So in the short week and a half I have been an EM owner, I have learned a lot from all of you. I thought I would share my experience as well in the hopes it may help others.

Machine: 1959 Gottlieb Atlas

History: This machine was originally purchased in a small town in Missouri. In the mid 1970s my Wife's aunt purchased it and put it in her basement where it was played by all the family kids for the next 40 or so years. My wife spent many hours in that basement playing this machine with her cousins. Now in 2015 their health is not as good and they are moving. They sold it back to the same amusement company they purchased it from in the 70s. When my wife heard they sold it, she immediately called them and made them an offer knowing what they had paid her aunt for it. My wife knew I had been looking for a pinball, so this was a win/win. We drove the 3 hours to pick it up and the rest is history. It is now my "early Christmas present".

Condition: I don't have the experience to grade it, but overall I am very happy with the condition. It was probably serviced a few times in the basement, but never really cleaned. The plastics are completely trashed and need to be replaced. The play field has some planking, but overall intact. The back glass is in great shape expect for a few scratches. The cabinet has expected wear and a few initials carved in it. It has some fantastic cigarette burns next to the holders that just add to the character. Mechanically everything appears to be working pretty well, but just needs some adjustments and contact cleaning.

About Me: I am a computer dude doing hardware and software for the last 25 years. I also love working on mechanical equipment so this stuff comes naturally. I have been collecting 80s arcade games for the last 15 years and currently own 9. I am looking forward to getting into EM as they are more fun to repair.

Restoration Goals: My goal is to make this a functional and playable game as soon as possible because the family is anxious to play. I will be fixing and replacing the worst parts of the machine and get it to 80% or so. Over time I plan on doing more cosmetic work such as polishing metal but that is not high on the list at this time. This is a "player" and will be used by kids and teens to put a smile on their face just as it did when my wife was a kid.

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So the first thing after getting home was to unload it into the garage and we just had to play for a few minutes! Threw a 2x4 under the end to give it some tilt and away we went. The play field lights came on a few times, but mostly stayed off. Pull out the ole' 56 year old schematic from the inside (Yeahhh! It is still there) and traced the problem back to a rely - clean the contacts - and we are in business! Yeah the rubber has no bounce and the flippers don't have much flip, but we sure had a good time playing the first night!

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So now it is time to research! Where can I get parts? What about plastics? What is the best way to start? Hello Google.

So first thing I did is to register my machine at KLOV and IPSND. I also searched IPMD and Pinside to see if others had done anything with this machine. There is very little activity with this machine. I read through pinrepair.com in excruciating detail and learned a lot!

Next I set out looking for plastic artwork knowing that was going to be difficult. All internet searches turned up nothing and after finding pbresource I called them - with no luck. Sounds like I will be creating my own! Next I reached out to everyone I could find that had provided an online picture or said they owned an Atlas to see if they either had a scan or could take a nice picture for me. Several owners stated theirs were in storage, others pointed me to Pinball Rescue. They have Atlas on their future list, but no luck. Eventually I heard back from Raphael Lankar of the Paris Pinball Museum (who has a nice picture on IPMD!) who thought he could help. A few days later, I received some beautiful pictures from his tech Bruno.

I am finding out very quickly that the Pinball Community is a great group of folks. No flames, no judgements, just nice folks!

I then talked to Bob at Pbresource and ordered new rubbers, some new play field pieces, new pinballs, light bulbs, and some flippers. That was last Friday...the parts showed up at lunch on Monday - wow - that is better than Amazon!

Needs a little work here and there....scratched out 100 into a 10? yuck....

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Thanks! Yep - found those guys too, no dice. Seems that Pinball Rescue is the only outfit that even has it on their radar, but no ETA.

Time to remove most of the play field and do a little cleaning. I ordered some Novus from Amazon and proceeded to disassemble. I read all the pros and cons to using magic eraser and decided I would use one. I did what I would call a light cleaning except on some of the ball tracks. It actually cleaned up very nice! Next I did the Novus #2 as recommended by hand - three polishes. Then rounded out with two coats of carnauba wax. Wow she shined up nice and beautiful. (Before and after below)

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Time for cleaning up some play field parts! Put all the plastic posts in the dishwasher. Removed them mid wash and scrubbed with a toothbrush to get any remaining gunk off and then let it finish. Afterward, polished with Novus #1.

I can stand the scratched off 100s no more! I removing them using the hair dryer trick I learned here and sand them down. Have not decided yet what method I am going to use to replace the numbers yet....

I also tape up my schematic where it has holes and tears and head on down to FedEx Office (thanks to the advice here). I get a great looking copy as well as a high-res scan for around $8

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Now - what about the art? I really don't want to wait an undetermined amount of time for Pinball Rescue. I need something now with the hopes that one day I can get a silkscreen version.

I do a little research and find out I need to create some vector art. I can draw stick people - I am not an artist! I am however a computer geek!

After doing a LOT of research, I find a nice open source vector graphic program called InkScape. I also found a great website that will convert pictures into Vector Art - called VectorMagic.com. Time to have some fun!

I take the great pictures that Bruno sent me, cropped them and converted them to Vector .SVG -- this is really cool! Opened them in InkScape and go to town learning how to clean up and adjust art. I recommend you save often and with different names so you can go back and you screw something up royally. At this point it is really trial and error.

Well I am really proud of myself. After about 10 hours of work, I have some nearly complete artwork that is sized exactly right and looks pretty darn good in my opinion. It still needs a few slight tweaks, but I honestly don't want it to look perfect - it is hand drawn art - it should NOT look perfect!

I am still working on some color matching and I am experimenting with several ways to print these where they will look the best. I have found about a dozen different posts here on what folks have used, so over the next few days I am going to try some different methods out. PETG is arriving today from Amazon so hopefully tonight I can start playing.

So - that is where I am after a week and a half....one thing is for sure - this stuff is addictive!

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Went home for lunch today and checked out the legs after they dried from painting last night. When I got the machine they were painted a cream color and pretty trashed and pitted. At this point in time, I really didn't want to spend a huge amount of time working on the legs and trying to make them look perfectly original. I decided to try something different and paint them about the same color, but with a textured paint. I think they came out pretty cool! All the pitting and marks blend right in. At some point in the future I may put them back to original or purchase new legs - but for now - I kinda like it.

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Got home for the day and decided to do a quick test on my artwork process I have come up with. My PETG has not come in yet, so I tested on a old junk piece of plexi.

I am doing mine different than I have seen anyone do before, so please comment on what you think.

My wife is crafting extraordinaire so she has about every craft paper and tool known to man - how convenient! I tried all different kinds of paper to get a good translucent glow. What I ended up with was Card Stock Vellum. I was really impressed by the light diffusion and the white area is close enough that the average person would never notice it is slightly cream color. Next I used a Xyron sticker maker which basically applies a double stick adhesive to the paper. Placed it on the plexi and used a plastic blade to set the adhesive. Two coats of a clear acrylic and we are ready to test. It was unbelievably easy.

I think they came out fantastic if I don't say so myself! I think they will look even better on good plastic. Let me know your thoughts on this method - do you see any issues? I tried to take the best pic I could of the play field I could, but could not get a good exposure.

(it is the woman that is in vellum, ignore the guy at the top - he is just regular paper)

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Ok - PETG came in today. Traced out the printed graphics onto the PETG and cut it with craft sizers, then a little clean up with a dremel. Overall I am pleased. I probably could have trimmed the plastic a little better, but you really don't notice when it is on the machine.

Also replaced a bunch of bulbs and replaced the red/white/blue targets with reproductions. It is about ready to get some legs and go in the house!

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