Quoted from ThatOneDude:
If you are on Facebook, there is a closed group for WPC remake builds. Lots of the guys have made drawings and such of the unobtainable parts. wallybgood might be able to help you.
As a former newbie who feels like they have finally stepped up to “rookie” on their projects, I simply have to implore you to listen to these fine folks.
I’m a little hurt that my own build of Orbitor 1 was left out :’) but so be it. I built that from “scratch”. I started with an empty cabinet and had to source EVERYTHING. After about a year I’ve gotten everything I need. Just waiting on my boards and fabricating those damn unobtainium spinning bumpers.
https://www.pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/orbitor-1-a-scratch-build-reaching-for-the-stars
These folks are right. As your “first” pinball project you’re seriously screwing yourself. It’ll probably take 3 or more years.
You absolutely NEED to get a machine and learn even the basics about that first.
Building it will teach you a ton, but if you were flying blind as I was, you’re just gonna get railroaded at every corner.
There is very little meaningful documentation for Orbitor 1. Stern closed their doors while they made it so only 889 were made and probably 1/3 or so still exist. Parts are impossible the come by, and getting good reference pictures for what is ACTUALLY happening under the playfield was hard. Thank god for this website and all the fantastic pinsiders who’ve lent a hand!
TAF has an asston of documentation and has been vivisected a thousand times, so that’s good for you. However actually understanding the purpose and logic of how these machines get put together would definitely help you in unimaginable ways. Start watching some factory videos and see how it was done.
Now to sound like a pessimist:
I remember being a starry-eyed newbie who thought “baaaah no one has ever done it before, so I’m gonna do it!”
That’s fine and dandy, but do be sure to listen and accept the help and anecdotes these fine Pinsiders offer.
Orbitor 1 definitely has been a testament to new guys doing the impossible, and the amazing community for making it happen. Without Pinside I’d have NEVER found a playfield.
I’ve also taken one more than a few basket case machines and brought them to life, I’ve just been horribly neglectful in posting my restorations.
The latest being an absolutely devastated Torpedo Alley that was passed over by 3 people. It’s a total disaster and a hunk of junk. But I finally got that bad boy to boot up to attract mode and enter diagnostics.
It took 11 months to breathe life into that piece of junk, and I couldn’t be more proud. Now I’ve gotten a few pinball friends trying to pass off new basket cases since they’ve seen I can actually bring the dead back to life.
More importantly, I’m one of the few foolish enough to waste all my time working on games that you can buy for like 2-3k. It’s just plain fun. And doing it this way you will learn a TON.
Mitch could probably tell you, if you get in too deep and aren’t careful, the joy of pinball will get sucked out of you and you’ll want to be done with it. Especially as a newbie, I started with an old Gottlieb Drop-A-Card... to be fair that project is still sitting in pieces BUT the projects that have come after it are doing much better!
At the very least, I cannot stress this enough as everyone has:
GET A WORKING MACHINE.
1) You will learn pinball
2) You’ll understand it’s nuances
3) You’ll need that join of a working game to rekindle your spirit after you hate this project 8 times over.