Last year, I installed my first hardtop and thought I'd document my experience here. Even with a steep learning curve (I'd never done anything like this before) it went pretty well.

This all started with me picking up two Mata Hari's from two different estate sales, about 3 months apart, for $300 each. Neither machine worked - one didn't power on, the other powered on with GI lights lit but would not boot into attract mode. My initial goal was to repair each machine to working condition, sell one, and keep the other for our newly built-out basement gameroom (which already had Eight Ball Deluxe and a Star Trek Pro).
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First thing I did was go thru both machines and repin *everything*. The machine that wouldn't power on at all had a mess behind the Rottendog rectifier board....spliced wire held together by tape, poor soldering....not a great attempt at fixing what was likely a power on problem for him, too.

Found all sorts of bent pins on connectors, some connector housings burnt with crusty pins...all replaced. Rewired that one transformer properly, put in some new fuses, replaced old caps on the SDB and 3 weeks later both machines are powering on to attract mode.

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I decided to focus in on the Mata Hari I was keeping and thought I'd try breathing new life into the playfield with a hardtop. The original playfield was a bit tired with artwork lifted here and there from previous owners attempts at removing mylar along with some poor touch up spots that are rough to the touch and bumpy. Balls in play were also being affected by several inserts being cupped, and the shooter lane was pretty beat up with dirt and swirls. A couple of broken plastics, dingy drop targets (and they sometimes wouldn't stay up), spongy flippers, and a beat to hell backglass rounded out the areas I wanted to address. The cabinet could use some new life as well but that's a future project.

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Before and After pix of one of the drop target banks - they both cleaned up nice and after assembly (with new springs and targets), they function great! Process for cleaning:

- 10 minutes in a heated ultrasonic cleaner with 60%/40% mixture of Mean Green and water.
- 24hrs in a tumbler with crushed walnut media
- 24hrs in a tumble with corn cob media

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Time to sand the playfield....getting the artwork off of the inserts.

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Also going to focus on cleaning the shooter lane and getting rid of the ball track across the upper arch.

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Saucer needs some help, too - EB Wood Epoxy will work well here, and I'm going to paint it black (taking a cue from another pinsider who did that to his Mata Hari saucer....I liked it).

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Saucer repaired, painted black (Creatix), and clear coated (SprayMax from a can) for protection. It looks goofy around the upper edges in this shot but the ridges look nice and straight after the hardtop goes on.

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Cleaned up the shooter lane and ball trail in the upper archway. Sanded the inserts 220/600/800/1200 and now ready for some clear to gloss them up (SprayMax in a can). Had some issues with outgassing (time) before I put the hardtop on....when I do this again on another machine, I think I'll opt to wet sanding up to 2000 instead of clearing the inserts.
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Getting ready to apply polyurethane (MinWax from a spray can) to the bare wood areas. The poly will even out the natural wood color and also provide a layer of protection even those most of it will underneath the clear sections of the hardtop.

I masked off the middle of the playfield so as to not get any overspray on the mechs I chose to leave installed. When I do this again on another pin, I think I'll take the extra time to remove all mechs....that's probably shorter time than I spent on masking off all those edges!

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New hardtop installed, wood frame installed, and most topside playfield parts back on (less plastics). Can't wait to play it.

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New drop targets in totally rebuild banks, new plastics, new bumper caps on totally rebuilt pop bumpers....with new rubbers and the smoothness of the hardtop, this thing plays SUPER fast now.

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I went with LEDs for the inserts....really makes them pop. Photos of this don't do it justice....they're too washed out in pictures. But in real life, they look fantastic.

I love how the inserts look tho I know LEDs are not everyone's cup of tea. My personal preference for SS pins is color matched LEDs for inserts and incandescents for GI. I tried warm LEDs for the GI but I still prefer the incandescent look there.

And another personal touch....I made the White 5X arrow inserts Blue and put in a color changing LED for the credit light.
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Since this is a keeper pin for me, I invested some money in a CPR repro backglass. You can say the original one (on the right) has seen better days.

