Let me know if you decide to let that one go tommy. Mine got sold for the roof fund, and I have huge seller remorse. more than any other except my black hole comes to mind. I had that game playing so good. I went to look at a whirlwind in detroit from a really cool fella named glen who I havent seen in years. I passed on the ww, but loved the BH right next to it. the seller also gave me his stool, which I will never get rid of because I use it to prop up the back when I remove the legs of games.

Pretty common is the first 4 years of the SS era. Its never that the laminate is lifting, it always seems to be just separating. so I use the clear to level, and then paint. seems to be the answer. if it is lifting at all then I would use the glue kit in my install kit to glue the edges with the kit, some blocks of wood stock and clamps.

here are the pics of the Iron man for sale. actually I have 2. price is 800.

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Here are the outdoor pics of another quicksilver, soon to depart this week.

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some indoor pics?
Is anyone installing a pf this holiday? If so lets here the title, and the plan!

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It always makes me laugh also. I always put a pic of it in any quick silver pics.

wow thank you for the comparison to carrol shelby. wowza
I dont charge any extra, and I dont know if spooky does (not that I know of) to do the pfs before installation, but it makes me feel like a big shot. Its definatly an honor. If I think about collector stuff that I covet like shelby mustangs, hurst olds, buell harleys, the spooky pins fit in that category to me.
Its a bummer that I dont have the money to hire help to do a limited edition of a game. Even if I did a group of 25, the amount of man hours is huge. I would have to find and hire and train someone to do my kind of work, even if it is just sanding or polishing. And after training them, I would have to keep them working from now on, and then it becomes a factory. I ran a crew of 3 to 6 people for 21 years, and not only did I spend more time baby sitting than the work I loved, it made me hate my job. The finish product was less important than keeping people working, paying them, and keeping the company afloat. It took me a long time to remember that I chose the trades after going to college to wear a tie, and the model I was following had a tie as the trophy. I am not disrespecting white collar jobs at all, it just turned out for me that I didnt enjoy that kind of work. I absolutely respect it. I have several friends who are in charge of a bunch of people, and I respect the hell out of them for being successful in what they do. I never was a good manager, and now that I am the person I have become, I doubt I would last a day as a manager. Well I will cut short the narcicisstic journal entry for today

So, since this is black friday, maybe buy yourself or loved ones a playfield? I have most of my pfs on the website that Tommy helps me with (thank you) and that is pinballplayfieldskruzman.com

I love spending money as much as the next person, so if you have a new or NOS pf you want to sell, send me an email. You have to be willing to accept paypal because I am going to charge it. If I succeed, I will post what I got.

I have received a lot of jobs in the last 2 weeks. most of the shipped directly here from Mirco. (Rather than mirco sending to the customer, and then he or she sends here) So there are fresh examples of Safecracker, Scared Stiff (as much as I loved IPB, mirco's are higher quality by far)TAF, TOTAN here all ready. I know there is an old chicago on the way ( I think thats is cpr), and hopefully a firepower, which reminds me I bought another Bally playboy (and a plastic set) last week. Also another flipper football is here ready to prep.

Lastly. I have a NOS stern NUGENT pf here, FOR SALE. It belongs to a customer, but he decided not to further pursue that project. I think CPR is going to make them in the future. I dont know if that means now, or like paragon, and in 4 or 5 years. Its a very nice drilled and dimpled pf. It was cleared with what looks like oil based poly, which is a good hard surface to stick with if you want to. although the oil-polys cause a light browning effect on the wood and slightly on the colors. I have found when I sand them to reclear, but sanding off most of the existing material it brightens up the colors, but the wood will stay darker. Its priced at 900 plus shipping. if you are interested in it please contact me, and I can take picas and answer questions, and I will ship it for him. I do a lot of work for him, so its a favor I dont mind doing if I can help.

So there you go, a NUGE nos pf!!!!

Have a great holiday weekend. I took the day off yesterday and worked on firewood all day it was perfect!!!!

