The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => Restorations => Topic started by: The pinballist formally known as Dean Morgan on December 13, 2008, 03:48:25 PM
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At Nino's request, I will post some information on the repair/minor restoration of a Gottlieb Countdown Pinball.
For those that may not no me, System 1 Gottlieb Pinballs have been my passion for many years and I hate to see one of these parted out. I wrote a small article once in the Flipper Arcade review magazine that was around and spoke of my passion for these machines, some of you may have read it.
Anyway, the repair of these Countdowns is done adhoc for me as I tend to jump from one area of the machine to the next as I get boared easy. I also enjoy the electronic repair more then the cleaning of the machine etc, so I usally end up working alot on getting things working rather then looking good first. I then once its working tend to clean and play, clean and play as I go along. I also find that this gives me time to iron out any electrical issues as I am doing cleaning etc as I continually play the machines over the weeks or months of the full restore and this assists with ensuring they are reliable.
Unfortunatly I did not take any before shots prior to today, so some of you may or may not have seen the condition of these machines at Mark C place. Like all these project machines, nothing is impossible and all that is required is a little time and patience and TLC.
One had the biggest ugliest dead spider in it that I had seen.
Anyway to date this is what has been done.
Both machines have had the playfields removed from the cabinets and the cabnets cleaned internally and externally, and yes with Nifiti as Nino does. However I do not go to the trouble Nino does of removing the transformers etc. Nino does a much more thourough job then I and I hope one day to have his patience in this area.
Both machines have had new 240v plugs fitted and with insulated pins for compliance to AS3000.
All playfield plastics and posts were removed and cleaned. Playfields were cleaned thouroughly. I did not remove the protective covering (mylar) and this is still currently in place.
I then started on the electronics and had to fit 8 player displays and 2 ball/credit displays, some of the displays required repair and most re-charging as they were dim. These have been fitted to one machine only at this stage. Then had to repair two CPUs. I have attached a picture of the boards I was working with (eight in total) and swapped components to get two operating. Including swapping a spider chip, these are a pain in the ass to desolder. Anyway have both CPUs somewhat working at this stage. Both still require further repair but from not working at all they at least now function with faults. I have diagnosed the faults and just need to sit down and replace some components . One backbox also required new edge connectors as these were badly corroded so these have been fitted to one machine.
As can be seen one machine is further advanced then the others i.e One has the playfield re-installed, minus the plastics & rubbers, CPU working (with minor display fault).
The other is waiting for me to repair the cabinet that has come apart, probably tackele this between Xmas & New Year.
Have quickly cleaned all surface rust from the exterior of the coin doors and cabinet rails etc on both. Still to buy the rust remover recommended by Nino to tackle some other areas.
One machine I will keep in my collection, the other being done for a freind.
Will keep you posted.
Cheers
Dean
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Can't see any pics Dean.
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Dean - I have about a dozen or so pictures before you bought the games. Do you want me to email them to you, or host them so you can link to them ?
They are just "before" shots"..
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Nino, yes please email them to me and I will post them, they would be good for me to keep anyway, thanks ()
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Nino, yes please email them to me and I will post them, they would be good for me to keep anyway, thanks ()
Emails sent !
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Ok heres some previous pics:
(http://i34.tinypic.com/2ez6wiq.jpg)
Backbox internal previous
(http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ez6wiq&s=4)
Countdown Backbox previous
(http://i37.tinypic.com/15exsf9.jpg)
Playfield previous 1
(http://i34.tinypic.com/z71ue.jpg)
Playfield previous 2
(http://i36.tinypic.com/i5boz5.jpg)
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Great pix :lol
I fixed up the formatting for you Dean - You only need to copy and paste the url between IMG /IMG brackets..
The first picture does not point to anything ?
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And some new pics:
(http://i35.tinypic.com/2d191yx.jpg)
Backbox Now
(http://i34.tinypic.com/2znv0bs.jpg)
Inside Backbox Now
(http://i34.tinypic.com/195eyq.jpg)
MPU repair board, boards & more boards
(http://i35.tinypic.com/16a4kyv.jpg)
Playfield in progress 1
(http://i38.tinypic.com/27zyyiq.jpg)
Playfield in progress 2
(http://i37.tinypic.com/2nrj3o.jpg)
Playfield Today 1
(http://i35.tinypic.com/23hrol3.jpg)
Pin Today
(http://i33.tinypic.com/262wtjt.jpg)
Pin Today
Will load further pics later.
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Looking Good, Dean... #*#
what are your plans ?
Will you be keeping one machine and selling the other ?
The ball arch - Planning on repainting the white area. I was thinking that I would have a go at it if I had this machine..
If the contact (mylar) is anything like the Sinbad - it will come off without any problems. Just in case you choose to go down that path. I would say there is a pristine playfield two hours away !!
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Looking Good, Dean... #*#
what are your plans ?
Will you be keeping one machine and selling the other ?
The ball arch - Planning on repainting the white area. I was thinking that I would have a go at it if I had this machine..
If the contact (mylar) is anything like the Sinbad - it will come off without any problems. Just in case you choose to go down that path. I would say there is a pristine playfield two hours away !!
Nino, only one of the two Countdowns belongs to me. The pics are of the first one I am restoring and is the most advanced and does not belong to me. The other has commenced but I have been spending more time on this one. The one that does not belong to me I assume will be sold by the owner. Between the two of them there were parts missing as such I have removed from one to get this one up and running. I have ordered yesterday new targets for my machine and some metal parts from PBR. I will order some flipper parts from RTBB as these are also missing from under one playfield.
