(Topic ID: 139233)
Linked Games
Star Trek (LE)
Stern, 2013-
Star Trek (Premium)
Stern, 2013
Topic Gallery
Poolesville, MD
Sana'a
What the hell did they clean it with ? Paint remover. I dont concider stern to be the " Quality Guys" but seriously.
Quoted from northvibe:I think this was proven to be photoshopped?
Stern didn't deny it, though, in their response:
(translated)
Stern: That Picture is an exceptional case and is not representative of our quality of game. A clear coat covering will protect the game for many years in terms of normal use.
This is supposedly a pic of the same game from July 1 (from Pinball Bash). It's from Islands of Adventure in Orlando.
I believe it. A NIB Metallica pro on route by me was maybe 1/3 as trashed as this Star Trek after 2-3 months on location in the same fashion. They ended up getting a new playfield from Stern. Blame sandpaper balls, a rare manufacturing defect, poor clearcoat, whatever you want. All I know is I've never seen a B/W game look like that after a few months on route.
Yeah Vid, using your experience is cheating. I'll clarify and say I've never seen a clearcoated B/W degrade before my eyes in weeks like I saw with that Metallica. I'm sure you've seen that anyway 
Wonder if that Star Trek was owned by STR pinball. Thought I saw a video of them on Facebook cleaning a WPT playfield by taking it out of the game and spraying it down with water from a hose.
found the link
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/proper-way-to-clean-a-playfield
Any B/W game you see today has already had all the factory mistakes culled from the pack.
If a B/W playfield was a sample and somehow found it's way into a production game, it got destroyed 20 years ago when it went on route. It would not have lasted long enough for anyone to suddenly see it happen today.
Williams would ship a populated replacement playfield in a wooden crate to the local distributor. They would never ship direct to the operator.
Quoted from Eryeal:Stern didn't deny it, though, in their response:
(translated)
Stern: That Picture is an exceptional case and is not representative of our quality of game. A clear coat covering will protect the game for many years in terms of normal use.
They can't deny it. It wasn't in their ownership. I still think this was proven a photochop. The resolution is so small and crappy hard to see, but just look close and it looks like the wear was sliced in. How can the pf be soooo beat, but the inserts themselves are perfect?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-star-trek-after-4100-plays
Here's my game last month. My clear coat is awesome
Quoted from vid1900:Stern does not do their own clearcoats.
The playfields are still done by CCC, just like B/W were.
True but Stern is responsible for quality control inspections. Both receiving and shipping. And my guess is their subcontractor went through some cost cutting measures at some point or another.
Besides, people would look funny at me if I were to complain "That damn Churchill Cabinet Company!!!"
My complaint is based on personal experiences which I concede is not a scientific study.
I have a Stern Batman DK that is on par or better than any B/W machine. But I also received a NIB game with a playfield that should have never left the factory. And its those negative experiences that die the hardest.
hows does the wear happen that are just like dots about the playfield? Seems like impact damage from air balls? Worn and dirty pinballs?
Regardless I find it hard to believe a LE would ship without a clearcoat at least. Can it be determined if this is some kind of clear coat defect or other playfield defect?
Leduc, AB
Can some one shed light on what we are actually looking at?
The white color that is below the art work layer, is it a primer? Or just the first layer of color?
That grey-black must just be dirt? There is no exposed wood, is there? Or has the bare wood been darkened by the ball(s)?
Did the art work delaminate from the white layer?
Quoted from Darcy:Can some one shed light on what we are actually looking at?
The white color that is below the art work layer, is it a primer? Or just the first layer of color?
That grey-black must just be dirt? There is no exposed wood, is there? Or has the bare wood been darkened by the ball(s)?
Tons of bare, dirty wood. Probably a defective playfield plus original balls plus tons of use. Certainly not normal wear, though.
My MET started to do this and the PF was replaced with a populated PF. Sometimes there are defects and bad runs of PFs. Running the org balls that came with it is not the cause of this issue. That image is NOT photoshoped so stop saying it is.
Well now that we have actual pictures of location and machine, I am proven it is truly real. Glad that was cleared up.
The Star Trek Premium that I know of with at least 16,000 location plays on it looks nothing like that.
This appears to be a "one of". A playfield that didn't get cleared but somehow left the building.
It's not like we are seeing these left and right.
Cape Town
Quoted from Eryeal:Someone just posted this pic as a comment on Stern's facebook page, complaining about the quality of the clearcoat. Perhaps this was already posted somewhere, but can't believe this amount of wear. Who knows what's going on with the bear, though!
st.jpg
I'm guessing that the dead animal on the left had corrosive blood.
Melbourne
I would have expected the wear to be worse as it got closer to the flippers, if it was caused by bad balls. Must be some protective coating on top of the inserts cause they look decent compared to the area above where there are no inserts...
Quoted from Chrizg:My MET started to do this and the PF was replaced with a populated PF. Sometimes there are defects and bad runs of PFs. Running the org balls that came with it is not the cause of this issue. That image is NOT photoshoped so stop saying it is.
met.jpg
Your sparky magnet looks different than mine. I have a single metal piece/core sticking up. Yours looks to be in two pieces?
Quoted from Rickwh:I would have expected the wear to be worse as it got closer to the flippers, if it was caused by bad balls. Must be some protective coating on top of the inserts cause they look decent compared to the area above where there are no inserts...
the inserts are colored plastic all the way through. it's not like you can wear an insert down to wood. inserts warp and crack over time due to heat and UV, which is obviously not the issue here.
After 25 years of play I have NEVER seen another game do this. Freaking crazy the level of QA with some of these Stern and JJP playfields.
How can you be hard on Stern for one game defect out of thousands of produced games? We don't know the story behind this pin, maybe someone used an industrial cleaner on the playfield or the balls are trash. Who knows. There are a ton of Stern games out there with thousands of plays and still look brand new without any serious maintenance. When things do go bad like this, Stern is good about making it right.
1 week later
After looking at the pics closer I've noticed no rubbers on the posts by the warp ramp, which makes me think there has been metal to metal contact between the ball and post. Which would make the ball rough enough to do this.
I think this is lack of maintenance issue rather than a stern quality issue.
I found the pics here
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/found-a-pin-universal-orlando
I guess it shows that people do still love to play some pinball out on location! None of the very few machines around me look like this ST.
Quoted from TKDalumni:Just saw this beauty is Santa Cruz..wonder how many plays it has. image.jpeg
Oh man, that is exactly the way I like to buy them. All of that black is like a protection layer and the "after" shop job results make ya proud.
Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat 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+!
