Four Million B.C.
Bally, 1971Quoted from Goalie:I think you're missing the point of the excercise. +some of us are tired of seeing only TZs, MMs, AFMs etc get restored. Watch the man do his work and learn a thing or two.
Are you spending the $$ to restore this?
It's a one off. Will the best ever of this title for sure.
Aaarg - the thread ran out - didn't realize it was so new. I love looking at these evolve.
All pins, new, old, em's , DMD's should be entitled to a HEP refurb. This may have sentimental value to someone, or just the theme may light someone's fire.
Gotta love that big board of relays to go through!
Looking forward to the rest.
Quoted from epthegeek:I really do wonder why this game is special enough to someone to spend this kind of money on it. It looks pretty blah.
Eric, Kent brought a Four Million BC to league finals at Terry's house a couple of months ago. Were you not there that night?
It's actually a fun, challenging game for that era (1971). IPDB rating is 7.8/10. The Cliff-Hanger shot on the upper ramp has a big impact on scoring. If you shoot the ball to the edge of the cliff without rolling off, you score 3300 points. Shoot it too hard or too soft, you score 100-600 points. And it has a 3-ball multiball, too. The final game between Kevin and Melissa was decided by a margin of just a couple hundred points.
Epygeek probably wouldn't understand. But really, what makes any machine special? Some think restoring the classics is a worthwhile endeavor.
Quoted from DerGoetz:How will you match colors? If you scan what you have right now you will scan patina. Or do you have manufacturer color chips? Or are there official color codes?
I do this by eye and mix my own paint when needed.
There is definitely a story behind this games restoration.
It isn't my story to tell other than the restoration process itself but perhaps the owner will chime in with that background story if he wishes to share it.
From my own perspective I enjoy restoring just about anything and can approach it from a number of different angles so that will be the highlight for me.Different games,different needs,different types of processes at times leading to the same end results.
Quoted from epthegeek:I really do wonder why this game is special enough to someone to spend this kind of money on it. It looks pretty blah.
you've obviously never played one. it's actually a great game with solid game play. in our private league, 40 million BC and and fireball have been games to decide the winners during finals in the past couple of years
Quoted from High_End_Pins:It isn't my story to tell other than the restoration process itself but perhaps the owner will chime in with that background story if he wishes to share it.
I would love to hear the story if the owner is willing!
Any game getting this level of restore deserves a background story 
Quoted from epthegeek:I really do wonder why this game is special enough to someone to spend this kind of money on it. It looks pretty blah.
The ONLY person this should matter to is the owner. It's his money and he can spend it any way he wants.
Quoted from Whysnow:I would love to hear the story if the owner is willing!
Any game getting this level of restore deserves a background story
The owner provided me with this backstory to paste here. He prefers to remain anonymous .
In the mid-1970’s my teen-age cousin had a Four Million BC pinball. Every time my family visited my brother and I made a mad dash past the relatives to the game. We competed for what seemed like hours. When my cousin went off to college he came home one break to find that his father had sold the game. He never shared with me how he felt about it, but I can only imagine. Speed up time – after an evening out celebrating his 40th birthday my cousin arrived home to find his original game in his basement (his hand-written rules card was still in the cabinet). As it turns out, his brother had tracked down the buyer and bought it back.
I have been talking for some time with Christopher about having a Four Million BC restored for my 50th birthday. Then, at a family function my cousin and I were discussing pinball and my sizable collection (mostly B/W 1980-90’s games and many restored by HEP) when he offered to gift me his Four Million BC. His only caveat was that it remain in the family. So now, I am having the exact game that grabbed me as a child restored by the master himself.
I am very glad to see the level of interest in this restoration. Happy Holidays to all of you
IF I were to spend big money for this treatment...I really can't think of a better title, imo. I miss mine!
Quoted from High_End_Pins:The owner provided me with this backstory to paste here. He prefers to remain anonymous .
In the mid-1970’s my teen-age cousin had a Four Million BC pinball. Every time my family visited my brother and I made a mad dash past the relatives to the game. We competed for what seemed like hours. When my cousin went off to college he came home one break to find that his father had sold the game. He never shared with me how he felt about it, but I can only imagine. Speed up time – after an evening out celebrating his 40th birthday my cousin arrived home to find his original game in his basement (his hand-written rules card was still in the cabinet). As it turns out, his brother had tracked down the buyer and bought it back.
I have been talking for some time with Christopher about having a Four Million BC restored for my 50th birthday. Then, at a family function my cousin and I were discussing pinball and my sizable collection (mostly B/W 1980-90’s games and many restored by HEP) when he offered to gift me his Four Million BC. His only caveat was that it remain in the family. So now, I am having the exact game that grabbed me as a child restored by the master himself.
I am very glad to see the level of interest in this restoration. Happy Holidays to all of you
Great backstory Chris!
Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:The ONLY person this should matter to is the owner. It's his money and he can spend it any way he wants.
