The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => Restorations => Topic started by: Steve2010 on January 31, 2014, 01:00:44 AM
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Well, it’s been quite a long while since I posted my last (and first) full restoration, which was the Bally Delta Queen (http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=7325.0 (http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=7325.0)) back in 2012.
Since that time, I have now fully restored a further four machines over the last 16 months or so, and it’s overdue to put some of this stuff on the forum.
My involvement with pinball has been an interesting journey so far. “Re-introduced” to pins back in 2010 (since last playing them in my youth of the 70’s and 80’s), I was of course first consumed with really mostly playing them (and of course inevitably fixing them). But the longer I looked at them, the lure of getting deeper into restorations was inviting.
With the Delta Queen, I initially had no intention of ever, ever doing a full restore, meaning to me including restoration of the cabinet artwork. I said to myself, no way, respraying seems too much work. But the longer I looked at the Delta Queen and the state of the cabinet, I inched closer to doing it. And there’s been no looking back since the completion of that.
After the Delta Queen I next worked on a Six Million Dollar Man, which you may have seen recently posted for sale (and is now sold). I was going to provide a full restoration thread on that machine, but have decided to give it a miss and jump to the next machine. Before moving to that, I will say that the Six Million Dollar Man involved a full restencilling of the backbox with a touchup of the main cabinet. But it was also the first time I tackled a playfield swap, which I really enjoyed.
OK, third machine up is this Bally Star Trek.
The cabinet was well and truly faded from the years, and you will see alot of Star Trek cabinets with fading. Rarely do the original colours stand the test of time on this title. The left side of the main cabinet was in very good condition for its age, but the front and right sides were woeful. Significant difference in fade between left and right sides.
The backbox was really scuffed up, but the artwork not too bad.
The playfield was pretty good, it did have wear (mostly in the upper part of the playfield), but I was very fortunate to source a NOS one, so a playfield swap was on the cards. Lastly, the backglass was superb, and I was really happy with this because this run of glass can typically have lifting of paint. I would rate the BG on this one pretty much a 10/10.
Here are some initial images of the machine. I had forgotten to capture some images of the whole machine prior to dismantling it, so these show the machine components just prior to commencement of restoration.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST5_zps9de0ad51.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST4_zps0b2e5555.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST3_zpsd7963b55.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST9_zps9a7181c9.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST6_zps5613ba7c.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST8_zps57a48fac.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST7_zpsf25d0895.jpg)
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I love seeing these resto pics, keep us posted.
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Sounds like a good choice for a restoration. It will good to see how it turns out.
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Is that the original PF?? if so.. for a Bally Star Trek this has MINIMAL wear... should see mine it has a large part of the Enterprise worn away like so many others.
Inserts straight up the middle tend to sink a bit and create a little step for the ball to rub on.. add a few years and a lot of paint gets chipped away.
Nice machine and a very good starting point
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I love it all these new jobs going at the moment. I haven't tackled one from this era yet! Projects are getting harder to source.
I need to learn more about cabinet paint and am looking forward to updates. ^^^
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Great player and a fantastic base for a restoration !
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4 resto's in 16 months .. WOW ..
I did 4 over 2 years and then had to take an extended break from it , only recently started on another project .
If your 6MDM is anything to go by, your Star Trek is going to look great ^^^
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Is that the original PF?? if so.. for a Bally Star Trek this has MINIMAL wear... should see mine it has a large part of the Enterprise worn away like so many others.
Yes, that is the original PF. But once you see the NOS one (which will appear in this thread), I guess I just wanted the PF to be the best along with the cabinet.
Now begins the fun of the cabinet restoration. On one hand I really enjoy this, because I know the end result will be really good. On the other hand, it is a long and very enduring time. If you want to restore cabs (as in sand back and respray), then be prepared for alot of work!
After creating the previous Delta Queen stencils myself, I really at first did not want to create any more stencils if I didn’t need to. So I began to look around on the net as to what was available. I ended up purchasing 3 sets of stencils from Classic Arcades in the US – for Six Million Dollar Man, this Star Trek, and an upcoming Power Play.
To make a long story short, the stencils in my opinion were a waste of time. Once they were delivered, I looked them over and found significant errors as compared to the original artwork. In some examples, shapes were completely and utterly wrong. I didn’t use them and I sent all of the stencils back to Jeff at Classic Arcades, but that took a few months to eventually get my refund. I would caution anyone first if you are planning on using these stencils, and Jeff is pretty much at the bottom for any communication whatsoever.
