was chosen.
The advantages of applying a finish coat apart from protecting your work from light scratches are that if 2 different finishes of paint are used ( say a flat and also a gloss), a coating can be chosen that will give the same finish throughout, be it gloss or semi gloss etc.

Cabinets originally were coated with a linseed based finish, it’s this that gives the slight yellowing that occurs over the years. It is up to you what you use, but for originality, FLIPPERESCUE recommend the use of polyurathane - it is readily available and easy to apply.

High gloss was never used, at FLIPPERESCUE we have found that a mix of approximately 80% FULL GLOSS and 20% LOW SHEEN will give just the right finish to you work.

 FLIPPERESCUE have Stencil Kits available right now - click here for a list of stock and pricing as well as some images of the stencils available.

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