Gottlieb Pro Football Restore

[Strangeways]

Background

I won this game off eBay around 3 years ago. No one was bidding on it as it was out in Terang in Western Victoria. I guess the fact that it was painted white might have put a lot of bidders off.. Anyohow, I won it cheap and then looked up Terang... Hmmm - 3 Hour Drive. But that's half the fun of buying pins...

I drove out there and met the seller, who had it stored in a shed for 15 years. Thankfully, it was removed and left on the Veranda out the back. It could BARELY stand.. and in typical eBay fashion, it was FAR worse than I expected. The body was falling apart, and it STUNK of moisture and that smell of a game that has not been played for 15 years... I removed the legs, well only three of them as the other one "fell" off...(check the pictures)  I packed it in car and drove home with it...

I didn't bother assembling it.. I think the stench of the game kept it together... However, the backglass was great, the playfield even better - so I had a real project ahead on me !

Condition

Body - 1/10 Totally rooted. It will be used for parts
Playfield - 8/10 Nice. Mylared and no wear marks except for where the ball is launched - in between the flippers
Backglass - 8/10 Nice. Only slight fading
Electrics - 7/10 Not bad. Some corrosion - will eed a fair bit of work.

Here are some pictures of the game the day I brought it home... Just look at those "scuff marks" 








Believe it or not - I kept the base and the rear section of this cabinet, and a small section for color matching (later)





I love the "bar" .... It fell off later on 








Playfield


Not bad at all... The redeeming feature of the game was the playfield and backglass... Here's some shots of the playfield..










First impression - Can the body and "scratch Build" a new one. I "toyed" with this idea and even sent an email to Gottlieb LLC for permission and to obtain a copy of the plans for a wedgehead. No plans, but I could build a cabinet for personal use...


While I was considering this "scratch Build" as an option.... A "Far Out" cabinet appears on eBay ! Exactly the same dimensions and at a cheap price... Ironically, I bought it at the last minute to find it was MarkC's Tech - Andy - Who was the seller.. So I brought it home, and stripped it !










Now I have a complete machine to work on. I "gave away" the playfield to a fellow collector in NSW, after he kindly donated a spare Genie Playfield for one of my games...


This restore is current - there quite a bit of work done already. I'm at the point where I can spray the cabinet. I didn't do it last year as I had too many other projects going and the weather turned bad 

Updates to THIS point will trickle through !

[Strangeways]

Update - 

The original cabinet has been stripped of all its parts - including the siderails and door. I kept three sections of wood

1 - behind the door plate as it has been covered since production and it will provide a good color match
2 - The rear section of the cabinet. It is better than the Far Out cabinet and will be reused
3 - The base

The rest of the Original Cabinet (Wood) was thrown out.

So I'm left with the Far Out cabinet.

Stripping the Far Out cabinet

After removing all parts off the cabinet, I had to strip the paintwork. This is a lot easier to do than people think.. Here's a brief description;

Materials needed

• Citrus Strip - Available from Bunnings in a green can
• Two scrapers or metal spatulas
• Some rags
• old paintbrushes
• Two buckets of water
• Goggles for eye protection
• air mask
• Gloves
• A sunny Day !

Stripping a cabinet takes around half a day to do properly. Here's a condensed procedure;

Gloves, air mask and eye protection on..
Cabinet set up in a well ventilated area
Pour the Citrus Strip into a container and start smearing it on one side of the cabinet with a paint brush. Generously apply. The more stripper and time exposed to the paint, the easier it comes off.

Wait 30 minutes

Use a large scraper or spatula and test a section of the cabinet. If the paint does not move - wait longer.
Use the larger spatula to scrape the paint WITH THE GRAIN. ie. Fron the front to the back, or the back to the front.
As the paint scrapes off, flick it in the first bucket of water, and use the other scraper to remove the excess from the first scraper
Continue until done
Wipe the cabinet with a wet rag and rinse in the other "clean water" bucket...

Do this to all sides of the cabinet
Leave the cabinet in the sun to dry for a few hours
Then put the stripped cabinet away for a week before sanding

You can do sides of the head at the same time as the cabinet

Washup is EASY - Citrus Strip cleans up with water...

Just a note on Citrus Strip - It does not stink like normal paint strippers, and wearing a face mask is a bit "over the top", but I'm asthmatic, so I take all precautions.

It should look like this !




Cabinet Repair

Notice the back of the cabinet has been removed. The base is also removed. I used the rear panel and the base from the Original Cabinet. This is a HUGE job, and a real pain to get right. The bottom panel was sanded clean and installed to ensure it fits. Easy..

Problem # 1 - The guides that hold the bottom base were completely broken and falling off. This is where I needed to be a little creative. This is hard to explain, but I installed the bottom base temporarily in position with the edges affected noted. I slipped tracing paper in between the bottom base and the very bottom "guide" of the cabinet that was missing. I clamped a "Straight edge" along the side of the cabinet. This would allow me to use Bondo to "fill" the areas missing wood. I did this for the side and the front. I let the Bondo dry and sanded back to at least get some coverage. When it dried, I simply slid the bottom base out and removed the tracing paper. A little more sanding and I was done !

Here a picture of the side that needed repairs prior to the procedure above...




Here's the exact procedure on the front of the cabinet - after the removal of the base and sanding ;







So now the base will slide into position. I will paint it a woodgrain color later...


