(Topic ID: 77754)

Back To The Future Restoration

By Lonzo

10 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 187 posts
  • 48 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by Lonzo
  • Topic is favorited by 47 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

image (resized).jpg
bttf_(resized).JPG
bed_(resized).JPG
fire_(resized).JPG
machines2.jpg
Foto-7.JPG
coin door.jpg
coin inserts.jpg
image-591.jpg
power supply.jpg
on legs side.jpg
new glass.jpg
flipper buttons.jpg
cable tie.jpg
ac power.jpg
back stickers.jpg

There are 187 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 4.
10
#1 10 years ago

I have been restoring games for several years and I really enjoy my collection. I get a little deeper on every restoration and have learned a lot of good tip from this forum. I have never documented a restoration and I figured I would do it now and may be someone will pick up a tip or two or someone might see something I do and have some tips for me.

BTTF has been on my wish list since I started collecting. I finally picked one up at an auction and as always, no matter what the shape I tear them down to nothing and rebuild them.

Playfiled is in pretty good shape except for the mylar bubbles over the inserts. The only wear in on the outlanes and right ramp drop like most machines. There is also some minor wear in front of the VUK and Court house hole and in front of the drop targets. The pop bumper decals are clear. This machine also has the very common green flasher insert burn on 3 of the 4 green inserts under the clear ramps. Has the wrong drop targets. Cabinet is in pretty good shape with good color.

Here are some before pics.

DSCF2511.JPGDSCF2511.JPG DSCF2514.JPGDSCF2514.JPG DSCF2515.JPGDSCF2515.JPG DSCF2518.JPGDSCF2518.JPG DSCF2506.JPGDSCF2506.JPG DSCF2509.JPGDSCF2509.JPG
#2 10 years ago

I would love to pick up one of these games.

#3 10 years ago

After getting the machine 100% Functional its time to take the playfield out and put it on my rotisserie and start the tear down. Here are a few pics of the teardown.

DSCF2767.JPGDSCF2767.JPG DSCF2776.JPGDSCF2776.JPG DSCF2783.JPGDSCF2783.JPG DSCF2813.JPGDSCF2813.JPG DSCF2829.JPGDSCF2829.JPG DSCF2827.JPGDSCF2827.JPG
#4 10 years ago

Here is a pic of the Cab and the playfield after the mylar removal. For the mylar removal, I used the freeze spray and with the exception of one insert it came off real easy with no paint removal. You can see the 50K insert in the middle of the playfield is missing a chunk in the middle. For glue removal I have tried a lot of things with mixed success. For this playfield I tried something new that I saw on the forum. I used TR-60 and flour. This worked great and will be the technique I use from now on. I took about 2 hours and it removed all the glue with no damage to the playfield at all. It was a much better result that any other method I have used yet.

photo.JPGphoto.JPG image.jpegimage.jpeg
#5 10 years ago

Nice. Love that game. Mark this one to favorites and watch the progress.

#6 10 years ago

I sanded the entire playfield with 320 grit sand paper. I removed the green inserts that were burnt. I ordered some new inserts from Pinball life. You can see from the picture that they are slightly sunk in the middle. Using 220/320 grit sand paper they were sanded to level and get rid if the letter on the face. The one on the right is ready for install. The edge also needs to be sanded and then a plastic primer is applied to the edge of the insert to help the epoxy lock the insert in place.

DSCF2859.JPGDSCF2859.JPG DSCF2860.JPGDSCF2860.JPG DSCF2861.JPGDSCF2861.JPG DSCF2863.JPGDSCF2863.JPG
#7 10 years ago

The heat that bubbled the mylar over the clear center inserts make the clear over the text weak so some of the text came off all 4 clear and the orange insert when I sanded the playfied. Instead of removing the inserts and sanding them down I decided to sand just the text off and feather the clear to make a smooth surface. I will add the text back after the first layer of clear is applied.

DSCF2862.JPGDSCF2862.JPG DSCF2867.JPGDSCF2867.JPG
#8 10 years ago

your going to have to paint the train tracks back on and seal it with something. Looks like for both greens. Looking good and good to see some early DE getting some love. Should probably get that playfield clearcoated. I'll do it, if you do all the touchups and get it ready for clearcoating.

#9 10 years ago

Well, after some minor paint touchup the playfield is ready for its first layer of clear coat, I plan to do that tomorrow and will post pictures as I continue. I decided to do this thread today after I had done most of the work to this point so I don't have pictures of some of the steps I did but will have better pictures of the rest of the process. The cabinet has been tore apart and all the boards removed. I will also post progress of the cabinet work as well.