So ……. it was back to creating the stencil set myself. I do feel at the end of the day if you want it done right, then do it yourself if you are up to it. I believe stencils should attempt to reproduce the original artwork with 100% aim of recreating original. Creating stencils is a long, long process. As I covered in the Delta Queen restoration, I used Reynolds freezer paper. First is tracing all of the artwork on the paper. This was very challenging for the backbox, because the yellow and orange perimeters did not contrast well (with the blue background) as seen through the paper when tracing. It took more time than I had expected. Tracing the orange on the main cabinet was slot easier (as it showed a better contrast against the yellow), and the blue was very easy.
After completing the stencils, focus was then on the physical restoration of the cabinet. First the backbox.
I use Minwax wood filler, and then sand back. I have found in my experience that it is not really necessary to sand the paint back to bare timber. Yes, probably would maximize a better “grip” for the primer coat that will go down, but just saying through my experience that sanding it back to what you see in the images below has worked for me.
The images below show the backbox after applying the wood filler.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST10_zpsbdd1b016.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST11_zps2a34fd98.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST12_zpsd53d3c76.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST13_zps375004e2.jpg)
And these images show after sanding.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST14_zps27f36144.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST15_zps669b6083.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST16_zpsfb0fcd07.jpg)
With the backbox now sanded smooth, I was ready to apply the primer followed by the base colour. I use acrylic lacquers for paints (spray cans), and it is great as it goes on smooth and is touch dry within 10 minutes.
Here’s after the base colour was applied. So nice and vibrant is the blue colour.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST17_zpsf1782330.jpg)
After applying paint (or primer), I usually leave it alone for at least 5-7 days to be on the safe side. OK, next was applying the stencils for the next colour (yellow). Here you see the stencil, which is adhered to the side with Krylon easy tack.
As I covered in the Delta Queen restoration, I found spraying the adhesive on the paper side of the freezer paper worked better (upon removal of the stencil) than spraying on the plastic side. Much cleaner in the removal process.
Also, before I spray the paper side of the freezer paper, I first create effectively what I would call a spray mask and place this on top of the stencil before spraying. I didn’t capture an image of this (which would have helped you to visualize what I mean), but it is many sheets of A4 paper taped together (side by side) big enough to cover the entire stencil. And this paper is cutout (following the artwork perimeters) so that I end up spraying only the perimeter (about a 1cm width) of what needs to stick down to the cabinet. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, but in effect I am minimising of where the adhesive really needs to go, rather than blanketing the whole side of the stencil.
After spraying the stencil, I usually let it sit for about one hour before applying to the cabinet. It says that the spray will be touch dry after 3 hours.
In the case of the images below, I actually ran out of yellow paint (I thought I would have enough, damn!) during the spraying. I had to wait another 2 days until I got some more, and removing the stencil this time did take more effort.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST18_zps6ea5dbc9.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST19_zpsa7511392.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST20_zps28af1824.jpg)
And here are the results. I was really, really happy with the outcome. And by the way, no, it does not come out this way after removing the stencils. There is usually always some degree of paint bleed along the perimeter, so touchups are usually required after. From a distance, you would not know they have been touched up. But up really close you would see some of the effects of touchup.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST21_zps9cb33cc4.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST22_zps5601577a.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST23_zpse7b7cbee.jpg)
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Wow, that backglass is super nice. Keep up the good work!
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That backglass is in great conditon Steve . ^^^
Yes, a full cab repaint is a LOT of work but always worth the effort .
This thread has inspired me to do the hard yards and respray my Black Hole which really does need doing .
Think I will get it running 1st and play it for a while though !@#.
On my other restores (which have all included cab repaints and full mechanical rebuild .. all were EM's), I have done all the work before playing even one ball .. LOL
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Nice job with the paint and stenciling Steve ^^^ ^^^
After reading how you hold your stencils down with Krylon Easy-tack i think i'm gonna buy some a do a little experimenting myself with it *%* *%*
Do you have any issues with it sticking to the paint and having to be removed after the stencil is taken off??
I also like your idea of the 'spray mask' for spraying the Easy-tack onto the stencils ^^^
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Great work there, I'm looking forward to the next up date. ^^^
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Great job there mate
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Repaint looks great! I always have trouble getting started, but once I get going I really enjoy the process.
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Great work. Stencils are so unforgiving!
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Looking good Steve !
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Thanks for the comments and kind words guys.
