1934 Bally Signal Jr. rescue

Posted earlier on the FB pre-war site but in case members are not on there. I recently purchased a Bally Signal Jr. here in central Kansas that was in pretty poor condition. With missing parts including door, original Bally lock, warped sideboards, three of the signal semaphores, paint in various places, rusted stainless parts and worn nickel bits. So after a little work it is back in a playable/presentable condition. Fabricated the semaphore assemblies and door and deleted the plug in transformer and went back to onboard 6v power. Pictures at the end are pre-rescue.

Signal1 (resized).JPG

Signal2 (resized).JPG

Signal3 (resized).JPG

Signal4 (resized).JPG

Signal5 (resized).JPG

Signal6 (resized).JPG

Signal7 (resized).JPG

Signal8 (resized).JPG

#2 3 years ago

KNT

Coindork

Pinside member

Cave Creek, AZ

7y 147K 4,623 20 74

Well done

#3 3 years ago

ELK

Pinbub

Pinside member

Modesto, CA

9y 56,300 927 18

Looks great! Some day I'll get one...

#4 3 years ago

LXL

Isochronic_Frost

Saratoga Silverball

7y 221K 9,409 108 1 1

OP
Quoted from Battlebugs:
Posted earlier on the FB pre-war site but in case members are not on there. I recently purchased a Bally Signal Jr. here in central Kansas that was in pretty poor condition. With missing parts including door, original Bally lock, warped sideboards, three of the signal semaphores, paint in various places, rusted stainless parts and worn nickel bits. So after a little work it is back in a playable/presentable condition. Fabricated the semaphore assemblies and door and deleted the plug in transformer and went back to onboard 6v power. Pictures at the end are pre-rescue.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Wow! How on earth did you fab all that??

#5 3 years ago

BAC

Blake

Pinside member

https://www.signaturepolishonline.com/

Absolutely beautiful. Great job. Should swap out the lock down screws for brass slotted bevel head with brass escutcheon. Would be more time period correct.

The cabinet really came back to life. What did you use to give it that deep rich tone? I restored a 1941 Genco Argentine that I'm still not happy with the wood rails. Just lack that deep shine. Yours look great. Nice job on the semaphore assemblies and door too. My Argentine door was in very rough shape as many are from prying. Its presentable now but nothing great.

Heres the restore thread if you care to see pics - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-woodworking-finished-on-to-the-back-box

Final results here - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1941-genco-argentine-restoration-video#post-6203804

#6 3 years ago

KRH

thirdedition

What The Flip

9y 62,300 950 25

Quoted from Blake:
Absolutely beautiful. Great job. Should swap out the lock down screws for brass slotted bevel head with brass escutcheon. Would be more time period correct.
The cabinet really came back to life. What did you use to give it that deep rich tone? I restored a 1941 Genco Argentine that I'm still not happy with the wood rails. Just lack that deep shine. Yours look great. Nice job on the semaphore assemblies and door too. My Argentine door was in very rough shape as many are from prying. Its presentable now but nothing great.
Heres the restore thread if you care to see pics - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-woodworking-finished-on-to-the-back-box
Final results here - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1941-genco-argentine-restoration-video#post-6203804

We didn't go as far he did, but when we cleaned Linsey's Signal Jr. we used this stuff to really polish and get the wood to shine.

It works wonders. We used it on everything except the playfield.

#7 3 years ago

BAC

Blake

Pinside member

Quoted from thirdedition:
We didn't go as far he did, but when we cleaned Linsey's Signal Jr. we used this stuff to really polish and get the wood to shine.
https://www.signaturepolishonline.com/
It works wonders. We used it on everything except the playfield.

Awesome I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.

#8 3 years ago

RSD

Battlebugs

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Blake:
Absolutely beautiful. Great job. Should swap out the lock down screws for brass slotted bevel head with brass escutcheon. Would be more time period correct.
The cabinet really came back to life. What did you use to give it that deep rich tone? I restored a 1941 Genco Argentine that I'm still not happy with the wood rails. Just lack that deep shine. Yours look great. Nice job on the semaphore assemblies and door too. My Argentine door was in very rough shape as many are from prying. Its presentable now but nothing great.
Heres the restore thread if you care to see pics - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-woodworking-finished-on-to-the-back-box
Final results here - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1941-genco-argentine-restoration-video#post-6203804

For the cabinet I first wiped it down with Krud Kutter then used a random orbit polisher and Novus 2 and finally a coat of wax. The rails were too far gone with scratches and cig burns so I sanded off the original finish and hit them with Minwax Clear Satin Wipe-On Poly.

#9 3 years ago

RSD

Battlebugs

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:
Wow! How on earth did you fab all that??

The semaphore units were the most time consuming and I'm not real happy with them. I used aluminum u-channel as the base and cut and bent it into shape. Sourced some brass tubing from Amazon for the internal posts and piano wire from PBR to fab the lift pivot. I need to find a thinner walled u-channel to get a closer match to the original size - got a possible match from McMaster-Carr inbound. The brass tops are a pretty close match - lamp shade finials from Amazon.

