My collection going into storage

[Mr Pinbologist]

Hi guys, well its looking its time to move on due to my job ending soon, that and my rent being jacked up to a point where i can no longer afford to stay where i am 

so now the painful task of starting to pack stuff away has begun, in preparation to the big move back home to Port Macquarie, where i have managed to find some work. I had already moved several games back to Port where Ian (howzat) lives and he has them set up and using them, so i asked him (and a mate of his Graeme who i am also doing some pin repair work for) if they could help me out with moving a few games back and store them for me, which they agreed to do  i cant thank them enough for their help!! so i now have nine pins in total back in Port Macq, Ian has seven (five set up and two packed and wrapped in bubblewrap) and Graeme has two (one set up and one bubblewrapped).

As you can see the garage is looking rather bare with several games already packed away and loaded into cars. Ian was able to fit three games into his van, one went into the back of my Camry station wagon and one went into Graeme's Laser s/wagon.

This will leave me with a total of eleven machines that will be picked up my a removalist mate along with some furniture etc. I will be transporting the backglasses my self in my car  I will be working part time with the same removalist mate on my arrival in Port Macq, plus i have a few more plans as well re work.. more on that later....

[Mr Pinbologist]

more pics... showing the  three games shoehorned into Ian's van, plus a pic of my s/wagon with a game packed, plus my pin repair tool kit (ready for some pin repair work while there).  

Once the games were packed it was time for a few games before we headed off for the 3 1/2 hour drive.

[Mr Pinbologist]

more pics... i took the first one on my mobile phone while driving    i know i shouldnt be doing stuff like that while driving but i had to document the whole exercise 

And finally we arrived at Ian's house, with all the games intact and nothing broken 

[howzat]

Hi Guys     I must say Im having fun playing these games     I have the Vortex   I havent beaten any high scores yet but Im working on it     Howzat

[Mr Pinbologist]

And finally some pics of the games in Ian's gameroom after we set them up to play.

2nd from left are Vortex, Lectronamo, Solar City, Six Million $ Man and Black Pyramid which are all mine. he also has Mibs and Abracadabra packed up and stored there behind his 48 in 1 Vid. Ian .. hope you dont mind me uploading the pics here of your game room!!
Graeme has Ian's Secret service and and my Stingray pins at his house set up, and my Buck Rogers stored in his garage.

As well as the removalist/furniture delivery work il be doing, (plus my band work and part time musical equipment repair work i was offered this morning) i intend on starting a small pin repair restoration business, since i already have several regular clients here (im in Port Macquarie as i write this), and see how i go with it... I have already had business cards done and come up with what i think is a good name for the business. I dont know how i'll go with it but i give it a shot and see if i can make it work..

thoughts please guys....

Cheers... Mitch

[ajlaird]

Nice work getting the pins there.

Sounds like a great idea to do some pin restoration work, hope it goes really well!!

I will be up at North Haven in September, maybe I should drop in on you guys up there in Port Macquarie and check out that games room if the fish aren't biting.

[Strangeways]

Thanks for sharing the road trip - The final line up looks great.

I think you should have a crack at pinball repairs. Most of the better repairers are hobbyists, so I think it will definitely be something to at least try. Best of luck !

[goodolddays]

Thanks for sharing the road trip - The final line up looks great.

I think you should have a crack at pinball repairs. Most of the better repairers are hobbyists, so I think it will definitely be something to at least try. Best of luck !

+1 .. good luck with the pinnie repairs business Mitch .. I think you should also do restos.. much business up your way ??

[Mr Pinbologist]

Thanks for sharing the road trip - The final line up looks great.

I think you should have a crack at pinball repairs. Most of the better repairers are hobbyists, so I think it will definitely be something to at least try. Best of luck !

+1 .. good luck with the pinnie repairs business Mitch .. I think you should also do restos.. much business up your way ??

thanks guys, Most of my work i do for others is in Port Macquarie, and i'm coming across more and more people all the time looking for someone to work on their pins. Quite a few people think i should do alright from it. Of course i'll have other jobs as well to pay the bills etc, as i said before. Everytime i go there i have pin repair work to do for someone.

And yes i'll be doing resto work for anyone who wants it done, if they have a game that is a keeper for them, cab repaints, pf restores, and i already have one backglass to do when i get settled in the new house, still looking for a house, have put in a few applications for rental properties (cant afford to buy)

[Mr Pinbologist]

I will be up at North Haven in September, maybe I should drop in on you guys up there in Port Macquarie and check out that games room if the fish aren't biting.

