Author Topic: Stern Dracula restore  (Read 6870 times)

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Offline tonyt

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #75 on: February 01, 2009, 10:04:46 PM »
Great work and thanks for the tip, one problem solved

Some of the post holes had stripped out so I had to fill some of the post holes prior to refitting. I used toothpicks for this, cutting them and tapping them into the holes with a small hammer (and using some wood glue on them as well). I let these dry overnight before fitting the posts.


Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #76 on: February 01, 2009, 11:32:02 PM »

Sensational, Mitch - Looks like a Repro playfield - it is that good !
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Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #77 on: February 13, 2009, 05:50:53 PM »
Not much left to do now on this PF… I spent some time rebuilding the drop target banks, removing them from the PF, and completely dismantling, cleaning and redoing the markings on the target faces. I made decals to do this, I already had scanned images from my Lectronamo restore targets, all I had to do was change the colours in photoshop as necessary, and print the images onto self adhesive label.

The 1st pic shows the label material I used, I bought this from Kmart. It costs about $10 per pack of four A4 size sheets. I’ll use this for all of the decals, plastics and for the apron art. Also shown is the printed art for one of the plastics I have to remake.

As mentioned I completely dismantled the drop target banks.. I did one bank at a time, so I could use the other as a guide as to how it all went back together, lol. Once disassembled I cleaned everything up with Nifti to get most of the grease and crap off, and used a clean and strip disc in my drill (bought from Supercheap Auto) for the really stubborn marks. These discs are awesome for stripping paint and surface rust off metal (its what they’re made for). See the apron restore (next post) for a pic of the disc next to the stripped apron. Once the metal was cleaned, rather than paint the metal I simply gave them a going over with RE-PO paint doctor (this contains wax and should help reduce the possibility of corrosion) before reassembly.

2nd 3rd and 4th pics show the reassembled drop target banks.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2009, 06:04:17 PM by Mr Pinbologist »

Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #78 on: February 13, 2009, 05:59:03 PM »
Apron Restore:

1st pic shows the decals I made. Once again I already had the scanned and edited images on my PC from my previously done Stingray and Lectronamo restores. I actually had a couple of stuff ups doing this apron, firstly I messed up the paintwork and had to strip it and start all over again, then I realized after checking flyer images for this game that the red and blue are actually swapped on Dracula than what they are for Stingray and Lectronamo, ie the red bits should be blue and vice versa. No drama normally, as I could fix it in Photoshop, but I’d already printed the decals! So that wasted two sheets of decal and some printer ink. Then when I had THAT sorted, one of the decals went on crooked.. AAARGH!!

Anyhow now that’s out of my system..lol, I’ll get on with it.

Firstly I stripped all of the black enamel paint that some tool had plastered all over the apron and shooter gauge… why do people DO things like that?? Anyway the clean n strip disc made short work of it (2nd pic). Once all of the paint was off I prepped the apron for primer, wiping it down with Prepsol and rag before giving it several coats of acrylic primer.

I allowed that to dry overnight then sanded the primer back smooth with 400 grit wet/dry paper (sanded wet with water), dried it off and wiped it down with Prepsol again before giving it several coats of acrylic white. After the white had dried overnight, I gave it a sand back with 1200 grit wet/dry (sanded wet again) to get the surface nice n flat, and to give the clearcoat I intended to put over it something to adhere to.

Next I applied the decals.. you only get ONE go at this, so it has to be lined up perfectly first time! I cut out some black cardboard to fit into the instruction card recesses, (to show thru the white decal backing paper.. hopefully! so I could align the blue instruction card surrounds to the black cardboard. It was difficult to see but it worked out ok. I usually peel back the backing paper about 20 –30mm or so on one end (the middle in this case) line it up and stick that down, then reach under and peel the backing off while smoothing the decal down from the top side as I pull the backing paper off, this reduces the chances of air bubbles in the decal.

When I did this the left side went down real well, but the right side I didn’t align it properly so I had to pull it up and start again! Luckily the second attempt went much better, as I was running out of printer ink..lol. once the decals were on, I trimmed the edges carefully with a craft knife and burnished it all down nice n hard by placing a sheet of white paper over the decals and rubbing it down firmly using the back of a table spoon.

After that I gave the whole lot a few coats of acrylic clearcoat. This was done for added protection for the decals, incase they get wet.. anything liquid.. water, cleaning products etc will make the inks run otherwise. The first couple of coats I sprayed on light, so as to minimize the chance of making the inks run. I let them dry between coats before giving it a final “wet” coat.
The ball shooter gauge copped the same treatment, I had to remove and scan one from one of my other Stern games to get the artwork because this one had been painted black…

Just some plastics to remanufacture now and its done! #*#
 

oops.. used the wrong pic for the decals (first pic) @.@ that was the first (incorrect) lot i made, but you get the idea..
« Last Edit: February 13, 2009, 07:26:03 PM by Mr Pinbologist »

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #79 on: February 13, 2009, 06:37:17 PM »


Coming together nicely, Mitch. I still can't believe that it is the same playfield  @@*

One question - The plastics are slightly warped - do you plan to flatten them  !@#

The apron looks new and this makes a HUGE difference at the end of the journey.

