just an excited post about my latest pinquisition ...

yes it is a King Pin!! ... but no it is not an EM (sorry where else could i post this ... better here than in the SS and newer pins sections)

Pace Manufacturing Co. 1932 King Pin

i have been looking for some interesting examples of pins from the various 'eras' and pinball evolution

When i saw this one i instantly fell in love with the colors and the theme and layout

It was listed locally on CL, but not knowing what it was i of course went to IPMD to learn more

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=3983

and the only other info i could find on the interweb ...

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=11836

What i immediately noticed was that the local version seemed much more colorful on its playfield - it must have been a later '32 upgrade or 'deluxe' evolution??

What i liked was the great skill shot, landing the ball in ye 'ol kings cake hole !! (i just love the art for the king)

All the pot metal castings are complete and unbroken and the simple mechanisms work great

I am already planning to reproduce the art in decal form to do a nice but sensitive restore

i do like the 82 yr patina ... but the owner admitted many years ago they shattered the glass (some of which i still found in the cabinet!!) and i think when they tried to wipe it away it added a few dings and scratches to the wear already there too

neat rules ... inside were 8 of the 10 balls - one was goldish and a few darker grey ... reading the rules this makes sense - if you land a ball of a color in its coodinating 'cup' then points were to be doubled

great little oak cabinet and at 16" w x 36" l and 7 1/2 - 10 1/2" d very easy to move too!

i will do a nice base and tapered legs in oak to fit the period (these were often counter top models as this one appears)

also have plans to rebuild a 'marquee' back board (check out the ipdb link) ... but i may do mine so the kings mouth illuminates when you get the skill shot ... then we can keep it here in the em section

a few pics from when i brought it home ...

king pin.JPG

upper pf.JPG

lower pf.JPG

skill shot.JPG

i couldn't resist so removed the back panel, slid out the glass, unscrewed 3 screws which allows the playfield to slide out, then one screw to slide out a lower panel ... vacuumed all up and now know how the simple mechs perform .. more pics on that later

... and i must confess, although i love the '70s ems ... at least for me this art beats the gottieb king pin by a mile

if anyone has, or can help find more info on this machine out there in photos, trade ads etc etc would be much appreciated - or better yet if anyone has ever seen a proper marquee ... ! ...

cheers, Ron

pictures don't do the colors justice
alongside the red, yellow and black is a nice metallic gold ...
now this is a pin i can actually service! lol

should be a fun project with my non obtrusive plans too and nice to save a likely quite uncommon example as well

play is really fun even though totally mechanical - and i am a sucker for the simple latch mech that drops all the balls into the bottom to reset to another game

nicely done package all around

hi all, thanks - yes this should be a fun project with a neat machine

Ryan - i am the one who is jealous - you are a comic book artist!! - isn't that marquee great ! i have a few ideas on what i might do - not sure if i will try and do a 'faithful' version or one with a bit of my own take on it ... and neat catch on the scoring variations, curious and i hadn't noticed that either

itsonly - not sure about a prototype - there is a serial number on the back .. i still think maybe just an updated version later in the production run maybe ?? i considered that maybe it was an earlier one and they cut costs by simplifying ... but i don't think that makes much sense either

since there seems to be interest ... i will post a bunch of photos documenting the way king pin was assembled

i took them to help me remember how to re-assemble it and to use as i start trying to sort out what the restoration process will be!

i also thought others might find this reference useful or at least interesting as well -

1 king pin full.JPG

2 back panel lock hole.JPG
serial number

3 back panel in.JPG

4 back panel.JPG
not sure if this oak panel is original or not
it is quite specifically channeled and shaped to fit and seems old but odd it isn't stained ...
hole would have received a lock at some point in the past too

5 box with panels in.JPG
with back panel removed glass can now slide out for access to the rest

true that wayner ... i've already torn it down twice and put it back together fully

a playfield swap seems less daunting and i won't run the risk of burning my place down either!

ok a few more pics

meant to sit on a flat counter - the main cabinet box is tapered and the playfield is sloped from that

6 cabinet side.JPG

as you can see - a very '30s intricate and pretty floral design (decal of some sort??) .. i already have ideas for a bit of colorful 'custom' art coverup here - some red and gold rays and the king .. a bit more exciting than a bouquet !!