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One of the last things I did was to swap out the tired, original high voltage gas score displays and replace with low power LED displays. And all done....for now. I'm working on a new project now (hardtop install and cabinet repaint for Eight Ball Deluxe) but after that, I'll be turning back to my Mata Hari for a total cabinet strip down, repair, and repaint. I've got some experience in that area now that I've done a bottom-up restoration on an SS Black Jack machine earlier this year. That machine didn't work at all and the cabinet was pretty badly weather damaged, but it still came out nice. If you're interested in seeing that project, here's the link: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-first-restoration-1977-bally-black-jack-ss

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Thanx, @mrm_4! If you like Eight Ball Deluxe, I started a new topic on my hardtop install with that one....just got started with that project this week:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hardtop-install-and-restoration-for-eight-ball-deluxe

Beautiful work on the metal polishing/brightening! The kicker assembly, ball trough, and apron brackets look great. When I was working on those bits (days and days in the tumblers and hand polishing the pieces that wouldn't fit in them) my wife would just roll her eyes and say "why are you working so hard prettying up parts of the machine no one will ever see?". It's because I'D KNOW, lol. Besides, shiny machines, regardless if the parts are seen, just play better.

eagle18 - what are "Reese Rails"?

Haha....I'll see if I can find a few more pics. I think I got so excited at that point assembling it and seeing it come together that I didn't think to stop and take more pictures!

Here's one...not topside, but maybe interesting. The kickout assembly for the top saucer was loose and ball ejection was sloppy and haphazard. The mounting holes were worn out....I used the toothpick method of filling in the holes and remounting.

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Nikrox2 - here are a few more that could go between Posts #10 and #11....rails/framing going back on, rebuilding the flippers, and installing the hardware under the apron.

I'm going to paint the cabinet this summer after I finish Eight Ball Deluxe. When I do the MH cabinet, I'm going restore and repaint the red frames around the playfield too. They were originally stapled in, but when I put it back to together I used screws. They'll come off much, much easier now and be a snap to put back on.

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Appreciate your opinion and position, but like you said it's my machine and I'm free to do what I want. I've said it a few times before but I'll re-state here:

- I have no real artistic skills, I do not have airbrush painting equipment, nor do I want to invest in any.
- I have absolutely no desire to risk my health in doing 2PAC nor do I want to invest the considerable $$ into the required equipment and hazmat get-ups to do so. Also not a fan of rattle-can clear results.
- Eyedropping clear into the inserts to fixed the cupped ones, unless you plan on clearcoating the entire playfield afterward (my issues with that above), is also a delicate procedure that I'd rather not do.

And FWIW, I think it plays fantastically close to, if not the same as, a properly waxed 40 year old "natural" playfield.

Dialing in the pop bumpers sure is a lot easier with the playfield out of the cab and on a rotisserie. Doing some routine maintenance and cleaning up some wiring this weekend before tearing the cabinet down for a repaint this spring. Looking forward to repairing all of the nicks, gouges, and cracks on this 44 year old cabinet and seeing bright, vibrant colors again after a fresh Pinball Pimp stencil job.

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OK - last year I put in the hardtop and have been VERY pleased. She plays like new, and now it's time to spruce up the cabinet. I'll probably spruce up the playfield a bit more (like resurfacing and painting the playfield rails and touch up the saucer's black paint) once I get into the painting phase of the cabinet.

So here's what I'm starting with on the lower cab. A little fade, LOTS of scratches and gouges, and some creative expressions from days gone by (specifically the message "F**K YOU" carved into the left hand side). Further, evidence of some previous repair work via excessive glue remnants on the rear. So my high level checklist for the cab is:

0 - Disassemble and clean/tumble/polish all metal bits
1 - Strip down to bare wood
2 - Repair minimal structural damage
3 - Fill in the gouges and holes with JB Weld Wood Epoxy
4 - Sand and prep for primer paint
5 - Primer paint
6 - Repaint with Pinball Pimp stencil
7 - Reassemble with cleaned and polished bits, plus a few new ones recently purchased items (side rails, lockdown bar and receiver assembly, coin door frame, coin door skin).

Focus now is the lower cab. The backbox has some water damage that will be fairly involved to repair....that will come later.