I do not have a fathom right now, though I will make a not for my board of pfs wanted. (BTW one of my best friends lives on st thomas hopefully I will get down there in the next few years when this crap is all behind us)

I thought this is worth sharing:
I saw a company called classic game rooms is selling stern pfs on ebay and they had a bunch of titles. I wrote and asked, and they said they can get any stern title. I know that is not true, but they had a KISS le premium listed. I asked if it was a DE-POPULATED pf. The reply was no, brand new nos pfs. So I bought one on oct 22.
After it was a week late I wrote asking the whereabouts. I was then informed it was sterns fault, and it gets drop shipped from stern. (so they didnt even have the pf in stock). Every week I write to say I still dont have my pf, and they stopped returning my emails. I filed the "I didnt recieve my item" thing because I couldnt until it was a month after I ordered.
Today is that day of the week, and I see they responded.

"Just got an Answer from Stern. The playfield was ordered. It is being printed and cleared next week with an ETA ship date after clear is cured of 12/13/2020"

Nothing about selling product they dont own. Since I am a betting man, my money is after jan 1, if at all.

I am not in the habit of making my business problems public because I know how easy it is to make mistakes, or have a bunch of problems all happen at once, but I think this is dirty business. I wrote I would rather have my money back and all I heard was the quote above, and never an apology, just blame on stern. Well thats what happens when you sell stuff you dont own and do not say that in the listing. No where does it say anything about it being drop shipped. If I knew that was the deal, I have friends that are bigger stern distributers, and I am positive I could get it cheaper. I am sharing this because, if I would have known about this grift, I would have saved my money. I am not attacking anyone personally, only the business that is not working out to well for me.

Oh boy. Another mistake on my end. I didnt go thru the feedback since it was 99.5, but if I would have I would have never shelled out the money and taken the chance. I will always be recovering from a long battle with drugs, and the drug game was NEVER as dirty as buying playfields.

I am just guessing that this bally playboy is one of the new cpr direct prints and not the screened pfs. I just looked to see if the alignment crosshairs are on the pic on their website and they are not. I have never noticed these showing ion the past. Coyuld I have missed them? Its hard to see in this pic, but there is one that is just white in the top of the shooter lane one at the far left end of the shooter lane arch.
Usually these are hidden under the apron or arch.
This pf belongs to a customer so I dont know if it was part of the deal, I am going to ask him also. Does anyone know about this or have any info? I Just ordered one, that has not arrived. I guess its not a deal killer or anything, but I have never seen any of the manufactures put them out in the open so they can be seen when installed.

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OK, thats helps the mystery. Yes that is your pf, and I think its a very nice repro, and it didnt suffer from the clear on the inserts dropping too much or the wood grain coming out. Its a nice pf, I just wish the line ups were hidden. Maybe they were always like this, and I didnt notice.

If you have a cpr bally playboy and it is not too much hassle, drop me a line and let me know if your's looks like this

I got my playboy pf from cpr today. I believe it is printed. anyway the line up looks better than usual, and there are no line up crosses in the shooter lane.

I got a serious challenge in this week. I have to make my self set it aside until I get caught up with the other pfs I am working on. Its always fun to gravitate to the interesting stuff though this will prob be a lot of hand sanding. I dont think I will be able to get to the bottom of the grain valleys with the sander. I think I would get in to ink way before i got down there. so this will be a tru test on my behalf.
If I just rough it up and spray the clear, I could build up and sand a flat surface, but you would see all of the grain down in there and it would be awful. In the past I have noticed a spot of just an inch where I didnt get all of the grain and it looked like crap to me.

I came in for a coffee break. today I am clearing a getaway (last coats) and a dolly parton, and hand sanding endless pfs indoors which is not great for my lungs.

So if you have followed my threads, you may remember that I always tell people when they get their "perfect reproduction in the mail, to put it in a ventilated area to cure for 4 months. This is why. I am told the owner wouldnt believe this is his pf if he didnt pull it out of his own closet.

The last pic was a surprise. I tested the star rollover, and I will be dammed. perfect.

Its going to be a couple 3 weeks before I get on this one, but I will post the results, success or failure.
the guru.