7 cabinet side detail.JPG

just a shot of the underside

8 cabinet underside.JPG

not sure what might have been at front end ?? some type of coin box perhaps?
although John R. here had a look and said on most of these 'first' commercial pins the operators
just opened the back panel and tipped cabinet on end so the money slid to the back??

9 cabinet underside detail.JPG

and a couple of shots of the front panel and plunger knob and nickel slide

10 front panel.JPG

11 plunger and nickel slot.JPG

it was suggested i put a rubber grommet between the plunger knob and its housing so there is no risk of it cracking when the plunger springs back against it - likely a good idea!

ok lets take the inner panels out and see what is inside

13 alum arch in.JPG

remove 4 screws to unfasten the upper ball arch

the arch now slides back out the rear panel opening

15 pf slide out 2.JPG

16 alum arch.JPG

the whole piece is a single cast of aluminum - painted red on the top side

18 alum arch under.JPG

with a simple pinned 'ball stop' attachment

19 ball stop under.JPG

interesting that the company logo appears 'modified' too - in that the company name seems blacked out?

17 alum arch logo.JPG

now lets take out the playfield

20 pf slide.JPG

3 counter sunk screws with small lockwashers under, removed from the right side of playfield along the shooter unit, free the playfield from the main cabinet

21 pf top.JPG

just like the glass and aluminum top arch, the playfield slides out through the back panel opening

this shot gives you a sense of its smaller stature compared to a standard gottlieb wedge head

22 pf main traps.JPG

another shot of the center 'traps'

23 pf underside underside.JPG

and here you see the simple but effective armature / lever that opens all the traps from underside when the coin slide is depressed

24 trap mech lower underside.JPG

26 pocket trap underside.JPG

25 traps mech upper underside.JPG

27 king trap underside.JPG

this one is the king's cake hole ...

ingeniously simple ... when the main bar of the armature is pushed forward by depressing the coin slide out front, the cross bars move away from the 'trap rests' and gravity drops the hinged trap doors, allowing any balls above to fall into the cabinet and be collected at shooter trough area

Wayner - it doesn't way much ... hard to judge but it isn't too difficult to lift, mabye 50lbs .. likely less - just guessing!
will give it a weigh at some point so we know

as for any changes - they would just be non-obtrusive temp vinyl decals like i've looked at doing on other posts here for my '70s ems

nothing that couldn't be 'undone'

pictures sequence may be overkill but as i said it will help me remember to get it back together correctly - and also allows us 'in' on the construction logic of 'pinball' at the very beginning too

items such as the ball trough and plunger really stayed quite true over the decades for instance with a few simple mods

hi Vid, yes that is what i am planning to likely do - i agree

this playfield is pretty easy to reproduce i think ...

14 holes to cut somehow, then pre-drill for the pins??

am also going to build a lower stand base w legs, and some type of marquee etc

i think i will have to remove and re-use the 'mechanics' of course, and not sure if i should carefully bead blast and recolor those or not ... i may just leave them 'worn' ....

i have put an email out to a early '30s pin historian

when looking at ipdb ... it donned on me that the colors and hardware of the king pin are identical to some of the '32 gottlieb games - check out baffle ball and a few others !! hmmm

did pace get bought out in '32 - would that maybe be why the pace logo was blacked out on my king pin, and on another one or two i have seen photos of in my search

curious ...

could also simply have been like the other companies, baffle ball jr. , baffle ball, baffle ball sr. ... who knows

i do know the one i found is a much prettier and interesting layout !

i know, some same parts there ... three old ebay listings show more detailed lucky strikes too - was reviewing that this am and pondering ...

thanks vid ... how exactly does a router 'pattern bit' work?? do you use the existing playfield as a template?

ok lets remove the lower panel

one screw at middle back goes down into a post in cabinet bottom, remove that and the lower ply panel slides out

28 lower panel in.JPG

30 lower panel.JPG

cleaned once in the '50s and then in the late '80s ... hey that's when i graduated high school!!