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Instead of sanding off the lead-based paint, this time around I used the Acetone method and chemically stripped the cabinet. Got all the paint off in 45 minutes and no mess. A little extra care had to be taken to dispose of the Acetone-soaked rags, but no big deal, and way easier than sanding off the paint.

So with the paint off, I went to work filling in holes, carvings, and gauges with wood epoxy.

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Pretty pleased with how the back of the bottom cabinet turned out....got rid of the ugly excess glue, got the surface down to nice and smooth, and repaired the missing chunk at the bottom edge, and smoothed out the roughness between the neck and the copy of the cab.

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So the wood epoxy work is done, and the cabinet is all sanded smooth, vacuumed, and been over a few times with a tack cloth. I wanted to lay down a primer coat today but while the weather is nice for painting (72F), storm clouds are moving in and there's rain in the forecast all weekend. Looks like it'll be next week before I can start with primer and painting.

Meanwhile...parts continue to move thru the tumblers and getting spruced up.

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This tumbler is quite inexpensive at less than $50 - I actually bought 2 to double my throughput! I've been using them for year, no issues with the motors at all. And when I'm working on a pin, they're both active 24/7 for weeks on end.

https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-Quick-N-EZ-Vibratory-Polishing/dp/B001MYGLJC/ref=sr_1_2

Finally, good weather and available time converge. First coat of Kilz primer applied today. Sand down a bit tomorrow, then second coat of Kilz to get it uniform. Fingers crossed I can get started on the base Marigold Yellow color this weekend.

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Made some good progress this weekend - got two coats of the base color down. I used Rustoleum 2X Marigold (borrowed that idea from mrm_4 - thank you sir!). Pretty happy with the results - only mistake I made was getting too aggressive on the interior rear....have some drip from overspray to sand out and touch up this week.

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There are lots of nooks and crannies in the interior toward the coin door that are difficult to cover with a spray can (without flooding areas you don't need to cover). I came up with the idea, tho I'm sure I'm not the first one, to spray out the Marigold color on a small piece of wood and have Home Depot make me a matching can of touch-up paint. I'll brush on the interior areas I couldn't cover nicely with the spray can, and be able to do game-room touch-ups in the future if the cabinet exterior ever gets bumped when moving pins around.

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Plan for this week:

- Sand out the drips on the interior rear
- Touch-up interior with brush paint
- Paint the neck black

I've got holiday plans this coming weekend so it probably won't be till early June for the first color stencil. By then the base color will be nice and cured anyway!

Fixed the drips I had on the interior rear and finished the interior touch-ups. Painted the neck last night - mostly came out ok. Had a little bleed through with the frog tape in the front, but that will be mostly obscured by the rear glass channel hardware after it's installed.

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It's getting fun now. First color down on the front cab. Next color probably won't be till after the holiday weekend....got other plans.

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Milestone achieved - finished painting the lower cab this weekend. Pretty happy with the way it turned out. Had a few blemishes and I touched up a couple easy ones. I'll leave the remaining ones as-is for fear of making them worse....they'll add "character".

I have absolutely no artistic ability - love me some Pinball Pimp stencils (shout out to Jeff @PinballPimp). Every time I use them, I feel like I'm pulling off a magic trick. Even my wife was impressed, and she normally just rolls her eyes at my hobby.

Next up is tackling the backbox repair and re-paint. Will probably start re-assembly of the lower cabinet components over the next few weeks.

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Starting to put some hardware on / in the lower cab. Put on the legs, ran a new ground wire and put in the coin door frame and receiver for the lock bar.

Question for you guys - what would you do? The lock bar receiver actually cleaned up nicer than expected....would you leave it as-is all nice and shiny, or would you add the custom label? I usually put that custom label from Titan Pinball on my other pins because the receiver is usually too rusty or cruddy to buff out and it covers and hides that nicely. I like the uniform look of the label (it will be a much darker black after the protective film is removed and of course it'll be nice and flat once it's adhered) but it almost seems a shame to hide the nice and shiny metal.

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Progress coming along nicely....

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In queue for tonight - the tilt board. Tumble/polish the tilt ball trough, run the hardness thru the dishwasher to get off 40 years of grime, and put on a new, safer AC cord. Will also sand down smooth and paint red the tilt board itself to compliment the other red accents I did for the cabinet interior.
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In queue for the weekend - getting started on the backbox stencil now that the base color (2 coats) is laid down.

