You can see more than half of it in the first pic of the complete pics

That is the nicest embryon I have seen yet I think.
One of my customers says he submitted his dolly pf to cpr years ago. So yes they have that one. I do know a fella with a nos dolly on his ceiling that may be dimpled, and if so may help.

The art on both of those planks transcend pinball and hold their own as art.

Drill and dimple is one of the services I do to get the pf as ready as I can. I would like to start t nutting also, if folks want it. here is how I drill and dimple pfs.
The average pf have over 75-80 dimples on the front and over 200 on the back, many dmd pfs have 300.
I use a sheet of 3/8 in lexon, and just a couple months ago I bought a holder for my drill to keep it at 90 deg, before that I used the drill press, but many places wont fit so I had to try to keep them as straight as possible. I make the template from a pf that is drilled and dimpled. It can be nos or used. I dont touch the doaner pf except where I clamp my lexon on to it. I make marks and remove the donar pf, so I dont drill in to it.
Then I drill and dimple the pf. There are lots of tricks I use on that. The charge is 300. I have about 35 templates made, plus I can make one for all of the titles I have in stock which is about 170. I dont have one for dolly. I have bought used pfs to make a template, and also folks have done me a favor (which I wont forget) and I pay for the shipping and they send me their pf, and I ship it back. I can ship it in one of my crates. One fella sent me a used pf to keep (I forget the title, since I am in my house I cant look at the list) and others have paid the shipping here. All super cool.

It takes a lot of time to make the templates, and since I have to make 2 I use a 4 by 4 sheet of lexon which is over 125$ and it takes like 4 hours at least. So I dont make anything if it is the first time I do a title. I used to think it was a great investment because I could do a bunch of jobs from that template, but so far I have only reused one template! But its gonna happen....

Tommy. You think Dolly has better game play than ebmryon?!? I have looked at dolly at J.D's but never played it. I used to own embryon and that is a balls deep game! so I cant say I disagree with you since I have not played it, but I suspect, I would disagree.

My computer and I dont know how to spell doaner. I am going with the logic that loan is the same with a L? I tried a bunch of ways and none are correct. you are a teacher (tommy) plz advise

Thank you!
Now I know someone reads my yammering on, and not just the pics.

Will do, and thank you. I really dig No Fear. I have only cleared 2 nos pfs of that title, and I think that game would be amazing and so worth a cleared pf. I love it as it is , and of course have sellers remorse on mine. I used to say NF and JM were the 2 fastest games made. That was until about 5 years ago when we began getting lots of new titles from different makers that I have never played. I havent played a lot of the latest sterns actually.

I am glad cpr is making the wide pfs now!!! I really like the early 1980's wide body movement. Stern, williams, bally, and gottlieb made all of those awesome games in like 81-83. I tend to lean to the williams and stern for that era, but who wouldnt love a paragon or embryon. I think the biggest pf in my studio is Genie, I think its 48 tall and super wide. I have all ready drawn the art for a topless genie that I really want to do. I had a cleared restored genie that was so much fun. Right now the most played game at my house is 007 james bond (gottlieb) with a beautiful super-wide, restored pf. I just need a new back glass

I am looking at your dimple template.
I just did a AFM pf that is a demo, or proto, or early production (i am guessing). When I had to make the template I was happy to see it was made by sun, and I have a sun pf to make the template from. Quite often different pf makers of the same title have a slightly different layout. I have learned you cant measure from the wood edge because often the original cnc template was not centered. I guess the best way to say it is they are not all alike, so you have to check your bearings often as to the relation of the other stuff on the pf.

Then the real problems come up on titles that were run at different times like EBD. The parts are different from different production times, so that would mean the holes and dimples are different. They started using light boards rather than strands of daisy linked lights. I have 3 different back side templates for EBD, as well as several front side templates for TAF. It can take a lot of time.

Supprised to see the dolly got more votes that the embryon.

