This restoration of this game has taken around 6 - 7 months to compete. This game is one of the classic pins from the 1960s era.
The game being restored is Williams
Apollo which was released in June 1967. The game was designed by Norm Clark and the art by Art Stenholm. Williams made 3100 of this model.
This game was purchased off eBay in 2006 from Canberra for $550. The guy selling it had posted ONE photo of the head that was taken by his mobile phone.
I'm hoping that some of the younger guys on the forum will see some beauty in these old pinball machines, maybe even inspiring them to seek a electro mechanical pinball machine for their own collection.
Taken from
Pinball The Lure of the Silver Ball (to set the scene):
Apollo was released in June of 1967, at the time when public consciousness of space travel was riding high. Earlier that year the US space program was preparing its astronauts for flight to the moon when tragedy stuck. In January, during a practice countdown, astronauts Virgil Grisson, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were killed when a flash fire swept through the command module. The program was delayed wile safety modifications were made. The Apollo 7 mission was finally launched in October of 1968. After 3 more test flights the Apollo 11 was launched on July 16th 1969 and successfully reached the Moon.
The point I'm trying to make here is this game was released before man landed on the Moon. This game captures a major point in history.
The game is at the point has been stripped of all parts and has been fully rebuilt, restored and the final stages of beinging resprayed. All parts have been purchased from Pinball Resource.
OK, enough of the history - to the restoration!
* Game has been fully torn down
* All paint stripped, will ready for undercoat/primer
* Every available part orderd from PBR
* Have fully rebulit the bottom relay board (including motor)
* Have fully rebuilt the playfield, including removing mylar to reveal what looks like a new playfield (pix tomorrow)
* Have fully rebuilt the 'head' mechanics - all score reel assemblies and stepper units were fully pulled apart and rebuilt from scratch (not an easy or quick job).
Photo of the head being rebuilt:
I know this isn't the ideal way to view images - but this is my work bench - the foosball/soccer table!
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=DSC07096.jpgTo the left is the 'head' during rebuild - notice to the 2 spare 'stepper units' in the top right of the photo. There is a tip for the new guy rebuilding an EM pin for the first time, if you can have a complete unit on hand it sure makes putting back together a fairly complex unit like this much easier.
The kero was there for cleaning, not drinking
, the DVD remote was there for a heap of 'The Angels' bootleg DVDs I have been playing while rebuilding.
This is what is wrong with the 'original' art work What a shame. Another problem is the original paint wasn't under this mess.
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=DSC07064.jpgHere is the pin with most of the paint removed. This was Saturday afternoon. One major positive point is the actual timber cab is very solid without many nicks so it wont need too much work with the fill
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=DSC07083.jpgThis is the game all pulled down in a corner - a sad sight!
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=DSC07067.jpgWhile looking at all the parts that make this beautiful old game what it is thought I would post some pix of some of the 'guts' of this old girl. This is more aimed at the guys into SS pins that may never seen inside an EM
This is the credit unit - what is called a 'stepper' unit - mighten look like it but this unit has been fully pulled down and rebuilt. Notice there are 2 coils - one for adding credits and one for taking them away!
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=friday_apollo001.jpgDoesn't show the inner workings of the score reel assembly but they sure look different from a SS pin! These shots are taken from the rear of the head after all 4 units had been pulled apart, cleaned and rebuilt. Look at all those bloody wires!
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=friday_apollo002.jpgBank of relays - simple solinoid and contacts that change things like the bumpers being worth 1 point or 10 points when lit (oh these were the days!) Once again look at all those wires! Williams have a fault of suspect soldering of the wires to contacts - something to check on EACH wire
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=friday_apollo010.jpgHere is playfield before the rebuild - not too bad for 41 years old. All playfield plastics sweet. Playfield has zero wear because it is fully mylared. This will be removed to reveal a mint playfield. Still if anybody has ever removed mylar from a beautiful playfield you know that it never goes to plan.
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=friday_apollo005.jpghttp://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=Apollo_playfield.jpgSo what needs to be done?
Well I was lucky enough to find another Apollo in Sydney with the original artwork.
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=ebaywed001.jpghttp://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/illawarra_steelers/?action=view¤t=ebaywed003.jpgHigh resolution pix were taken and send to Gavin and he made stencils from these. This is all that needs to be done to the game to complete.
Will post the last photos over the coming 24 hours as the game is sold!