#11 10 years ago

I have already done the graphics work for the train tracks and they will be applied after the first clear. I have cut them out of vinyl as well as the insert text. I also created my own pop bumper decals. Here is a pic of the playfield ready for clear and the decals that I have ready.

playfield.JPGplayfield.JPG decals.JPGdecals.JPG
#12 10 years ago

Yes, Auto Clear. I am using Finish 1 and have been very happy with the results.

#13 10 years ago

graphics looking good. did you scan in the whole playfield or just the areas you needed to do?

#14 10 years ago

I always scan the whole playfield even if it is perfect. Never know whey you might need something.

#16 10 years ago

You beat me to it, I was gonna start one of these. If you have any parts left I would be interested.

#17 10 years ago

if he has any parts left, he needs to redo his reassembly.

#18 10 years ago

I've never seen a really nice BTTF, this will be cool!

#19 10 years ago

Got the clearcoat put on today and am pretty happy with the results.

Pre Clear
pre clear.jpgpre clear.jpg

Post Clear
post clear.jpgpost clear.jpg

This picture shows the original out lanes with the normal wear for this machine. This is the touchup of the out lanes that I decided to do before the first clear. The picture is after the clear application. The black outline on the one out lane will be fixed later.
red spot wear-144.jpgred spot wear-144.jpg
red spot.jpgred spot.jpg

All the cracking in the original clear that was noticeable in the inserts is all gone with the clear applied.
square inserts.jpgsquare inserts.jpg

Some other pics of the cleared playfield
round inserts.jpground inserts.jpg
left flashers.jpgleft flashers.jpg
mcfly.jpgmcfly.jpg

I Will let the playfield cure for about 48 hours before I sand the surface. When sanded I will add the insert text and outlines on a couple of inserts. I will then add the rings around the pop bumpers and put the railroad graphics on the new green inserts. There was a little clear absorption(similar looking to a fish eye) of the clear around the bare wood on the inserts that were replaced. Once the clear has cured I will apply some more clear using a dropper and let it cure. This can then be sanded level and be ready for the next clear layer and will never be able to see it. Next time I will seal the bare wood areas or paint them before applying clear.

#20 10 years ago

Since I cant work on the playfield for a couple of days, I will do a little work on the cab if I get a chance. Overall in pretty good condition. Here are a couple of pics of the lower cabinet.

cab right.jpgcab right.jpg

cab front.jpgcab front.jpg

The only real issue is the big scratch in the "U".
cab left.jpgcab left.jpg

I will scan the entire cabinet and then I will start prepping the cabinet for touchup paint and come up with a plan for that "U"

#21 10 years ago

Got the entire machine scanned today. Graphics are in pretty good shape with just a couple of issues. For those that don't have one, I use an HP 4760 for all my scanning. There is also a 4600 version that works. They haven't made these in 10 years and I have not seen one like it. They are available on ebay and I picked mine up for about $75 a couple of years ago. Well worth the money.
scanner.jpgscanner.jpg

Seems as it is just my luck again. This is the second game in a row that the cab graphics are misaligned. Here are a few pics.
front graphic.jpgfront graphic.jpgpaint allignment.jpgpaint allignment.jpg

Here is a better picture of the damage on the U
U scratch.jpgU scratch.jpg

There was a little ridge damage on the back of the cab. Easy fix.
back ridge.jpgback ridge.jpg

Here is the worst of the damage on the backbox. Looks like it had been dropped on the cab at some point and then you see some awesome touch up with a Sharpie.
sharpie damage.jpgsharpie damage.jpg

The other corner damage
corner damage.jpgcorner damage.jpg

#22 10 years ago

Great thread cannot wait to see this finished

#23 10 years ago

Lookin good !!

#24 10 years ago

I hope your not going to strip the cabinet and do decals.

#25 10 years ago

No. I do t plan on stripping the cabinet. Original artwork is in good enough shape. I will do some fixing and touch up on the blue and might try and fix the artwork.

#26 10 years ago

If you figure out what's a good blue paint to use for touch ups, i'd love to know! I got a pretty nice BTTF but I don't think i'll ever have the guts to try to clearcoat it. It was my first pin and it was pretty educational fixing it and replacing pretty much everything in it that moves.

#27 10 years ago

Looks awesome! Someone should re-do the ramps in these. They can do it without decals to avoid the "copyright" crap. I've seen so many of these with busted up ramps.

