Bally 1965 Aces High Restoration

[Strangeways]

I was not entirely happy with the final finish as it was spotty and didn't feel or look right, so after a couple of long calls to Gavin, we worked out that the clearcoat mix was too thick. So I experimented by painting a piece of wood 30cm X 50cm RED with the paints I'm using, and then I sectioned it off into 6 squares. I gradually thinned out the mix until it was flowing nice and it gave me a completely flat and shiney finish. I was happy thinning the clear with around 20% turps. I did spend a lot of time perfecting this process, and I was completely happy with the end result. It looks and feels like glass. Blends it perfectly with the rest of the playfield.

Thanks again Gav 

Only a small update, and the pictures don't do the finish justice.








I'll apply mylar rings and then give serious consideration to repairing the section between the flippers.

[Mr Pinbologist]

Looking very nice indeed!! Sorry if i missed it elsewhere in the thread Nino, but are you planning on airbrushing the wear above the flippers? since you're getting good results with your airbrush work??

[Strangeways]

Looking very nice indeed!! Sorry if i missed it elsewhere in the thread Nino, but are you planning on airbrushing the wear above the flippers? since you're getting good results with your airbrush work??

Yes Mitch, I want to repaint that section now. But that may lead onto the repair in front of the slingshots - and that is a BIG area to address - not much wear, but it would be hard to blend it in.

[Steve2010]

Nino, pictures speak for themselves, even if they don't do it justice as you say.

By the way, how rare a game is Aces High?  As this came in from a container (from Europe ?), I suspect you would find very few, if any here in Australia.  What a feeling that will be when this baby gets going .... it really is something when you're playing a game that is 46 years on!  Doubt XBox will be doing that in the 2050's.

[Strangeways]

Nino, pictures speak for themselves, even if they don't do it justice as you say.

By the way, how rare a game is Aces High?  As this came in from a container (from Europe ?), I suspect you would find very few, if any here in Australia.  What a feeling that will be when this baby gets going .... it really is something when you're playing a game that is 46 years on!  Doubt XBox will be doing that in the 2050's.

Yes Steve, this machine is a game I hand picked in my first container. Like most Bally's of this era, it is rare. I don't know of any collectors that own one in Australia, so it is hard to guage how rare it is. Hard to find an opinion as a result. It is safe to say that like with all card / gambling games, it will be fun.

I rate Bally EMs higher than Gottliebs from this era. Artwork is MUCH better and they are more fun to play. I used to think Gottliebs made "the best" game, but now I'm convinced Bally built a better machine. My collection will be predominantly Bally EMs and maybe just one or two Gottliebs.

[Strangeways]

After slowly going "mad" with the pop bumper repaint, the end is near. The clearcoat settled really nice, and all I needed to do was apply the mylar rings. Here's the finished section with the mylar installed, the camera angle and flash shows the area protected;





Now I can reassemble the pop bumpers on the top of the playfield and the underside. Notice the skirts are metal, and I polished them on the buffing wheel. Everything else (above the playfield) is NEW. The "below playfield" parts have been polished ot Nickel played - with the exception of the plunger itself.





Now it has taken AGES to get this this point, and I want to remind anyone following this restore of the state of the pop bumper rings BEFORE I started - here's a quick rewind..








Here's the finished section;








I'm pleasantly surprised and very pleased with the results. I've also learnt a few tricks along the way.

 

[Pinfan]

Nino the pin looks fantastic. 

It has come a long way !

Good to know that some one else is honing in on their airbrushing skills. 

[GORGAR 1]

Great work she looks awesome the before and after pictures really show the amount of work you have put into it.

Peter

[goodolddays]

Great work so far Nino .  Congrats on getting the hang of airbrushing too .. another string to your bow .

[ktm450]

Nice work mate, love the polished metal skirts 

[Strangeways]

Thats all for the kind words.

After staring at the "success" of the pop bumpers, I dropped my eyes and look what I have before me ;





The areas in front of the flippers are of major concern. So I'm going to "have a crack" at repairing this section. I will use the same technique as I have learnt from the pop bumpers. It will be touched up and clearcoated. I'm sure if this works out well, I will be attempting the sections in front of the slingshots. Problem there is that the light blue has yellowed, whereas the section where the flippers are has vibrant colors intact.


