The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => Restorations => Topic started by: Marty Machine on June 28, 2009, 11:31:50 PM
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Hi all,
Here's the "Drop-A-Card" i scored on ebay.....
A lot of AP'ers had interest in it, so i thought i'd share pix and progress as i restore this puppy.
The owners have had it since late 70's, and it's moved between 3 houses as the kids always played it back in the day.
For the past 15 years it's been in their garage, snuggly keeping clean.
The machine hasn't had the beating i was expecting, definately hasn't seen any arcade use!
The seller told me the cabinet was 'dog-bitten'.
I didn't realise how bad this was until looking underneath.
Apparently their border-collie went absolutely mental as soon as the pinny was switched on.
The dog would run along the entire length of the cabinet chewing on it, trying to make it stop the noise....
Attack! Attack!
Looks like the dog was packing some gnarly chompers
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/cab.jpg)
Playfield overall ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/pf-all.jpg)
Headbox front, Quite CLEAN ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/head1.jpg)
Headbox inside, also quite CLEAN ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/head2.jpg)
Coindoor a little rusty ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/coin.jpg)
Playfield UPPER section ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/pf-top.jpg)
Playfield MIDDLE section ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/pf-mid.jpg)
Playfield LOWER section ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/pf-lower.jpg)
Playfield UNDERSIDE - Very CLEAN ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/pf_under.jpg)
Cabinet inside, not too shabby at all, and all relay labels are in place ...
(http://www.retro-riders.com/pix/dac/cab_inner.jpg)
As the seller said, it powers up, a few lights and the odd relay 'click' when you press the credit/start button and that's about it.
Shortly i'll go thru all the relays and see which one(s) are dead.
No doubt a combination of dirty mode switch and/or dead relay will be the culpritt.
Luckily for me, i have 3 'spare' gottlieb 1970's cabinets laying about, looks like i'll migrate the DAC guts into another
cabinet, then repaint accordingly.
Thankfully, the cab-art can be easily reproduced with masking tape and spray can.
Gotta love straight-line art hehehehehe.
Playfield appears to be VERY Clean and unworn, this should clean up nicely!
I'm a bit concerned about the mylar, not sure if i should attack it or leave it.
All suggestions welcome #@#
Since this is my FIRST EM, and i know fudge-all about EM's, any help will be greatly welcomed of what i should look at first.
I guess on EM's there are always certains parts that ALWAYS screw up first.
I'm probably now looking for supplies of EM parts #@#
Enjoy!!
MM.
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First thing to do Marty is manually move the credit wheel by activating the planger by hand then push the start button and see what happens. if the scores are on zero and the score motor keeps running the first thing id check is the Stepper units as if these dont reset either will the game. Good luck and ask as many questions as you need
Looks good except for the dog lol
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Thanx Dan, i'll tinker when possible.
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Nice score, Marty !
That will come up nice when done.
It most likely will not be mylar on the playfield - it should be "contact" - which is a lot thinner and easier to remove.
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Great project. Lots of colour in that backglass. looks excellent ^^^
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Marty that playfied & backglass looks unreal!! I'm really glad you scored it :)
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Thanx Guys for the pos comments, it's all good...
Thanx Nino re: "Contact".
When i remove the contact, should i look towards simply polishing/sealing this playfield with various waxes or clearcoat?? or re-contacting/mylaring it?
Not sure about PF's of this era and what is best for them.
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With regards to the headbox & cabinet....
Is it likely i would just recolour these as WHITE, or a slightly off white? (gottlieb white?)
It's hard to establish if this was snow-white and has discoloured into a beige over time.
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Fantastic Marty, aside from a little Ranex on the door, and some Rabid Dog Repairs, , looks fantastic and will come up a treat!
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Very Nice PF, plastics look like new, BG looks perfect ...top stuff! Funny how the ebay ad failed to mention that a dog ate the bottom of the cabinet out.
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Hey guys, I'm just curious, I've never used Ranex, will it really get that rust off the front door?
Does anyone know where to buy it, is it something you can find at Bunnings?
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The contact should be easy to remove using the hair dryer method - Try a test spot first. Check to see if there is any evidence of wear under the contact. What ops used to do is apply contact or mylar AFTER the machine was on route - now if the playfield sustained wear to the point of flaking (or close to), then removing the contact will remove paint. So you need to be careful.