That'd be cool. I'm hoping to be moved back permanently around mid september, will keep everyone posted how i go with the house hunting and add pics to this post when i find the right house.

[Caveoftreasures]

Well done on the move, and having a few good mates who have helped out so well. 

I was a teenager around the Forster/Tuncurry/Taree/Port areas and it is such a beautiful place with the best of all worlds with great beaches, lovely forrest/national parks etc, and even great lake systems. A lovely place to live if u can find work. When the Sydney bypass went in and alot of these lovely areas were bypassed, it was a two edged sword, great for the locals who didnt want extra expansion and new people arriving to stuff the place up, but alot of jobs were lost.

Still, its a great place to live, espescially if u have pinball friends in the area. Doesnt get better than that. 

[Mr Pinbologist]

Well done on the move, and having a few good mates who have helped out so well. 

I was a teenager around the Forster/Tuncurry/Taree/Port areas and it is such a beautiful place with the best of all worlds with great beaches, lovely forrest/national parks etc, and even great lake systems. A lovely place to live if u can find work. When the Sydney bypass went in and alot of these lovely areas were bypassed, it was a two edged sword, great for the locals who didnt want extra expansion and new people arriving to stuff the place up, but alot of jobs were lost.

Still, its a great place to live, espescially if u have pinball friends in the area. Doesnt get better than that. 

Thanks for that  yep its a great place to be, having been born and bred in Port Macq it'll be great to finally come back to the mid north coast 

I still have, as i said eleven machines to move back but they will be moved soon i hope!! Not a lot is available work wise, hence why i'm having a go at doing my own pin repair/resto business which will be run from home, and i'll be doing a few in home pin repairs (been doing that already in Port Macq for the last year or so) I already have couple of workshop repairs lined up for when i get moved into the new house (word has been slowly but surely spreading of my pin work)  will be tough juggling that plus two other jobs PLUS travelling for band work  and THEN i have to find time to do my OWN pin restores which i'm REALLY keen to do 

[Mr Pinbologist]

Hi guys, well after a month or so of house hunting i have finally found a place to rent, with enough room (i hope)   to set up my entire collection plus space to set up a work area  

These few pics were taken several weeks ago. 2nd pic, i took these backboxes to the coast on one of my weekend trips there and put them in storage at about the same time as the pics were taken.

Last two pics show the garage being emptied out and the box i made to transport a few backglasses. Its foam lined, and has a couple of layers of bubble wrap between each bg to help protect it. The box is big enough to hold about 9 or 10 BGs, but i stopped at seven glasses, as it was getting really heavy!! The top cover is screwed on now and the glasses are now nice and secure in there. This will be going into the back of my car for the journey back to the mid north coast, along with four bubblewrapped backboxes complete with their BGs, which i decided not to put into the box i made.

the 4 backboxes riding in my car are; Kiss, Stern Dracula, Zac Universe and Klondike. All the unrestored games havent been bubblewrapped, as they will be repainted anyway. All the cabs and backboxes with no BGs installed will be going in the truck. The guy moving my stuff is a long time mate of mine who moves furniture for a living (delivers NEW furniture to people's houses). He used to do removals but doesnt anymore, and is doing this for me as a favour, and only charging me for the cost of fuel in his truck! Plus he is giving me some work with him to help me out once i'm moved back to the coast... hoping my back holds up ok!!

[Mr Pinbologist]

a few more pics.. 1st one shows an idea i cam up with to help protect the score displays on the backboxes i had removed the backglasses... sheets of 6mm MDF cut and slotted into where the glass fits in.

And some shots of the garage now.. games all packed ready for the ride in the truck.. which is happening on Sunday btw.
My Kiss machine is still set up at the moment but will be packed up tomorrow 

The house i have has a double garage down behind the house where the games will live.. well a couple of them might end up in the house yet  depending on how much space i think i will need to work out of. I will be setting up my small pin repair/resto business there and working out of the garage. The idea is to have my games set up in one half and work space in the other side.. that way anyone who wants me to work on their games can look at my restored games, and see what i do... well thats the plan anyway i'll have to see how it goes... As it is i will, as i said before have other jobs as well to pay the bills.

Will post more pics later on, games going into the truck and being unloaded etc.

Cheers for now... Mitch

[Caveoftreasures]

thats a really smart idea cutting the MDF for the protection of the backglass/score areas. I will borrow that idea. Thanks for sharing.