One of my best friends who is not a pin head is going to need a new game in the next couple weeks. Years ago I taught him how to put gas in his car and check the oil, so he is not mechanical. So I need to find him a game that is very solid and works 100%. Right now he has a t2 of mine that he has had for like 4 years and it needs a shop job so bad, I dont think it even runs. I can never get him to go to shows so he only knows the games we used to play in the bar (and he loves pinball and plays his game every day). So he is familar with bay watch and AFM. He cant afford afm but is bugeting around 3 grand. He likes the newer games with lots of lights and shiney things, definitely ramps. I think a no fear would be great, a baywatch, here are some titles that would be good is anyone who is within 100 miles of me. I am guessing but I think he would like these. If you have one I will send him pics and send him to the data base.
space shuttle or space station
earth shaker
bad cats
whirlwind
getaway or any steve ritchie
fish tales for sure just dont know if he can afford it
bsd
road show
Terminator 3
wpt
black rose
judge dread

Just some ideas. he puts me in this spot every couple years, and usually I have a game on hand, but lately I have sold off everything, plus I like older games, so if you have anything. I can also trade any of the pfs I have in stock or a clear tward the deal (since I owe him some money)

Here are some pics of a LADY DEATH. This is part of a kit to re-purpose a Mata hari. I think this came out in 80 or 81, made by Giger (Spelling) in germany. I have one for sale if you are interested or you can talk to tommy or pinside Tsskinne, about the back glass and plastics. The same company made several alternatives to other games that were passe at the time. globetrotters and kiss. Both very cool but the kiss version which is called MISS WORLD is so cool and would be such an artistic presentation to have them side by side, heck may as well include the new stern kiss also. CPR made the back glass because the art is so cool, but I think they filled in the score areas so it cant be used. I am sure there is a story in there somewhere. Feel free to post it here if you know the whole thing

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

And here is a very special centaur for a special fella. I did a lot of work on the arrow inserts where the art didnt line up with the inserts or just didnt look great, and about half of the center bonus inserts had cracks around them all ready. Its funny because after looking at it, in pics I see several things I would have also done that didnt bother me or pop out when I was working on it. It is super easy to miss details on this pf because there are so many lines to it, and everything is black or white. Sounds like excuses. I am still proud of it, but if another comes thru that has the same issues I will fix them. Although its just more money and some are not visible when installed. So who knows!!!
I do know from experience that this title gets ball dimpled horribly with a stock pf.
I will say if you are thinking of restoring a centaur, and possibly think that its not worth it financially, I think you will be mistaken. This title looks and plays so amazing with a good/new pf, led's under the pf, new plastics, and white rubber. Great deep rule set.
I often school John D. on his game when ever I am over there.

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

CONCERNING THE CORONA VIRUS:

I dont know how many of my customers follow my thread here, but I wanted to talk about the finance side of my business during this situation. The only thing political I will say is I dont think this is a hoax, or media sensationalism. Many people including my customers are going to get knocked on their asses both physically and financially.
My state got locked down yesterday. I dont have many close friends and I still got texts from 4 people that lost their jobs, just yesterday. One fella works for a local company that laid off over 200 people.
So most of my jobs got here before this epidemic started, and I totally understand if your financial situation has changed. I am pretty easy to talk to, so if I have your pf and you are concerned please write me, and I have no doubt we can figure out something. If you want to try to see the positive, some people just got an opportunity or the time to do a restoration (making lemonade from lemons). I know from experience that occupying your mind and hands with a Project or challenge that is enjoyable, will produce something that when done, you will look at in the future as the most positive thing to come out of the months of this change of life.

I am using my job to keep me from freaking out. I think it is from the times I have lived in big cities like Detroit, L.A, Chicago, London, and NYC, that I became hyper stressed about germs and what not. So lately with this virus, I am getting gray hair.

There is no doubt that when I finish the jobs I have in house right now that my business is going to seriously decline. Perfectly cleared pf's are not really a top priority. So I am going to ask and tell folks that in the future, if you have a job you want to do and payment is an issue, please feel free to communicate with me with what you can offer and what you want to do. Anything is an option. Thankfully I am used to going without discretionary income, and my obligations are only the compound here where I live and work. Its not cheap, but I am used to living on mac and cheese from most of my life. No payment on the 24 year old truck, which doesn't run currently, so I zoom around in a 13 year old KIA (with no payment). So Off the top of my head, there is barter, payment plans, discounts, and any other thing you can think of. Its been about 13 years since I went "full-in" as my full time job and I want to keep at this job, and I will continue to do so as long as I make only enough to pay the morg and lights.