In most cases - it is easy to remove old mylar off EMs, as the mylar is in fact "contact" and the adhesive is not "sticking" any longer. Having said that - Check a test spot first !
"Gottlieb White" - It is closer to an "off white" - semi gloss. Don't use a flat white unless all the paints you are using are flat AND you wish to clearcoat using a semi gloss.
The base is going to be a bit of an issue for you. The wood is easily obtained at bunnings - but you may have to remove the back panel to do it properly. Removal is easy - but re assembly is difficult without the right tools ! You COULD try using thinner wood, and bending it into the grooves of the sides of the cabinet.
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Fantastic Marty, aside from a little Ranex on the door, and some Rabid Dog Repairs, , looks fantastic and will come up a treat!
Be carefull of Ranex - will remove chrome if it has been rechromed at a later stage.I use metal magic(Bunnings) with 800 wet and dry paper.
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"Gottlieb White" - It is closer to an "off white" - semi gloss.
Hi Nino,
Just chasing this up, do you (or anyone) have a colour code or name for an approximate "gottlieb white".
I figure someone has done this before and has probably found a very close shade of white at bunnings known as "........." ??
Anyone ??
MM.
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Marty,
Good luck with the restoration - Drop A Card is a great game to play. Some real challenging shots to get the top set of cards out.
BTW - I'll get back to you about arranging to pick up the Cleo backglass.
Mark
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No probs Mark, it's all good ^^^
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Fuses Marty, FUSES!
2 of the EM games in my collection I picked up from people as 'not working' and it was a fuse. Given that the thing hasnt seen a game in 10 years, I would say a really good clean of the contacts and coil-sleeves will work wonders. The thing with EM games is they need to be kept 'warm', i.e. they need to be on reasonably frequently and played, to keep things working.
Sandro.
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Thanx for the tips Sandro, i'll probably start digging inside it maybe this Sunday, and even have a crack at the playfield, removing contact etc.......s.l.o.w.l.y...... #@#
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Gottlieb used pure white. It has just yellowed over time. You can see this in those hidden areas on the cabinet that haven't seen any light...like under the side rails. It's a personal choice. Paint it white and let it yellow naturally overtime, rather than fake it.
"Gottlieb White" - It is closer to an "off white" - semi gloss.
Hi Nino,
Just chasing this up, do you (or anyone) have a colour code or name for an approximate "gottlieb white".
I figure someone has done this before and has probably found a very close shade of white at bunnings known as "........." ??
Anyone ??
MM.
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That's initially what i thought, because the white behind the legs is practically SNOW-WHITE....
I wasn't sure if that was gonna be too bright (too loud) to do it Snow-White again, or aim for the slight creamy/beige-white??
Hmmm.
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Marty,
They look fantastic when painted from scratch again.....massive job but well worth it.
It's up to you what shade of white you apply - everybody is different. The last cab I did (Gottlieb Thoro-Bred from 1965) was just off white but compare it to the Happy Clown from 1964 on the left - these games were the same colour once *%*
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Here's my DAC (full re-paint) done in an off-white
(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/Gwind/dropacardb4005.jpg)
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Gee, 2 extremes, a WHITE cab versus a CREAMY cab %$%
I thought that i might use the WHITE in my backglass as the reference white, and match to that, so if the backglass is slightly 'off' then it wont look out of place like it would on a snow-white cab (making the backglass look old in that case)..
I doubt i'll go as far as dribbling the hairline paint streaks on the cab, i'll stick with a basic clean cab %$%
Thanx guys.
MM.
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I doubt i'll go as far as dribbling the hairline paint streaks on the cab, i'll stick with a basic clean cab %$%
Thanx guys.
MM.
If you're going for originality, I'd go with the webbing ( streaks) as thats the way they were from the factory.
IMHO.
cheers Steve.
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Hmmm, webbing is silly heheheheheh ^.^ <.>
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If you're going for originality, I'd go with the webbing ( streaks) as thats the way they were from the factory.
IMHO.
cheers Steve.
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Agree with that. It doesn't have to be excessive. Also consider what stencil method to use: tape down (crisp edge) or not (slightly soft edge). The latter is closest to the original method used.