(Topic ID: 292830)

Flash Gordon Part II

By gdonovan

2 years ago


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  • 105 posts
  • 9 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 69 days ago by gdonovan
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There are 105 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.
#1 2 years ago

This Flash Gordon build is forked off my other Flash Gordon project over here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/flash-gordon-causing-me-to-blackout

In a nutshell I have enough parts lying about to build a second Flash Gordon so decided I'm going to go for it and this will be documented here. The first retoration has gotten totally out of control and will be sold off when completed, I just wanted a game to play!

What I have gathered so far..

1) Backglass from original, needs repair around display four and other flaking. (repair complete!)

2) Playfield and wood rails from original, PF needs repair. (see below)

3) Apron, good condition.

4) Legs, good condition will repaint.

5) Strobe from original, needs repair. I have already replaced the caps and suspect the strobe element itself is shot. Been considering making a 12V LED flasher circuit to replace this but still exploring the circuit to see how feasible. (Strobe repaired since & bracket fabricated)

6) Drop targets, pop bumper tops, plastics and posts from original. Will have to reproduce or obtain one plastic. (DONE) Ended up buying drops and pop bumper caps new, cheap enough and look nice. Posts cleaned up fine and the rest of the plastics good to go.

7) Donor game, in this case Mr. and Mrs. Pacman.

Parts for "The Frankenstein Flash Gordon" would be the lower cabinet (with harness, shooter, coin door, transformer and power board) 7-digit displays, wiring harness, circuit boards (MPU, Solenoid, lamp, aux lamp, Squawk and Talk) 3 flipper mechs, the ball gates and reed switches (for spinners) the dual direction saucer, sling shot mechs, drop target banks (one that will be converted to inline target bank) and various bits and pieces from under and on top of the playfield like posts, screws, outhole ball kicker and standup targets.

Stuff I need:

1) Upper FG steel ball guides, 3 ramps, lower ball guides and ball director under the apron. (OBTAINED)

2) Single drop target with memory. (DONE)

3) Upper cabinet, found in Ohio and will be in my hands by July and I'll fabricate a new pedestal base. (FOUND)

4) Backbox lamp and display panel (I'll fabricate)

5) Isolation transformer if using factory strobe (Here, Mouser)

6) Spinners (PBR)

#2 2 years ago

The lower playfield is fairly solid protected by the factory Mylar, the upper though was pretty beat.

The lower playfield needs most of the touch up works in the popper area, no surprise there. I'll have to fill in the "15" second inserts and make up water slide decals for the text. They came off when the Mylar was pulled from the slingshot areas.

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#3 2 years ago

The upper playfield was going to be a problem and I kicked around various ideas from touching up to making my own print and covering it with clear plastic till I stumbled across a Flash Gordon machine ad for sale which displayed the old playfield.. which I promptly purchased and touched up.

This will look great when I'm finished and have it cleared.

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#4 2 years ago

I plan on repairing the backglass with a water slide decal after I triple thick it this weekend. There were three areas starting to lift and I flowed triple thick in them and held down with plastic wrapped weights till the sealer dried. A few other areas were touched up with red paint.

Played around with the waterslide idea this weekend, its been done before though with excellent results..

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#6 2 years ago

Pictures of the donor machine: It was dead on pickup, failure to boot and no sound. After whacking it with my geek hammer for an hour boot up was completed and sound was back online. Lower cab in fairly good shape, just have to undo "the doorbell credit mod" ironically which the first Flash Gordon had as well and repair the back panel which is flaking a bit at the bottom rear.

The shooter rod hole needs to be lowered, I'm just going to fashion a wooden plug to fill the opening and make a new one for the lower position.

New Altek MPU, Solenoid board, A2 Power Board and A9 Aux lighting board make this a solid buy and the factory Bally lamp driver has only one SCR out. As an additional bonus the maze is a @Geeteo LED unit which I can sell off to make a few bucks back.

Anyone need a Mr. and Mrs. Pacman playfield, upper cabinet or backglass? All will be up for grabs when completed. Or I'll turn into wall art like this spare Last Action Hero playfield.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/who-says-wall-art-has-to-be-flat

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#7 2 years ago

Thank you! I'm actually more excited to be working on this one than the other, little bit more of a challenge.

#8 2 years ago

More parts are on the way!

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#9 2 years ago

1) Flash Gordon backglass missing chunk around display four.

2) Friend sends me scan of his backglass, display four area.

3) I spend a few hours tweaking area I need, color balance, contrast and brightness.

Laser printer goes brrrr. A lot.

4) I take various prints and glue to picture frame glass so I can judge color match.

5) Selected version is printed out on matte card stock.

6) Adhesive used? Triple Thick! Spray heavy and squeegee.

7) Area that needed masking painted black. Note that I had to have color balance right as masking will change the color.

Backglass had a few areas that needed touch up and gentle care but came out pretty good. Unless you knew where to look almost impossible to see, matter a fact even knowing where to look you would be hard pressed.

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#10 2 years ago

And the rails for both Flash Gordons are done.

