Bally Fathom Restoration - Number Two

[Strangeways]

This is a customer's machine that was brought to me for the full treatment. This is the second Fathom restoration in 12 months. After this is completed, I'll be starting a THIRD Fathom - My personal machine ! I think everyone knows how good this game is, both from the artwork and the gameplay. Highly collectible, and one of the most sought after titles. I think I'm very fortunate to be restoring three Fathoms, especially after searching for ONE game for almost 15 years !

The objective is to restore the game to NIB (Nearly In Box). Similar to the Eight Ball, which was a very involved machine. This game has a "head start" because the CPR playfield was already installed. I'll get to that a bit later on..

Condition Report

Playfield - 10/10 - CPR playfield. Looks VERY nice. But under the playfield has had no work done at all.

Cabinet - 5/10 - A shocker ! Repainted using the wrong colors, with the wrong finish. Looks like stencils were used. From a distance, it looks ok, but up close it is BAD. The cabinet is falling apart and will need repairs.

Electronics - 9/10 - All good. I believe Ken looked over the boards, so they will be fine, but we may look at an Altek MPU.

The Game is in working order, and it is complete. There are considerable challenges that will be covered during the restoration.

"Before" pictures





Custom paint job





High gloss finish with the wrong colors. Probably a bunnings repaint ?





Under the playfield is simply a disaster zone. Seized mechanisms, GI return braid shorting out to assemblies - a real mess..





Just look at the return spring !





A rusted and crusted credit knocker. Not many free games paid on this machine ?





Here's my first challenge - the chrome metal glass panel has both tabs broken off. This might need some magic with the TIG welder and a rechrome ?





Stripped cabinet





Here you can see the colors that were WAY off and the finish - which is also WAY off.





A close-up. Now I've matched the colors AND the finish, which is a FLAT base. Hardly any gloss at all. This game will be repainted to exactly the factory spec.





The back panel is swollen and will be replaced. A messy job, but it has to be done. I WISH someone reproduced these cabinets 





The bottom panel has fallen away !





After matching the paint, I can then strip the cabinet back to wood. Takes time, and it is a bit messy, but the time spent prepping and repairing the cabinet means the quality of finish will be good. This is where I spend a lot of time on these repaints.





The rear panel is cut and rebated to it's original cut. It fits like a glove. I will glue and clamp the cabinet. Then nails are used from each side, and then I will use long staples (similar to original build) to hold the brackets in place. I use brackets the entire length of the inside height of the cabinet. Here is the lower cabinet after clamping.








Once this process is complete, I'll continue the repairs and then prep for repaint.

[pinoffski]

Looking forward  to the progress of this resto



 

[Crashramp]

Nice start Nino, I'm sure it'll come up every bit as good as your other restorations. I'm looking forward to the updates. 
I have a question though. The disconnected braid wire sitting in the bottom left hand corner of you cabinet, what does it connect to? The reason I ask is that my Flash Gordon has a loose braid wire in exactly the same place. The bottoms not falling out of mine but other than that, your picture could have been a photo of mine.

[Strangeways]

Nice start Nino, I'm sure it'll come up every bit as good as your other restorations. I'm looking forward to the updates. 
I have a question though. The disconnected braid wire sitting in the bottom left hand corner of you cabinet, what does it connect to? The reason I ask is that my Flash Gordon has a loose braid wire in exactly the same place. The bottoms not falling out of mine but other than that, your picture could have been a photo of mine.

The ground braid on the rear right hand side is meant to connect to the ground braid in the head. You will find a screw on a horizontal section of the head. If the ground braid is not connected, you can experience strange issues, so make sure it is connected !

[Crashramp]

Will do, thanks Nino.

[swinks]

look forward to seeing this being restored

[Steve2010]

Nino, Fathom is for sure a topic unto itself.

When I first got hooked back into pinball 3 years ago and reviewed the games from the Bally SS era on ipdb, I remember my first impression looking at Fathom.  I thought to myself, nope, not for me, can't get used to the look of the cab with its design and all.  At that stage I have never even played one once, let alone see one in the flesh.

But it was your first Fathom resto thread that started to get me hooked.  The more I looked, the more I liked.  And there's no question that this is one title that has a sizeable interest.  Not just here ..... all you have to do is touch base with people in America and Europe as well, and you can sense that this game is in demand.  I simply really like this game alot now, and it really does package great game play, stunning artwork on the playfield and backglass, and the cabinet has grown on me.  Looking at the combination of cab, BG, and PF, and it really is a nick "package".

