I have restored a few bad pins over the years, but the el dorado was by far the worst I ever under took. After I finished it I was surprise it turned out so good considering what I started with. My major concern was the smoke smell when done. I sanded ever inch and used sanding sealer and you could not smell any smoke.
As far as the atlantis goes the head had the most damage and the poor BG shows that. the cabinet is not to bad but will need a repaint due to the head being repainted. Ron webb repro the glass so there is glass to be had.
the King pin really isn't to bad all around. good BG and PF cabinet and head will get a repaint.
So if you come across a popular title in poor shape this shows it is worth trying to save.
I would not even put the hours in a poor title, just isn't worth all the time it takes. I put 200 hrs in the el dorado and only 170 bucks total including the machine.

I have restored a few bad pins over the years, but the el dorado was by far the worst I ever under took. After I finished it I was surprise it turned out so good considering what I started with. My major concern was the smoke smell when done. I sanded ever inch and used sanding sealer and you could not smell any smoke.
As far as the atlantis goes the head had the most damage and the poor BG shows that. the cabinet is not to bad but will need a repaint due to the head being repainted. Ron webb repro the glass so there is glass to be had.
the King pin really isn't to bad all around. good BG and PF cabinet and head will get a repaint.
So if you come across a popular title in poor shape this shows it is worth trying to save.
I would not even put the hours in a poor title, just isn't worth all the time it takes. I put 200 hrs in the el dorado and only 170 bucks total including the machine.

sorry for the double post was trying to add pics of the king pin

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so you're getting them for a song huh? More for gas to pick them up?

only a 30 min drive, most people would not even want a pin in that condition so there isn't a market for fire damaged pins.

Thanks guys for the responses. I have gone over that list of pins but so far nothing rings a bell.

I guess I should 'fess up and tell you all what a dipshit I am! When I was much younger, a guy sold me this EM for $100. It worked 100%. I really liked it. Then . . . the downfall of some of us men . . . I got married. Wife didn't like this monstrosity sitting in our house. I had to move it to a shed. It sat there for about 5 years. The roof leaked and damaged the back box some. One day, I plugged it in just to see if it would still work and it went haywire. I tried to fix it but didn't know the first thing about doing such work. I gave up. 'She' . . . convinced me to junk it.

On a day when I had little sense, I hauled it off to a sink hole on our farm. Back then, you could do things like this in Kentucky before EPA. I still remember watching it crash below into the hole as I dropped it off the front end loader of the tractor. Over the months, we filled the hole with tree limbs and rocks and other things picked from the fields. I it buried WAY down in that hole. 30 or more years have gone by and I am ever so tempted to take a backhoe and try and dig it up . . . just to see what the name of it was!

I feel SO bad about destroying this machine. But a woman made me do it!!! I feel like a pinball murderer!!!!! After reading this, I wouldn't complain if you all voted to banish me from Pinside. I killed a precious pinball machine and I have to live with this guilt for the rest of my life.

Pintucky,
Sounds like you need to go dig that back up and redeem yourself. The game wasn't a Phoenix by any chance was it? (It's not an EM so I know it isn't but hey...)

No, not a Phoenix . . . it had a "leggy lady" on the upper left corner of the backglass if I remember correctly. But didn't a LOT of them have that during the day! Ha.

Someday . . . . I'll remember the name of that danged pin!!!

Hey Pintucky.
Don't feel bad about this. Many years ago, lets say 1982 to 1987 there were a lot of pins that were thrown in the trash. Mostly because Operators and Distributors told us hobbyist, just to toss out non working pins, "They are not worth fixing". Especially if the pin was not made in the USA.

Here is my Williams Super Star. Not in as nice condition as many that I've seen here but it was my first pin purchase and one that I remembered playing back in my high school days. I bought it back in in January 2009 as a birthday present to myself and it was working about 75% at the time. I was living in Los Angeles taking care of my fiancee's house while she was away so I was bored and figured it would be a fun project. Got it home and discovered that it must have been a home for a family of rodents for quite some time! Cleaned it all up, installed new rubbers and bulbs, and section by section got everything working!

I just recently finally got it shipped to my home here in Hawaii and it's still working great. After reading many threads regarding toppers that people put on their newer pins, I had a great idea to add a topper to my Super Star! Picked up a "Disco Ball" for $15 and it sure livens up the game. I started a thread on EM toppers so if any one else has put a topper on their EM please share it in this thread:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/em-topper

Thanks!!

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that topper fits like a glove, good job. Its hard to to top a em machine but that works very well.

Hey Boilerman,

Just finished my trashed Space Mission restore and looking for something else. Anymore of those fire sale machines?

I'm about 90 min away.

Thanks,

Bert

PS - Does your title refer to you having your boiler license? My dad was a Gold Seal boiler guy back in the day.

Maybe he installs boilers in places that have pinball and a malfunction causes them to ....
Only some rogue fireman would want to do that to keep busy.

they were the last two as far as I know. But will double check.
the boilerman moniker comes from operating not installation.
I hold the NJ red seal the gold is a very tough exam.
if you have any before and after pictures of the space mission post them, i like seeing the transformation. I am sure other would also

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Sorry, didn't know! Hope you will heal fast and be on your feet real soon!