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#11 2 years ago

Insert day!

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#12 2 years ago

Still have some touchup to do but getting closer to clearing.

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#13 2 years ago

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Let's change out those crazed inserts.

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#14 2 years ago

My friend decided the same thing when he started one Flash Gordon he would do two. Both of his turned out fantastic. Good luck on the restore!

#15 2 years ago

Changing all of the inserts to color and starburst made a big difference. The new ramps are impossible to find but they are out there. He went over the top on these restores but here they are side by side. (Color inserts vs standard) I posted some of the pics in the gallery.

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#16 2 years ago
Quoted from ttown:

My friend decided the same thing when he started one Flash Gordon he would do two. Both of his turned out fantastic. Good luck on the restore!

Thank you!

The idea of two side by side intrigues me and I have enough parts to get it done.. just a few more pieces and I'm there.

Have a cabinet head lined up and should be here by July. Work on the first one is picking up again which will help this one pickup steam.

Once the playfield is assembled on the first, things will really start going.

1 week later
#17 2 years ago

Bending metal!

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#18 2 years ago

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So if you are building a Flash Gordon you are going to need a few parts. The donor pin has a surprising number of pieces which certainly helps but I'm still short a single drop with memory and 3 target inline bank.

Today I'm down to just needing the 3 target inline which will be coming soon =)

How to convert a Bally single drop target to one with memory.

1) In my case, obtain single drop mech from pinballplusMN (shown above)

2) Some 16ga steel

3) 31-2000 coil (PBR)

4) 7/16 nylon washer.

5) Longer 1/8" roll pin.

6) Spring.

For a plunger I used a flipper unit from my parts pile. It was trimmed down and squared. The distance from the pin to the face is fairly critical, make sure you get that set before shorting the coil stop end.

The "arm" was cut from the steel plate and bent in a metal brake and trimmed to length. A hole was drilled for the roll pin and nylon from wire tie downs was used as a spacers since flipper links are much wider than 16 gauge steel. Once that is done you will need to drill a second hole for another shorter rollpin to keep the arm from drooping.

#19 2 years ago

A 2" strip of steel was cut off and bent to match the pad for the coil brackets. I did not totally clearance it like Bally did to clear the drop switch but ended up making a cut out to clear the switch wiring and terminal .

Edit: I did end up cutting the metal down so the unit is exactly like a factory Bally bracket.

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#20 2 years ago

Last I needed a nylon guide for the trip arm. Once again a nylon hold down was sacrificed to the Gods of pinball! I used a heat gun to get the coil out of it, very touchy! 5 degrees more and the nylon goes from "I can relax now" to I'M ON FIRE so you have to go slow if this is the path you wish to take.

Arm hole was cut out with razor knife and trimmed with small point file.

Assemble.

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#21 2 years ago

Final assembly.

Stay tuned for inline drops in a few days.

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#22 2 years ago
Quoted from ttown:

Changing all of the inserts to color and starburst made a big difference. The new ramps are impossible to find but they are out there. He went over the top on these restores but here they are side by side. (Color inserts vs standard) I posted some of the pics in the gallery.
[quoted image]

Actually new ramps are very available, Cliffy has been making them for a couple of years as well as some other metal pieces.

http://www.passionforpinball.com/flash_gordon.htm

#23 2 years ago

Well so I had a few minutes to kill..

The Mr. And Mrs. Pacman 4 drop assembly is slightly longer than the inline drop but should work.

First thing I did was strip it down, swap the reset coil to the proper location and test fit on the playfield. Very snug around the shoot again lamp, I might change out the socket to a lay down unit to get additional clearance.

I need 3 yokes, which I picked up from PBR and Marco. Studs are on the way. All that is left is too make a new location plate for the top and bottom.

And I just happened to cut the steel out already the other day

The 3 small L guide brackets will be easy to fabricate.

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#24 2 years ago

Another puzzle piece falls into place! A good friend spotted this on CL in Ohio and grabbed it and I'll pickup at Allentown.

I actually have 2 heads in route, the other a Blackjack but if one fell through I'm covered either way.

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#25 2 years ago

Inline drop day!

First thing I did was make an aluminum pattern of the top plate. This was sandwiched between the playfield and 3 bank drop and I scribed out the 3 hole locations. This was then locked to the playfield and then I dropped on the 4 bank unit from Mr. and Mrs Pacman to locate it properly in relation to the frame of the new assembly..

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#26 2 years ago

So rather than make a new plate from scratch, I noticed if I flipped the current plate 180 degrees and moved it over a touch it would work fine. I marked it for the three locations and got to work with a drill and several files.

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#27 2 years ago

The furthest to the left is real close to the correct location for the lift arm, so close I'm not going to try and move it. For the other two locations I'll have to make slots on each side and mount the switches.

After that just have to make the 3 small "L brackets" that act as guides and spring anchor points.

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#28 2 years ago

Lift slots done.

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#29 2 years ago

Almost the last of the unique parts I need arrived today! In the envirorust soup you go!

Shout out Daditude for his hard work stripping the playfield he had.

