The Art Of Pinball Resorations

[Nwojedi]

I havn't been around much lately due to the fact that I have tons of restoration projects that needed to be done. Here is my latest Restoration that was complete. It was a Stargate. This thing was dirty as hell. Playfield had major wear and cracking. As you can see in the pics. Everything had to be taken off the machine. After stripping the playfield, Doing touchups, clearcoat the playfield, clean all the plastics, ramps, posts, reassemble and get all the switches and lights working correctly, took about 35 hours. This game was completely in pieces for approximately a month. Rebuilt all the flippers, so they have the snappyness and strenth of a brand new machine.


Here you can see how dirty the clear plastics were, from before and after. Note the Glidercraft out of the pyramid.

http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/1.JPG

Some major wear on the bomb area. Again very dirty.

http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/2.JPG

All targets had major damage to them. Replaced all decals with NOS (new old stock) ones.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/3.JPG

even thou the lighting is kinda bad on the before picture, you can see the difference and the amount of parts that had to be taken off.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/4.JPG

again, clear plastics wern't so clear in the beginning. Note the reflection with the white target in the playfield on the after pic. This playfield shines like glass now. The ball flies around super fast now.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/5.JPG

all gold ramps and guides were shined up like new
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/6.JPG

Major wear behind the flippers. This whole section has to be masked off, completely reairbrushed, and had the black bars added back in. Turned out flawless.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/7.JPG

here's a close up
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/8.JPG

this is a completely stripped playfield (top half). YOu can see the ground in dirt and wear.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/9.JPG

same with the bottom half.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/10.JPG

Here is the glider craft. I decided to do it in gold leaf, and add egyptian colors to have it go with the theme better. Looks really awesome, when the pyramid opens up and the glidercraft flies out and around. The flashers really reflect off of it.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/11.JPG

Cleaned up nice.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/12.JPG

a major difference.
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/13.JPG

Here is the machine with the lights out and on. New DMD and Rope lights for the backbox. Also, did some touchups on the speakers panels and cabinate (not seen).
http://home.wi.rr.com/nwojedi/finished.JPG

Overall, everything went pretty smooth. Usually I just do playfield restorations. Was the first time, I had to actually put everything back ON the playfield. Remembering where everything went was the key. Took plenty of pictures of details. Also, did touchups to the cabinet to make it look like new again. Inside of the cab was cleaned sanded and decaled where needed as well. Everything it takes to make the machine feel and look like new again. But this machine is mine, so it wasn't for a customer. Anyone going to the Chicago pinball expo on Nov 2-5, will get a chance to play this machine, since i'm bringing it to the show.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

You keep a clean machine, NWO. Interesting hobby and amazing what you can do to restore a machine like Stargate.

[Joah]

I got to play it yesterday, and let me tell you, IT'S FAST!

Had I more time I would've wanted to play a few more games. I did get to try the LOTR pin, and after a few more games, I'm sure to take the #1 ranking from Nwo.

:wink:

Folks, I've seen N's restores in person, and they're amazing.

[reapersaurus]

Wow - looks like some great work there !

How do you do something like the Shoot Again lower drain section?
Manual art touchups/drawing? Or can you get replacement decals for these restorations?

[Nwojedi]

well, i try not to use decals if I can help it. I don't know what the long term effect will be trapping decals in clearcoat.

I had two different dilemias redoing that section. You can't really tell, but all that blue that fades into the silver, is actually halftones. I tried to do the halftones by hand. But it looked like crap. If you don't get every dot perfect, it looks like azz. So I decided to airbrush the silver. Then color matched the blue, masked off the rest of the area, and airbrushed that as well. For the black bars, I was going to do them all by hand. but decided to try my hand at making a decal/waterslide. So I had another pinball guy, do a playfield scan from a better playfield and send me a full size scan. I took out all the colors and did touchups in photoshop to make the black look dark and smooth. Printed it on Waterdecal film. same stuff used for models. You put in water and slide off. So I airbrushed it. did one thin clearcoat layer on the entire playfield, then applied the decal, and applied my 2 other layers of clear on top of that. Which i came out pretty good. The other part in the left side of the stargate that was missing. Was all touched up by hand. as was the rest of all the artwork.

[Dragonslayer]

:up: Nice! My sister used to have an old Playboy pinball. It was in bad shape and could have used some of your talent.

[reapersaurus]

that sounds like a hell of a lot of work - if there are pre-made decals for that pin and that section of board, why not just use that and save a LOT of time and effort? :shrug:

[LilNewbie]

WOW! Nice work, NWO. Restoring pinball machines is an interesting hobby that would have never occurred to me. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Newb.

[Nwojedi]

that sounds like a hell of a lot of work - if there are pre-made decals for that pin and that section of board, why not just use that and save a LOT of time and effort? :shrug:

Well, there are several factors why decals suck. One is color matching. printing a decal on your printer or any other method is not accurate. Playfields sometimes suffer from fade or ground in dirt or other discrepencies over time...if you put on a decal..It will stand out like a sore thumb. Two, if you use adhesive decals. The adhesion can break down and create bubbles underneth the clear. Or the plastic that makes the decal, could discolor, perhaps Yellow. Or when printing, decals can shrink or stretch slightly, and then won't line up the way they should. Just has to much potential for disaster. It's a lot of work to paint match and stuff like that, but it gives superior results in the end.