 $#$
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Offline tonyt

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #80 on: February 13, 2009, 06:55:36 PM »
Mitch,
Great job with that apron, has come up really nice, so has the playfield

Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #81 on: February 13, 2009, 06:59:30 PM »


Coming together nicely, Mitch. I still can't believe that it is the same playfield  @@*

One question - The plastics are slightly warped - do you plan to flatten them  !@#

The apron looks new and this makes a HUGE difference at the end of the journey.

 $#$

Yeah i'll flatten all of the plastics. Are you referring to the one over the drop targets? that pic makes it look worse than it really is due to the camera angle and the shape of the plastic... i've had one go at straightening it, it was no where near as bad as some i've had to deal with. it wasn't really that bad to begin with, just a dip on one end that came out ok.

oh btw.. thanx heaps for all of your kind and positive comments throughout this restore thread (and everyone else too of course).. muchly appreciated ^^^
« Last Edit: February 13, 2009, 07:07:30 PM by Mr Pinbologist »

Offline ajlaird

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #82 on: February 13, 2009, 07:03:52 PM »
Very impressed with the apron - for what is essentially a pretty cheap fix it does look good.

I guess some Nifti is a must-have when I get around to doing something like this - I am also keen to try out the eucalyptus oil. Metho seems good for cleaning up the rubbers.

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #83 on: February 13, 2009, 07:13:31 PM »
Very impressed with the apron - for what is essentially a pretty cheap fix it does look good.

I guess some Nifti is a must-have when I get around to doing something like this - I am also keen to try out the eucalyptus oil. Metho seems good for cleaning up the rubbers.


Funny you mention that. Nifti is getting HARDER to find these days !

I bought the last three at the $2 Shop, and now I con only find them for $4 with the spray top !
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Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #84 on: February 13, 2009, 07:22:23 PM »
Yepp that Nifti is good stuff! this is the first time i've used it.. thought id have to try it after hearing everyone on here raving about it :lol I found mine in IGA supermarket along with the Magic Eraser i used on this PF (that was a first for me as well!)

stay tuned for some rebuilt plastics.. coming soon if all goes well!

Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #85 on: February 14, 2009, 10:07:04 PM »
Ok.. here are the results of my plastics manufacturing venture today. First I tackled the top drop target plastic. First thing I did was to take a piece of clear 2mm polycarbonate plastic, remove the clear protective backing from what would be the underside, and carefully applied my reversed (mirror imaged) artwork decal I’d printed the day before, starting on one end, smoothing it down with my fingers while peeling the backing off.. all the time being careful not to get air bubbles. It took me two goes to get it right.. the second time I DID get a couple of tiny bubbles in it but luckily they are hardly noticeable in the finished product. Next I cut it to the correct shape on my scroll saw, being real careful not to do any damage.
1st pic shows the decal applied but before burnishing down.

Next I burnished it down hard.. same technique as when I did the apron… sheet of white A4 paper over the plastic and rubbing down hard with the back of a tablespoon. Its real important not to let the paper move while doing this, as the decal can be damaged by scratching or removing the ink.

Next I did the white backing for the plastic. In the past I’d used acrylic spray paint but this time I used adhesive white matt finish A4 label. Again I carefully smoothed it onto the decal side of the plastic, then burnished it down hard.
2nd pic shows the plastic with the white backing before being trimmed with a hobby knife.

After cutting and sanding any rough edges, I decided to apply some mylar to help further protect the artwork.
3rd pic shows the new plastic next to the original broken one, and final pic shows it fitted to the PF.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2009, 10:34:33 PM by Mr Pinbologist »

Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #86 on: February 14, 2009, 10:14:19 PM »
This is the kickout hole cover plastic that was completely missing from the PF altogether! Indeed every Drac machine I’ve seen has this and the top drop targ plastics missing and/or broken.
I only worked out there should be a plastic over the kickout hole from pics of the game flyer and of the PF on the IPDB website. The IPDB top PF pic was all I had to go off to remake this plastic.

I hand drew the art onto a piece of white cardboard just from studying the pic as much as I could do!! When I thought I had it reasonably close I scanned this into my PC and touched up and added all the colours in photoshop. It took me a couple of hours to do this, when I was happy with my handiwork I created a mirror image of this and printed it onto clear adhesive inkjet label, same stuff I used for the apron.

1st pic shows the test-printed decal artwork, and 2nd pic shows the finished decal applied to the plastic. I actually reused a piece of adhesive paper from one of the unused apron decals that didn’t come out right.. hence the blue lines! Waste not want not I always say!  :lol
 
Last two pics show the end results!
« Last Edit: February 15, 2009, 10:41:36 AM by Mr Pinbologist »

Offline Mr Pinbologist

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #87 on: February 14, 2009, 10:21:36 PM »
And now heres the finished playfield.. well 98% finished!! The top arch plastics still have to be flattened, I only sat them on for the pics, and the spinner art needs to be done. It too is only sitting on for the pics.

« Last Edit: February 15, 2009, 10:44:55 AM by Mr Pinbologist »

Offline ajlaird

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #88 on: February 14, 2009, 10:39:11 PM »
Got to be happy with that, very nice work.

Offline v8racefan

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Re: Stern Dracula restore
« Reply #89 on: February 14, 2009, 10:51:08 PM »
great work, playfield looks mint #*#
Pinballs in my collection Elvira, Stern Grand Prix, Bally Corvette, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Judge Dredd, Black Rose and Data East Guns n Roses.