Stern Dracula restore

[Mr Pinbologist]

Here are a few pics of my next project. I bought this one last March… I drove from Armidale to Newcastle to pick this one up, same day (about a seven hour round trip). Dracula has always been a favorite of mine, being the second machine I ever played when I originally got hooked on pinnies. So naturally I just had to have it! Electronically it was in working order with only minor issues, (switch adjustments, one display with burnt segments) that could be dealt with later.

[Mr Pinbologist]

The playfield was in reasonable condition considering someone else’s stuffed up attempt at touching up the lower section (between the slingshots)… what a mess!!! I’m not sure if the guy I got it from did this or not. Luckily when I picked up the machine I also took the opportunity of buying a second playfield the guy had… although it was unusable (as I later found out, water damage and badly warped), the artwork in this area was still good. I thought it was worth the $20 spent on it just to be able to copy the original artwork from. I plan on scanning this area and reproducing the artwork as a decal, like I did on my Lectronamo pin.

Actually a friend of mine had checked this game out for me and payed for it the previous weekend, all I had to do was pick up the game and pay him back… so I actually didn’t know how bad this playfield was til I went to pick it up! Oh well I like a challenge… I think I definitely got one!

[Mr Pinbologist]

The cabinet was in pretty reasonable condition structurally, apart from a couple of screws screwed in to the front. The paint also liked quite good, but on closer inspection had quite a few touchups done, mainly in the black areas. So this one will get the full repaint treatment.


Unfortunately the backglass is not as good as I’d hoped for. Quite a few cracks in the ink, mainly in the lit blue areas.. Unlit it looks ok, but not so good lit up but that’s not the worst of it…

Look at the pic of the back of the glass… someone had sprayed red paint over the game name area… no big problem considering that area is red anyway. BUT… they took it upon themselves to spray red paint over the other cracked areas too… that weren’t even red!!! Man!!! Wot the hell goes through some people’s minds??  I’m not sure what I’ll do here, I’ll most likely have to live with it. I don’t like my chances of finding a better one.

I’ve had this game set up to play for the last eight months, so now I’m almost done with my other projects I think its about time I got stuck into it! Stay tuned!!

[Retropin]

I will never understand why people do what they do to thier machines. Spraying a BG like that just kills it. How does it look lit up?? Sometimes, and i mean SOMETIMES you can ;lift this off. Most people when they do this kind of stuff just go straight in and spray away, spraying over dirt etc. But this also means that the paint will not adhere properly and with a straight edged razor blade at the right angle you can sometimes just scrape this away by passing the razors edge between the red and the grey diffusion paint - always worth a go!

As for the PF - how good are your artist skills???

If you can get it to look symmetrical again with new work, then it will look 100 X better than it does now.

Nothing to lose here - time to sharpen up those PF restoration skills.

Do you have an airbrush??

You can hand cut clear contact sheet and use this as a template where needed.
 Buy yourself a VERY good soft brush - dont scrimp on this, what you spend on a brush will show results.
Lay down the white and brown etc, then right at the end go in and do the black lines that define the work.
 I shave down a brush with a razor blade for this to give a bulb with a very pointy tip - practise on something else so you know what angle to go in at and how much paint your brush will handle.

When you do it, rest your painting hand on the PF with your other hand on top of it to minimise shake and dragging your hand on the PF work towards your body. Youll need to be able to access the PF from all angles.

If you pull your sleeve up over the painting hand this will stop any drag on the PF and allow you smooth action.

Never work your brush back and forth - always in one direction, this goes for using a pen also - you will NEVER be able to go back over a line exactly this way.
Where possible use a compass etc etc etc ( put something over the needle point to prevent digging the PF).

Sorry - didnt mean to prattle on, but id LOVE to get my hands on this PF and repaint it. My eyes would light up if i were buying this from someone...


... But im happy to give tips ive learnt - best of luck... look forward to the thread!

[jyebow]

Hey Mitch, Good luck with the resto.
 I'm looking forward to the next update.
I had a look & a game on this exact pin when it was advertised here in Newcastle.
But thought my resto skills were'nt up to it. Looking back maybe I should of went with it, Great game which brings back plenty of memories back in the day when it was new & on location.
all the best & keep the progress reports coming.
cheers Steve.

[Strangeways]

Great pick up Mitch. You really do like your old school Sterns !

I used to have one YEARS ago - and it was a popular title back in the days. Unique playfield design for its time.

Keep the progress updates going, looks like you have a very interesting project ahead of you !

 

[Mr Pinbologist]

I will never understand why people do what they do to thier machines. Spraying a BG like that just kills it. How does it look lit up?? Sometimes, and i mean SOMETIMES you can ;lift this off. Most people when they do this kind of stuff just go straight in and spray away, spraying over dirt etc. But this also means that the paint will not adhere properly and with a straight edged razor blade at the right angle you can sometimes just scrape this away by passing the razors edge between the red and the grey diffusion paint - always worth a go!

