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» Bally SS dark gray legs from PBL and PBR

(Topic ID: 298248)

Bally SS dark gray legs from PBL and PBR

By jibmums

2 years ago

Topic Heartbeat

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20 posts
11 Pinsiders participating
Latest reply 2 years ago by Skidave
Topic is favorited by 3 Pinsiders

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#1 2 years ago

DEN

I have a Space Invaders, Xenon, and Centaur that all need some new legwork. Derusting, priming, and painting twelve rusty legs is something I'd rather not have to take on so I'm looking at just buying three new sets of the correct gray legs for early Bally solid state machines. From what I understand, the earliest Bally SS like Playboy and Mata Hari received metallic gray legs, while some point around '79-80 or so they switched over to a darker "charcoal" metallic leg. These darker ones are what I'd like to get, and I'd prefer powder-coated over painted.

My choices are Pinball Life's "P-4052-8 Bally Gray Legs - Set of 4"
https://www.pinballlife.com/bally-gray-legs-set-of-4.html

and Pinball Resource's "LEG-28GR Dark Gray Non-Ribbed"
http://www.pbresource.com/images/leg-28gr.jpg
http://www.pbresource.com/legs.html

Can anyone who has bought either/both of these tell me if they're a close match to the darker charcoal metallic Bally legs and if they're power-coated? Recommendation/preference? Please post pics of them on your game if possible. Thanks!

#2 2 years ago

BFM

phillyfan64

Pinside+ Frequent

Monroe Township, NJ

8y 70,800 1,710 4

I bought the ones from Pinball Resource for my Eight Ball Deluxe and Mata Hari. It has a very nice quality finish but it is not powder coated. It is a dark charcoal grey. I’m very happy with them.

17C89B3E-37F3-4373-99BD-D8E3623F95EA (resized).jpeg2347BAB2-793F-4B91-BA74-BB2BE2B3BAC3 (resized).jpeg

#3 2 years ago

DEN

jibmums

Pinside member

12y 96,900 3,961 16

Quoted from phillyfan64:
I bought the ones from Pinball Resource for my Eight Ball Deluxe and Mata Hari. It has a very nice quality finish but it is not powder coated. It is a dark charcoal grey. I’m very happy with them.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Those look pretty nice, I assume they're painted. Is the color metallic and close to original? Do they come packaged well, no scratches or rub spots on any of them out of the box?

#4 2 years ago

BSF

bflagg

Pinside member

Anna, TX

12y 62,400 741 3

I bought a set from Pinball life. They arrived in perfect condition and they look great. I haven’t compared the color to the originals I have so I can’t speak to the match. Not sure if they are powder coated or painted. A quick email to Terry at PBL could confirm.

#5 2 years ago

BFM

phillyfan64

Pinside+ Frequent

Monroe Township, NJ

8y 70,800 1,710 4

OP
Quoted from jibmums:
Those look pretty nice, I assume they're painted. Is the color metallic and close to original? Do they come packaged well, no scratches or rub spots on any of them out of the box?

I guess I would call it a painted metallic finish. I don’t have originals to compare it to. Both my games had the wrong chrome legs when I bought them. Well packaged, no scratches out of the box. Honestly, I don’t think you’re going to go wrong with PBR or Pinball Life.

#6 2 years ago

???

jj44114

Pinside member

8y 56,050 1,861 19

The pbl ones look powder coated. They are nice. Good price too.

#7 2 years ago

RCC

RC_like_the_cola

Pinside+ Frequent

Sellersburg, IN

12y 91,800 5,657 26 2

The only complaint I have on the repro Bally legs are that they are not squared at the bottom. They have a rounded bottom like other manufacturers, but originals were not rounded. They were completely square.

#8 2 years ago

DEN

jibmums

Pinside member

12y 96,900 3,961 16

Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:
The only complaint I have on the repro Bally legs are that they are not squared at the bottom. They have a rounded bottom like other manufacturers, but originals were not rounded. They were completely square.

Just noticed that yesterday too. Looks like they use the same initial leg for all applications - bare, chromed, gray, color powder-coated. I can overlook that if it'll save me the time, sweat, and aggravation of having to make six pairs of rusty legs look presentable.