Yeah, that's why I said I wondered about it. I'd be really curious to know the story/details -- because I can't imagine most people, even people who like EM games spending THIS kind of money to restore one. It must be pretty darn important to whoever sent it in to have it done, and I'm just wondering what it is that made it so important. That's all.
And we got the story. And it's great.
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Glue is dry.
Edges are sanded .
I LOVE the glue trick on the bottom edge!!
I owe you a beer for that one, Chris.
Since the leading back edge is primarily filler and games are so often stood up and transported on their backs I will bevel it for better durability.
This allows it to roll or pivot just a bit with no sharp edges to catch and like the leg bolt holes gets it back to natural wood as much as possible without ruining cosmetics.
1479831121950920786674 (resized).jpg
14798312584441624168351 (resized).jpg
Ready to mask and prime lower.
The interior floor is the darker brown masonite like material so sanding is not advised.
What I will do is clean up as well as possible then refinish in that brown shade the lone area that needs it which is the cash box area.
Otherwise the floor is pretty much completely covered one the lower mechanical assembly us back in place.
chris,
could you bead blast the inside of that masonite on a really, really low pressure to try and clean it up, would would that still be too abrasive?
To give a little more strength to the rear cabinet I will change out the 45s there in favor of one solid peice
On this era cabinet with this type of floor and construction it seems to be the location that is most often falling out or seperating.
1479840044463107493639 (resized).jpg
Quoted from Jjsmooth:Seems a bit much for this machine....
Quoted from epthegeek:I really do wonder why this game is special enough to someone to spend this kind of money on it. It looks pretty blah.
Although I'm more open-minded from the get go (and an EM collector), I recently learned how great this game is too. I've heard the name a whole ton but never bothered to look into it until a week or so ago, but WOW, what a great game this is! I think this is one of the coolest EMs now just from watching a video on it.
You two should seriously watch a video first next time. 3 ball multiball, 2 ball multiball, really really cool volcano feature, shared multiball not only between players but between games including after power-off and on by using a special type of relay to hold even when the power is off. It has zipper flippers as well, although a couple of other machines did too.
And, if after that you still don't understand, you probably never will. It's funny, I've seen so many of these comments and these guys always have like scarily similar collections. Metallica, CFTBL, Medieval Madness, TOM, and too many superhero DMD games to name... ( 
)
Quoted from epthegeek:I really do wonder why this game is special enough to someone to spend this kind of money on it.
You're asking about a single game, but I ask myself that every day about DMD collectors and their games - 6k for THAT? (just kidding)
Removed the coin box framing and was able to get the floor looking respectable.
I will leave that out until after the cab is painted because that taller side can be tougher to spray around and my plan is to paint the sides in the typical HEP style.
It is not that I couldn't duplicate this pattern just that I dont prefer it unless requested because the inside is stained in places.
Quoted from Whysnow:fantastic backstory! Thanks for sharing annonymous person! Story gave me the good feeling chills!
It's what makes this hobby special. Without nostalgia, this hobby would not be what it is to many of us.
Quoted from j_m_:chris,
could you bead blast the inside of that masonite on a really, really low pressure to try and clean it up, would would that still be too abrasive?
That might be possible with a super soft media and a open style blaster but my blaster is a cabinet based model.
I was able to gently sand vacuum and blow it out with good results though.It was more robust than I anticipated.
Quoted from j_m_:chris,
do you use different colored primers based on the base color that the cabinet gets painted?
No I always use the Buff/beige color because it is the closest shade to natural wood.
That said if I know a color will be problematic in terms of coverage then I will lay down a ground coat of easy covering base color to make the needed colors cover quicker and easier.
For example red or yellow do not cover easily over a black base so if I were stenciling a black based cab with red or yellow (Vector comes to mind) then I would dust a light coat of white down first while I stencil to speed coverage and keep build up to a minimum.
This is a fine documentation of a restoration of a classic Bally multiball game. And may also help enlighten some that are not as familiar with how pinball was during one of it's biggest decades.
Although I never saw a 4MBC on route back then, I spent quite a bit of time with it's sequel, Fireball.
This is a fun thread to watch.
Fantastic, love the work you do, you are the man Chris, i follow your steps, but...you are the MASTER.!!
Cheers from Arg.!!
I am really liking your threads on restores of the older games . 4 miilion BC is a great game , can't wait to see how this one turns out . Thanks for sharing again.
Cheers!
Quoted from tezting:Excellent.
Might be a stupid question, but how do you match colors so well?
By eye and continually tinting until it is whete I want it to be.
Here is a picture of the graduation process. Start light and go dark is better than trying to lighten a color.
I'm somehow more excited to see this Four Million BC pin than many of the recent HEP restores. I woudn't say any of us are getting tired of Chris' world-class restorations, but it sure is nice to see a change of pace, hear a wonderful back-story, and gain a bit of hope for the more obscure titles that have never been given the HEP respect they deserve.
Cheers to the owner, and to Chris for what is sure to be a memorable restore.
Brian
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