Problem #2 - The Back Panel

Now that the base is in position, the back Panel has to be installed. I can't recall if I used wood glue or liquid nails here ! The cabinet HAS to be square when bracing the cabinet - and it is a job that should be done with a helper. Lots of clamps used here, but after a couple of hours, it was all done and square... A couple of nails here and there and it is done. I let it sit for two days before going on to the next step.




I bought some edging from bunnings and cut them into brackets..I added them to the sides to hold the baseboard in. I made two new corners at the rear where the leg mounts will be installed... But here is a picture of the finished cabinet.. More to come later - when I find them 




 

[Strangeways]

More Body Repairs !

The Head was in poor condition, and it had suffered some water damage. The front and the top of the head needed work - in fact, I ended up replacing both. I kept the "good side" of the original body, in case I needed to repair anything. The front head facade would be easy to make and all I needed was a sheet of ply from Bunnings..

I knocked this up in the afternoon with my electric saw, jigsaw, planer and router.. It was all a bit of fun with angles and involved some maths and a six pack ! 

Here is the original Head - with a chip out of the top of the facade. The facade was falling apart.





After removing the facade, here is what the rest of the head looked like. I had to carefully remove the top section... Which fell apart anyway !





Here's where you have to remember what they taught us in Maths class.. There are a few holes that need to be cut, and some beveled edges. Basically, I made the top of the head by using an piece of the original side of the discarded cabinet ;





The reverse side was a lot more involved. This is where the router came in handy. Lots of measurements taken, and passed on to the new piece of timber.





Now here is the tricky bit for anyone that goes down this path... The sides of the head are cut square, so the bevel where the top section is fitted must be beveled perfectly. LOTS of trial and error here - and I'm no craftsman !

Finally, after a few changes, it fits nicely. Get this part wrong, and the the new facade is not going to look good. I also reglued the entire structure so that I was working with a stable platform..





Facade was a lot easier than I thought. I used the old one for the markings, and cut the new facade out slowly. To cut the inside out of the sheet of ply, I drilled four holes in the corners, and then slid the jigsaw along a straight edge. I then sanded the corners and trimmed where necessary to have a perfect fit...

End result ;




Final step was to have the facade aligned and glue it to the rest of the head.. Finally, some tack nails and I'm done. Check for square and I'm done...

 
 

[stuba]

 
love your work! and cabinet 101. you really should look at doing a book some day.

[Mr Pinbologist]

Great stuff! Man i've seen some machines in bad condition, including some of my own but WOW!! Cant wait to see the end result... Keep up the great work

[Strangeways]

For some reason, I like the challenge of a really poor machine. As long as the playfield and backglass are in good condition, I'll have a go.

Also - the good thing about pinballs - there are so many aspects to the repair and restoration, so you get to use all the tools (and new ones  ) in the shed..

More updates coming..

I might have a really nice HVLP gun coming my way !

[ktm450]

Nice work Nino! 
Would be very satisfying to restore such a damaged pin to its former glory

[Chuck]

Great work.  Good to see lots of love put back into an old machine instead of scrapping it.

[Strangeways]

Like I said previously, the updates will trickle through on this restore.

Cabinet

The baseboard is installed and I've re enforced the cabinet with some edging from Bunnings cut into lengths and glued with PVC Wood glue and nails.








The rear corner re enforcement  was fun - as that's where the leg bolts are attached. So after the glue sets, I had to drill the holes. I've bought the leg plates to be fixed to the corners. I had to use a larger piece of edging - again, from bunnings !





Playfield


How funny is this picture ? The Spinner is from a "Buccanneer" - it is the wrong spinner. I have a spare "Pro Football" spinner somewhere.. But - 3 years after buying the PF, I buy a Buccanneer - With no spinner !





I started stripping the playfield parts and notice the mylar (contact) is in great shape. But underneath the contact is a REALLY nics playfield.. It is just going to take me a few hours to find it !!








The playfield is stripped and the mylar is removed - along with the adhesive residue. First pass with Novus 2, and here is what I'm presented with - and I'm REALLY pleased with the results..









I've ordered everything I will need for the playfield restoration, I just need to rebuild everything underneath and prep the cabinet for a respray !

[Ford Fairlane]

Nice work!!

Considering i just bought one of these, i will watch this restore with even greater interest. Well Done!!!

[Creech]

Playfield has come up very nice. Can't wait to see this fully done up.

[MartyJ]

Given its the holidays, I'm sure you'll have it finished by the end of the week !

I'm amazed as always.  I can't wait to see it back together.  I am sure it will look as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line...

[Strangeways]

Nice work!!

Considering i just bought one of these, i will watch this restore with even greater interest. Well Done!!!

It is a long project hat I intend on taking my time on - and I need Stensils (Gavin - Retropin), and good weather to paint the cab. Dad just had a knee replacement operation and he paints the cabs for me - so it might get done this summer...

 

[Strangeways]

Given its the holidays, I'm sure you'll have it finished by the end of the week !

I'm amazed as always.  I can't wait to see it back together.  I am sure it will look as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line...

I'll have the buccaneer started before this gets finished Marty - Most likely my Time Warp as well !!

[MartyJ]

Sounds like a line from a famous Australian movie:

"Dad: Steve, could you move the Camira, I need to get the Torana out so I can get to the commodore. Steve: I'll have to get the keys to the Cortina if I'm gonna move that Camira Dad: Yeah, watch the boat mate Steve: Yeah "