#9 2 years ago

RCC

RC_like_the_cola

Pinside+ Frequent

Sellersburg, IN

12y 91,800 5,657 26 2

OP
Quoted from jibmums:
Just noticed that yesterday too. Looks like they use the same initial leg for all applications - bare, chromed, gray, color powder-coated. I can overlook that if it'll save me the time, sweat, and aggravation of having to make six pairs of rusty legs look presentable.

I use evaporust to get the rust gone with almost no effort. But, I'm not restoring games, I just want the legs non rusted and presentable.

#10 2 years ago

RZX

RazerX

Pinside+ Frequent

La Grange Park, IL

11y 92,175 1,701

The Pinball Life legs are powder coated and are nice IMO.

#11 2 years ago

DEN

jibmums

Pinside member

12y 96,900 3,961 16

Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:
I use evaporust to get the rust gone with almost no effort. But, I'm not restoring games, I just want the legs non rusted and presentable.

Me too, works great for my chromed legs with surface rust.

Quoted from RazerX:
The Pinball Life legs are powder coated and are nice IMO.

I got an email from Terry today. They are powder-coated, not painted, and they're not dark charcoal gray like 80's Bally solid state legs, nor gunmetal gray like 70's Bally solid state legs, but somewhere in between. No idea if they are metallic although I would assume they are. bflagg do you have a photo of yours?

#12 2 years ago

SAC

eagle18

Pinside member

White Stone, VA

6y 63,550 405 3

I have someone local sandblast and powder coat my Original Bally legs. Turns out great. Anyone near u to get a price from?

#13 2 years ago

BSF

bflagg

Pinside member

Anna, TX

12y 62,400 741 3

OP
Quoted from jibmums:
Me too, works great for my chromed legs with surface rust.

I got an email from Terry today. They are powder-coated, not painted, and they're not dark charcoal gray like 80's Bally solid state legs, nor gunmetal gray like 70's Bally solid state legs, but somewhere in between. No idea if they are metallic although I would assume they are. bflagg do you have a photo of yours?

They are metallic. Here are a couple pics, not the best lighting.

4EE2F043-8838-4576-8E40-4FA59BE202EF (resized).jpeg

7E578B8B-212A-4C42-B4D3-662E4330C458 (resized).jpeg

#14 2 years ago

JWW

Gatecrasher

Moline, IL

11y 67,550 1,761 7

I bought a few repops but in the end bought a bunch of old OEM legs and stripped, blasted, and painted them.

There's nothing wrong with the repops. I just wanted the real deal for my pins.

#15 2 years ago

RCC

RC_like_the_cola

Pinside+ Frequent

Sellersburg, IN

12y 91,800 5,657 26 2

Quoted from Gatecrasher:
I bought a few repops but in the end bought a bunch of old OEM legs and stripped, blasted, and painted them.
There's nothing wrong with the repops. I just wanted the real deal for my pins.

Same for me. My strikes and spares has pinball life legs and they are great, but that was before I discovered evaporust. Looking back in sure I could've saved those legs and I have saved every set of Bally and Stern legs since finding out about evaporust.

#16 2 years ago

CRD

chad

Game Guy

11y 140K 15,113 9 5

Putting this out here in case someone is looking to paint their own legs.

20210817_182311 (resized).jpg

#17 2 years ago

guitarded

Pinside member

Unknown

5y 70,400 3,500 10

Just got a set of the Pinball Resource legs for my Skateball project and they look fantastic.

#18 2 years ago

DEN

jibmums

Pinside member

12y 96,900 3,961 16

Quoted from guitarded:
Just got a set of the Pinball Resource legs for my Skateball project and they look fantastic.

Pictures or it didn't happen!

#19 2 years ago

JWW

Gatecrasher

Moline, IL

11y 67,550 1,761 7

Here's what I use. Plasti-kote Dark Charcoal Grey Metallic.

IMG_2237 (resized).JPG

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#20 2 years ago

DBS

Skidave

Pinside member

6y 63,550 1,285 9

Here is a link to a great thread from a few years ago about leg color:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-leg-gray-paint-color

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