29 lower board notes.JPG

32 lower board loose.JPG

then we are left with the base cabinet - here vacuumed with a bunch of broken glass removed
you can see the ply 'patch' over the original hole in the cabinet base i showed earlier from cabinet underside

31 clean box.JPG

and a few shots of the internals ...

34 shooter rail.JPG

cast shooter lane

35 gate mech.JPG

cast balls gate mech

36 plunger.JPG

cast plunger rod assembly (buckwerx has a rubber plunger tip for their rockolas available .. i may try and see if a regular '70s black shooter tip will work ..)

and a few final shots of it as it stands ...

37 logo mod.JPG

blacked out manufacturer's label

38 gates closed.JPG

balls gate closed

39 gates open.JPG

balls gate opened (the free play hole is neat - if ball goes down it you get to plunge that ball again

40 cake hole open.JPG

cake hole opened ... that's a true 'gobble hole'

thanks,

will a router like that, if used properly, cut the top layer of ply nice and cleanly without any ripping or chipping?

and as for the 'pins' or nails

do you think i should re-use the old ones or keep those w old pf and put some new ones in

new might look to bright and shiny?

and where might i source some smaller pinballs in a gold and darker finishes .. hmmm

thanks guys

any advice on how i should try and carefully remove the pins (nails) from the playfield?

lets make a new playfield

i was able to pull all the pins carefully by hand - took some good grip strength but was safest to not damage anything (those pins have a great patina - darker where they were exposed to the air for 80 yrs)

dismantled the bar assembly and ball traps hardware off of the back and baggied all the various bits

gave the bare playfield a gentle wipe just to get some dust off

tried to take a shot to show off its colors - may be too much glare

41 bare pf.JPG

this might be better (i've actually scanned the full playfield in parts ... but this photo may just work too hmm)

42 bare pf.JPG

backside of playfield

43 pf backside.JPG

there is a taper or bevel cut at bottom edge of playfield i will have to replicate on the new one

44 pf taper edge.JPG

and the king's cake hole ball trap sits in this 'dished' out insert area ... how do i cut one like that ....?

45 cake hole.JPG

just a shot to show how the balls roll down and onto the bottom of balls gate and over to plunger trough

46 balls.JPG

and all the bits tidied away while i start the playfield redraw

47 parts.JPG

yes metallic gold .. very pretty

lots more to come

cheers, Ron

Ryan - i saw this on your page the other day - and LIKE it!!! very nice work

i dabble in illustrating now and then - to keep from being too bored with the day job

do you hand draw and ink or do you use computer software and pen / tablet

i love the look of the blue line with ink over ... i have a cintiq that i love (12wx - not the latest fancy ones though)

flower bouquets will not be damaged ... they are on there real good too

i may do a temp something over top .. we will see

Ryan, again thanks for the comments and info

was interesting reading your process on your comic illustrations - you make it look easy ! very nice work

is that tablet similar to a wacom cintiq? will have to look it up

i like my cintiq but must agree - still not the same as drawing by hand..but does have its pros too

i use a great program called autodesk sketchbook pro for 'sketching' digitally as well as my all time fav adobe illustrator - a truly powerful tool kit that i really am just scratching the surface on

my process for illustration, or when i do some work with design for a pinball (like my 'lunker' re-theme) is similar in first very rough idea sketches that evolve to the finished product

... are we off topic here re king pin ... not really !!! right now i am testing some techniques for redrawing the playfield in illustrator ... and i am obsessively fanatical about drawing every shape and stroke as close to the original as possible - can make for a loooonger process but the results are worth it in my opinion ...

as i stare at the beautiful 'patina'd' original playfield i am wondering why am i redrawing, or attempting to redraw it - and i guess the answer is to see if i can meet the challenge - and also to see if i can produce another 'what if' or show what a vibrant and pristine King Pin may have looked like in '32!!

if i'm not too lazy i will show a bit of the redraw later tonight

on another angle ... must look into if i can even get a piece of nice plywood these days similar to the one for the original playfield - 3/8" and what veneer to take stain and look like original ..

also need to call my sign co. that prints the vinyls and see if they can do a metallic gold .. if not .. will have to think of options

more to come

cheers, Ron