Interested in this also. I got my mom some decals for Mother's Day, and we're working on them this Sat since it was crazy for Mother's Day. It came with instructions that just said "remove Thing box" but I don't have the machine to look at it to see how easy that is. If nobody answers, I can get mom to measure the box at some point for you.

You just need to undo the screws and nuts that hold the blue plastics on all sides of the box in place. Removing the blue plastics reveals 4 hex-head screws that hold the Thing lid in place. Undo them and it pops right off from the topside of the playfield! You may have to lift the playfield up (out of its swivel mounts) and pull it forward so that the coil bracket for the shooter lane coil is resting on the lockdown bar receiver in order to access those far-back screws.

I find working on the Thing Box a complete pain in the ass without removing the playfield. I just can't get to the stuff. The hand on my game isn't working right now, and I've left it that way for months because it's such a pain. I only applied the decals I could get to. Eventually I'll get around to it.

If the hand is not working, you can get to it pretty easily from the underside of the pf by removing that metal box. It's the top back of the pf that you really need to take the playfield out to get to.

Compared to applying the bookcase sticker and the back panel sticker, the thing box is a dream come true.

Oh crap, I'm doing the bookcase one too. And lots of Flintstones stuff. I still don't know how to get the drop targets to stay up so I can decal them. Saturday is going to be interesting.

Take the drop mechanism off from the underside of the pf and then you'll have no trouble applying those drop decals. You try to put them on above the pf and you may run into another problem which is if the decal is not tightly adhered on the bottom, it may catch when dropping (a problem which will only worsen).

Yes. The thing box is just in a poor location because TAF play field does not pull forward. You will need to find a way to pull it up a bit or use some stubby screwdrivers to remove the parts. The Thing box is only held in place by a few wood screws.

The book case is a whole other story, and to be done properly must be completely taken apart.
Or you can go the fast route of simply cutting the sticker in half which would allow you to wrap it easily around the top part. I am not going to sugar coat this one, taking the bookcase apart is a long and tedious venture.

That's the easiest way to deal with any pin from that era. You can use a thick piece of foam padding to set on the lock receiver and then set the playfield on. Just don't pull the playfield out too far. If you do, you'll see why you don't want to.

So... remove drop target mechanism, remove Thing box, don't pull the playfield too far out, and cut bookcase sticker in half to avoid totally screwing that up. Got it, thanks!

I have only seen one bookcase with the sticker cut. You really had to know where to look to even see it because it was done so well. I chose to go the hard route, but you can always buy another sticker if you don't like the way it comes out.

Playfield goes up and down, so you can't pull it too far out.

You can lift the playfield up and out of the game, but that opens new things like what to set it on so you don't hurt things under the playfield.

LTG : )

Plus extra people to help lift it out of the game as well as removing all the backbox wiring that is connected to the playfield.

I honestly haven't messed with TAF much at all since it's at my mom's house. I'm not used to Bally or Williams games, since all of the ones at my house are DE/Sega/Stern except RFM, but of course P2K is awesome. My MSF is missing a rail thingy and falls off track, so when we need to extensively work on it we just take it totally out of the cabinet.

We'll be cleaning/modding her TAF, Flintstones, and Pinball Magic, I guess I'm about to get my education broadened to B/W and Capcom. image.jpg

I have to bump this thread as I am in the middle of trying to install the thing box decal. The decal is in one piece (i.e. the sides, back and front part are all together). I have read the tips above, but all I can ask that really, how in earth can one do this? For example, I have tried to life the playfield, but I have only managed to move it a centimeter or two. A youtube-video would be so nice here!

Anyone installed the decal on top of the box without removing the box - how did it go? Please share any best practises also regarding this approach, as this one is truly a difficult one!

Thanks!

Thanks RM!

I have already removed the back playfield glass channel and the thing-hand assembly.

I had a look at how the back plastic assembly (i.e. the plastic behing the thing-box) is attached to the playfield and apparently it has been attached from the underside of the playfield there? Looking at below the playfield, the other screw apparently keeping the back plastic attached is partially behind the metal plate into which the thing metal box is attached and it seems impossible to get the metal plate detached, since it has been attached to the playfield from the back.

Or are those plastics at the back of the thing box really removable from the upper side of the playfield? Then I have to revise my tactics

Ok, I better change my tactics then! Big thanks!

Okay Russ, how bad is the decal on the bookcase?.....I'm debating on cutting it a sliding over the top, but would probably notice it myself everytime I play....appears to be a MAJOR pain in the ass!!!....mark

MK6PIN, I cutted the bookcase decal to the middle along the dark stone lines (i.e. not via a straight line).
You simply cannot notice it that way

Its best to cut some room for the bookcase base already when the decal has not been attached, provided that the decal has not the hole already. I found the easiest way to do it by first making a hole to the space where the bookcase will be, then putting the decal in its place and carving out the place for the bookcase with an exacto knife.

Managed to remove the thing box and put it back in. You don't need to lift the playfield to do that with correct tools. One is a tool with bending arm to open those pinball bolts behind the box and the other is a stubby screwdriver to manage to remove the back plastic's screw.

So far so good, but when installing the thing hand, I dropped a screw and with my luck its now somewhere within the machinery causing shorts... I have to find it, this has happened to me before with the TAF.

Thanks guys for all the help and encouragement!

Im about to attempt to put decals on things box today too!! also change that globe next to things box. Also to put the back decal on should be fun.
Any chance some on could tell me the best way to make things box open and close smoothly as sometimes it doesn't close after thing comes out?

Thanks in advance