The latest addition to my collection is a long sought after game, Bally Skyrocket, released in May 1971. I had just turned 6 years old when it hit the streets and it would be another 47 years until I would play the game for the first time at the Roanoke Pinball Museum in Roanoke, VA. I'm not sure what started my desire to find this game but 3-1/2 years ago, I added it to my wish list. In that time, I missed one on eBay in Florida, a CL seller in Arkansas disappeared, an Indiana ad was read too late and a rough example in an auction early this year was passed on. Considering how many Pinsiders are looking for this game, I was convinced it was going to be a long wait.

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Skyrocket has an unusual history of being a Harry Williams designed game at the time when Ted Zale was transitioning into retirement and his protege Jim Patla was beginning to turn out his first titles. Pinball podcaster and collector Dennis Kriesel wrote a very interesting tale about Harry's Skyrocket and other designs produced by Bally in this Pinball News article found here: https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2017/11/30/harry-williams-and-bally/

Last Tuesday, out of the blue, (see what i did there) @bluespin sends me a PM that a Skyrocket has come up for sale in Akron, OH (4 hours away) on Pinside. WTF! Without even looking at the pictures in the posting, I immediately sent the pinsider a PM that I wanted to buy the game. The seller did not list a price but was looking for info on its worth as he found it was a hard to come by. Duh! I provided some price points and made a cash offer to pickup that weekend and provided my name and phone number. I agonized all Tuesday night and Wednesday waiting for a response that never came. Finally, Thursday morning the seller replied to my PM that he had received considerable interest and that my offer was in the middle of others. Damn it! However, one buyer would need to ship the game and the seller was not too keen on dealing with that. OK. Here is my chance to hack through the crowd. I figured what the hell, I don't want to get into a bidding war (and possibly against myself) but this one is too close to let slip away, so I shot the seller my best cash offer with pickup ASAP. Still crickets the rest of the day Thursday. Mid-morning Friday, the seller texted to accept my offer and we made arrangements for the pickup on Saturday. Here is the game in the sellers garage.684e43efae4c59e7bea42d183b0ca4f247b73c6e (resized).jpg
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This Skyrocket was purchased sometime in the early 1980's by the sellers' father and has been in the family for about 35 years. The family also had a 1972 Williams Olympic Hockey but sold it sometime ago. The seller was *slightly* considering turning Skyrocket into a coffee table but because the art and colors of the game are so appealing, he sought out Pinside and decided the game should be preserved and sold to a person that would appreciate the game.

Skyrocket has a low production run of 545 units but I am curious how that can be since Bally's serial numbers start at 1001 and my game has matching number 2030. There is another game on IPDB with number 1640.

The main and COOLEST feature of Skyrocket is the cascade of colored inserts on the playfield that light in sequence to replicate an exploding firework shell. The 10 step motorized sequence of lights can score 1000, 3000, 5000 or an Extra Ball when the lit value is collected by shooting the ball into either the left or right saucer or through the left or right outlane. Here is a great game play video of Skyrocket.

My Skyrocket is going to take time and passion to bring it back to it's former glory. Follow along as I give this great Bally classic a loving restoration.

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So, here is the starting point. The cabinet is solid and in very nice condition with only some minor flaking and a few dings and names carved into the sides. The colors of mint green, yellow and magenta are vibrant and there is very little, if any, fade. I removed the outer layer of funk with Mean Green and Magic Eraser and kept cleaning until the paper towels stayed white. I have matched the colors through paint chip cards and will be doing some minor touchups.

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The Backglass is good condition with the typical flaking of some reds and along the bottom. I will lightly clean the backside and then lock everything in with Triple Thick. After that has cured, I will clean the front of the glass and hand polish the metal trim.
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The original 28-1/2" legs were very rusty and after dipping 2 of them in Evaporust for 24 hours, I found the pitting to be too much for a game of this caliber. Enter PBR and my standard procedure of new chrome non-ribbed legs with 28-1/2" in the front and 31" in the rear so I don't have to jack up the rear levelers. The game is up on mis-matched legs now until my order arrives later today. In the past, I would buy new leg bolts since the old ones are usually rusty or oxidized. Now, I prefer to refinish old bolts by wire wheel then chuck up in a drill and sand with 120, then 220, then 400, then 600 grit sandpaper and finish off on the buffing wheel to a mirror finish. This game had no bolts and I am fresh out of old bolts so it will also get new bolts. I also ordered a set of yellow pincab protectors to cover up the damage. The coin door will be sanded, primed and painted a metallic oil rubbed bronze. The shooter rod, coin door trim and all bolts and rest of the cabinet bolts will get the same refinishing to a mirror shine.

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The playfield is very dirty but in very nice shape. Only minor wear at the two kickout saucers, around a few skyrocket inserts, in the wood tone in front of the slings and the typical shooter lane and top ball arch trails. Black dust in the swirls is present but there are also funky radial cracks around some of the skyrocket inserts. Cleaning should be straight forward with 91% Alcohol, Magic Eraser, Naptha and then Novus 2. IMG_1054 (resized).JPGIMG_1055 (resized).JPGIMG_1056 (resized).JPG

This playfield may be the first I have sent out to be cleared. Plastics are nice with no breaks...just dirty and need to be flattened.

Mechanically the game is complete with no hacks. The game has not been powered up because of this:IMG_1064 (resized).JPG

All new fuse holders have been replaced and a new 14' line cord attached. Correct fuse values will be installed and then we will be ready for the smoke test and see what the game does or does not do.

I know that chrome legs are not original to Bally's but I sure do like the look with all the other chrome.

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Here are the coin doors on Surfers and Cosmos that I painted with the Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze. It has a satin finish with tiny colored sparkles.