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Still need to cut out new grounding shields for the backbox. Will use the originals as templates to make the needed holes in the correct spots.

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Refurbished Tilt Board is back in place as is the cleaned lower cab wiring harness with a nice, new safe AC cord.

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So what restoration would be complete without a total f**k up? And I was doing so well....

Started the stencil for the backbox this weekend and laid down the first color (Red) to both sides with plans on finishing with Black by Tuesday. Well...it wasn't until I did the left side Red after completing the right side Red a few hours earlier when I noticed that on the right side, there are no registration marks for the Black stencil! Man 'o man....while I was doing the right side, I was talking to my wife. I was just astonished she came out the garage to see how I was doing on this backbox I've been working on for so long that I wasn't paying full attention while peeling off the Red stencil. Never noticed that the registration marks peeled up right with it. Dammit.

I went thru the garbage, found the balled up peeled right Red stencil, and retrieved the registration marks. I've got a few options here:

- Try lining up the Black stencil by sight. Not really something I want to do...I know it'll be off kilter.
- Sand off that side and start over, delaying backbox completion by a couple weeks or more. Not something I really want to do....not just because of the time, but the hassle of removing all that new paint from the side and redoing it. I reached out to Jeff at Pinball Pimp Stencils to see what he could do with regards to sending me a new Right Red stencil for the backbox.
- Try to recreate the registration marks. It may still be off, but it's got to be better than just doing the Black by sight (or is that doing the Black blindly)? First thought for this would be to pick some reference points on the correct Left Red side paint and measure to those registration squares, make those same measurements on the Right Red side and apply the registration marks I recovered from the trash to the measured positions.

Here are some pix - left side ok, right side whoops. Going to sleep on this again and figure out what I'm going to do over the next few days.

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Jeff at Pinball Pimp to the rescue. He sent me PDFs of the actual size registration marks in relation to the Right Red stencil. I was then able to trace those PDF printouts, line up the trace on the backbox side, and determine exactly where the registration marks go.

I've got both registration marks in place and will take the black stencil plunge tomorrow night....family plans this evening. Feeling better about the situation now!

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I took the plunge and did the black and final paint tonight, and I'm 99% pleased with how the right side turned out (after I messed up the registration marks). It's oh so close, just a hair off (see arrows). The red border inbetween the two arrows is slightly bigger than it should be and if the black stencil was just a cm or two more toward the back, it would've been perfect (and that border by the single arrow would be lined up).

I asked the family to tell me if they saw anything wrong, and they didn't see it until I pointed it out. I can certainly live with it....time to move on!

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Cut out new backbox shielding tonight. Old and busted originals are lined up against their new replacements. Tomorrow night I'll use the originals as templates for putting the needed holes in the new ones.

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Thanx! For the interior sides, I picked up a small roll of aluminum flashing at Home Depot. For the back, I had to order online...neither Home Depot nor Lowes carried aluminum flashing wider than 20" (and the back needs to be about 22") and I didn't want to do the back in two pieces.

I got a roll of 24" wide on Amazon a couple of years ago ($25 for 20 feet) but the vendor I got it from doesn't look like they offer that length anymore, just a 50 foot roll at a pricier $90. FWIW....that 20 foot roll I bought is now exhausted after 3 backbox restores (Black Jack, EBD, and now Mata Hari). So if you got the 50 foot roll, you'd probably get 5 or 6 restores out of it.

https://www.amazon.com/AMERIMAX-PRODUCTS-70024-Galvanized-Flashing/dp/B000BQK1J8/ref=psdc_13398821_t5_B000H5OC7U

Productive Father's Day weekend.....started reassembly of the backbox. New shielding in along with a new ground braid and cleaned up brackets and other bits.

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Boards and power supply up next!

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Ya, I even painted the bottom. Not sure why...just seemed like the right thing to do while I was painting the whole backbox anyway. And I put on some new feety-thingies.

