Attack from Mars
Bally, 1995Finished game video (on the next page)
Well, figured I'd start a thread to document the playfield swap I'm doing on Khabbi's AFM. Hopefully I'll have the playfield in the rotisserie by tomorrow evening. Anyway, should get more fun as the project progresses.
Quoted from Av8:Can you make another video like MB?
I'll make a finished game video for sure, but I'm not planning on documenting all the minutia on this one. I think the MB videos cover a ton of stuff. Plus, the videos took almost as much time as the restoration did. Anyway, I'm sure Eric wants his game back sooner than later as well 
Quoted from OLDPINGUY:Looking good, Mike!
Im sure Eric wont mind if it makes a few stops on the way home!
Maybe Eric will let us have a christening party? You gotta bring the cristal though
It’s powder coating. This is a metallic finish that is made to emulate chrome (not a perfect replication, but it beats the original zinc plating). The powder coat is then covered with a clear top coat.
Quoted from PinballMikeD:Here are a few pics of the rebuilt coil assembles. The powder coating turned out nicely. Not as nice as chrome plating, but that would just be over the top crazy.
Couldn't you just tumble those parts and have them coming out looking almost like chrome?
Tumbling is great, but I've never had "chrome like" results when doing it. Nothing beats buffing if you want to make a piece of metal shine. I guess if you tumbled each coil bracket for 24 hours you could get them close, but not the same as buffing (maybe is you had an industrial tumbler). The drawback to buffing is that you end up stripping the zinc chromate coating (if you buff hard enough) off of the metal and then need to clear coat the metal pieces to prevent oxidation. I figured that powder coating would be more durable than rattle can clear, as it's .002 to .003 inches thick. Plus, it only cost me about $70 to do all the pieces on the bottom of the playfield because I prepped all the pieces myself (sand blasted, applied heat tape on coil stops, and plugged the threaded holes). It's a different look to be sure, but very clean and sleek. The pictures really don't show the true shine.
It would have cost more money to buy new playfield lift bars and a new ball through assembly from mantis.
It's an interesting look for sure. I like that you're trying new things, and it does look very nice.
I applaud reusing original parts when possible. Too many people throw a bunch of new parts at a game that has perfectly serviceable parts on it and call it a 'restoration'.
The one thing I wonder about - how will powdercoat stand up in the locations like on the playfield stands - over time, will lifting and resting the playfield on the lockdown receiver wear/chip the finish?
Tumbling can produce a chrome-like shine, but you're going to need to leave it in the tumbler for awhile, use additive, and potentially tumble with walnut shells and later corn cob. I've had excellent luck using a red scotch brite pad on playfield brackets to knock down any built up corrosion and then polishing it by hand using mothers mag polish - but as you mentioned, some brackets will corrode if you don't use a wax or clear coat finish pretty quickly again.
I've been debating getting a home nickel plating setup.. but that chrome powder does look pretty close to original, which is something I like. Chrome is a little too over the top for my tastes. I tried it on a few pins, and it looks nice, but doesn't look 'original'.
So many choices when doing a restoration. On the bright side, it makes a bunch of great looking pins that don't all look *identical* 
John,
I was wondering the same thing about the lift bars in terms of scratching. That’s why I typically go with the new stainless ones. I must admit that I’m often guilty of replacing old parts in favor of new ones. For example, I don’t like using old micro switches or other parts that have a fixed life span. I don’t want to mess around with a flake switch six months after a restoration.
Anyway, I actually got the idea to powder coat the lift bars from Eric, the game’s owner. He had the lift bars powder coated on his IM - looks great. I suspect he lays a towel or something down when resting the playfield on the lockbar receiver. I think the coil brackets will hold up fine (I can’t see how they’ll wear any worse than the original zinc plating).
I don't think Eric is going to sell this machine anytime soon. When it's done it will have: (1) Bill Ung saucer kit, (2) Ung expansion kit, (3) black mirror blades, (4) shaker motor, (5) color DMD, (6) pinball pro sound system, (7) custom air brushed ships, (8) LEDs, (9) a ton of custom chrome and powder coated parts, and (10) custom backbox lighting.
The decals were damaged around the legs when I received the machine, peeling and lifting in spots. Even with pincab protectors behind the legs you could still see decal damage at several of the legs. Without re-decaling the entire cabinet, this (see pictures) was the most economical fix to cover up the existing damage as well as helping to prevent any further damage.
So, here's what I did:
I scored the cabinet decals, going around the outside of the pincab protectors with a razor blade, to help prevent any future lifting or peeling. The score lines act as a pressure break point between the legs and the cabinet, so the decals shouldn't lift beyond the score lines. Then, using a pincab protector as a template, I cut some peel and stick felt in the shape of a pincab protector. I applied the felt pieces (2 per leg) to the cab, overlapping the scored lines by 1/4" and then put the pincab protectors on top of the felt. On a new cabinet I'd use the new Stern style leg protectors, but that wasn't an option is this case. FYI - The method described above is a variation on an HEP technique that Chris posted on YouTube awhile back.
Damn that's looking good! Without a doubt, this will be the prize of my collection.
AV8, I got my playfield the same time you did, but upon further discussion with Mike I decided to have it sent off and gone through... and a mirror clearcoat added. The stock playfield was very nice, but I wanted perfect!
Mike had over 53 pieces on this chromed.. so it's going to shine!
Quoted from Av8:Nice Mike! Look forward to the video. Looks great. I scored one of these AFM playfields. Impressive. Pic dont do it justice. How were the dimples?
Did you chrome the scoop?
The stroke of luck scoop is the mantis upgrade made out of stainless steel. I buffed the scoop to emulate the chrome look. Eric went with a lot of chrome accents, so I wanted everything that wasn't chromed to look as close as possible. The upkicker that feeds the left wireform was done in black nickle.
Similar to MB, the dimples on the right side were off. The flipper, slingshot, and in/out lane switches were the worst.
Congrats on the playfield.
Quoted from Khabbi:Damn that's looking good! Without a doubt, this will be the prize of my collection.
AV8, I got my playfield the same time you did, but upon further discussion with Mike I decided to have it sent off and gone through... and a mirror clearcoat added. The stock playfield was very nice, but I wanted perfect!
Mike had over 53 pieces on this chromed.. so it's going to shine!
If it wasn't chromed it was either powder coated, clear coated, buffed to shine like chrome, or re-painted. Also, that 53 pieces didn't include the legs, BB hinges, side rails, or lock bar that were already plated where I got the game.
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