#10 3 years ago

BAC

Blake

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from Battlebugs:
For the cabinet I first wiped it down with Krud Kutter then used a random orbit polisher and Novus 2 and finally a coat of wax. The rails were too far gone with scratches and cig burns so I sanded off the original finish and hit them with Minwax Clear Satin Wipe-On Poly.

Well it sounds like we are going through the exact same process. Just started using Krud Kutter myself. Almost finished restoring a 1977 Williams Big Deal. Worked much better then Simple Green as far as removing nicotine stains and discoloring. The random orbital certainly helps to bring back the shine of the paint. I swapped out Novus 2 for a few different cuts of Meguires Mirror Glaze compounds on the last cabinet. In some instances it works better.

Makes sense that my wood rails don't look as nice as yours. I'll have to take the time to sand and refinish. Thanks for sharing.

#11 3 years ago

BAC

Blake

Pinside member

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration

I meant to ask you if you have any info regarding the ‘NRA’ stickers at the top of the playfield? I just picked up a Gottlieb Push Over which has the exact same stickers. Any idea on the story behind them?

#12 3 years ago

ARF

AlexF

Pinside member

Edgerton, WI

11y 116K 5,766 9 8

Quoted from Blake:
I meant to ask you if you have any info regarding the ‘NRA’ stickers at the top of the playfield? I just picked up a Gottlieb Push Over which has the exact same stickers. Any idea on the story behind them?

National Recovery Act. It's not what you think of regarding the NRA today. If you see this logo on something it dates it to the 1933-1934 era.

#13 3 years ago

RSD

Battlebugs

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Blake:
I meant to ask you if you have any info regarding the ‘NRA’ stickers at the top of the playfield? I just picked up a Gottlieb Push Over which has the exact same stickers. Any idea on the story behind them?

In 1933 FDR led the development of an organization to help the nation recover from the Great Depression - the National Recovery Administration. They established a bunch of national industry codes and regulations. Companies that participated showed compliance by putting badges or stickers on their goods.

So the stickers on my pin I recreated from pictures I found on-line and put them where I could still see glue marks on the playfield surround.

Signal11 (resized).JPG

#14 3 years ago

KRH

thirdedition

What The Flip

9y 62,300 950 25

OP
Quoted from Battlebugs:
In 1933 FDR led the development of an organization to help the nation recover from the Great Depression - the National Recovery Administration. They established a bunch of national industry codes and regulations. Companies that participated showed compliance by putting badges or stickers on their goods.
So the stickers on my pin I recreated from pictures I found on-line and put them where I could still see glue marks on the playfield surround.[quoted image]

On our Signal Jr I believe it has a serial number on the top left of the surround. If you click on the linked game that picture is of ours. I'll try and get some better snaps tonight.

#15 3 years ago

RSD

Battlebugs

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from thirdedition:
On our Signal Jr I believe it has a serial number on the top left of the surround. If you click on the linked game that picture is of ours. I'll try and get some better snaps tonight.

The only stamped number I found on mine was a 34 above the door - figured it was year of manufacture.

#16 3 years ago

KRH

thirdedition

What The Flip

9y 62,300 950 25

Upon closer inspection it may be some kind of inventory or perhaps tax sticker.

IMG_20210415_200535846 (resized).jpg

#17 3 years ago

RSD

Battlebugs

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Blake:
Absolutely beautiful. Great job. Should swap out the lock down screws for brass slotted bevel head with brass escutcheon. Would be more time period correct.
The cabinet really came back to life. What did you use to give it that deep rich tone? I restored a 1941 Genco Argentine that I'm still not happy with the wood rails. Just lack that deep shine. Yours look great. Nice job on the semaphore assemblies and door too. My Argentine door was in very rough shape as many are from prying. Its presentable now but nothing great.
Heres the restore thread if you care to see pics - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-woodworking-finished-on-to-the-back-box
Final results here - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1941-genco-argentine-restoration-video#post-6203804

For the screws all I can find are 1.5 inch max length - is there a source for longer ones?

Thanks

#18 3 years ago

BAC

Blake

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from Battlebugs:
For the screws all I can find are 1.5 inch max length - is there a source for longer ones?
Thanks

I buy most of my hardware now from Bolt Depot. They have both #6 and #8 brass oval/bevel slot head wood screws in 2" and matching escutcheons. - https://www.boltdepot.com/Wood_screws_Slotted_oval_head_Brass_6.aspx

The NRA info is very interesting. I will be looking into it further. The badges on my 1934 Gottlieb Push Over are in rough shape. Do you have the files for what you recreated or do you have extras I could purchase? What material did you print them on?

push over (resized).jpeg

#19 3 years ago

RSD

Battlebugs

Pinside+ Frequent