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The wood is not cured all the way when printed/cleared. Or the wood was not sealed and sanded before print. Or its a batch of cheap or not cheap but crappy wood. Its an organic material, so every one is different, but since this happens to about 40% of the repros from this maker, and not really at all from the other major manufacturer, I am guessing the wood has not cured all the way. Second guess is the wood is not primed and sanded flat? I am guessing, I dont know what their process looks like, but their reply was this is normal for reproduction pf, and if you want to you can sand it and polish it. I dont recommend that option.
Its funny that I try so hard not to say something that will ruffle some ones feathers. Its just production finishes. My job is custom finishes. I want to show what I do to earn my money because so many are dumbfounded as to why anyone would pay me to clear a perfect pf.

Also polishing out a NOS solitaire pf. so nice. I will take pics after I clean out the holes. the white compound is all over it.

Someone wrote me and suggested I teke the firepower to a bluegrass festival and play it as a washboard! ha!
I reminded him we live in the covid time. Still funny

Here is the after pics of the diamond jack pf. This was in nice shape all ready. I just had to glue the inserts, paint them and themost work was leveling them. In this case I would lay 2 thin coats and sand it all down, repeat.
I dont want to do paint work on top of clear so it looks like it is floating, but it has to be level before I paint, or you will be able to see the imperfection in the paint.
There are 2 reasons why a pf like this is in way better shape that a nos firepower or EBD. LEAD PAINT

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That glass is so cool, I didnt think about it and the visual qualities of a flat clear pf. I would really like to check that out, I bet its a trip. the light will get in the clear, like a fiber optic and move around under or in it. very cool. glad you dig it. lots of love and time in to that pf

You will see the layering.
I have never had color change from the wood. color will get darker from clear, and to different extents depending on what you use. Maybe someone knows something I dont. No matter how much research you do your first pf wont be great since its your first. I suggest buying a 100 dollar or less pf and restoring it all of the way, as if it is going to be graded. You will learn, and you will know your ablity.
Again, just my opinion. I am not going to write the rules for pf restoration since I only know what I know, if that makes any sense.

Here are some pics of the completed tommy pf that I posted pics of the before on this thread. I will look back to see what page its on.
The area under the mylar at the top arch, under 1945 was completely ripped off. The maylar had been lifted, and someone I believe pulled the art off the insert and put the mylar back down. when they realized the damage. I have not lifted art off by removing mylar in 10 years or more. Either way it happens. There was paint work all around on this artistically cluttered pf. It came out perfect.
I glued the inserts that are notorious for lifting on this title, and a lot of the DE games. Everything has takes an extra month because of the roof fiasco, unfortunately. I would like to thank everyone for their patience. For the most part everyone have been super cool, and I really appreciate it. I am putting in long days to help get caught up.
Thank you to all of my supporters. I also appreciate the folks who follow this thread. I enjoy the fellowship.

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The before pics of the tommy pf are on page 11 of this thread

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on that pic, going from left to right the first 5 are freshly cleared pfs (this week) then a funhouse that I just drilled and dimpled (still have to paint) and an ebd that has been prepped out but needs a bunch of paint work. Last is the funhouse that I made the drill and dimple template from.

I used to love those games in the kids magazines where there are 2 pics that look the same but there are differences and you have to see if you can find them all. Here are 2 space rider pfs (globetrotters kit) that have many differences. some very small and some obvious. I just found one that is super small and I dont know why its different, but it is.

I will give you the most obvious right up front:
One is not dimpled

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One is opaque and one transparent. yes. different colors also. for example look at the left drain lane insert color

In the first pic, the pf on the left has a difference I did. Its under the space shuttle on the right. I blacked in the area around the 3 inserts because of some damage.

check out the arrow in the circle above the girl with the nice "rump"

I would bet money that is what happened. they were prob made over a couple years.
Take a look at the space shuttle. there are 2 special inserts on one, and on the other there is text under the insert that says special. and look at one of the rocket boosters... it says mike!

There is the Gieger automatenbrau badge on one and not the other (left side of center)