Williams Flash Restoration

[Strangeways]

Another restoration for a member. My favorite Williams System 6 - "Flash". This is the pinball that was hugely successful for Williams, and the pinball that Bally used to create Skateball and later, Fathom (in my opinion).

This will be a full restoration, except the cabinet will not need to be repainted.

Condition Report

Backglass - 8/10 - Has the typical red faded area that is common to almost every BG I've seen. I will most likely seal the backglass.
Playfield - 8/10 - Hardly any wear. Mainly around inserts, and unfortunately, all the inserts are cupped. Strangely enough, hardly any paint loss, but the inserts are worn.
Cabinet - 7/10 - Structurally is ok except for where the headbox sits on the lower cabinet. This will be addressed.
Electronics - 1/10 - Wiring looms are intact, but not one single board is present.

Before pictures








Apron was stored separately and is in good condition.





A lot of dirt and some ball swirl. No major paint loss. Should come up very nice.







Cabinet damage. Will be easily fixed.





More dirt. Provided the playfield with a protective coat while stored somewhere for many years  





Most parts removed








First pass - "Nifti in one hand, rag in the other"





Magic Eraser and 3 hours of working on the playfield





Tidied up the inserts with a sharpie, and it looks a whole lot better.





Under the playfield


Looks a lot like this ..





Every single moving part is removed, disassembled and then cleaned before being polished. If a part is broken or defective, it is added to a list of parts to order. Many of the parts have seized due to over lubrication. This can be difficult to address. Heres a picture of my work area during this process ;





All the parts are washed in a solution of hot water and windex. Leave for a few hours. Most of the crap comes off easy. For any really dirty part, drop it in the top / center container. It has degreaser. Let it soak and then clean with a toothbrush.  The bottom / center container is metho. This removes the degreaser. Wash with toothbrush and then DRY with a rag. Then drop in in the far right container which is hot water and windex. The part is now clean and free of crap. Drop it in the tumbler for 4-8 hours. This is a filthy job, but if it is not done properly, then it is not done properly..

After the tumbler, check each part and put aside anything that looks remotely worn or damaged. Place these parts in a separate container to remind you to order them from RTBB  

 

[swinks]

Amazing the difference after using the eraser and cleaner, good work

[spacejam0]

Hmm this one looks interesting  . I'm looking forward to following this restoration.
How long would you estimate this one will take?

[Strangeways]

Hmm this one looks interesting  . I'm looking forward to following this restoration.
How long would you estimate this one will take?

Good question - Things will move rapidly once I'm happy with the cabinet repairs, which I "nailed" this afternoon 

Just a matter of waiting for paint and glue to dry.

[Strangeways]

Mainly focused on the Cabinet of this game over the last week, and I did not want to repair the broken section, but make a new one from scratch. It look a while, but it looks 100% better.

Here's the old and the new





Installed and the section is repainted. Looks heaps better 





Lock down bar assembly was really bad. There's a really cool paint at Bunnings that I thought I'd try, and it come up looking really good.





Siderails and rusted nails. All removed. Siderails regrained and new nails installed.





Front door was ok. Needed a bit of straightening. I strip the entire door, and clean, polish and repair or replace.





Then it looks like this ;





The door is REGRAINED - Not polished. None of the machines from this era had polished or buffed doors.


Door in installed and looks much better. Lower cabinet is basically done.





Pendulum Tilt looks great in this picture 




 

[spacejam0]

I don't think it will hurt to let people know this machine is for me  . I'm finding it very exciting to watch this restoration progress and have been checking for updates daily.
It's a great service Nino provides being able to watch the restoration process....very cool I feel like a kid on Christmas eve and it also provides great peice of mind knowing it's being done properly.
Keep up the good work and updates Nino I've wanted one of your machines since I first followed one of your resto threads and I'm looking forward to more of your machines in the future as your new buisiness grows.

[thefasteddy69]

Very nice Nino, the change from the original condition to the restored machine is amazing to see. Really nice

[GORGAR 1]

I don't think it will hurt to let people know this machine is for me  . I'm finding it very exciting to watch this restoration progress and have been checking for updates daily.
It's a great service Nino provides being able to watch the restoration process....very cool I feel like a kid on Christmas eve and it also provides great peice of mind knowing it's being done properly.
Keep up the good work and updates Nino I've wanted one of your machines since I first followed one of your resto threads and I'm looking forward to more of your machines in the future as your new buisiness grows.

Congrats you will end up with one real nice flash.

Peter

[chris288]

Nino, How did you get the lockdown bar assembly looking soooo good. ??

It doesn't look like its restored , it looks like its a newly manufactured assembly.

Did you use wire brush and then a buffer, and if so what grade of buffing compound ?

Everything else looks sensational as well, Im sure your buyer will be well pleased.

[Strangeways]

Nino, How did you get the lockdown bar assembly looking soooo good. ??

It doesn't look like its restored , it looks like its a newly manufactured assembly.

Did you use wire brush and then a buffer, and if so what grade of buffing compound ?

Everything else looks sensational as well, Im sure your buyer will be well pleased.

I knew someone would pick that up, and I'm glad you did. The lock down bar assembly was badly corroded, but after removing the rust and filth, it was in fairly good condition, but it didn't look good. I was thinking of having it zinc plated, but that would cost half the price of a new assembly. I had seen the Rustguard range of White Knight paints. They also make the Hammered paint I use for Stern and 60's Bally doors. I bought "all purpose primer" and "structural steel". The results were amazing, and I only needed two thin coats. I didn't need the primer in the end. So the Lock Down Bar assembly was repainted using the "structural steel" paint - but it need to be used outside, as this paint sticks to everything. It is really thick. The "all purpose primer" and "super chrome" were used for the rear chrome plated part that sits below the backglass channel. That was corroded, and clearly visible. So this is where I used the "all purpose primer" and "super chrome". Really pleasing results.





The head / backglass surround required some touch up work, so I repainted that as well. I tend to do this on all games.





On to the playfield !

[femto]

Thanks for the tips on the paint you used. I will try this myself.

[Strangeways]

On to the playfield. It was cleaned earlier on, but it is time for a polish and wax. Here's the results after a high polish and three coats of wax ;








Drop Targets - My pet hate of Williams SS machines. Always problematic. Whenever there is a problem with a drop target assembly, its time to rebuild them completely. When buying a reconditioned or restored Williams game, you can tell if the job was done properly JUST by looking at the Drop Target Assembly. It is a time consuming process, but well worth it.

Here's a gummed up (lubricated) set of drop targets. Just filthy.





The process is to clean them with degreaser, then Metho, then scotchbrite and Nifti. They come out looking new. A fresh set of target decals and new coil sleeves and they look and WORK like new !





Next Update - Total rebuild of lower playfield.

[beaky]

the effort that go into pinball restoration is unbelievable. I can see many long and tedious hours of work here. keep up the hard work Nino. It's good to show people the process involved in restoring these old girls and it's all worth it in the end. 

[PinPal]

Nice work,, the playfeild looks awesome 

[spacejam0]

Nice work,, the playfeild looks awesome 

X2