Atari Superman High End Restoration

[Strangeways]

This is a more recent restoration that I have started. I've never played a Superman, so having one in for restoration was always going to be interesting. The game was delivered to my doorstep by a friendly ex operator who warned me that the game "is a bit whiffy". Not exactly North Queensland Possum poo whiffy, but close enough for me to leave the factory roller door open for the day while it was fumigated outside !

Initially, I thought it was in very poor condition. A lot of rust, filth and an outstanding eviction notice for the rats and spiders was pending. The cabinet can be restored. The backglass needs a replacement. The playfield it outside of my skillset, so I sent some photos to Tim at HRP, and he was just as excited as I was to take on the project.

Another joint HRP & APR High end Restoration was already in motion !

Condition report

Cabinet 4/10 - BADLY needs a repaint. Side rails and lock down bar are rusted. Jeff at Rail-Ways has already provided us with a set of new siderails. Gav has already done the Cab stencils, so we are off to a good start.

Backglass - 3/10 - Poor. Needs to be replaced. Colours faded and peeling. This will be a challenge

Playfield - 3/10 - BAD. Lots of wear. No mylar or contact. This kind of detailed work falls neatly into Tim's lap 

Electronics - Unknown. I did not attempt to power up. Power cable was cut.


Initial Presentation








Front door will be restored as per original finish. Notice Aussie delivered game. The shooter assembly appears to be Gottleib parts.





The "bad" side of the headbox





Will be using Gavin's stencils for this project. We have found that other Stencil manufacturers are not even close to the quality and accuracy.


Playfield










I think the playfield presents a challenge, but I don't think it will present to many issues for Tim. Just time consuming. There may be a separate thread for the playfield restoration.


Inside the coin box area - Very smelly 




I've seen some VERY strange anomalies over the journey, but a pop rivet in a playfield is certainly interesting !





I've learnt that Atari approached pinball manufacturing much like their video game cabinet construction. Everything can be disassembled without desoldering.





When disassembling playfields, I use a system whereby every single item is noted. First I use a simple numbering system to identify each individual playfield part - switches, lamps and assemblies. I label the component on the wiring loom, and also the area on the playfield that the part is located. When all the components are removed, I take photos of the blank playfield. Eventually, during the process of restoration, the playfield underside will be cleaned and refinished, but I have a record of what goes where once I have the restored playfield returned.











Stripped playfield ready to drop off to Tim at HRP 


Next stage is to match the colours for the repaint of the cabinet 

[4_amusement_only]

Work cut out for you on that one! Look forward to see the time spent on it.

http://coinoppartsetc.com/product/parts-sale-pinball-machine-parts/superman-pinball-machine-game-backglass-backbox-atari-1979

[ddstoys]

Good luck not the greatest board set to work on but better than Gottlieb lol.   Have a few superman displays if needed? 

[robm]

Good stuff! Something a bit different is always fun and a bit of an adventure.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[pinnies4me]

Big project there for sure. Always loved the look of this game.  Can't wait to see the finished game.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Ahhh, played this game as a kid, probably the second SS I played

[KBRI1700]

Played the game in the PHoF in 2014

Great to see one come back to life

[Mr Pinbologist]

Really looking forward to see this one come back to life Nino 

That pop rivet in the playfield is a nice touch  i guess someone had run out of nails or screws to shove in there 

I've never played or worked on an Atari pin myself, hence my interest in seeing this one working again. I pretty much talked AP member howzat out of buying a non working Superman of eGay about six months ago, mainly out of fear of being unable to source parts for the boards!

[Crashramp]

Great to see or should I say "Super" to see a Superman restoration. Very fun game and like many of my favorite games it has easy to understand rules that seem simple but are a lot harder to achieve.

I'm sure it will look quite the showpiece once finished too. With it's physically huge size and the beautiful art package it'll stand out in any collection.

[howzat]

I luv this old game
As Mitch said he did talk me out of trying to buy a project superman
can you still get parts        board parts??

I rember seeing  out of order sign on it  quiet often
I guess reliability was a big thing
looking fwd to progress post         Howzat 

[Strangeways]

I luv this old game
As Mitch said he did talk me out of trying to buy a project superman
can you still get parts        board parts??

I rember seeing  out of order sign on it  quiet often
I guess reliability was a big thing
looking fwd to progress post         Howzat 

It is difficult for me to knock back such a challenge. Years ago, I used to avoid Zaccaria games because I'd never worked on one. Now I can fix CPU boards and displays with the help of others. I see this as being the same sort of deal. There are resources out there, and I'm confident that with perseverance, I will fix anything wrong with the game. That's part of the challenge.