You don't find many boiler operators anymore. Mostly at hospitals and power plants.

Will do on the photos.

Didn't do enough before shots a because I bought it in pieces.

I repaired the cabinet where I had to. The back was completely rotted through. I think it was an outside machine from an amusement park.

When I can I try to clean up the outsides, but leave them alone because I believe the old girls have a story to tell about how they spent their 40 plus years.

But I try my best to get them running 100% and get the play fields as clean as possible with a good wax.

If you compared mine to the resto that Steve Fury did it's not even close.

But she looks good and plays great. It took a lot of help from you guys, but now it's time for the next one.

On vaca at the Jersey shore this week, but will post some shots next week.

I actually found an arcade down here with about 40 EMs in it.

Will put up a separate post about it tonight.

where did your dad work. i worked a quite a few power plants in nj and pa area

as long as you were happy with the out come of the restoration that is all that matters
snap a few shots of the em at the beach you do not see them in wild anymore

My dad was a master machinest I upstate PA.

They had a boiler plant where he cut his teeth.

Then he spent time at a couple power plants in northeastern PA when I was little. Got his gold seal and helped with some of the design work at a nuke plant in Berwick, PA during its construction.

But his first love was the machine shop so he went back to his old place and ran the machine shop until the plant moved to Argentina.

By this time he was in his early 60's.

He then went to work running a local hospitals boiler plant and working part time at a machine shop until he retired at 70.

He still worked part time at the machine shop until he passed away.

There is a working machine shop still in my moms basement so needless to say I am pretty fair on a lathe or mill.

No pics allowed at this arcade. Guy is really an interesting person. He supposedly has 6 trailers of EMs and bingo type machines.

And tons of cash.

Somebody local told me he was on hoarders.

Just got my (working) three together. Also have a wizard! (far left) to pair with the CF, but its a project/restore machine at the moment

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I jumped on this quickly. HUO King Pin just obtained Saturday locally. All original parts with the exception of rubber rings and light bulbs. I hope the horseshoe stays put....

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that one looks in great shape! nice score!

Great find. Need to take that horseshoe to a riverboat )

Nice looking King Pin sjohn - also a good player. Is yours a true HUO pin? Most em pins from this era were routed for the beginning of their life. I've come across a few pins like yours with low plays and a shiny lock down bar acceptor but never had one with the bill of sale. I've only seen one Atlantis with a bill of sale that was bought straight from a distributor for $750 and was never on location.

HUO king pin??? how about a picture of the kickout hole area. I have never seen a KP without wear in that area. being HUO there should be very little there.

yeah my KP definitely has that wear.

Great machine tho

--Jeff

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and the KP backglass is VERY hard to find without paint issues
i am surprised the backglass has not ben repro yet

This looks like the 1st pin for sjohn26148 since he only has one listed. If it is welcome to the hobby. Great game to start with. There will be more coming I'm sure..........

Always nice to hear from you Rat. How's the recuperating going?

Just finished this one today. First impressions playing it are very favorable!

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In process...

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Play field stripped

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Can you describe where the tilt and game over lights are on that Strange World glass? Can see near the top in the tan areas would be the match numbers.... Love the Artwork!

I spent a ton of time redoing this

I spent a ton of time redoing this

For Strange World. The Game Over light is above the Gottlieb logo. The Tilt light is below the flying blue guy, his right foot is pointing to it.

Awesome, those were my guesses on location! (knowing what they needed for open space)

HUO king pin??? how about a picture of the kickout hole area. I have never seen a KP without wear in that area. being HUO there should be very little there.

Very hard to find true HUO.

I picked up a Pin Up and seems to be genuinely low play looking at kick out holes. Great player.

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My Flipper Clown restore is coming along nicely

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HUO king pin??? how about a picture of the kickout hole area. I have never seen a KP without wear in that area. being HUO there should be very little there.

Heres a pic - there is wear but minor. Minor similiar wear on the other side also. Here is a pic of the front. A coin mechanism was never installed I was told. Its only been on freeplay its entire life. Counter was at 110,000 plus a few. I doubt it turned over because of the rest of the games condition. - I'm thinking the amount is accurate - 7 plays per day on average - Geez it was played for 7 hours at my home this week end.

The gentleman I purchased it from had it only since January. He bought it from an estate sale as estate owner was deceased. Story is he was a relative of a 1973 Gottlieb employee.

BS or not I paid $800 delivered. If the back story is BS I still am ecstatic. I played King Pin in college. I and others are having a blast with this. High score in a week of ownership at 121,040. I've set the pitch about as high as it will go - at 4.8. - a few layers of blitz waxed. Its tough and set on 5 balls .

I want people to play it - not be a museum piece.

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Why did that post upside down - weird - I'll try posting upside down.

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I like your style!

Great pick up as a real fun game and $800 delivered is a great deal in my book

Looks amazing.

What is the game like to play? Never played it.

that just might be HUO there is almost no wear great score........

Has great reviews on IPDB, I think I tried a couple balls on it at the silverball museum in NJ but have not really played it yet. I bought this in parts & pieces, a project someone else started 5 years ago that lost interest.

mine...

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