Nice work! I always enjoy seeing restorations like these. Kudos for saving some pins that many would think are too far gone to save.

Here’s a Stars I recently rebuilt.

The core game had been used as a prop in the Netflix show Cowboy Bebop.

It had red paint (painted over white stickers), and no backglass.

Many hours of work later, it came up ok.

Just looking for a mint lock down bar to finish it off. If you’ve got one, let me know!

rd

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As far as a playfield restoration, my 3 Coins was probably the most dramatic turnaround.

Way too much time cleaning and repainting by hand. Then the flattening of seriously warped plastics, clearcoating etc...

According to the Indiana farmer I bought it from, it had been sitting idle in his basement for 30 years or so.

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Great idea for a thread.

There are some incredibly talented people in this hobby.

I have way too many to list or show but one of my favorites is this woodrail.
Painting colors,/stenciling etc all that stuff is easy but on this one there was so much natural wood to try and salvage or refresh and I did the entire cabinet manually with no stencils.

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Ok, I’ll be the sucker that follows HEP. Amateurish by comparison, but here are some pics of my Stern Freefall. The first pic was taken after the playfield was scrubbed with simple green. Didn’t even make a dent! The pop bumper mylar shows what it should look like. Magic eraser did a great job cleaning it up, and the clear really made it pop.
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just cleaned no wax or clear

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Just finished this one.

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Bally star trek.

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This mech board was fun…

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I don't come close to you guys on touchups, but I'm getting better! Sometimes it's the little things.

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Beautiful work guys!

1948 Gottlieb Jack N Jill. Supposedly originally owned by a set decorator on the film Psycho.
Trivia: What is the name of the lady in the green outfit to the left of Jill?
You can cheat by watching my video on the game.

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Yikes, what a difference. That filthy stepper unit would have would have definitely intimidated me. Great job.

Thank you for starting this thread, and thank you everyone for your posts. This is what makes Pinside great. Sure, there are lots of other things to discuss, some non-pinball stuff is cool. But this kind of stuff is the best.

I especially like the close-up shots with before and after taken of the same area, like the Santa from sataneatscheese. (Side note, poor Santa's eyes had to have been torn out that way on purpose, that's not ball wear LOL. What sick bastard tears out Santa's eyes??)

But, I also completely appreciate and enjoy all of the pictures, including playfields, mechs, coin doors, you name it. It is so cool to see the before and after, and marvel at the talents. Those that preface their pics with "I'm not that great" or "I'm no HEP" are usually being far too modest, your work is great. It's enjoyable to look at, and an inspiration to those of us that want to make it to that level.

TL;DR - keep them coming!

He and the rest of the family were gently relocated............

Jackbot lift ramp. Hand-made blue flaps and clear plastic parts. The front edge of the original was actually whittled down to allow the ball up on the ramp.

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Another good time…

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Can't find any good ones for some reason, how about a shined up score motor?

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I have the same approach. Wasn’t sure how many before and after pics were acceptable so I just did the high level. That mech board was for Strato Flite. I’m about to do it all over again for a Space Mission.
Lot of nasty water gets dumped out of the ultrasonic and my poor tumbler gets a workout.

That's my approach too. When you do a total restoration you'll probably catch almost everything. Not an approach for someone just getting started but when you've been at it awhile it works.

I'll find pictures of the Royal Guard I restored. There were so many screws and nails in the cab, when I took them all out, it literally fell apart. That was fun. And that was when I was just getting started restoring games.

There is nothing quite like a 70s Bally or Williams mech board. It had to have been their goal to stuff as many relays and steppers on there as possible.

The only thing worse is the underside of the Grand Prix playfield

What once was a TeamOne is now a Wizard

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Or how about Niight Rider to Evel Knievel?

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Best one yet!

I always find threads like this inspiring, and refreshingly positive. Great topic idea.

I've pulled off a few transformations, but this one might be the most dramatic:

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Yes, in the side-by-side the scoring text was still roughly freehanded in for practice & experimenation, but it was properly fixed before going back into the cabinet.
And that purple color was such an enigma: kept photographing more "blue" until put in the cab in comparison with the BG, and then suddenly it was a perfect match.

Offered to fix a friends playfield before I actually set eyes on it. Ooof! Big mistake.

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This is one I posted on Pinside before but it’s the resto I’m most proud of. This Domino was on its way to the dump when I found it.

Missing is the repro backglass I ended up adding to it before selling it.

Alberto

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I have an Egg Head that was going to be a parts game because the playfield was trash. One NOS playfield later it will get restored.

Nice work

Dirt, the great protector.

Harlem restore I finished just a few months ago.
Inspired by rotordave’s work on his EK
Story at the link

https://thepinballloft.com/2021/08/08/handsome-harlem/

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My FG cabinet before and after. Thanks @weatherbymag!

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Before & After:

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The paint job on the cabinet was beautiful, but it had to go!

i was waiting for you to post that one. i chuckle every time i see it. they must of been a couple of old ladies that painted that one!

That's really rather lovely. Looks like it belongs on a Zaccaria cabinet.

Before and after

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Hit N Run playfield that had been heavily soiled and kickouts slathered with JB Weld... actually a very fun under-the-radar game.

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Yeah. People say that pinball machines can be art, and that "old lady repaint" was far more intricate with evident skilled craftsmanship and artistic flair than any other period pin / factory paint job. I mean that original scheme is mere unskilled clipart by comparison.

Shame that old lady cab couldn't have found an appreciative soul willing to retheme a lost pf to match. Like you say, as if Zaccaria made The Munsters or something. I mean I get the appeal of "restoring" pins but in this case I truly feel a legitimate alternate artwork was lost there. Could have found another woodrail cab for the same factory pf and backglass effort, etc.

Done with the help of a Friend.

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