About a month ago, I posted a WTB thread for a '79 Flash. (http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wtb-1979-williams-flash-houston-area). My only criteria was that the backglass had to be in good shape. A fellow Pinsider replied, and I made the drive from Houston to Austin to pick it up.

At first glance, the machine looked trashed. However, on closer inspection I could see that the playfield was in pretty good shape under all that dirt. After looking over the entire machine and talking to the owner, I believe I've figured out the history of this machine.

It was was operated in Texas from '79 until '83 (still has the tax stamps). At that point, I believe the operator took it off route because it wan't making much $$, and in order to use the MPU, Driver and main display boards in other games. I don't think this machine saw a lot of play because there was no mylar around the slings, yet only one tiny spot that had any wear. The kickout hole still looked perfect, and the underside of the playfield was really clean. The worst part of the playfield was the inserts - lifted and cupped. The owner (another operator) told me he purchased it about 20 years ago from the original operator for a project, but he never got around to it and it's been siting in his warehouse since then.

The first thing I did after unloading was to take some 'before' pictures. Here's a few of those...

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I'm going to play around with LED's on this one. I'm not sure if I'll do the entire GI, but I'll try a few blue supers behind the drops for sure.

Thanks Bohdi. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't fun. After buying all the needed parts, there's certainly no money to be made from this project. That's OK. This is my second Flash, and I plan to keep this one.

Yep, Flash was the first pinball with background sound/music. It's the machine that started my pinball addiction way back in '79. I was used to playing EM's, and the lights/sounds of Flash just blew me away.

Here's a few pics from the teardown and cleanup. Please remember that I'm not a professional restoration person. I don't have a nice workshop or decent tools - but I try to make do. I'm not putting these pics out as an example to follow - but just maybe it will inspire someone else to try saving a pin from the dump. I'd be happy with that.

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Thanks - but it does get a little better. After the pics above, I repainted the few worn spots and key holes, leveled the inserts and clear coated the playfield.

Here's a few more pics...

Parts tumbled...
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Key line before...
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...and after.
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It took a lot of clear coat to level the inserts.
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Thanks for the comments everyone! To answer your question, I used Rust-Oleum Varathane Crystal Clear Polyurethane Water-Based, Gloss Finish. I got some in a pint sized can, and 5 rattle cans.

I *HIGHLY* suggest you read Vid1900's guide to playfiled restoration. http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration.

I tried to follow Vid's guide, but I didn't do any airbrush - just a few spots touched up by hand. In a nutshell, here's what I did.

1) Strip playfield
2) Clean with Novus, then clean again with Magic Eraser.
3) Lay down a thin coat of clear - let dry.
4) Touch up paint
5) Use a pipette and fill inserts with clear - this is what you see in the picture above. Let dry - it may take a while.
6) I layed down another coat of clear - let dry.
7) Sand down flat. I started with 200, then 300, then 400 grit.
8) Another coat of clear - let dry.
9) Sand down flat. I started with 200, then 300, then 400 grit.
10) Another coat of clear - let dry.
11) Sand down flat. I started with 200, then 300, then 400 grit.
12) Lay the final coat of clear - let dry.
13) Sand down flat. I started with 200, then 300, then 400 grit, then 800, then 1000, then 1500 and finally 2000.
14) Polish with polishing compound, then I used Novus.

You may not need five coats of clear, but I figured - what the heck. Tonight I got my 'blackfriday' order from cointaker, and I'm getting all the lights working. If all goes well, I should be playing this weekend. I'll post more pics when I get a chance.

Before I post any more pics, I want to stress again that I'm only doing a very low level repair/restore - a 'players' restore if you will. I'm not cleaning wire harnesses, or polishing parts under the playfield. I'm not doing any bondo work on the cabinet. My goal is for the machine to look nice, and play better. To be honest, I'd be completely embarrased to have someone like Brian_Kelly or HEP review my work. My level of 'restoration' (and I use that term loosely) is miles away from what those guys do. I was just looking at another thread, and Gecko's Fun House restoration puts mine to shame - and he still caught some flack for not re-wrapping the coils. Imagine what those guys would say here?

In the end, it's my machine. I'm not doing this for anyone other than myself. If I end up with a good looking Flash that plays like new, I'll be a happy camper. So why start the thread and post pics? I guess that, despite the amateur level of work, I'm still proud to have saved this one from the dump, and wanted to share what I've been doing in the garage with my fellow pinheads. ...I hope you enjoy, and take it for what it is.

Here's a pic of the playfield after the clear dried in the inserts, but BEFORE sanding. Also a couple pics of the backglass. As you can see, the condition of the backglass was what prompted me to buy this pin.