I have never never taken for granted the work people send me, as well as trust. I know what I do cost a lot of money, so I figure I owe a lot of karma out there. So please feel free to be open and talk to me if you want to do something and have limited funds. I really hope that peoples health is minimally effected, and we are able to look back on this nightmare as the time we made lemon-aid from the lemons and had the opportunity to do the best game restoration that you will never sell. Or maybe you do sell because you did a couple games, or you sell to pay me for the pf

I hope I am able to get my point across in this letter, and I hope we all get thru this as unscathed as possible. I know plenty are going to get way screwed, and dont deserve it, but I am going to stay positive while I can.

So KRUZMAN PINBALL PLAYFIELDS will stay open full time until something stops me. Thank you to all of my supporters, and please stay in contact. (I am starting to get compound fever)

I want to thank the folks for the kind words. They go a long way and mean a lot when going thru this.
I find it really hard not to express my opinion of all of this, but I know form the past that it wouldn't change any minds, or it would be just preaching to the choir. There is no doubt we will get thru this. So I will keep this thread busy as I can with my work.

If you are doing a pf swap or pf restoration right now, I ask you to post here and let me/us know what you are up to. I know it will make me feel better if I see a lot of people doing restorations. I was talking to a colleague a month ago about how the repro pf makers are doing a lot of the lower dollar games, and people are responding to it. Over the years I have talked to the pf makers suggesting the b and c titles and they kept saying that people will not spend more on the pf than the game, ect....
Of course I used to hear almost every day, "thats more than I paid for the game". It often bummed me out because I never get games that cheap. Always a brides maid never a bride...
Anyway I was telling someone how pleased I was about the fact that a lot of amateurs are taking on restorations (I like to think mostly because of the help of my now-famous pf install kit) and having great success, as well as learning the expensive lessons you need to get under your belt to be proficient at a pf swap. I get a lot of emails that start out with " I am an idiot" and they go on to describe a problem or mistake and they are checking to see if I have any suggestions. Half the time I do, but all of the time I try to explain that you will pull a serious boner pretty much every job. The will get less and less catastrophic, but this is why the masters like chris, brian, and dave make the big big money. All of that experience is a savings account of expensive mistakes.

There are different angles you can pursue in the pinball hobby, I have gone thru phases since I bought my gorgar in 1983 at the age of 14. I think its very normal to loose interest in playing much, and getting more in to turning screws, from repair to full restoration. Some people get in to flipping games. I know a couple people who are in to introducing pinball to folks thru non profit, or even profit. I have 2 close friends who opened pinball arcades since the new year!
Being an operator has always been my dream. All fueled by seeing a 5 gal bucket of quarters weighed on a scale, when a teen. Since I am a coin collector (as much as pinball unfortunately) my fantasies are always buckets of uncirculated quarters. Umm that good coin porn!

So today I am going to polish out a spooky alice cooper pf. The story is when I did these a couple months ago, one of them didnt come out as well ass I want, so I got a hold of spooky and they were generous enough to help me with a plank that had been damaged, so Isaid that I will cover the cost, but I have re-done this pf twice and I dont want the clear to get thick around the edges of cut outs like wire-switches, as well as the clear just getting too thick. I have found thru trial and error that I can re-do a pf twice and after that it is just not going to get better.
What I mean by re-do is I cant not see the micro flaws on the last coat. Its not until I sand from 600-3000, wet block sand and polish, and at the last hour of polish I will start to see the little issues if there are any. So then I have to thoroughly clean all of the polish out of the edges and holes (clear wont stick to it plus it will look horrible), de-wax, sand, and recoat. Then I have to do it all again. sand, wet block sand, polish clean, and hopefully it is acceptable. Well after the second time it was no better. So I got a hold of spooky. They didnt have any fresh pfs, but I have had 2 people try to find that work I did, and neither could. So today I will polish it, hopefully it will meet my expectations, and I will get a hold of spooky to see if that are able to receive it or if they closed down for a while.

I finished a IPB Scared stiff yesterday, so if you read this Scott, its time to come pick that up since I am guessing we are not doing Patz this year. I also have a diner finished that I have to look up the owner for that.