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Haha. @electrocute, it was your Skyrocket that you sold on eBay years ago that I would have bought if you were closer.

You have some great EM videos on youtube. I especially like you flippin' the bird on that center drain.

John is the tireless miracle worker, matching lonely pins to lonelier pinheads.

I changed my avatar to reflect one of the the next Bally EM's I'd like to acquire. I'll settle for most any Bally. Except Toro.

Sorry for the lack of updates on the Skyrocket (and 3 In Line) restorations but I have been busy the last two weeks with improvements to the pin area in the basement. New shelving to organize parts and shop supplies, surround stereo, flat screen, wall coverings and furniture. Still have more to do including new carpet and re configuring a storage area with sound and dust control of the tumbler and bench grinder. It doesn't help that spring is finally here and all the exterior cleanup and projects that have popped up.
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If I didn't already have can lights in the ceiling, I could have sprung for these. Not sure if they are 110 volt or run on D batteries.
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Anywho, I had to correct for my lack of measuring the height of the front of the game when I ordered new 28-1/2" front legs. Turns out that I needed 27" legs in front to maintain a low 36" to 37" height and keep it in line with the rest of my games. I'm short and too old to be standing on a milk crate to play pinball.

I also completed the gross task of taking apart the playfield glass frame and cleaning 48 years worth of spilled beverages and dirt caught in the rubber gaskets and frame pieces. While I should take these pieces to my local commercial buffer, I will just do some hand buffing and re-graining and re-assemble with a new 21" x 41-1/2" tempered glass I ordered. Their pricing wasn't the only insult...they couldn't even spell my name right.
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PLUS tax

Should have taken Ivan's offer of about $ 45 picked up at Allentown.

I just sent you a PM. Ivan is Ivan1496 here on pinside. Actually $ 42 for non-standard. He might still be able to get it made by Pinfest.

$ 35 for standard and then $29 if you buy 5.

Yes, I did confirm that the glass is 21" x 41-1/2" that fits in the Bally "Chop-Top" frame.

Guess I better order 2 myself.

Making a little more progress...cleaned and sealed the backglass today. Also re-assembled the coin door trim, lockdown receiver and shooter rod after buffing and polishing to a mirror finish.

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Yes, there are a lot of boobs out there that fall for these cheap lights.

Back on topic...

Dis-assembled and cleaned all the score reels, steppers, relays, bells and finally reattached the head. Metal trim on the backglass cleaned and polished.

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Next tasks will be sanding out numerous scratches in the side rails and re-assembling with a new piece of custom sized glass that fits these chop-top frames.
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After that, the coin door will get it's makeover. Here is the before picture.
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In a somewhat related topic, my super talented artist wife is nearing completion on a new 18" x 24" mosaic to celebrate my love of Bally pinball. IMG_1513 (resized).JPG

I asked her to create this stained glass mosaic of the Bally "Harlequin Man" that was the prominent apron artwork from late 1968 to early 1975. A huge stainless steel with back-lit neon version once hung at the Bally office in Chicago.

The mosaic technique she used is glass-on-glass (actually Lexan) with a glue that dries clear. She will then fill the gaps between the pieces with black grout and this will define the outlining around the Bally script letters and the elements of the logo. IMG_1512 (resized).JPG

The inspiration was the lime green and red color scheme from the Cosmos apron with some editing to simplify the design.IMG_2063 (resized).JPG

My intent with the glass-on-glass method was so it can be back-lit and illuminated. I still need to work out what will probably be a custom built shadow box and use either led strip lights or traditional pinball lamps with some flasher bulbs to create animation.IMG_1511 (resized).JPG

More weekend progress...refinished the playfield glass frame to a near mirror finish. Not perfect, but much improved from the scratched and dull condition. Started with 220 grit sandpaper on a palm sander and then went to 400,800,1000,1500,2000,3000 and finished with 0000 steel wool with Mothers Mag polish. Wrangled it back together with a new sheet of glass.

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Coin door is coming along as well. Sanded and painted the metal front and plywood back. Polished exposed front hardware and will begin reassembly.
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That is a 1963 Bally 3 In Line. I have a restoration thread going on it’s restoration too.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-1963-3-in-line-restoration#post-4865825

Coin door before:
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Coin door after:
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Installed:
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Next up is the playfield.

So, touch ups are nearly complete on the cabinet and now there is no avoiding the task of the playfield. 1B957AC7-7A1C-4151-AD07-F334C7F2C29A (resized).jpeg

Teardown took about 3 hours of work to from this... DCC9221B-EE72-4ED1-A0BC-67D1DC0BDC54 (resized).jpeg

To this...7227F7B4-ACCB-45C5-AAE1-CB460149E720 (resized).jpeg

The only major issue found was a very crispy left flipper coil. It appears the pin on the armature broke off which prevented the EOS switch from opening and allowing the plunger nylon bushing to melt and seize the plunger. Another order to PBR for a new coil and complete rebuild kit will take care of this.
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I really wish I kept an accurate log of the time spent on just the playfield. I'll try to recap the past 7 days here:

Friday night - 3 hours stripping the top and bottom
Saturday - Trip home to take my Dad out for Father's Day lunch and a family HS graduation party
Sunday - 6 hours scrubbing the plastic posts, guides and rollovers. Cleaned the metal parts before tumbling /polishing. Started cleaning playfield.
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Monday - 4 to 5 hours removing standoffs from plastics, plastic cleaning and backglass touchups
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Tuesday - 5 hours cleaning first parts out of tumbler, backglass touchups and metal polishing
Wednesday - 4 to 5 hours polishing screw heads, metal trim and ball through parts
Thursday - Sand wood siderails and top metal arch for painting. Sand metal ball guide arch.