(Topic ID: 308189)

1934 Bally Fleet Jr

By PlanetExpress

2 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 17 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by way2wyrd
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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10
#1 2 years ago

Picked up this Fleet Jr in a recent auction. It came to me not working, but all the parts are there:
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First step is to strip it down and clean everything:

This grime explains why the coin mech was jammed.
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Dirty shooter assembly, too.
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#2 2 years ago

Shooter assembly and coin mech have been through the ultrasonic and tumbler, then hand polished and reassembled with a coat of wax:

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#3 2 years ago

Playfield stripped down… thankfully the paint work is perfect, it just needs lots of cleaning and wax:

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#4 2 years ago

Curious what you use to safely clean the playfield... I've got one of these too, although not as rough, but was hesitant to try to clean it...

#5 2 years ago
Quoted from zacaj:

Curious what you use to safely clean the playfield... I've got one of these too, although not as rough, but was hesitant to try to clean it...

I’ve been using Rapid Prep followed by Rapid Tac…. Works great for me. I tried a test spot with Naptha, but it formed a white residue.

1 week later
#6 2 years ago

Interesting game.

#7 2 years ago

Excited to see how this turns out. These pre war pins are a blast to play and many have unique inventive ways to keep things interesting. I'm restoring a 1934 Gottlieb Push Over and love to see these old games be revived.

#8 2 years ago

A friend of mine has a very nice working one, I love how the cannons shoot the ball/balls to the next level/cannon. Cool game, great find. Post pics when complete.

#9 2 years ago

This one had several layers of paint on it and was pretty banged up, so it’s getting stripped down to bare wood and repainted. My wife will be picking the color, as she wasn’t a fan of the stock look. I figure if some future purist collector wants the original brown and beige, they can always repaint.

You can see the paint layers and damage:
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After a night covered in citristrip gel, wrapped in a tarp (love those $2 tarps from HF):
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Just a plastic scraper got most of it back to bare wood. Lots of sanding and scratch filling in my future:
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#10 2 years ago

What color will she choose?

#11 2 years ago
Quoted from Silverstreak02:

What color will she choose?

Cadet blue with the legs just polyurethaned seems to be the winner…. Not sure about the trim piece on the sides.

1 month later
#12 2 years ago

Finally getting to work today on reassembly after polishing out the playfield and all the parts. Here are some before and afters (it’s a shame that bronze bell is hidden under the playfield…):

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1 week later
#13 2 years ago

I decided I still wanted a battery, so I dressed up a AA battery pack and loaded it with 18650 cells. Initially I tried two cells in parallel (4v), which worked well to activate the coil, but was underpowered once in the machine with the extra wiring and old school switch. I’ve now got a set of 3 18650s wired in series (12v).

I didn’t bother with epoxy for the top, or anything fancy, just thought the old school look was 31C57AF6-7E6A-4CCA-A065-08974CA764FB (resized).jpeg31C57AF6-7E6A-4CCA-A065-08974CA764FB (resized).jpeg
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#14 2 years ago

Finished Fleet Jr today (except for the lock). What a fun game!

Wife decided on cadet blue with just bee’s wax for the legs. I sanded the cab smooth, but didn’t fill any of the wear areas on the door and lockbar, trying to retain some character. This is the most complete machine I’ve worked on, the only missing hardware was one leg bolt washer (I re-wired it, but wire doesn’t count).

Before/after:
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Made some NRA (National Recover Administration) stickers on silver foil labels. Scratches are on the glass, not the playfield:
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New rules printed on silver foil label paper, too:
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#16 2 years ago

Thanks, Jeff!

I’ve been lucky to score such great pre-war examples so quickly. Marble Prince and Fleet Jr. are done, Silver Cup is next to get cleaned up. I didn’t have any history with these, but I’ve really fallen for pre-war machines.

#17 2 years ago
Quoted from PlanetExpress:

but I’ve really fallen for pre-war machines.

yeah they will hook you. If youre coming to TPF stop by the History of Pinball booth and say hello and play a few prewars. I think we will have 16 or so

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