I've prepped the area and placed the frisket in position. I use a scalpal to cut around the yellow areas where I want the paint to flow through. I took me 5 minutes to match the yellow on a scrap piece of wood and prep the airbrush. The white area on the left is mainly the white undercoat / primer from factory. I only needed a drop of primer mixed with water to bite the exposed wood. The right hand side is only the white layer. This was exposed during the cleaning and polishing of the playfield.





"Mist coat" - wait a minute or two and then two thick coats, but the first thick coat concentrates on the exposed areas., then the second coat evens it all out. Takes around 5 minutes to complete. While I wait, I clean out the airbrush ready for the next color.





I remove the frisket and it looks great. I usually wait a day, and then sand it back to level out the imperfections. I ended up painting another light coat on the left hand side as it was not uniform.





After a couple of days, I repeat the process for the red. took around 5 minutes of fiddling to match the red. The camera angle and light make the paint look glossy and thick. It won't dry like that at all. This paint is SO EASY to work with !





Here's the RED completed. There is a little bleed of the red into the area where the black lines are. This is because the yellow is slighly raised and the paint can bleed into the "channel" between the red and yellow - this is where the black lines are, so ti will be completely covered anyway.





I'll let this settle and move on to the light blue in a couple of days. Then the dark Blue and lines to finish it off. VERY time consuming, but I have plenty of other work to do. If you were doing only one playfield at a time, you would go NUTS waiting for paint to dry etc.

Now I FULLY APPRECIATE the time and the work the professional guys put into playfield restorations. But it is rewarding and I get a great deal of satisfaction as I progress.

[mildflame]

WOW! WOW WOW! I didn't realise how much work you have put into this machine until I saw the before and after of the pop bumpers!
IT LOOKS BRILLIANT NENO!

Looking and realising the amount of time, Effort and $ into this machine...
How much do you think it would be worth in Aus??

[Mr Pinbologist]

coming along nicely Nino   I was hoping to see you redo this area of the pf, i can understand how you might've been a bit apprehensive about this area, but redoing the whole colour(s) and matching the colour as close as you can, you really cant go wrong.

Looking forward to seeing the end results, keep up the great work!!  

[Strangeways]

WOW! WOW WOW! I didn't realise how much work you have put into this machine until I saw the before and after of the pop bumpers!
IT LOOKS BRILLIANT NENO!

Looking and realising the amount of time, Effort and $ into this machine...
How much do you think it would be worth in Aus??

Not sure if I can place a $ value on this game, Mitch. I think this restore has gone BEYOND worrying about recouping my time, as it has been a learning curve, and I find this to be more rewarding than being paid "top dollar". This machine was in poor condition and I deleiberately targetted this machine to test Greg's Bally Star Jet score motor issue and it "grew" from there. The score motor rebuild took HOURS. Learning to replate metal took WEEKS. Researching and learning airbrush techniques took weeks and is an ongoing process. I would LOVE for this game to take pride and place in a Pinball Museum. At the very least, I'd like it to be in a good home. Interestingly enough, a collector in the USA has shown keen interest in buying it, but I'm not entirely sure whether it is a legitimate offer or not. At the moment, I'm just pleased with what this restore has GIVEN ME. I can't put a $ value on that. It HAS tested my abilty and opened many doors to new methods of restoration.

[Strangeways]

Time to do the BLUE - which I found difficult to match. I decided NOT to do the entire blue area, as there was no noticeable damage below the flippers, and I'm still learning clearcoating. So less is more in this case. I mixed enough paint to do the entire area, but I wanted to see how it looked.

Here's the area I want to repaint, a straight line from the top of the flipper section. I used  frisket mask to cover the area and a scalpal to cut out the areas I want to paint.





Use the airbrush to lay the paint





and the results. The camera does really show up the lack of skills I have in paint matching, but once the hardware is installed, it will be difficult to see the subtle difference. Anyway, it is 100 times better than before.





Next part of the repaint is the black lines.