#28 10 years ago
Quoted from Lonzo:

No. I do t plan on stripping the cabinet. Original artwork is in good enough shape. I will do some fixing and touch up on the blue and might try and fix the artwork.

that's a relief. Cabinet isn't bad at all and can easily be touched up. better to have a touched up original than new looking with shitty decals.

#29 10 years ago
Quoted from Tootai:

If you figure out what's a good blue paint to use for touch ups, i'd love to know! I got a pretty nice BTTF but I don't think i'll ever have the guts to try to clearcoat it. It was my first pin and it was pretty educational fixing it and replacing pretty much everything in it that moves.

I took the backbox to Sherwin Williams and had the paint matched. I am doing some testing on the back of the cab to see how the best technique to touch up. I have seen some different color cabinets so not sure if it would match you cab but if it matches perfectly I will let you know the codes.

Quoted from Tseamans:

Looks awesome! Someone should re-do the ramps in these. They can do it without decals to avoid the "copyright" crap. I've seen so many of these with busted up ramps.

Got lucky on this one as the ramp is almost perfect with only one crack that will not be visible. The ramp entrance points are not very well designed so the ball can smash the plastic edges. I am thinking of making some custom ramp protectors since none are available.

#30 10 years ago
Quoted from CaptainNeo:

that's a relief. Cabinet isn't bad at all and can easily be touched up. better to have a touched up original than new looking with shitty decals.

I agree. The only artwork I will even experiment with is the U. If I can't get it perfect, I won't mess with it.

#31 10 years ago

Scan one of the other letters to get the color gradient, then print that onto a decal to overlay on the U?

#32 10 years ago
Quoted from Rickwh:

Scan one of the other letters to get the color gradient, then print that onto a decal to overlay on the U?

That's the plan but perfect color matching can be a challenge.

#33 10 years ago

Got the playfield sanded today. Its always hard to sand a shiny playfield.
sand 1.jpgsand 1.jpg

Here it is all cleaned up and ready for some touch up. Trying to decide if I am gonna airbrush or use vinyl for the black. I hope to do a little experimenting tomorrow with the airbrush.
sand 2.jpgsand 2.jpg

#34 10 years ago

Yeah, unfortunately my ramp has taken a beating. Entrance is pretty torn up and a crack in the middle. I'll be fabricating some protection as well. Good Luck

#35 10 years ago

just hand paint it. that's what I do. Keep your paint thinner and once you clear again, you'll never know the difference between hand painted and airbrushed.

#36 10 years ago
Quoted from CaptainNeo:

just hand paint it. that's what I do. Keep your paint thinner and once you clear again, you'll never know the difference between hand painted and airbrushed.

I do hand paint quit a bit but most of what I have left is very precise work (insert rings, text etc). When you hand paint these types of things do you use a stencil or are you just that good?

#37 10 years ago

I still free hand it. Most of the time the outside and inside of the ring are still there. or with little gaps that I can still free hand.

#38 10 years ago
Quoted from CaptainNeo:

I still free hand it. Most of the time the outside and inside of the ring are still there. or with little gaps that I can still free hand.

I do the same in those cases. I have a few inserts that I had to replace so the inside of the ring is not there so I will have to mask those. I also have a few that need text so I will mask those as well. I hope to do a little experimenting tomorrow with some masking. I did most of the freehand touch up today.

#39 10 years ago

if the ring is completely gone. then I pencil it out with the stencils. then free hand in the lines.

#40 10 years ago
Quoted from CaptainNeo:

if the ring is completely gone. then I pencil it out with the stencils. then free hand in the lines.

Not sure my hand is that steady. lol

#41 10 years ago

I did a bunch of playfield work tonight and took a bunch of before/during/after pics. I will post them tomorrow because I am spent.

#42 10 years ago

Well, I finished probably 80% of the playfield touchup yesterday. All of it was done with freehand or a using a mask and brush. Here are some of the things that were worked on. Not everything is documented but all work was done using the same process. The interesting thing about BTTF is that it appears that most of the artwork except the round rings were done mostly by hand and therefor not perfect. It makes touchup easier because if you don't get it perfect it matches what was already there. Its kinda hard for a perfectionist like me because I want to fix all the stuff that's not perfect.