Do you have any issues with it sticking to the paint and having to be removed after the stencil is taken off??
Sometimes yes. I let the paint dry before I remove the stencil, and using the lacquers I can usually do this about 10-15 minutes after painting. Most of the times the stencil comes off nicely, but sometimes there can be some residue left. If that's the case, I let the paintwork really dry out for at least 3+ days (a week is even better), then use some of that citrus cleaner stuff (De-Solv-It) to remove the residue. A bit of work, but comes off very, very easily.
With the backbox complete, it was time to focus on the main cabinet. The image below shows the translucent nature of the freezer paper. Even as this image was taken from a distance and with ambient lighting, you can still easily see the original artwork through it for tracing purposes.
When I do trace, I usually use a bright incandescent lamp nearby to illuminate the area for ease of seeing the artwork below to maximise my ability to see it.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST24_zpse87eb1cb.jpg)
Below is the completion of the cut stencil. I trace artwork once on one piece paper. When that is finished, I place that paper together with another blank sheet of freezer paper back to back, and tape them against a large MDF board. I then use a sharp xacto knife to cut out the artwork. With one cut, both stencils are created for the left and right sides of the cabinet. The freezer paper is extremely easy to work with in terms of cutting it. The laborious part is the time put into the tracing and the cutting needed to complete the 10 stencils.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST25_zps90f11c5f.jpg)
The cabinet complete. I also give the cabinet neck (I think that’s what it’s called) a fresh paint of satin black.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST28_zps9adc2525.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST27_zps5fb8dc55.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST26_zpse1d78423.jpg)
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WOW... VERY nice indeed @@* @@*
And thanks for your reply re removing any residue left by the Easy-Tack ^^^
I have a can on order and will do a few experiments with it when it arrives *%*
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As I mentioned earlier, I was very fortunate to source a NOS playfield. Here it is …..
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST29_zpsc9794a85.jpg)
It is in excellent condition, no warping and the surface was very smooth to begin with. I begin by first applying the thumper bumper mylar rings, and now is then an excellent time to wax the playfield. I put two coats of wax on.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST30_zps5b7adc34.jpg)
With the original playfield removed from the cabinet, the playfield swap commences. I decided, as I have done now on all my playfield swaps, to retain the original illumination wire. I did a bit of web searching on this, and found enough evidence (at least on the web) that using the original braid is just fine. I see people from time to time refer to this as “ground” braid, but this is incorrect. For the switched illumination braid, the braid of course is +5V, and the grounding is done by the shielded wire connected to the light.
Anyway, back to the restore. The upside to re-using the braid is minimal work since no re-soldering of braid to sockets is needed (as well as the laying of new braid). The potential downside is losing some current due to damaged braid, as well as dealing with those lovely 30+ year old Bally sockets that tend to be intermittent. My experience was that I had to solder a few parts of the braid to restore continuity of a few strands, and if a lamp socket was dodgy I simply replaced it. I have now done 4 playfield swaps (yes, more restoration threads to document on the forum), but having played these machines and operated them since then, I can say I am more than happy with the lamp operation and really don’t see a need to replace the braid – just my experience.
I remove all the braid staples with a small chisel, and all the screws holding down everything come out. I use masking tape to tape the wire harness clamps and their screws to the wire harness – this maintains the same position of the clamps on the new playfield.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST31_zps3637a63b.jpg)
Before transferring over to the new playfield, the new playfield has all of its new tee nuts installed. Here are the two playfields just before transfer.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST32_zps2476dae4.jpg)
Once everything is free to move on the original playfield, I begin the process of slowly inserting a large, playfield-size piece of cardboard at one side of the playfield. This is pushed slowly across the playfield, and it is an iterative process of pushing a bit, placing some of the under-playfield components on top of the cardboard, pushing it a bit again, place some more components, etc, etc. All until the entire under-playfield components are sitting on the cardboard, as per the following image.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST33_zps1773b24b.jpg)
The new playfield is then placed next to the cardboard, and it is quite easy to literally slide all of this onto the top of the underside of the new playfield.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST34_zps139e45a7.jpg)
Now begins the task of fastening everything down to the new playfield. The wooden playfield rails were resprayed with a fresh coat of paint, and fastened onto the playfield. Here are the two playfield side by side.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST35_zps6c2606cc.jpg)
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I cant believe you cut a STERN box up... what if you wanted to look at it again or even repack your STERN machine to relive the NIB moment??... Crazy stuff Steve..
Aside from that... transfer is looking pretty good. Believe it or not, ive never done a PF swap.. I do have one to do for Capt Fant ( when I can get to it in the shed) so am picking up tips as I go through your thread.
NOS playfield??? Wow-- that is a rare find and how good does it look?
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I cant believe you cut a STERN box up... what if you wanted to look at it again or even repack your STERN machine to relive the NIB moment??... Crazy stuff Steve..
Hey Gav, the stern cardboard was from the packing material for a machine I received. So, I have never had the "joy" of unpacking an NIB machine. Somehow me thinks a Stern and I will never cross paths ...... wrong era for me.
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I cant believe you cut a STERN box up... what if you wanted to look at it again or even repack your STERN machine to relive the NIB moment??... Crazy stuff Steve..
Hey Gav, the stern cardboard was from the packing material for a machine I received. So, I have never had the "joy" of unpacking an NIB machine. Somehow me thinks a Stern and I will never cross paths ...... wrong era for me.
Phew!!!.. ultimate sin in some circles && &&
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Here is the final installment of this resto. I didn’t cover every aspect with accompanying images, but here goes.
The apron was in pretty good condition, but was missing a bit of paint, and the shooter gauge was wrong for Star Trek (I believe this is a shooter gauge from Kiss. So I decided to redo it with a Pinrescue apron decal (those guys are a great asset to the hobby!). Here are the apron and shooter gauge in their original state.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST36_zpsda2558d2.jpg)
They were sanded backed, primed, and sprayed and left to cure for a number of days. Then the decals applied. Very happy with the outcome – forgot to take an image of the after effect of just the apron, but the following image will suffice.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST37_zps389e54d9.jpg)
The following images cover the playfield itself. Lots of new parts – all plastic pop bumper parts, posts, post caps, slingshot kicker heads, flippers (and complete flipper rebuilds), drop targets, standup targets, star rollovers, lane guides, flipper buttons, locks, leg bolts, etc.
I did purchase replacement playfield plastics from CPR, but in my opinion the colours of the CPR set were way off original and decided not to install these. The original set did have some broken plastics, but I was fortunate to source a second original set to make a complete set.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST38_zps4c891741.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST39_zps4ee82b65.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST40_zps87c21f91.jpg)
The following image shows a comparison of a NOS plastic and the CPR one (this image is from a thread on Pinside - http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/announce-star-trek-backglass-now-available-at-cpr#post-745086 (http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/announce-star-trek-backglass-now-available-at-cpr#post-745086)). The blue in the CPR plastic was just too dark compared to the blue in the NOS playfield (and the reds were too dark as well). Whilst I didn’t have NOS plastics, the ones I did have were very nice and very much complimented the colours in the playfield.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/Plastics_zps5109c614.jpg)
And following are images of the completed machine.
Legs were sanded backed, primed with etch primer, and painted gun metal grey.
Siderails of cabinet were regrained using scotchbrite, with new nails installed. I can tell you how fun it is removing the old, rusty nails from the siderails. Sometimes you can get them all out within an hour or so. But if they are really rusty, the heads usually just break off and make more work for you. For me there is never a choice, the old nails have to go. Plus once the siderails are removed, this provides a real opportunity to clean it up and regrain it.
That will do it. A heck of a lot of work, but I am very happy with the result. A joy to look at, but better yet, alot of fun to play.
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST41_zpsd6944054.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST42_zpsfb6b8a28.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST43_zpse704ffe8.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST44_zpsec0941a6.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST45_zpsf2c8e3be.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST46_zps9c66d5b2.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST47_zps0e0f9338.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST48_zps8160a4f9.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST49_zps7a3ece13.jpg)
(http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/Steve2010A/Star%20Trek%20Restoration/ST50_zpsfa10f00d.jpg)
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And the correct legs I think. I'm trying to learn all the nuances as I go along.
Look fantastic and you should be proud.
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Very Nice work, Steve.
Regarding the plastics, that is indeed strange. I had 6 Star Treks lined up in the storage building and one of them had a set of VERY dark plastics. Not just one, but the entire set. I assumed that they were a proto set of plastics, although the game had nothing else to suggest it was a proto.
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Superrb result there Steve ^^^.
Wish it was mine
Cheers
Dave
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Looks sensational... Very very nice Star Trek you have there!
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Almost a shame to play it! looks really crispy dude, nice thread.
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One of the best Star Treks in Australia, excellent work there.
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Thanks for the kind words guys.