[howzat]

Thats a good positive approch Nino  being self employed you have to think that way

[johno]

what's happening with this Nino? Haven't seen an update for ages!! would like to see the end products. Superman is my holy grail pin!

[Strangeways]

what's happening with this Nino? Haven't seen an update for ages!! would like to see the end products. Superman is my holy grail pin!

A lot of my restos have not been updated and are not current. Hope you have some popcorn !

The game is completely stripped as per the above pictures. I photographed every wire and every section for re assembly - Then I lost my hard drive with all the photos. I ended up paying a lot of money to have it recovered and the "tech" does not return calls etc - so many of my restos around that period are gone. Knowing that this is a huge issue, my only hope is to use the photos on this thread. I usually take around 100 photos, and I have, well, the photos in this thread. Time goes on, I keep getting told that I'll get everything back, pay more money, data is almost there, but I need to pay more money and in the end I gave up.

Then Tony from Pinball Shed was selling two project Superman games. One without playfield, backglass, door, boards - and a second which was complete. My old chum Gavin has been looking for a Superman for a long time, and I need a reference Superman to resume the restoration. So I cut a deal with Tony, and I have a reference game. Gav has the complete game, and I have the game without a playfield, backglass etc etc - But it means I have a reference playfield in Gav's game for me resto !

About a week later, Gav calls me up - "Have you had a look on eBay ?" - A pinball collector had a parted out Superman - backglass, playfield, front door, some boards - ALL the parts missing from the project game. So I ended up buying everything I need, and with help from Joe Tripoli at "Kids Just Wanna Have Fun" - I had it all sent over in a purpose built box. I forgot his name, but if you are reading this - THANKS..

I now have a Project Superman - to use as a reference, to rebuild the game in this thread. When I'm done - I'm going to restore the project and add it to my collection !

Gav sent me the cab stencils for the customer machine - so I will repaint it !

The playfield is with Timbo, currently going a full artwork resto and clear.

So in the end - I can now continue this restoration. Just waiting on the playfield resto and the time to repaint the cabinet !

Phew !

[Strangeways]

A LOT of work has gone into the cabinet, with success after several issues. These issues were new to me, but were done during production, and only became a big problem after I started stripping the cabinet.

Simple stuff first - Here is the cabinet as presented ;







This is after a vacuum.. 


Left side of the cabinet - Here is where you find the exact colours - under the fittings such as doors and siderails. The lazy approach is always to match the cabinet with the faded colours, but under the factory installed trim - there's the original colour !




NASTY !





Here's the benefit of using professional equipments. The Festool setup made light work of stripping the paint. Here's a clue to some of the major issues I'm about to face..





There's something seriously wrong here. The dark areas are "wet" and "sticky".. What's going on here ?




More sanding. More sanding..

Time to look under the cabinet. Rear section os good. Front section will be replaced.





It's getting dark now. Sanding. More Sanding. Going through lots of sanding disks..





More sanding. More sanding. What is going on here ?





Time for the first pass of Primer / Undercoat. Something different than sanding..





Looking much better !














OK - Looks ok ?

Nope. A day after the Primer coat, the paint peeled off in the darker areas. A real mess. Nothing would stick. Not even spot filler. I had a timber expert have a look and the "wet" areas are in fact moisture and glue that is inbetween the layers of plywood. The moisture was trapped due to the wood not drying and being prepped during the assembly of the game. That explains the "wet" areas under the siderails that was sticky. The ONLY way to deal with this was to place the cabinet in the sun for 3-5 days, and then sand it gradually. Then in light coats, build it up until the wood "takes" the undercoat. BUT - even after this process, the Topcoat may react. Even though the undercoat is dry and sealed the wood, it takes several coats and drying time in the sun to properly prep the timber. If the topcoat reaction is not severe, it needs to build up and lightly sanded. Then keep the light coats and drying time continuous until the section is 100%.


Eventually, it worked out ;





Time to move on the the headbox ;








The Boards are in really good shape ;





Headbox is ready for sanding and prep.





The cabinet is VERY well constructed. Stronger than most Wide bodies - on par with system 80s like Haunted House. The empty headbox is VERY heavy.

There's a long way to go on this restoration, but there is significant progress. Next update will be a repainted cabinet !