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Made replacement backbox tech cards and labels for the lower cab interior. With the exception of the varistor and voltage cards, I used an off-white color to give it a semi-aged look. Here are the originals next to their new counterparts.
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I was going to tear down the door and repaint, but to be honest I think it looks good enough (I've seen a lot worse) and I'm ready to hit the home stretch here. I put the door back on and also installed the metal transformer guard. I repainted it red to go along with the other red accents I've done throughout the cab thinking that if I didn't like it after I saw it installed, it's really easy to pull out and re-paint black. I think I'm liking it....I'll keep it this way for a while.

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I put some repro'd labels on the Tilt Board as well. And I used the original Manufacturer's Certificate.
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Next up in the queue:

1 - Coin door teardown/clean/rebuild
2 - Apron re-paint and apply new stickers
3 - Playfield freshening. I did a hardtop install and a complete, thorough shop job last year but while it's out of the cabinet might as well clean it up (new rubbers, clean drop targets, wipe down of hardtop, restore rails, and touch up saucer)

Haha....it was one of my Father's Day Weekend presents from the wife and son. Undisturbed time to work on my pinball projects....no lawn to mow, no dinner to make, no laundry to do, no dogs to walk, etc. I probably had a good 3 to 4 hours each on Saturday and Sunday where I got to work straight thru! Then my wife had my favorite meal ready Sunday evening along with a nice bottle of wine. If only every weekend could be like that.

Coin door is apart! The parts that fit in the ultrasonic cleaner have been cleaned. This is when I wish I had about 4 or 5 tumblers instead of 2 (or one huge one). Got about half the parts tumbling now in a couple of tumblers with corn cob media and Flitz, targeting Friday evening for the rebuild. Will work on cleaning up the cable harness tomorrow night.

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Life gets in the way, you know?

Got the coin door finished. I know the red bits aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea....hell, I'm not sure I truly like it yet but it's growing on me. Still a couple of things left but I'll have to tackle those later:

- I was going to put a lighted Bally plate in the center between the two coin slots but as I was re-assembling this weekend, I realized I didn't have one (and I thought I did). I added the middle lamp to the wire harness and will pick up the Bally plate on my next Marco's order. Meanwhile, I'll keep the SS blank in.

- The original lock crumbled in my hand during disassembly...never seen that happen before. All of the tumble plates just came out of the cylinder. I had a spare lock in my box of new parts but unfortunately it's too long....need the shorter one to properly lock. I'll leave the big one in just to cover the hole in the meantime and add a new lock to my next Marco's order.

- I'm missing the switch covers for the coin guide. May not be able to source these unless I find someone parting out a similar era Bally. And I just noticed I'm missing the spring on the lockout solenoid assembly. I may have one in my spare parts bin.

There was a SS coin slot cover that cleaned up really nicely, but I opted to not put it back on as it stuck all of the time (trapping quarters) and as it turns out I like the effect of the red coin drop casting showing through the door.

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Next up: breathing new life into this tired apron and shooter cover.

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Thanx, @phillyfan64. I'm talking about these....need two P-6297-1 (one for each mech) plus the fish paper/insulator, tho I think I can probably make those.

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Well, acetone took off the red and black Bally logos real easily, but that pea soup puke green base color wouldn't budge. I don't understand why Bally used that color apron on this machine unless they were saving costs and put that same nasty color on multiple pins.

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Time to sand down to bare metal. I did the underside too as best I good but even with three different size/shape sanders, I couldn't get every nook and cranny. Cleaned up with mineral spirits and a degreaser - will probably put down the first primer coat tonight.

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Much obliged - thank you for checking!

First primer coat down, will do one more later tonight. Something weird happening on the shooter housing (bubbling up a bit). I sanded it down to bare metal and chemically cleaned it to get up any contaminates, but something is reacting there. Will probably need to strip it again and start over.
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Thanx for checking, tho...I really appreciate it.

Today's update:

- Apron and shooter guard have had 2 coats of primer all over and 3 coats of paint topside. Will put a paint coat, maybe two, on the underside tomorrow. Then rattle can clear and new graphic stickers.

- My new Reese Rails came in a week or so ago (thanx, @taylorva!). Polished up the guide rail assemblies and moved them from the old rails to the new ones tonight.

