Stern Dracula restore

[illawarra_steelers]

Mitch,

That is just plain showing off 

That work is just amazing!

The thing is there would of been an excellent chance that this pin would of been parted out 10 or 15 years ago, so good karma for bringing her back to life.

Seriously I find your work so inspirational

[Retropin]

Thanks heaps guys, and yes im very pleased at how this came up. I just want to point out that ALL of the black lines were done freehand (forgot to mention it before in the previous posts), using sharpie pens.. this PF will be mylar covered, NOT Clear Coated so bleeding ink wont be a problem.

Im so glad i chose to try this method of restoring the art rather than applying a decal (would've been much quicker but its so much more rewarding having painted it instead).

Thanks heaps Retropin for all your advice re doing this work in the beginning   Now i just need to do the lettering on there that is missing.. not sure how i'll do this yet.. thinking of making decals from the original scans, same as i've done on a couple of my other games. any other ideas anyone??

If you can get hold of some letraset lettering - these are nice and thin and you can make up the lettering using these - im al;so more than willing to sendf you down a computer cut stencil if you want.
Let me know and ill tell you want info i need to do it for you

[Mr Pinbologist]

If you can get hold of some letraset lettering - these are nice and thin and you can make up the lettering using these - im al;so more than willing to sendf you down a computer cut stencil if you want.
Let me know and ill tell you want info i need to do it for you

I know the Letraset lettering you mention, i used to get something similar from the newsagents but havent seen it in the shops in years. i used to use it on the guitar amps i used to build years ago.

Your second option sounds great though! Does it involve actually painting the lettering on? Let me know what info you need. Thanks for the offer

[Retropin]

Yes- Ill send you a stencil and you can spray the lettering on - i need the maximum length the lettering is horizontally and vertical height of the whole text, plus PM me your postal address and ill post it to you

[Mr Pinbologist]

Yes- Ill send you a stencil and you can spray the lettering on - i need the maximum length the lettering is horizontally and vertical height of the whole text, plus PM me your postal address and ill post it to you

here are some pics of the lettering i need to replace, from scans i took of the second PF,  with the dimensions of the text. Is that what you needed to know? That'll be awesome if you can create stencils to redo these

[Retropin]

yep - thatll do

[Mr Pinbologist]

PM sent... thanks heaps

[Mr Pinbologist]

Quick update: The last few days I’ve been going over the larger areas pf the PF doing touchup work. I actually completely redid large areas of the black and blue areas.. especially the blue, as there were a few bad wear spots worn back to the wood.

I did these using acrylic spraycans as I did with the work previously mentioned. I was lucky in that my best mate Rick works in an auto paint shop, so I was able to take the 2nd PF into his work and match the blue, and the pink/purple colour in the return lanes exactly in acrylic, and have them mixed and put into spraycans.

Each section was done individually, carefully sanded back with 800 grit sandpaper, masked off with clear contact and cut out, cleaned with Prepsol and rag and then sprayed in several light coats. The great thing with this acrylic is that it dries really quick… the contact can be removed after about 5 – 10 minutes without causing problems.

All that’s left now is to check and level a few inserts and do the black around them (most of the inserts are loose in these old Sterns), lettering on the middle advance bonus rollover and shoot again insert, and a few minor general touchups.

[Mr Pinbologist]

more pics

[illawarra_steelers]

You must be so happy with the way this is coming up. Simply stunning.

Seeing detailed work coming out at such a high standard really fires us all up and pushes us all in our own restorations!

Keep up the fanastic work Mitch - everytime I see your updates I just shake my head in wonder 

[ktm450]

WOW what a difference, great work Mitch

[Strangeways]

Love your work, Mitch, you make it look easy.

Keep the updates coming 

[Ford Fairlane]

watching this thread very closely! Great job mate 

[Mr Pinbologist]

Another quick update; The last couple of day I spent some time doing a few paint touchups and repainting/repairing lamp inserts.

Some of the lamp inserts I’d removed while repainting the PF, and others were practically falling out, so some reglueing was needed. First though I took the opportunity to flatten these inserts. To do this I simply placed a sheet of 320 grit sandpaper on my bench and rubbed the upside down insert on the sandpaper until flat. I followed this with a rub down on a sheet of 800 grit to smooth them out a bit more.

In the past I’ve used ordinary PVA woodglue to glue inserts in with no problems, particularly if the inserts were a fairly snug fit. Some of these were really loose so I used superglue on them for added strength. I just had to make sure I got them nice n flush with the PF surface real quick!

Most of the inserts that I didn’t have to touch, I simply tidied up the black lines with a sharpie pen. The others that I’d removed I spray painted. First I laid down a piece of clear contact over them. Next I used some “Math o mat” circle drawing templates as guides for cutting the contact with a sharp hobby knife. 1st pic shows the templates I used. 2nd pic shows after the first coat of acrylic spraypaint, and the 3rd pic shows the end results of one of the inserts.

[Strangeways]

How good is that !

Looks like a lot of hours is going into this PF resto, but the results are worth every minute !