(Topic ID: 268008)

FunHouse Restoration Questions

By Lodi

3 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 6 posts
  • 3 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by Lodi
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

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#1 3 years ago

First off, thank you for contributing to such an awesome website. What an amazing resource for a newbie.

I have owned FunHouse and Fishtales for about 15 years (bought them both for $3K when a friend moved). I've done nothing more than keep them clean and play them - lots of fun over the years. FunHouse is in rough shape. Mine is machine number 919, built Jan 16, 1991. It must have been in an outdoor environment at some point in its life because there is a good amount of rust on the exterior parts. Also, there were some so-so repairs and touchups prior to my ownership. To the best of my knowledge, everything works. The playfield is pretty trashed, ramps are shot. Plastics need to be replaced and basic hardware needs a refresh. My thought right now is to perform a complete restoration. I'm not trying to create a collector's item but I want to be true to originality wherever it makes sense. I want to start sourcing parts and was hoping for some input.

Playfield - Reproduction Playfield or overlay? My friend has a drum-sander to evenly sand the playfield if I do the overlay.

Plastics, Ramps, Cabinet Graphics - Does one supplier make more accurate reproductions than another? I found a very complete set of plastics at Classic Playfields. The only set of ramps I found is at Starship Fantasy. I have found several cabinet graphics, including Phoenix Arcade. Any thoughts here would be helpful

LED or No LED? - If so, what should I look for?

General parts - Any particular supplier?

I'm sure I will have many more questions. I appreciate the guidance.

Regards,

Dave

#2 3 years ago
Quoted from Lodi:

Playfield - Reproduction Playfield or overlay? My friend has a drum-sander to evenly sand the playfield if I do the overlay.

I consider overlays an absolute last resort. They can wrinkle and shift, and don't always line up with everything.

Quoted from Lodi:

Plastics, Ramps, Cabinet Graphics - Does one supplier make more accurate reproductions than another? I found a very complete set of plastics at Classic Playfields. The only set of ramps I found is at Starship Fantasy. I have found several cabinet graphics, including Phoenix Arcade. Any thoughts here would be helpful

Those are all legitimate sources for those items.

Quoted from Lodi:

LED or No LED? - If so, what should I look for?

LEDs, no question. I like to use comet pinball bulbs. Lots of people have various preferences, but I generally like to use sunlight bulbs for GI, color match the inserts, and cool white in the backbox (to counteract yellowing translites).

Quoted from Lodi:

General parts - Any particular supplier?

Pbresource, marco, pinball life. For general nuts & bolts, boltdepot, fastenal, albany county fasteners.

#3 3 years ago

Playfield overlays are TERRIBLE. Don’t be tempted.

They wrinkle, registration and scaling usually is off, they slow the ball down, they are not as durable, colors are usually off a little, and if you have a nice one done and leave it in your garage on a hot summer day it will wrinkle from the heat. So, you think you are done with it and you have garbage. Yeah, I learned the hard way. Don’t even think about it.
I have seen overlays from multiple people over the 15 plus years these have been available, and all of them are garbage.

It’s a no brained to do a new playfield, since they are available for this game you should not even consider an overlay.

I would love to see someone have one good thing to say about an overlay. I don’t know anybody.

#4 3 years ago

Thank you very much. Extremely helpful. Can you make a recommendation for a new playfield - Micro? How about accurate cabinet graphics? Phoenix Arcade?

#5 3 years ago
Quoted from Lodi:

Can you make a recommendation for a new playfield - Micro?

I think he's the only one who has been making them. He's been producing them for several years, and I can't say I've really heard any serious complaints about that one.

Quoted from Lodi:

How about accurate cabinet graphics? Phoenix Arcade?

Phoenix arcade does a really nice job on their products.

#6 3 years ago

Thanks again @ForceFlow.

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