In the next 7 work days I have to do the last coats on 8 pfs, and start block sand and polishing them.
If I have your pf and you are sitting on your hands, and ready to get to work, get a hold of me and I will see about putting it to the front. From memory, here is a list of pfs that are very close to being done.
2 kiss and a diner for one customer (bob)
Quick silver plus I just got another for the next batch
medusa and sorcerrer
3 rick and morty pfs
Mirco funhouse
xenon the repro I had w starburst inserts
BSD nos
Mata hari
taxi

and the next batch is
Joust (my first time figuring out how I am going to go about it
flight 2k nos from sweeden!
flipper football
stargazer seawitch, beautiful john greatwich repros
Big lebowski
fast draw repro
Quicksilver

I have been thinking about this choice for a while now. I think about it from different angles. They are very appealing for different ways, but I think I should do both eventually, and the dolly first. The lines are so sharp and tight, the color contrast. I am the ultimate fan-boy for christensen work. I just bought a used ro-go this year. do I need it, no. If I restore it could I sell it for break even, no. Still I had to have it.
Also the record is the center of the pf and the lines are mesmerizing. Also dolly has some gam's. I know the artist is a fellow perv, and I think its super interesting how he made her legs the focus rather than what she was so known for. I bet there was a reason for that, I would like to know.

Awesome!. I really like that guys playfields, I always forget the name, starts with a B. I have done a couple of each of his titles. I wrote him a letter just to say I like his work and he was super cool, which is not usually the case (when I write a letter). I have an alien poker game set up in my shop, that play pretty often. I traded it for a pf or a clear or both I forget. Anyway, I told the person to make sure it works 100% because I dont want to have to work on it, and I think its been over 2 years and I havent even lifted the pf yet!!

I was planning on doing a bally playboy this year. I have the game and the plastics, new BG, but I was broke in the fall and had to sell the pf. If someone has one they want to sell let me know. I would like to get one.

Also I have a customer looking for a Diner pf. we have found a couple things, but the game is his baby, so we are looking for a nice repro or nos that I can clear for him. So if you have one, hit me up and I will give you his info and you can deal directly with him.

I am told they are really hard to find, but I am looking for a gottlieb 007 back glass. Its my fav game right now, beautiful game, sucky bg.

I got a call today from a good customer looking for a cpr kiss pf, and I am looking for a playboy. Please pm me if you have either.
stay safe

Very Cool, another alien poker. In all seriousness it really helps my anxiety to hear that others are doing restorations. I have been pretty isolated here at the compound for over a decade. I used to wonder about the outside world, now I worry about it.
I haven't done an overlay before but I have prepped many pfs for one. I figure the flatter you get that surface the better the overlay will lay, and last. Years ago at star world in kalamazoo I was looking at a playboy or a kiss, I am not sure, but I didnt realize it was an over lay for some time. I am interested to know how they hold up after 100 and then 500 plays. So if you remember please drop me an email or post on here. Also posting some progress and finished pics here would be nice and help motivate folks.

Today is the first day all week I feel good about tackling some pf work. I had a crappy cold that went from the nose to the lungs. I sounded so gross. It was not the virus. I didnt get tested, but I only had a fever of 99.6 no body aches, and it was only in the lungs for 2 days. of course the whole time I felt like fred sanford, yelling at the cat "Its the big one". I know dam well he is going to eat me if I die. This week we have been seeing some really bad virus numbers coming from my state. I think we are all going to know someone who has passed from this crap. I do know as a fact that when you have to go thru some serious crap you would be a fool not to learn from it. In my experiences, the really bad ones that is, often I look at it like this:I paid a high price, I may as well learn something from it to make my life better. That way I feel like I got something for my payment. Yea, yea. The sun is out and its going to be 60 today. I am going to sand outside today. Good weather and attitude always translate to good work.

ALSO: Star World is a big company that had games on route all over the state. It was a family biz from the 1970's and it sold last year to a really nice guy who worked there. From what I understand he put all of his eggs plus whatever he could borrow in to this. he has a huge inventory of pin machines. about 50 or more? My point is now that it is owned by a new owner you may want to check out what they have down there. When I worked in kzoo I used to go in there every tuesday morning just to look and be inspired. huge selection of games for sale.

