This topic has been given a lot of coverage in the various newsgroups and arcade collecting forums. I’ve done lots of research and read all the comments I could find. I’m also lucky enough to have a good friend that knows a great deal about electronics and was kind enough to share the pros and potential cons of bathing them. After talking with him I decided to give it a go.
I neglected to take a couple of before pictures to show the nasty grime covering these three G07 chassis, but we’ve all seen similar parts. Any arcade pcb’s that have been sitting around in a warehouse for 20 plus years are bound to be covered with crud. Makes it hard to see what you’re working on when trying to do repairs and sometimes a standard cleaning just doesn’t do the trick. So into the dishwasher they go! (more…)
I’ve been working on a Reactor restoration for a friend, a very patient friend, because I think it was about an eternity ago that I started the project. I plan to wrap it up this winter and thought I would share some pictures of the artwork before it all gets applied. It’s very nice stuff. (more…)
During our very successful game party last year, my Mad Planets decided to malfunction. The fire button died and made the game impossible to play. I’ve been delaying the repairs because of my schedule (more…)
I’m not a huge pin head, but I do appreciate a good game of pinball and I enjoy reading about collector efforts to restore them. Recently on RGP, (rec.games.pinball) Hugh posted a cool little video about removing mylar from a pinball machine playfield. I’ve got a Firepower pin in the garage that is going to need some similar attention very soon, so I thought it was worth sharing this video and archiving it for my future reference Enjoy and thanks for sharing Hugh.
Removing Mylar from a playfield with freeze spray
There are a lot of opinions on the best way to remove mylar from a playfield, so I encourage you to do your homework before doing this yourself. Start by searching the RGP Google group archives and perhaps read the tutorials on the marvin3m site. Take your time and have fun.
CoinOpSpace is running an arcade game restoration contest with prizes from some of the best vendors in the business, so I’m motivated to dust off those long neglected projects and get moving on the restorations! My first entry into the contest will be my Wizard of Wor mini’s. Yep, two of them.
To learn more about the contest or even to submit your own entry, visit CoinOpSpace. To follow my Wizard of Wor restoration progress, you can check out my WoW blog on COSP. I hope to have both machines up and running very soon.
I haven’t tackled a pin restoration yet, but at some point I’ll start on the firepower machine I have that’s been waiting for a little TLC. This thread over in RGP got me thinking about my pin project and about pinball restoration efforts in general.
I think the new process is a great idea and hopefully a less costly alternative to silk screened glass reproductions. Knowing a little about silk screening from my Berzerk control panel reproductions, I can only imagine the time and effort required to produce a repro pin glass. The cost certainly reflects this. Being able to produce the same quality effect on a translite could be a fantastic way to repro some backglass art that might otherwise never get done.
Pinball restorations are a worthy cause, let Steve Young or the pin community in general know how you feel. Get involved and help save some games!
Flash back all the way to October of 2001, not too long, but an eternity when you think about the advances in technology since that time. I had picked up my very first cabinet, a Galaga UR and was anxious to restore it to its former glory. I think it is very important to document the strip down of any cabinet, primarily so you can remember where stuff goes, but also to share the details with the collecting community. I didn’t have a digital camera back then and was taking pics with my 35mm camera, a slow process.
I decided to borrow a friends digital Sony Mavica for instant results. Cutting edge at the time with its little 3″ removable disc media. Wow, what a difference, I can’t imagine using a 35mm ever again! (more…)
This restoration has been a serious pain in the butt. I ruined one of my carefully laminated side panels in my last effort, (See part two for that story.) and would need to make another panel. I had enough scrap material to join and make a new panel, so I gave it a try. It worked out well and I figured that after laminating it, you’d never know it was two pieces. Unfortunately during the sizing portion, I cut about 4″ more off the bottom than I should have. Measure twice, cut once, words to live by. I bit the bullet and purchased another piece of material. This time I got it right.
I carefully lined up the new, pre-cut blank on top of the other blank I had already laminated but not cut. I then used screws through the carriage bolt holes to secure the pieces in place. No movement this time. (more…)
If you are trying to restore a Mad Planets there is some great artwork available. You can repaint the side art using stencils from gamestencils. If you need to replace the control panel overlay, you can find a reproduction cpo (sold out?) over at quarterarcade. Two fantastic items, but still lacking if you are trying to do a complete restoration.
A good friend of mine, Jeff Rothe of rotheblog got hooked on the game during one of his visits. The game is just one of those sleeper hits that once you play, it quickly gets added to your list of favorites. Jeff has taken on the ambitious project of putting together a Mad Planets game and asked me if I could take some scans of the artwork on the front. Since he is interested in reproducing the art for his personal project, there is a good chance this artwork will see the light of day. Good news for any Mad Planet owners with games needing some TLC.
I took as many scans as possible with my HP window scanner and then followed up with some high resolution shots in macro on my digital camera. Hopefully Jeff will be able to piece the stuff together and make it look good. Watch for progress on his work over at coinopspace the arcade forum dedicated to the arcade collecting hobby. None of the BS, just loads of fun. Happy gaming.
This article is in no way meant to give an exhaustive account on how to repair a missing chunk of laminate, or what type of router bits should be used, or what type of adhesive, etc. There are plenty of places to find such information, such as coinopspace, byoac, or even search the RGVAC archives in Google Groups. It has already been covered, extensively, so search. I am simply throwing out a little “history” on laminates as I seem to get one or two emails per month asking the question, “What laminate did you use in the plans for the Ms. Pac-Man cocktail table?” This simple question has a not so simple answer. (more…)
Enjoy and thanks for sharing Hugh.