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#30 2 years ago

Those L brackets are a PITA to find, now I have enough for the rebound switches and stand ups. I'll reuse the Pacman target switches after swapping out the targets.

Having a chunk of spare harness is great if I need to extend out anything and maintain the color codes which is a project goal.

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#31 2 years ago

Even my Data East stash is contributing parts, popper switches and other hardware.

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#32 2 years ago

Envirorust and steel wool deployed.

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#33 2 years ago

The parts pile for FGII grows. Order from Marco with inserts and a few other items in route.

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#34 2 years ago

Screws tumble polished and organized for rapid deployment and stencils arrived!

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#35 2 years ago

Doing inventory this morning and need the following: (UPDATED)

1) Steel bracket on end of shooter lane, ball rests against when ready to plunge. Pretty sure same as other games like Xenon and Vector that have dropped playfields like FG. (FABRICATED)

2) 2 steel "Z" brackets connecting playfields. Worse case fabricate. (FABRICATED)

3) Top left plastic. (OBTAINED)

4) Main cabinet steel brace left to right just above power supply board (common part) Worse case fabricate.

5) Playfield support brackets, (PF to lockbar) and apron to PF bracket. Pretty sure same as other games like Xenon and Vector that have dropped playfields like FG. (FABRICATED)

Maybe parts:

1) 2 popper coil brackets. (NOT NEEDED)

I need to compare the ones from Pacman, they are mounted on removable housings and look a touch shorter. Might not make a difference either way, will try and mock them up this afternoon. Nothing that is a real hurry here, finishing up the first FG and working on the playfield for this one is going to take up a chunk of time, I may find some of the pieces I need at Allentown.

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#36 2 years ago

Going to be a bit turning this into a Flash Gordon harness.

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#37 2 years ago

Productive day! I got the old flash unit working. Woop!

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#38 2 years ago

Inline drops complete.

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#39 2 years ago

Just waiting for new targets from PBR, this part of project is done and I can install original assembly in the first FG now.

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#40 2 years ago
Quoted from gdonovan:

3) Top left plastic.

The top left plastic is almost always broken or damaged on Flash Gordon. Here is a link to an overseas company that offers just that plastic. I’m not sure at the end of the day if it’s better to just buy a whole set to have the spare set of plastics from CPR, or buy this. However, I did stumble across this sometime ago.
https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts/playfield-parts/plastics/8126/plastic-1-fuer-flash-gordon

#41 2 years ago

Wrapped up mounting the strobe unit and picture of the camera strobe that was robbed for parts.

Retested with no problems, works great.

I checked Ebay, looks like a few of these camera flash units are floating about for $20.

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#42 2 years ago
Quoted from zahner:

The top left plastic is almost always broken or damaged on Flash Gordon. Here is a link to an overseas company that offers just that plastic. I’m not sure at the end of the day if it’s better to just buy a whole set to have the spare set of plastics from CPR, or buy this. However, I did stumble across this sometime ago.
https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts/playfield-parts/plastics/8126/plastic-1-fuer-flash-gordon

I don't wish to purchase another set from CPR as I already have two used sets! Both are missing the top left arch piece and one is missing the top right arch.

There is time so I'll keep searching, worst case I'll try my hand at water slide decals or purchase the one piece.

#43 2 years ago

Really looking forward to rolling on this, I think I have spent at least a week turning over in my head the order in which I'm going to get started on the wiring.

#44 2 years ago
Quoted from gdonovan:

I don't wish to purchase another set from CPR as I already have two used sets! Both are missing the top left arch piece and one is missing the top right arch.
There is time so I'll keep searching, worst case I'll try my hand at water slide decals or purchase the one piece.

Yeah, I think the one plastic from Germany will end up costing $50 or something by the time you get it delivered. That’s slot for one plastic. Wish someone owner here did it for a reasonable price.

#45 2 years ago
Quoted from zahner:

Yeah, I think the one plastic from Germany will end up costing $50 or something by the time you get it delivered. That’s slot for one plastic. Wish someone owner here did it for a reasonable price.

Like I said, have some time before I'm at the stage where I need it.

Heck, I think I'd take a broken one and piece it together with what I already have for now.

#46 2 years ago

So far I have parts from 5 different Flash Gordons and 3 other Ballys.

1) Lower playfield, backglass, playfield rails, legs, strobe, apron.
2) Upper playfield.
3) Lamp driver board.
4) FG playfield parts from Datitude.
5) Unknown FG (used plastic set)
6) Mr and Mrs Pacman donor game
7) Star Trek cabinet head
8) Single drop target 8 Ball Deluxe.

#47 2 years ago

Inserts go flying.

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#48 2 years ago

Parts incoming from PBR: The old popper caps are actually in good shape but decided to go new as cheap enough. For drop targets I have enough to populate the board and have the target stickers but the drops are dingy looking and have seen them break with age so new is cheap insurance.

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#49 2 years ago

Improvise, adapt and overcome.

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#50 2 years ago

I don't need the steel strobe housing any longer, another part in the ready pile.

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