As for the PF - how good are your artist skills???

If you can get it to look symmetrical again with new work, then it will look 100 X better than it does now.

Nothing to lose here - time to sharpen up those PF restoration skills.

Do you have an airbrush??

You can hand cut clear contact sheet and use this as a template where needed.
 Buy yourself a VERY good soft brush - dont scrimp on this, what you spend on a brush will show results.
Lay down the white and brown etc, then right at the end go in and do the black lines that define the work.
 I shave down a brush with a razor blade for this to give a bulb with a very pointy tip - practise on something else so you know what angle to go in at and how much paint your brush will handle.

When you do it, rest your painting hand on the PF with your other hand on top of it to minimise shake and dragging your hand on the PF work towards your body. Youll need to be able to access the PF from all angles.

If you pull your sleeve up over the painting hand this will stop any drag on the PF and allow you smooth action.

Never work your brush back and forth - always in one direction, this goes for using a pen also - you will NEVER be able to go back over a line exactly this way.
Where possible use a compass etc etc etc ( put something over the needle point to prevent digging the PF).

Sorry - didnt mean to prattle on, but id LOVE to get my hands on this PF and repaint it. My eyes would light up if i were buying this from someone...


... But im happy to give tips ive learnt - best of luck... look forward to the thread!

Thanks heaps some good tips definitely worth considering there! I've been involved with pinnies for the best part of 20 years, and restoring for only about 5 years so i'm by no means an expert, especially at PF/ BG restoring so i'll take any tips on board that are offered.

The BG looks fairly bad lit up. The sprayed on red paint is only lightly sprayed on, so its still fairly see through. I'm pretty sure i'll be able to get the worst of the red paint off. It'll never be perfect but i've seen worse and made them look "decent", so i should be able to do the same for this one.

My artist skills??? average i would say  . I've already scanned the worn area into my pc (from the second PF) and cleaned up and colour matched the art. So i now have that to go off. i was planning to make an adhesive decal of the art, but i might try repainting the art yet.. I'm about to disassemble the PF soon and make a start so we'll soon find out my artistic talents are hey?? Will post more pics when i get some work done on it...

Thanks again for the tips

[Mr Pinbologist]

Hey Mitch, Good luck with the resto.
 I'm looking forward to the next update.
I had a look & a game on this exact pin when it was advertised here in Newcastle.
But thought my resto skills were'nt up to it. Looking back maybe I should of went with it, Great game which brings back plenty of memories back in the day when it was new & on location.
all the best & keep the progress reports coming.
cheers Steve.

Thanks Steve. I had this feeling that when i posted the pics of this game and mentioned where it came from, that someone on here would recognise this same exact game!!! Got it from Wallsend to be precise.. are we still talking about the same game??? On the same trip i picked up a Stern Lightning from Raymond Terrace for a mate of mine.

[jyebow]

Yeah Mitch thats the same game.
Was the Stern Lightning from a guy that was or used to be an operator? sounds like the one advertised in the Newcastle Herald that I rang about but didn't look at. I think from memory it needed some work.
Keep the Dracula posts coming.
cheers Steve.

[Mr Pinbologist]

Yeah Mitch thats the same game.
Was the Stern Lightning from a guy that was or used to be an operator? sounds like the one advertised in the Newcastle Herald that I rang about but didn't look at. I think from memory it needed some work.
Keep the Dracula posts coming.
cheers Steve.

Yeah the guy with the Stern Lightning used to be an operator, so it too was probably the same game you're thinking of! He had a huge shed out in the sticks full of mostly video games and jukeboxes... only had a handfull of pins.
It needed HEAPS of work, but i only had to get the game up and running for my mate who had bought it.. which involved the usual connector/ mpu/ power supply issues, as well as a few mechanical probs.  It also had problems with the speech board that i was unable to sort out so i gave the game back to my mate and told him, he'd have to send the board away to have it repaired.. as yet he hasn't done this!! This game actually had a homemade backglass in it.. looked nothing like the original art. Overall it was a total mess!!! I paid about double the money for my dracula that my mate paid and i still reckon i got the best deal!

[pinnies4me]

Best of luck with the restoration! Love seeing these old classics brought back to life!

[Extra Ball]

Love old Sterns, they have a quality feel about them, are classic pinball. Just scored my Nugent in Newcastle, and am re-living childhood pin memories.
Great score on the Drac! (just 3ks from my home u bastard!)
lol

[Creech]

Yep, can't wait for my Galaxy to be ready too!

[Pinfan]

Creech, wasn't it Sinbad you were waiting for ? 

[Creech]

Yes, Sinbad + Galaxy + Flash + Spirit of 76.

Sinbad is being done now but I think Galaxy is the next cab off the rank.