Now to this game.  Most people that would go to the trouble of restencilling this game you would think would at least attempt the same pattern as the original.  It took two seconds to see that this was not the case.  The front especially, that pattern is so different to the original.  Where are the stencils coming from?  I would think that this is a very challening stencil to make.  I have done a few stencils myself so far.  Just looking at the stencil requirements for Fathom is certainly getting up there.

Really looking forward to this restore, especially how the cab respry will turn out (sorry, not trying to add any pressure, I know you will come through).  But it is a bit of a daunting task.

What's the condition of the backglass?  Sure is nice to see the original.  Shame that CPR never got the repro even close to what it should have been, but I guess a repro is better than nothing if the original is shot.

[Retropin]

Steve....Looks to me that the stencils MAY have been hand made.. and in all honesty they did a pretty good job... it almost lines up.. almost -LOL.

The hatching inside the lettering... groan... the hatching. Steve - i know why they didnt do it, i havent counted the hatchings yet but will do next time im weeding out a set of stencils for this.
I can normally make a stencil file in about 6 - 8hrs all up.. i cant do all that in one hit, i dont work on computers ( I build stuff instead) and i find it hard to sit in one place staring at a screen making minute adjustments to lines for long periods of time.
HAUNTED HOUSE took me about 15 hrs to make.
FATHOM took me well over 25 hours.. its was a nightmare and mainly because of the hatchings.. there are hundreds of them all individually shaped and so each one gets made in its own right.
And then get this... you make one side and your intention is to mirror it for the other yes?..wrong.. FATHOM is done really cleverly and the letters are different in sizing to suit the cabinet. So one side has the letters expanding horizontally and the other decreasing.. this makes them look the same on the cabinet as one end is wider than the other - its an optical illusion.
This of course means that each side gets made individually.. even the mermaid tail is different in width... VERY clever stencil!
So why not make the same pattern???.. i know... i know alright!

[Wizcat]

Yesss, love seeing your restoration work Strangeways 

Some detail on repairing the base of that cabinet would be appreciated.  I have a Bally FG that is in a similar state. Your advice on repair will be invaluable.

Thanks

[pinball god]

Nino, what are you doing to me? I outta cash and your restos are always on great titles. I have a house to finish and now want a fathom. Can't wait on the next instalment on this thread as I enjoy your work and really enjoy seeing great titles come alive 

[Strangeways]

Nino, what are you doing to me? I outta cash and your restos are always on great titles. I have a house to finish and now want a fathom. Can't wait on the next instalment on this thread as I enjoy your work and really enjoy seeing great titles come alive 

Customer's machine, Rob ! These are nearly impossible to find these days

[pinnies4me]

I saw this game last week, and I can tell you it is a massive job, but the effort Strangeways has gone to already amazing, and I can see it's going to be another work of art.

[Strangeways]

Headbox preparation

The head will be prepped and painted before the body. The body needs a lot of repairs. The head needed some minor repairs as the bottom panel was separated from the rear. I glued, clamped and nailed the head until it was completely stable. Then I can sand and mask.





Here's the headbox after primer / undercoat. I lightly sand out any imperfections.





Here's the basecoat in the original color. The color, and more importantly the finish, is exactly as per original. Slightly under a semi gloss.








Lower Cabinet repairs

The lower cabinet has been cleaned and sanded.





Now that the back panel has been replaced, I can install the leg plate brackets. Here's the new back panel installed





I use hardwood panels as a bracket. First I measure and drill out the legbolt holes. Then I file the side flat so I can mount the leg plates.





Finally I use the same staples as used in the factory after gluing the brackets in place





Now the cabinet is VERY stable and ready for repairs to the underside. Slow progress, as I have to wait for the glue to set etc.

[Strangeways]

I've prepped the lower cabinet and finished the base coat. This is the exact finish of the original. Don't know why Bally went down the path of almost a flat finish, but this is the factory finish for this game ;





Did a little bit more than just the areas seen at the playfield level.








Cabinet is put aside for a couple of days to fully cure.


Headbox


Masked and ready for the BLUE stencil





Even coverage -  Not too heavy..





Some minimal paint lift which will be addressed later





Here we go with the lime / green stencil in place. This is a very intricate stencil to match with the blue. It takes a while to register and align with the blue, and you really don't know how close you are until you remove it after painting.





Even coat of lime / green





With the lime stencil removed





Close up - What a fantastic job Gavin did with these stencils 





Headbox completed !




 

[Jango]

What a beautiful job Nino,
I would be super happy as a client, knowing you were restoring a machine for me.... You certainly have a reputation for quality and doing things right first time.
Agree - stencils look fantastic!!!