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For the most part I left them alone. However, a bunch of them were raised above the playfield (especially the arrow inserts). For those, I did try to level 'em as best as possible. To do this, I would heat up the insert with a hair drier until the glue loosened up a bit, then push 'em down as hard as I could without breaking. I used some super glue from the back to hold 'em in place.

Mostly from the bottom. I'd be pushing down on the insert from the top, and could feel when it started to loosen up, and also if it was getting too hot.

Blackbeard, do you have any pics of your Flash with all blue GI? I'd be interested to see it - thanks!

Yeah, the Flash I owned originally had blue posts, and I liked those better. I went ahead and purchased all new blue posts for this one as well.

Blackbeard / Dante, that all blue GI does look pretty damn nice. I may consider going that route. For now, I've got cool white supers in most of the GI. It's BRIGHT. The playfield has some pretty serious yellowing from age, and the cool whites seem to brighten it up.

Before I post pics of the LED's, here's a few showing the playfield after it was cleared and polished. I know it's not 'like glass' perfect - but it's flat, shiney, and will play smooth and fast.

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It should go away.....fingers crossed. It has gotten better over time. If I do another playfield (which I suspect I will eventually) I'll take more time and have more patience. Instead of trying to fill the bigger inserts in one big batch, I should have done it in several smaller batches, and let each one cure longer. This is my third attempt at clearing a playfiled. It's my best yet, but there's still lots of room for improvement.

Depends on how you define 'right'. If fast and smooth is right for you, then you should be happy. I did a 'players restoration' on a '78 Bally Lost World, and cleared the playfield. It plays like brand new IMHO - pops, sling and flippers are snappy, and there's no cupped or raised inserts to throw the ball off track.

Here's a few pics of Flash with LED's installed. I've got most everything working - just waiting on a chip from Rottendog to fix the switch matrix. I've still got some work to do on the cabinet, and various touchups and tweaks here and there. But for the most part, she's almost ready to play!

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Thanks! No, they're rebuilt but not upgraded.

I was hopeful over time it would completely clear up. It has improved somewhat. Should I not get my hopes up?

Bummer. I guess I just have to learn the hard way. Thanks for the info Vid.

Wow. I just saw Kruzman's thread on his clear coated Paragon. Now that is nice! ...really puts my work into perspective.

I always think 'if I had to do it over again...' In this case, I should have taken more time between coats of clear to let it cure. I should have used less in the inserts - maybe take two or three attempts to fill 'em - giving plenty of time between to cure. Also, I should have spent more than 30 or 40 minutes 'polishing'. When I read Ron's thread and he mentions taking five hours to polish (and seeing the results), I realize I cut too many corners.

Oh well, in the end I should still have a very nice playing Flash. ...and I'm always learning a few things along the way.

The last hurdle I'm facing is trying to track down a short in the switch matrix. Darn thing keeps blowing out column three. I'm sure it's in the pops somewhere. Once that's done I'll pay some attention to the cabinet, get her tweaked, tuned and move her into the house. I'll post some gameplay footage here eventually.

After working on it almost all day yesterday, I finally found the short causing column 3 of the switch matrix to blow. Here's the thread if your interested: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-needed-please-strange-short-in-switch-matrix

I also disassembled, cleaned and added new decals to the drop targets. Despite a couple horseshoe wipes missing their contacts, after cleaning they still work. I'm VERY HAPPY to report that Flash is now working 100%. Every switch, every lamp - everything is tuned and working perfectly. The pops, slings and flippers are snappy and fast. Flash has some sentimental value to me, and I'm very happy to have a great looking and playing example.

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I bought 'em. Thanks guys.

I did, but it looks like he's still working on it. It might be a good option down the road. For now, all my drops are working fine so I'm a happy camper.

As advertised - no, it did not. It also didn't have any legs. However, when I went to pick it up, the seller was nice enough to grab a plyfield glass and some legs off another game for me. Even after paying him some extra for that, I still saved a bunch over what I would have paid for new glass and legs.

Thanks! But to be fair, I'm not sure if this was headed to the dump or not. The operator I purchased it from said he wanted to fix it up someday, but never got around to it. Regardless, I do like to think I 'saved it', as now it's looking really good and playing better.

Yes, I've heard of people putting the plastics between two sheets of glass (or two books) and using heat to flatten them. Some use a toaster oven, and some just put them in the hot sun. Obviously, you want to be very careful not to heat them too much, or they could melt into a big mess.

Thanks!!

If anyone is interested, I posted more pics and commentary of the restoration on my website: http://www.bradberryman.com/Pinball_Flash2_2013.htm

Enjoy~!