Creature From The Black Lagoon Restoration

[Strangeways]

Creature From The Black Lagoon Restoration

Next machine in line is a Bally Creature From the Black Lagoon. Another game that really just needs a recondition, but I'm sure I'll be spending more time than just 20-30 hours. This won't be done to the level of John Wart Jr's fine restoration, but it will be a respectable machine nonetheless.


Condition

Cabinet - 8/10 No fade or damage other than where the legs have folded the decals. Not seen when the legs are installed. The lower cabinet panel needs to be fixed where the transformer is located. The shroud for the globe and around the playfield window are missing and the speaker has been broken.

Playfield - 8/10 A layer of dirt covers the playfield. The "Snack Hole" has wear around it which needs to be addressed. Several broken plastics and the "Bowl" ramp has a break in it's support. The incorrect posts have been used in placed (red and transparent). Sounds a lot worse than it is !

Electronics - 8/10 Looks to be in good condition. One GI IDC connector is toast.

Creature Feature - Works and is Green. The mirror is broken and has been repaired previously.


Before Pictures











Playfield Strip


Straightforward playield strip "procedure". Take pictures of everything and if you are not sure - Use the caliper in the photos as highlighted on the Pinbot Resto thread. Everything is removed





Clean with Nifti and a rag. This is another machine that I'm using the Treasurecove polish kit on. From now on - All my games will be polished with this kit. Took me around 30 minutes to make this playfield look like it was clearcoated;








Each mechanism is removed, one by one, and cleaned by hand. If it needs polishing, then the part is either buffed on the bench grinder with a buffing wheel, or thrown in the tumbler. All upper playfield parts that fit in the tumbler are washed first, dried and then placed in the tumbler. Here we have the ramp diverter. The RED container has water and 6-7 squirts of windex, and the GREEN is just water. MartyJ gave me some red and grey scotchbrites which I'm testing and finding to be A LOT better than the Green Scotchbrite. I use the RED scotchbrite first, then the Grey Scotchbrite for a nice shiney finish.




Reassembled mechanism - with new coil sleeve ;





Here's a really good picture of the polished playfield and rebuilt slingshot assembly ;




 

[Pinfan]

Nice Nino ! 

To the lucky new owner, they scored themselves a 'hot pink' version of the playfield !  

I plan on getting me a TC kit in the new year... Playfield come up awesome...

[ddstoys]

It does look good Nino im just waiting on a postage price on a Treasure Cove Kit....

[madness]

Put teal bumper caps and rings and fit flashers to them.Looks the goods and an easy mod since you got the playfield stripped.
Treasure Cove Kit is the goods.Does a fantastic job and real easy,quick.
CFTBL, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Wish i had mine back

[indazone gav]

Creech is such a beautiful machine and when restored is nothing short of outstanding, I'll watch this thread with great intrest

[Extra Ball]

I wont say anything nice because it goes without saying the high standard Nino achieves.
I want to own this pin someday, love the soundtrack, love the theme, and love the gameplay.

How good does that pinbot look 

[RaptorLawyer]

Indeed, a most promising start to another quality restore im sure Nino.

Will be following with great interest sir

[Supremicus]

Eager to see how this one and john's turn out, it's another title i wouldn't mind owning one day.

[johnwartjr]

I have a grey scotchbrite pad that I picked up and am looking forward to trying :) The current restoration is all polished, so it'll just have to wait til the next :)

Your results are definitely promising though. That TC polishing kit rocks!

[Strangeways]

Put teal bumper caps and rings and fit flashers to them.Looks the goods and an easy mod since you got the playfield stripped.
Treasure Cove Kit is the goods.Does a fantastic job and real easy,quick.
CFTBL, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Wish i had mine back

That's the plan - Teal caps and lane guides 

I wont say anything nice because it goes without saying the high standard Nino achieves.
I want to own this pin someday, love the soundtrack, love the theme, and love the gameplay.

How good does that pinbot look 

CFTBL is an awesome machine, much better than some titles that command more $$.

Pinbot is waiting on a new display and some flasher resistors that are not in stock at GPE. Plays VERY well !

I have a grey scotchbrite pad that I picked up and am looking forward to trying :) The current restoration is all polished, so it'll just have to wait til the next :)

Your results are definitely promising though. That TC polishing kit rocks!

Yep - Don't know how I did without it ! Can't wait to try ot on EMs etc. Big thanks to MartyJ who borrowed his kit for me to test 

[bwodie]

looks like its going to come up REAL good!

[v8racefan]

Great resto nino, I have this title and will be watching this resto with great interest. Keep up the great work.

Can someone here explain the "hot pink" playfield version?? is this a rare limited playfield run?

Cheers

Leon
aka v8racefan

[Strangeways]

After gloating over the playfield for a while - it was time to clean up all the plastics parts, wash the metal parts and place them in the tumbler, and regrain the metal ball guides. I used MartyJ's pads - they are simply awesome and I now use the Green for stubborn dirt and serious regraining, the red next and a final regrain with the grey pads. It leaves the "authentic grained" look. I use Windex with the pads. They grey pads REALLY bring out a shine on polished metal as well - but I'm still experimenting.

As with all the work I do - ALL mechanisms are stripped, cleaned, broken parts replaced and coil sleeves replaced. The owner wants some non factory colored parts installed, and it will look great. Some pictures (don't worry about the Snack Bar outhole - it will be fixed later);






New flipper kits installed - bushings checked for cracks - reassembled ;




Creature playfield window

So the playfield window is a little dull, and it would be difficult to polish it installed. So I screwed it onto a plank of wood and fixed that to the vice. Used the same technique as the playfield for polishing - but I kept an "eye on it" as I went along ;








I installed the playfield window. The flash on the camera really brought out the imperfections. I found they were my fingermarks from the reverse side of the window.





A better picture and more hardware installed ;





More pictures








 

[ddstoys]

It been said before Nino but you really do a Top Job on your games and i love those Blue bumper caps

[v8racefan]

where did you get the blue/teal bumper caps from????