The machine I own will be a keeper, and fully restored over a few years. My aim is to evantually (before I leave this world, buried in a pin cabinet as a coffin, with backbox sticking out of ground and player one score displaying my year of birth and player 2 date of death %.%) is to own all 16 system 1 machines. ONLY 13 to go, dont tell my wife, she recons I have enough pins already *)*. Will evantually remove the mylar as you state. Regarding the ball arch yes, I would like to repaint this, any sugestions on how? Could it be sanded and sprayed from a can or would this look shit? What about poweder coating? Apron is the same, I will talk to PBR and see if they have any aprons or decals as it is these two areas (apron & ball arch) that detract from the machine. Cheers Dean
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Dean,
So it was you that took the plunge on these - a good thing as I'm sure you will go all out.
You ask about repainting the top ball arch - I have always done these with a can and they end up looking awesome. Just sand back to metal, prime and then respray with several light coats of white. Funny with this little arch looking virgin white how fantastic they look when done!
Most importantly is Countdown is one of these best pins from this era - she just rocks.
PBR stock heaps of parts for this game, some examples are:
http://www.pbresource.com/hauntedhouse.html
Keep the restoration and the pix coming and top marks for saving such a classic Gottlieb!
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Apron is the same, I will talk to PBR and see if they have any aprons or decals as it is these two areas (apron & ball arch) that detract from the machine. Cheers Dean
Hi Dean, I asked PBR about aprons last week and they said they didn't have any. Try looking through Daina's Mr Pinball classifieds here http://www.xmission.com/~daina/parts/parts_for_sale.html
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Apron is the same, I will talk to PBR and see if they have any aprons or decals as it is these two areas (apron & ball arch) that detract from the machine. Cheers Dean
Hi Dean, I asked PBR about aprons last week and they said they didn't have any. Try looking through Daina's Mr Pinball classifieds here http://www.xmission.com/~daina/parts/parts_for_sale.html
I *may* have a decal for System 1 - will check later today
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[/quote]I *may* have a decal for System 1 - will check later today[/quote]
Wow that would be great if you do, I have PMed you
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Dean, you seem to be getting your quote tags muddled up in your posts. Can you please check them before posting. When you want to quote something, there needs to be a "quote" tag at the beginning and a matching "/quote" tag on the end.
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Just sent an email to both Steve Young (PBR) and also Donal Murphy (who makes alot of his parts) asking of there has ever been any thought in making reproduction decals for 1960s and 1970s pins
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Coming along nicely... Interesting to note you are using the original boards - and they work ^^^
Just make sure you do the ground mods, and replace connectors if required. The 5V capacitor on the power supply should be replaced. Just my 5c..
The woodgrain sections - I only ever sand down the section near the plunger. I use the end of an old billiard cue and wrap some 320 Grit and then sand the channel. Bit harder up the top. You could sand and then try some lacquer.. I guess Gavin or one of the the others could advise..
The ball arch plate - Hard one - I guess if you are game to do what Tony does - Prime / Paint - it would look great.. The apron would need decals - I feel there could be a viable solution in the future !
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that pf looks like it'll come up real nice!!! Countdown is yet another old fav of mine.
Regarding the top arch.. fairly simple to repaint. I painted the top arches on all of my games that had painted arches. I usually go to Supercheap Auto and buy a spray can each of acrylic primer/filler, acrylic white and a tin of wax & grease remover (prepsol). The prepsol is important for removing contaminants (oil/grease etc) that will cause "fish eyes" in the primer/paint, and to make sure the paint adheres to the metal properly.
I completely strip the old paint from the arch, sand it back smooth with 220 grit paper then wipe it down with prepsol on a rag, followed by a wipedown with a clean dry rag before several light to medium coats of primer.
After the primer is completely dry (allow at least half a day) i lightly sand the primer back smooth with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper (sanding wet, with water) before drying it off completely. Then i wipe it down again with prepsol on a rag followed by a wipe down with a clean rag.
Then its ready for the white paint. 2 or 3 light to medium coats is usually enough, the last coat can be sprayed a little heavier/slower (lay the arch flat and you wont get runs). the heavier coat gives more gloss, if you like /want that look.
Thats the way i do my top arches/aprons etc... hope this info is useful
Cheers... Mitch
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Great Tip, Mitch.. I've never really used Prepsol, so I'll buy a can next time I'm at bunnings.
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Im not sure if Bunnings have Prepsol or not.. if not it,(or its equivalent in another brand name) can be bought, as i said from Supercheap or any good autoparts store. Car spraypainters use it when prepping car panels for paint, i also use it for removing mylar glue from playfields.
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Dean,
A set of NOS plastics turned up today!
Check 'em out: http://cgi.ebay.com/GOTTLIEB-1979-COUNTDOWN-PLAYFIELD-PLASTIC-SET_W0QQitemZ330300774232QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item330300774232&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
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Thanks Tony for pointing that out, appreciated.
The set I have are not broken at all and have cleaned up nicely, so wont be needing them, but thanks anyway for pointing it out as if I needed them I would not have seen them unless you pointed them out.
Cheers Dean
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Looking good dean I really love those blue displays. And thanks for the tips on painting the ball arches mitch only thing i dont do is the prepsol. Ive doen some arches 2 or 3 times till trying to stop the fish eyes