NOTICE ON PF INSTALL KITS:
I have been out of my pf install kits for a couple weeks because I was waiting for some of the glue and the sharpening stones to clean the dremmil bits to arrive. Good news is they came in the mail, bad news, only a partial shipment. So If you do need a kit hit me up, and when I run out I will post.

The install kit is 11 different shaped dremmilo bits, a stone to clean them, a measuring tool, and a glue kit that is an oz of a really thin glue and 6 or 7 applicators.
The idea is to remove just enough clear before you predrill so that you are not drilling and screwing in to clear. After you pre drill, use the glue hypo needle with the eye on the inside edge of the hole you made in the clear, and let a drop drip down the inside (sometimes I do it on opposite sides) The glue will run down and lock the clear to the board on this new edge you have made, but also its so thin, it will wick in to the wood, and it will go around the hole in the clear, locking it down for future situations where you have to remove something. For example, you may use the dremmil bit to remove the clear out of a post hole. then use the glue on the inside edge. Install your post, but next summer when the pf has expanded and the post wont come out as easy as it went in, the glue will make sure you dont pull up the clear when you pull out that post shaft.
There are many many uses for it. The 2 biggest are the pop bumper nail screws that are threaded. Use the bit to remove the clear from the countersunk area on top of the pf, and the glue kit is super important here because many many people damage the clear or the pf when removing these. Same on your top side t nuts. it takes 10 sec to remove the clear out of the countersunk area, and the t nut pounds in with one hit, and wont crack the clear. It may add a little time, but it will eliminate the time spent freaking out after you damage the pf.

I apologize if you have had to read this before, but I think the kits are really important for non professional installers. The cost is $88 shipped

When I saw those pics, I was blown away by how sweet they looked. I could tell it was old chicago, but I was thinking I never noticed how cool they were. I love christiansesn art. So they are not the original? could you share some info on them? who makes them, how much, ect?
I am always doing at least one pf for whitey (ken). He does amazing bally restorations. If I wasnt married to this compound, I would be better off moving back to CA, close to him and several others who do amazing work on the left coast. I have been wanting to get involved in some entire game restorations, and I would rather work with someone as an apprentice, rather than learning lessons the hard way, over 10 years. Someday.

Notice the shooter lane on that cptn fantastic. The star roll over inserts were completely cleared over. The finish wood laminate had a 2 in bubble in it and the art on half the inserts was really bad. I guess that a bronze. I would have chucked it if I was the maker

So I figured I will post some pics of the things I am working on in the morning.
First is a cpr viking that the laminate is separating.
Gotta fix that first. I always have to remember not to make assumptions. If this was not so bad and I missed it, it would suck

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

This is a nos flight 2k and I want to show how I have to sand low enough to get the laquer out of the low parts of the grain of the wood. Also you can feel the levels of the screened ink, so I have to be super careful or I go in to the ink at the high points.
In the first pic I am ready to do the upper right quarter of the pf. you can see the left side is sanded and you can see where i started to sand a little in the middle of the 2 areas as the grain shows.
and the last pic is done. I had to sand the inserts by hand since they are quite cupped and the sander would have made a mess of the wood and ink to get that low

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

pasted_image (resized).png

and my last "how do you do" this morning is another mirco quick silver with his new clear, which he does before he cuts the pf up with t he cnc machine. It is very flat, which is a big improvement from the old style that was not flat at all, but all of the edges of clear on everything that is cut out, are sharp as a knife, and chip super easy. Imagine a blown up view of the pf, and the sprayed clear goes over the edges of the surface. it not only locks stuff down, but rounds the edge.
I have not touched this pf and I just wanted to show the roll over inserts are now keylined.
Lucky for me i have the handy dandy kruzman install kit to fit those roll over inserts because that lifting is going to just get worse, especially if a ball runs over it.

I did several types of tests on this new clear to see if it is harder than before.

pasted_image (resized).png

sorry to fix those inserts

I have 2 mirco IJ pfs here, and they look very nice. I dont see any mistakes as far as drill and dimple/cut outs. The print looks good. I will take some pics of the inserts today. I am having problems getting pics to my computer.