[regdar]

wow thats a complete turn around good work

[wisinger]

very nice job.

[lilwis]

That's a beautiful job, Nwo. I would have to agree that 'amount of work you put in will show up in the longevity of results'.

Your restoration reminds me a guy I knew that did Jukeboxes..however, yours blow him away.

[Nwojedi]

yea, jukebox, soda machine, fortune tellers, slot machines and stuff like that, are all pretty much in the same catagory. A lot of our expos and shows, group all of together. They have this expo near chicago, that has all those things. The whole show is like one big epic museaum. Awesome show to go to, but no deals there. People charge top dollar there. I want a fortune teller machine really bad, but the one they had there, was totally restored and trying to get $25000 for it. Way to steep for me. I'd be willing to go up to $2000 for one. Maybe $3000 for a Esmerelda one, in nice shape.

[Neveryll]

Awesome job on the pinball machine. I have a friend who does work on arcade machines and such. Let me know if your ever looking for work and will get you two in touch with each other. He runs to local arcade and always is puttering around with this game or that one.

[Nwojedi]

i probably don't need anymore work, but always looking to buy more machines. :)

[Sundance]

Wow..nize work. Reminds me ...i still want a Bride of Pinbot. I found one fully restored but i haven't got $1500 :( ...that and i'm still collecting arcade stuff.

[Nwojedi]

actually, I just got done with a bride of pinbot about 4 months ago. Sold it for $1500. So your right on the money on your prices.

[Nwojedi]

For anyone that wants to play this machine. It is getting hauled down to the Chicago pinball EXPO today. It will be there all weekend on freeplay. If you live near Chicago. The expo is at the Rosemont hotel near Ohare airport. Thurs-Sunday. Hope some of you can make it. I'll be playing in the Zen tourney on thursday night and Team SNatch will be playing at 7am-6pm on friday.


FYEEEEER!!

[jcb231]

Hey NWO, do you have any advice on how much a Star Wars pinball machine should cost? Like a rough estimate price range? I'm thinking of buying one and don't want to get ripped off.

[Nwojedi]

well depends on which star wars pin you want. There are 3 out there. Well technically 4, but the 4th one is really rare and only from austraillia

If you want the Data East one. It's the one with the R2 and Death star on the playfield. Deathstar rotates and you can shoot the ball into it.

Average price is $1500, can be found for $1200 or even less if you really look and happen to be in the right place at the right time. COndition means everything. If your paying $1500, everything better work, and displays better be brite. No broken plastics and minimal playfield wear around the jabba hole.

Sega's Star Wars trilogy. Has tie fighter targets on the upper right side, and backglass is bowed outward. Overall the playfield is really dull. Expect to pay around $1000 for this title.

Episode 1. Has holograms that run around the playfield that you can shoot at, you'll know this one right away, cuz there are only two games that have this hologram feature. Revenge from mars and EP1. Expect to pay around $2k for this one.

[jcb231]

Thanks for the info. Of the two classic trilogy ones, which would you recommend? Seems like you're leaning towards the first.

[Nwojedi]

well the DE star wars is the best one by far.

the sega one is complete azz. In fact, every Sega machine is azz. no matter what title.

EP1 is cool, but I can't stand it because I cannot stand ep1 , 2, or 3. If it wasn't based off the worst trilogy i've ever seen. It would be ok.

[jcb231]

Thanks.

I may get one depending on what my money situation is like after the holidays. I've wanted a pinball machine for a while now, but I also want a Nintendo Wii and a 360 and all of the upcoming HS items so I need to figure out what I'd rather have if I can't afford it all.

[Nwojedi]

well when your ready to land a machine, I can help you out. You have to be careful and never buy off of ebay. Plus if you have to ship, i have a sweet contact where I can have machines shipped for less than $150. Which is dirt cheap. Usually it's $300-$400.

[jcb231]

Awesome....I'll let you know.

Right now the XBOX 360, the Nintendo Wii, a large order of all the new HS stuff coming out in the next few months, a pinball machine, and long-desired trips to mainland Asia or South Africa are all possibly competing for my leisure dollars. I'm not sure who's going to win this fight yet. I want all those things, but I know I'm going to have to cut at least one or two off the list if I expect to do anything else (like eat and hang out with friends) in the next six months. I'll probably end up ditching the trip for another year or two, and pushing back my 360 purchase until late 2007 instead of timing it with Halo 3's release. That would probably leave me with enough money to get HS stuff, a Wii, and a pinball machine.

Thanks again. I'll let ya know, pinball wizard.

[reapersaurus]

And keep those eyes peeled for a good deal on a Jurassic Park pin, please nwo! :D

[Nwojedi]

And keep those eyes peeled for a good deal on a Jurassic Park pin, please nwo! :D

Will do. What do you think is a good deal thou. What I think is a good deal, might still be rediculous for you. I mean, I deal with 2 and 3k machines every week. So buying a $1000 machine is like nothing to me. JP's usually go for $1200-$1400 ish. So, anything under $1200 in decent shape and fully working is a deal in my eyes. What do you think?