I was going to start cleaning the playfield (and still might) but I opened up my last Marco's shipment of supplies that came in last week, took out the Mata Hari rubber kit, and while the bag is labeled Mata Hari the contents were for RollerGames! Oops. Dozens and dozens of orders totaling > $2000 over the last few years and this is the first time Marco's messed up an order of mine....not a bad track record. I sent them an email and got a reply within a few hours. New employee package labeling mistake! And some other guy with RollerGames got my Mata Hari rubber set. They're overnighting me a replacement, no charge. Great customer service.

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Took a page out of @mrm_4's MH playbook and put some red felt in the areas where the playfield rests when propped up.

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Reese Rails installed. Shout Out to TaylorVA and his craftsmanship.

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I'm still painting the apron - had a setback. After two layers of primer and two layers of paint and all the drying and curing time in-between, I applied the first light coat of rattle can clear. Within 10 minutes, several 2"-3" square areas of the clear coat turned to crackled alligator skin. Arrgggh.

Not entirely sure what happened. Contaminant in the apron despite sanding down to bare metal? Did I spray on more clear than I thought, flooding some areas? Or (perhaps most likely) was the 1.5 year-old Krylon rattle can of clear I had in my garage incompatible with the Rustoleum primer/paint combo I laid down?

So, I totally stripped the apron back down to bare metal and am on layer two of primer again. Will get a couple of layers of paint over the weekend, and I have a brand new rattle can of Rustoleum, not an old Krylon can hanging around, to try again Monday-ish. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I couldn't help myself. I put the playfield back in the cabinet, fired it up, and no smoke! Everything worked except for one bulb and the saucer ejector arm sticking on solenoid activation. Will take apart and clean the plunger and replace the sleeve.

Indeed. I'm going to finish the paint this weekend and then wait a week and finish with the rattle can clear next weekend. That'll be about 6 days for the paint to cure (I waited 2 days before, following the recommendations on the can).

Think that would be enough? How much time to you allot for the paint to cure before putting on your clear coat?

I went ahead and waited the week for it to cure....sure enough, after a few light coats of rattle can clear, no orange peel! Pretty happy with the results so far...will probably do another couple light coats and call it done. Next step - putting on the new Bally logo stickers.

mrm_4 - how long did you wait after clearing before putting on the apron and shooter stickers? Did you clear again after putting them on to get rid of the ridges of the sticker edges on the apron?

I'm kind of afraid if I tried that the stickers could react badly causing me yet again to go back to square one.....I'll probably live with the ridges and be happy (it'll be under glass, after all). I'm ready to be done with Mata Hari as I'm excited to have a new project to work on. I'm picking up a project Meteor next week, my first "new" pin in the house in about 2 years. I was going to hardtop and Pinball Pimp my Black Knight next but I'm thinking I want to get Meteor at least flipping first.

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So close....I was so focused on lining up the top edges on the middle Bally sticker that I didn't think I needed to pay attention to how the bottom lined up. Wrong. Going to have to live with it....overall it came out nice, but the crooked middle sticker is going to haunt me for a while.

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Fortunately, from the player's perspective, you can't really tell. And I thought these would be the "it's all done" photos but after taking these, I just noticed 2 burned out GI bulbs!

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I found the black trim ones at Planetary Pinball (http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=DC-AP-MATA) earlier this year. Looks like Marco's also has the black trim ones in stock now for a few dollars less than PP.

There are some days when I love to play a complex pin with a deep ruleset and there are some days when I just want to hit drop targets and get specials. I love my restored Mata Hari - it's perfect for satisfying my drop target fix. Symmetrical layout, two banks of 4 targets, wicked fast when tuned right, and more often than not, completely unforgiving.

This hardtop is fast, fast, fast. Combined with new rubbers, a new ball, and a 6.8 degree incline it can be extremely challenging, especially with the spins the ball gets in this setup. But I love it like that. I've chosen to leave the movable posts in the Medium position rather than Liberal or Conservative, but there are times I'd swear there is a magnet pulling the ball into the outlanes.

I set up a recording rig this weekend to capture some game play. Will post links soon.

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Here are a couple of (quick) games. Got some good measured shots in, a few decent saves, a drop catch here and there, but games on this MH have a tendency to go by quickly.

Game One:

Game Two: