The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => Restorations => Topic started by: Ford Fairlane on December 27, 2008, 11:00:35 PM
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Hi Everyone!!
Ok im starting a thread on my gulfstream that i picked up a week or 2 ago. This is my first pin ever so obviously very excited about it. Anyway a bit of background, I joined AA a while back because i was an arcade nut. Slowly but surely my interest in pins came back in a big way so i started asking questions on pins. Through people like Tony, i rediscovered my love for the Em's. Sure they make look simpler and dont have all the bells and whistles of the new stuff (they do have chimes though :lol) but they are all unique with rules and lots of stuff to go for. The wife and kids (not to mention myself) cant get off the thing!!! too much fun! Anyway enough of the spiel, here are the shots i took when i first brought it home!
Lower Playfield:
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/PC180625.jpg)
Upper Playfield:
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/PC180626.jpg)
Side:
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/PC180627.jpg)
Front:
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/PC180628.jpg)
Started on the cabinet as the black paint was upsetting me. I saw near the legs that paint had flecked away so i knew there was artwork under there somewhere!! So a bit of "Goof Off" and lots of scratching around, i've started peeling the crap off and here is a progress pic
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/PC220641.jpg)
This is gonna take a long time but im up for it. This pin is gonna get the treatment so i will be asking lots of questions from those of you in the know. The one thing i am terrified of at the moment is the playfield. 1 day i want to rip this sucker out so i can restore it properly. I will obviously need some words around that when the time comes.
List of issues/stuff i wanna tackle
1. Coin mech doesnt work
2. Wanna set it up for free play
3. obviously the cabinet restore
4. Missing a couple of plastics (rollover button and left hand lane guide cover)
5. Other stuff i will list as i tackle
Will keep the posts coming as i slowly progress!!
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Nice one Rob,
Thanks for taking the time to post on your restoration. So what have you done for the past week? :lol Looks like very little %$%
All the issues you mention are very repairable - just take on one at a time.
Will have the rollover button you need in the next few days, as soon as I have it will send.
Cheers
Tony
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Rob - Really pleased you took this project "on". There's really nothing you have there that cannot be addressed by the collective skills and experience of the pinheads here.
The playfield looks very nice for the machine's age, and there's some flaking on the backglass that needs to be arrested. The body can be repaired (if required) and resprayed to original specs.
You will require patience with your restore, but like they say, "Rome was not built in one day" !
Keeps the updates coming.
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hahaha still scratching away at the cabinet but i've got to admit, ive been playing it more than restoring it. Too much fun especially once i learned the rules..
I've just gotta learn to take 1 thing at a time because i even started with the Novus on the playfield. Thanks for looking for the rollover button, my wife was going nuts with the ball always getting stuck in the hole and tilting the machine to get it out. She fixed it with a plastic knobby thing that comes off the end of a water bottle :lol not cool
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Good Stuff, will watch with intrest your progress.
It will be awesome to see it re-painted. I hate it when people paint over the old cabinet artwork. I sold a Roller Disco a few years back, went to do a repair recently and the owner had sprayed it black !!!
Love the fact that you will give this machine a new lease of life.
The playfield looks interesting, looks like a fun game.
Dean
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Good Stuff, will watch with intrest your progress.
It will be awesome to see it re-painted. I hate it when people paint over the old cabinet artwork. I sold a Roller Disco a few years back, went to do a repair recently and the owner had sprayed it black !!!
Love the fact that you will give this machine a new lease of life.
The playfield looks interesting, looks like a fun game.
Dean
i hope you gave the owner a piece of your mind - unbelievable what people do
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Good Stuff, will watch with intrest your progress.
It will be awesome to see it re-painted. I hate it when people paint over the old cabinet artwork. I sold a Roller Disco a few years back, went to do a repair recently and the owner had sprayed it black !!!
Love the fact that you will give this machine a new lease of life.
The playfield looks interesting, looks like a fun game.
Dean
i hope you gave the owner a piece of your mind - unbelievable what people do
I would have walked out in disgust... ^.^ ^.^ ^.^ ^.^
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I cant believe what some people do to these machines regarding repainting them different colours ^.^ ^.^. i've seen some truly horrible "repaints" over the years. 15 yrs ago i almost sold my Abracadabra.. til i found out the guy wanted to repaint the game to suit the decor of his rumpus room... after which i promtly changed my mind!
Sorry for getting off track.. cant wait to see the progress on this game, looks like it'll come up a treat. I love seeing these old gems being restored back to their former glory.
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Hi Guys,
I started on the playfield today.. I used metho and gently rubbed off a lot of the gunk that was caked on it. However, even though i took heaps of crap off it, it still remains dirty and im tooo scared to rub any harder. Whats the next step?
Do i try metho again?
Do i spray it on and leave it overnight? !@#
Do i move to novus?
Do i try magic eraser?
Any other product i should try before i get into magic eraser?
Sorry about all the questions in 1 post but not sure what to do
It does look heaps better though but i want perfection and its not even close :lol
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Rob,
Keep the questions coming - you will find each of us has different ideas - I'm a real fan of ME and Eucalyptus oil, not used at once! The oil first then the ME, then Novis, them some wax!
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Eucalyptus oil? i thought that would strip paint as well. Cool will try it! i mean the metho worked well as it got rid of heaps of crap. i'll move onto the oil now and see how it goes
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Isopropyl Alcohol (Bunnings) and Magic Eraser (Supermarket) - especially if there is "ball swirl".
You could try a spot with ME and then another with Novus 2.
don't leave ANYTHING on a playfield overnight.
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Isopropyl Alcohol (Bunnings) and Magic Eraser (Supermarket) - especially if there is "ball swirl".
You could try a spot with ME and then another with Novus 2.
don't leave ANYTHING on a playfield overnight.
Would go even further by not leaving anything on the playfield longer that 5 minutes
Also be real careful with ME - don't just keep rubbing as they do have the habit of taking the 'gloss' of your playfield!
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Isopropyl Alcohol (Bunnings) and Magic Eraser (Supermarket) - especially if there is "ball swirl".
You could try a spot with ME and then another with Novus 2.
don't leave ANYTHING on a playfield overnight.
Would go even further by not leaving anything on the playfield longer that 5 minutes
Also be real careful with ME - don't just keep rubbing as they do have the habit of taking the 'gloss' of your playfield!
Especially EMs...
EMs didn't have a clearcoat - they had a varnish - which is well worn by now - so you need to be gentle.
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Isopropyl Alcohol (Bunnings) and Magic Eraser (Supermarket) - especially if there is "ball swirl".
You could try a spot with ME and then another with Novus 2.
don't leave ANYTHING on a playfield overnight.
Would go even further by not leaving anything on the playfield longer that 5 minutes
Also be real careful with ME - don't just keep rubbing as they do have the habit of taking the 'gloss' of your playfield!
Especially EMs...
EMs didn't have a clearcoat - they had a varnish - which is well worn by now - so you need to be gentle.
Too right....treat it like a virgin....take you time. &&
Oh I really need to hit the sack!
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Thanks for the tips guys!! I've already got eucalyptus oil so i'll get some isopropyl and see which works better. Lots of chips off the paint under the grime (i looked close before i started cleaning) so will need to touch up as well. Will be the start of many more questions im sure :lol
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Tony,
Thats 3 posts saying youi are going to bed - ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Bet you are still here reading this!
To answer the question.
meths with ME works a treat, but as said before BE CAREFUL!!! If you feel any drag wahtsoever STOP!
get a new piece of ME and try agian - the drag means you are rubbing varnish or paint off
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Thanks for the tips guys!! I've already got eucalyptus oil so i'll get some isopropyl and see which works better. Lots of chips off the paint under the grime (i looked close before i started cleaning) so will need to touch up as well. Will be the start of many more questions im sure :lol
Post some pictures if you can, Rob - Just to see that thing are going ok ?
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Alrighty then!
Had a go with the isopropyl wetting the magic eraser trick (lower playfield so far) and came up with the following. Not too shabby i think? The only problem with it is that when it had grime, you could hardly see the paint chips, now they stick out like dogs ball (cant see them well in the photo). Oh well, a few more hours of this and i might have something to touch up!!!
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/PC310677.jpg)
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Its looking very good! Slow and steady wins the race here.....Don't rush with the paint...Matching is very important. When I did my T2, I mixed the paint then applied to a clear sheet (like you used for overhead projectors at school), waited for it to dry (with hairdryer so other mixed paint didn't) to check match...
Are you removing the playfield plastics etc as well? Probably worth cleaning the whole thing....IF so take heaps and heaps then heaps of photos, each post (if different) I label with masking tape then into glad bag for each part...
Looking good! No rush...
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I think that looks great Rob - how was it before you started ?
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Yep will keep posting if you guys dont mind. It helps me keep a record too so its good for posterity sakes anyway :lol
And marty yep i will definately be taking the playfield parts off cause im finding it to hard to claen around them.
check out my first post, it will show the filthy filthy playfield on the first photo, the before shot if you like!!
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Gee Rob,
That looks awesome!
Keep the pix coming mate - we all enjoy them.
The main thing is you are making progress everyday on your game, so imagine what it will be like in a few months time.
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Now that colour you have there is outstanding!!!!
Now what about those tiny paint chips??
They are so small, id be inclined to just leave em be, unless its a real easy colour to match.
Only problem you will have is that they are right in the ;line of the ball from the fl;ippers and so will get larger the more you play.
As a temporary measure you can seal the edges with clear nail varnish or even super glue. Only a very thin coat along the edges is required to prevent the wear from progressing. When you do come to touch these up, both products will just wipe off in one wipe with acetone on a rag - remember..one wipe, dont go eating the paint also. A cotton bud squeezed of excess is a better option
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Yep will keep posting if you guys dont mind. It helps me keep a record too so its good for posterity sakes anyway :lol
And marty yep i will definately be taking the playfield parts off cause im finding it to hard to claen around them.
check out my first post, it will show the filthy filthy playfield on the first photo, the before shot if you like!!
"If we don't mind.." %.%
I encourage you to post as many questions as you like.. I have a feeling that with a bit of patience, this machine is going to have the attention and the results it deserves !
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Early days but i cant stop thinking about stuff i have to do a few steps ahead. Anyway, i was wondering if there is a resource (web page etc) that outlines the colors used on the playfields. It seems that many pinnies share the same playfield colours so am wondering if such a page exists. I know i can buy Pantone colour charts but dont want to spend the couple of hundred dollars?
!@#
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Further to my last post, i went to Bunnings with the brilliant brave wave idea that i would grab ALL the colour swatches off the wall to see if i can take them home and match my playfield colours. Of course it didnt work. It seems people dont like playfield colourson their housewalls ...
So still looking for a way to match the colours any ideas... Anyway, i decided i'd give the other side of may cabinet a scratch to today with pleasing results. I managed to find all the artwork under there. I was much more successful on this side of the cabinet (the other side pic should be in my first post) and i attribute that to the fact id dint use any "goof off" to aid with the removal. When i used goof off, it seemed to soften too much of the paint, undercoat AND artwork. This time i just scratched with a 50c coin.
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/P1020679.jpg)
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Great Update !
Looks like the Gulfstream is getting a good work out !
Both on the restoration side of things and playing !
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The deeper i get into this hobby, the more frustrated and happy i am :lol... my latest saga (sorry i only provide problems not solutions :lol) is the playfield on the Gulfstream. Colour matching is not my forte to say the least.
The first thing i tried is to mix water based acrylics.. I'm finding it almost impossible to do due to the dry time and the fact that it dries darker. So when i thought i was close i dabbed a small amount of a close mix onto the playfield and worked it into the numerous chipouts. Stood out like dogsballs!! And when i cleaned the playfield up the paint came along with it. Now my playfield is covered in chip outs so this method wont do at all..
I've decided on stripping back the whole playfield, making up some sort of stencil and respraying the playfield in enamels. So now i've had a go on photoshop to see if i can come up with a colour thats close enough (no longer critical to get the paint exact as i will repaint everything) and flicked through the Pantone library that comes with PS2.. The closest Pantone colour i could find was 3255C (solid coated) but even this isnt really close. So then i played with the RGB and came out with rgb : 50:255:235 which is not bad.. But the problem with that is that i dont have a colour calibrated monitor so it doesnt really sho true colour anyway *.*
So some questions (so many of them already..)
1. Can any paint stores make up a colour if i told them the rgb value?
2. what can i make the stencil out of?
3. how do i cut sections out of it that i want to paint without ruining the playfield with cuts
4. Where can i go to see the largest colour range ? Automotive ?
5. Should i just give up and decal the whole thing?
6. Am i a fool ... Oh wait i know the answer to that one already &^&
Thanks guys!!
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Hi Guys, very small update and a thanks. A big thanks to Spurr who for a couple of bucks gave me a playfield for the gulfstream (not to mention all the plastics that went with it)as well as a headbox with original artwork. Playfields a little rough but i think it will make the perfect practice piece for a newb like me. Thanks again Mark!!!
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/P1270742.jpg)
(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/rgajic/P1270743.jpg)
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Geez how lucky are you? How good can this hobby be when a bit of luck like that falls your way. Thumbs up to SPURR. ^^^ Well done mate.
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I gotta agree - thats an awesome gesture from Spurr, but i cant help wincing when you are talking about completely respraying the PF - from what ive seen, it doesnt need it.
Heres an offer;
How well does the paint on the spare PF match that of the one you want to keep? Depending on what condition the pin was kept in - the finish on it will be a slightly different shade of yellowing ( due to linseed based finishes).
If the match is good - chip a piece off the spare, send it to me and ill post you a small Humbrol type tin of the matched colour. That way you can do the touch ups necessary and retain what looks to me like a very nice PF anyway
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Geez, nice offer Gavin!
If I send you a chip off a playfield, can you just send me a whole playfield back? :lol
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I gotta agree - thats an awesome gesture from Spurr, but i cant help wincing when you are talking about completely respraying the PF - from what ive seen, it doesnt need it.
Heres an offer;
How well does the paint on the spare PF match that of the one you want to keep? Depending on what condition the pin was kept in - the finish on it will be a slightly different shade of yellowing ( due to linseed based finishes).
If the match is good - chip a piece off the spare, send it to me and ill post you a small Humbrol type tin of the matched colour. That way you can do the touch ups necessary and retain what looks to me like a very nice PF anyway
When i say a restore, i dont want to strip all the paint and start again. But it will give me an opportunity to practice some techniques that i read about in your resto threads. Cleaning, filling touching up etc. There are a few spots besides the obvious wear that i can work on. Like for instance around the inserts where they have been bashed out and its taken wood splinters/chunks with it.
And Gav what a great offer!!!! the insert chipping away is a perfect opportunity to send some over as the colour matches look good so far. Will know better when i clean all the gunk off the new playfield.
Thanks Guys!!!
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LOL- is no problem really - will take 10 mins to match the colour by hand - there will be no more than 3 base colours to it. Ill match it to my Pantones, buy some Humbrol tins and mix them all together to the correct shade.
if its a touch up then my trick with the hole in the paper and spray Poly/thane will fix the paint solid and youll never notice it.
There is nothing better ( as a restorer) than having mates round and playing "spot the touch up" on a PF - if they cant find it - you did a good job
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hold on a sec :lol, i thought i read more than ive read in a lifetime but i dont know what you mean by "my trick with the hole in the paper and spray Poly/thane" thing. Ive gotta find that one.. By the way i tried color matching myself using acrylics ::) and of course got it close only to find that it dried darker ( i was warned but persisted anyway). lot of green here, little blue there, little white here etc. Haven't tried with enamels but maybe with a little patience i might be able to get it. at least it wont darken on me
I'm one of those strange bastards that begs for help and then insist on trying it myself. So apologies for the mixed signals when i say yeeehhaaa to a small colour matched tin and then wanting to try it myself as well..
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Ok - send me the chip of paint and ill tell you how much of one colour to how much of another to mix together.
The FINAL amount is done by eye - i could only guide you with this.
But if i gave you the 2 colours either side of your colour ( pantone always works like this) then youd get a good idea of where you need to be with the mixing.
And yes - acrylics suck for matching and will take you ages to get right - enamels will not darken as they dry
Ok - the hole in the paper trick.
You have a small area of PF that you have touched up - you need to seal and protect this.
Gloss polyurathane works a treat - is hard wearing, comes in a spray can for $7 and is slightly yellowing - so adds to the authenticity of the restore.
Allow paint to dry and then a quick wipe over with meths to remove any grease etc. If the touch up area is about 20mm or so cut this size hole in a piece of paper.
get your can of spray in one hand ready to fire. Hold the paper approx 60 -100mm above the pf directly over the restored area.
Now LIGHTLY spray the paper where the hole is in short squirts- do not concentrate on the hole in it, pretend its not there.
What happens is the spray goes through the hole and diffuses out blending perfectly to the rest of the pf.
Very light sprays are the go - maybe several of them.
it saves all the masking off etc and leaves no lines whatsoever where the polyurathane has met the PF.
Guarantee that you will not see your new finish against the old.
REALLY simple and bloody effective!
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Hi Ford Fairlane,
I know its off the subject but hows youre Pro Football tilt problem going or are you concentrating on your Gulfsream resto.
Millsy
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no longer a tilt issue fortunately. my only issue beside score reel which i need to throw a coil on, is the lack of scoring until i hit the vari-target. Checked switches on the motor which wasnt closing right as well as having a "fiddle" with s and tilt relays and that got me passed the tilt issue.
I know you had a tilt issue and i assume you checked the opening and closing of all switches, especially motor ? Especially motor as i found this to be badly pitted (1c inner most on mine)
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Worked out someone had bypassed the tilt relay I think with a resistor -replaced & ok -everything works now except game over/ball number illumination flickers on & off - tapp relay with stick & flickers so removed relay & it fell apart so I am looking for a new one (refer marco post) This relay is the same as the tilt relay so will solve both problems.
As you are probably aware now,these problems help us to see how these old ems work-amazing.
Millsy
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Hi there! Hopefully a quick question. On my gulfstream i have never been able to light the pop bumpers for 1000 points. When i take the glass off and i hit the yellow targets near the bumpers, it lights the bumpers but when i let go of the switch, the lights go out. I would have thought that it should stay on for a while to give me an opportunity to hit some 1000 pointers.
Any advice on what sequence etc i need to get the light to stay on for a while?
Cheers!
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Had a similar problem on my APOLLO. There are 4 bumpers and they alternate in pairs as to what is lit. I had to follow the wires from the bumper lights to find the relay to get any of them to light up