KISS, my holy grail pin is here!!

[tonyt]

Great work Mitch, love reading your restoration threads

[Mr Pinbologist]

Quick Update:

I've been busy with a few bits n pieces on this pf.. rebuilt the flippers and bumpers, 1st couple of pics show the bumper switches that needed attention, 1st pic old and new bumper switch spoon, notice the hole worn in the plastic bumper spoon!! believe it or not, the game actually played with it like this, didnt notice this until i assembled the bumper bodies and the stem on the bumper skirt went thru the hole  so i bought 4 new switch spoons and rebuilt the switches as well.

3rd pic shows the rebuilt flipper mechs. new coils and sleeves, new coil stops, as well as new nylon bushes and springs. I ended up fabricating my own flipper links from fibreglass PCB material, two pieces superglued together to double the thickness to make them last longer. The plungers are the original ones. I have done this on most of my machines to replace worn linkages and it works well.

[Mr Pinbologist]

I spent some time over the weekend rebuilding the drop targets. All of the smaller metal pieces, small enough to go in the tumbler were given a quick degrease and chucked into the tumbler, i tried the walnut shell this time (as i thought these parts could benefit from a more coarser media) with some Flitz that tonyt sent me to try (thanks Tony)!!  I let the parts polish for about 4 or 5 hours and the came out pretty nice i thought.

the larger pieces i polished by hand. first i gave them a sand with 800 grit wet&dry and Windex, dried them off then polished them with Autosol and cloth, then reassembled everything, completed with brand new targets. The switches were cleaned up as well as there was some rust on the actuating blades, which i cleaned up with a wire wheel in my Dremel.

[Mr Pinbologist]

And finally a few more pics.. nearly done 

just the plastics to go back on, the apron to be repainted and decalled with some Pinball Rescue decals, and a few light sockets to be repaired under the pf.
Will post some more pics when everything is finished!

[ajlaird]

Inspirational stuff! You have certainly treated this one right!

[goodolddays]

Looking excellent Mitch  . Just imagine playing that 1st game after all your hard work.

BTW.. How do you remove the fliipper plunger links from the plunger and then reattach?
I need to remove the links for my Zac EM and refit them on a Williams fllipper kit, as the ones on the Williams kit are too short and I need to put a new kit in this machine.  I haven't tried doing this before.

Cheers
Dave

[el_timbo86]

Simply awesome Mitch!!   

Keep up the great work, i always enjoy your write-ups 

Timbo

[Mr Pinbologist]

Thanks for the positive comments guys... muchly appreciated 

Dave; the flipper links come off pretty easy, i use a small pin punch, slightly smaller then the diameter of the roll pin holding the link into the plunger and a hammer and tap them out. I sit the plunger onto the jaws of a vice, with the jaws opened just enough to cradle the plunger to tap the roll pin out. it only has to come out enough to allow the link to be removed. Then just hammer the pin back in when installing the new links.. easy peasy 

i went to do the same thing with my Zac Universe, change the flipper links, i was going to use Wms plungers and links but the links were the wrong length 

[ddstoys]

Looks awsome Mitch it's no wonder IRS such a collectable pin when they look this good restored.   

[goodolddays]

Thanks for the positive comments guys... muchly appreciated 

Dave; the flipper links come off pretty easy, i use a small pin punch, slightly smaller then the diameter of the roll pin holding the link into the plunger and a hammer and tap them out. I sit the plunger onto the jaws of a vice, with the jaws opened just enough to cradle the plunger to tap the roll pin out. it only has to come out enough to allow the link to be removed. Then just hammer the pin back in when installing the new links.. easy peasy 

i went to do the same thing with my Zac Universe, change the flipper links, i was going to use Wms plungers and links but the links were the wrong length 

Thanks for that detailed explanation Mitch .  Will give it a go soon

[SPURR]

Gee Mitch this is looking so good you could put it on ebay and ask for about $9000 like the other guy's.

[Mr Pinbologist]

Gee Mitch this is looking so good you could put it on ebay and ask for about $9000 like the other guy's.

thanks for the compliment Spurr   i always appreciate the kind words from other AP members of my resto work.. means i must be doing something right  

you wont be seeing THIS machine on eGay... NEVER   and even if i did decide to sell (which will NEVER happen btw) it would be sold for a more realistic price than other KISS machines that are put up for sale.

I've been saying to people 'i'll be buried with this machine"  

[Mr Pinbologist]

Time for another update; 

I just finished the apron, complete with new decals from Pinball Rescue.

A few before pics, showing how the apron looked before i started on it.. not as bad as some i've seen but definitely could be improved.

[Mr Pinbologist]

more pics, 1st two after the black had been resprayed on. First though i stripped it back to bare metal, and hit it with some etch primer, and sanded it back smooth with 400 wet&dry and water before the black went on.

And then some pics of it done.. there is a slight bit of milkiness in it which should dry out of it after a couple of day ( the decals went on this morning).
And one of it refitted to the pf. the PF is finished now.. the plastics will be refitted later on. Now time for the cabinet!!

[Mr Pinbologist]

CABINET RESTORE:

I started on the cab a couple of weeks ago, first thing i did was to trace the stenciled art on the cab. Next i had to do a few repairs to the cab, the front panel was separating so this was repaired first, i separated the corner join further so i could get plenty of glue in, then clamped it up, and put a couple of screws in for good measure.

In the last pic here im regluing the ply which was separating along the bottom of the sides.