I started using Frisket but for this type of work I like the blue Oramask better. Allows you to see better to line it up. I use it on areas that I want a perfect line or the wear reaches all the way to the edge of a color. For this insert you can see the process. The upper black part was done before the first picture.
50k 1.jpg50k 1.jpg50k 2.jpg50k 2.jpg50k 3.jpg50k 3.jpg50k 4.jpg50k 4.jpg50k 5.jpg50k 5.jpg

Here is the same technique used to fix the crack in the yellow
5x 1.jpg5x 1.jpg5x 2.jpg5x 2.jpg5x 3.jpg5x 3.jpg

A couple of touchups that I didn't take before pictures. The special when lit was missing the top inner portion of the ring and I just free handed it.
drop targets.jpgdrop targets.jpgspecial.jpgspecial.jpg

Here is one of the inserts I replaced so it needed a full ring.
green ring 1.jpggreen ring 1.jpggreen ring 2.jpggreen ring 2.jpg

Remember when I said I would fix those rings around the out lane area that was repaired before clear coat. Well here it is.
out lanes 1.jpgout lanes 1.jpgout lanes 2.jpgout lanes 2.jpgout lanes 3.jpgout lanes 3.jpg

Here is the left Up Kicker. The right side was fixed the same way.
left vuk 1.jpgleft vuk 1.jpgleft vuk 2.jpgleft vuk 2.jpg

Now the fun part. Putting the railroad tracks back on those two green inserts that were replaced that are under the left ramp. I used a mask and was 50/50 whether the sliver between the tracks would even have enough stick to stay when the application tape was removed let alone hold up during painting. To my surprise and relief it performed great. I only took before and after pics of the top insert. The last pic shows both done.
tracks 1.jpgtracks 1.jpg tracks 3.jpgtracks 3.jpgboth tracks.jpgboth tracks.jpg

I guess that's enough for one day.

#43 10 years ago

Nice work, looks very good!

#44 10 years ago

I forgot to add that I printed my first copy of the U for the cabinet. The colors are a little different on normal paper so I put a little spray clear on it to richen the colors a little. Pretty close but will tweak a little before I try a decal.
U.jpgU.jpg

#45 10 years ago

Looking great!

#46 10 years ago

Well, the playfield touchup is done and it is ready for clear coat. Here are some pictures of the last touchups. Most used the same techniques I used earlier.

The red paint and black lines were wore off of several areas of the pop bumpers. This seems to be pretty common for these machines. You can see the pink paint showing through the wear areas.
pink.jpgpink.jpg

Here is a picture of the touched up red areas. I just free handed this since the black lines will be placed on the top.
top right red.jpgtop right red.jpg

When placing a stencil, the smaller it is the easier it is to place correctly. Since only some areas were affected I decided to fix only the areas that were damaged instead of painting the entire ring at once. The slight color difference you see is the new paint and the sanded old paint which is dull. When cleared it will all look the same.
top left 2.jpgtop left 2.jpglop left 3.jpglop left 3.jpg

Here all 3 rings are repaired. While it was not really necessary to fix the areas below the post I did anyways, Just makes me feel better.
pop rings done.jpgpop rings done.jpg

Placed the insert text on the lower inserts using very thin cast vinyl.
text.jpgtext.jpg

If my work schedule works out I hope to clear the playfield on Thursday. Going to be out of town for the next couple of days.

And someone needs to clean up this place.
clean up.jpgclean up.jpg

#47 10 years ago
Quoted from CaptainNeo:

just hand paint it. that's what I do. Keep your paint thinner and once you clear again, you'll never know the difference between hand painted and airbrushed.

This method is very noticeable.

#48 10 years ago
Quoted from exflexer:

This method is very noticeable.

What do you mean by that?

#49 10 years ago

What type of paint do you use for the black touch ups?

#50 10 years ago

I use the Createx airbrush paint. It works really well.

Promoted items from the Pinside Marketplace
From: $ 19.99
Eproms
Matt's Basement Arcade
Eproms
$ 5.95
Playfield - Protection
The Pinball Scientist
Protection
$ 5.00
Playfield - Protection
UpKick Pinball
Protection
6,300
Machine - For Sale
Forest Hill, MD
From: $ 18.00
Playfield - Decals
Nordic Pinball Supply
Decals
$ 24.00
Playfield - Decals
Nordic Pinball Supply
Decals
$ 17.00
Playfield - Decals
Nordic Pinball Supply
Decals
$ 12.00
Playfield - Decals
Nordic Pinball Supply
Decals
From: $ 40.00
Lighting - Interactive
Professor Pinball
Interactive
$ 44.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Pinball Shark
Shooter rods
There are 187 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 4.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/back-to-the-future-restoration and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.