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

ok guys getting close to completing the re-draw of the upper playfield

Ryan - thanks for the replies and good info - man i may just take you up on some questions on illustrator (but will do that in a pm rather than digress more here for now!)

improving my drawing with it through 'self discovery' and trial and error - as i mentioned i love the vector based graphics but my challenge to myself, just like my recent spin out decal exercise, is to keep it from being cold and lifeless clip art looking, and have it feel 'hand drawn'

part of the goal is to reproduce very accurately the art - out of respect for the original artist, and to have at hand for others to use for various pin purposes should they need .. i find vector based files more versatile etc etc and easier to work with, for me, than photo shop and pixel based programs

your tablet is cool as i didn't realize it doesn't need to connect to a lap top like my cintiq, on my cintiq i do love the graphite tips that give you the sense pencil is being dragged across paper - check out sketchbook pro - once you get the hang of it i guarantee you will love it - in my opinion best intuitive experience to make you feel like you are working with pencil and paper ...

lunker ... yes that was fun (slang for a huge fish) and yes still need an orbit or outer space - can't recall which is 2 player and which is 4 player .. would prefer 4 player

one on ebay right now for 500 - if local i would have grabbed it ... alas with shipping to canada .. ouch AND i just purchased a nice Atlantis !!!

lunker will happen eventually

i've got some fun ideas for side decals (no one worry i won't destroy the original side bouqets! ) and neat ideas for a king pin marquee too, still keeping in the spirit of the original

yes i airbrush but i would rather have a system where i do not have to clear coat over work ... guess i could put clear vinyl over top mabye - hoping metallic gold can be got with the printer's system - forgot to call today

might do a quick google sketch up model to show some ideas of legs and base and marquee - that is another useful tool for working out proportions ... don't know if i mentioned it but i like the shape of king pin much better than some of the other early pin machines, some were shorter and squatter ... when king pin is set on the right sized base and legs it should look quite sleek and elegant in my opinion

at any rate enough typing - i should go finish up the art so you can all offer up your feedback on how it looks!

and if anyone can find a trade ad for back in the day for king pin lets see it - i know there are lots out there for '30s pins so hopefully we can turn some more info up

more to come

cheers, Ron

just a preview of the upper playfield decal 'in progress' beside a photo of the existing upper area

colors are a quick 'place holder' (no color matching yet) and i still have to go in and do the subtle 'overlap' areas between colors where one was screened slightly off register over the edge of another

will go through and do much more 'picky' adjustments to some of the lines but neat to see the art without ball arch wear and paint loss too

king pin upper decal sm.jpg

long live the king!

hi Ryan - firstly .. don't be shy .. i am posting for feedback and welcome it all!!

letters in king - yes i know some aren't quite aligned yet - i'm a bit burnt out from the 'first pass' so will take a break and stair at it to find a bunch of adjustments yet

typically i will print it out and stare and stare, zoom in, stare and stare and circle on my print out areas to improve - mention away if you see more !!

i am drawing this all vector based from scratch - including the letters (using the pen tool and convert anchor point tool mostly)

it is time consuming and challenging to get some of the tiny shapes and lines as close as i have - not exact but really close!

i have dabbled with 'live trace' in illustrator a bit - where it actually calculates and plots all edges in an image and creates the paths based on a series of parameter inputs and tolerances ... but i haven't been able to get enough control with that so just went .. old school!

no doubt an illustrator 'guru' could do this in a tenth the time ... i just don't know the full and most efficient use of the tool set i guess - but this is working for great results albeit SLOW and yes ALOT of work!

no two letters or similarly appearing shapes are alike ... that adds a bit of work ... no copy paste !

the plan is to print around the key lines for one large upper decal with hole cutouts aligned to playfield - this is a technique that has worked quite well on my previous decal 'learnings' (posts on here re centigrade 37 f up, strange world center decal, spin out art attempt and most recently some redraw for sure shot too!)

i use a local sign company who will print my file on 3m vinyl (temp adhesive so non permanent), their machine has a built in laser cutter (so i assign the a cut path in my illustrator file when i send over), they also laminate on the vinyl decal another protective clear mylar of my choice before they cut - and we work together with their pantone range to get the colors i want ..!

so that is the typ approach and theory - we will see how this one goes with the metallic gold variable etc etc

i am sure i will run into some hurdles as i proceed but then we will figure out a work around

i am just drawing some paths where the gold and adjacent colors do their overlaps from the original screening process - that will help with the final look - and i added in the detail under the king for the decal they put there for the word 'double' (note on the other simpler playfields on interweb - that said 1000 i think)

so more adjusting - maybe will post the next pass later tonight - and then likely a break before i tackle the lower playfield!! maybe i will go to the local wood shop / millworker and see if they can do up a new pf easier than I

cheers, Ron

Ryan, i think i 'cheated' and copied and pasted a couple of the zeros .. those chicken feet in the kings robe are all done one by one ... that took a bit of patience!

some links so you can learn a bit of my decal process experiments, per your request

Centigrade 37 project

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-c37-disaster-confessions-of-a-magic-eraser-junkie

Strange World project

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-center-decal-for-gottlieb-strange-world

Spin Out project

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/a-protector-decal-for-my-beloved-spin-out-em-purists-hide-your-eyes

Sure Shot project

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-project-sure-shot-a-larger-case-for-the-purity-police

in the above links i think you can better understand the decal process (in the c37 thread as i haven't printed the others yet!) all colors printed at once, i think, onto white vinyl with a mylar cover then laminated over top, all laser cut to whatever paths or shape i direct ... peel it off and place

a few options for quality of vinyl, thickness, and for quality and thickness of mylar too - mylar likely not even necessary over the printed vinyl - but can help give the decal a 'waxed' sheen

thickness is NOT noticeable, even with the mylar lamination

i think pantone colors are picked and printed as tru pantone?

tracing image in all the above linked experiments are from photos from my iphone, then scaled and printed on clear sheets on my laser printer, laid over the actual area for registration check, adjusted on computer as needed then printed again till i get it exact ... for king pin i was able to lay the unpopulated playfield right on my scanner ...

i like to take on these types of 'challenges' as i learn quite a bit with each new project and experiment ... and of course i post here so others might find the attempts useful or entertaining too.

Ron

played tons of games on c37 and zero visible wear to date - i think it will last longer than i will ....

HI Ryan, again thanks for all the kind words.

I know of a really really nice one for sale (nicer than mine, but does have the typ little wear mark below kick out). I was tempted but passed on it as i have just purchased another wedge head!

... and yes waiting for a 'batch print' on a bunch of these projects ...!

really ... the 'dabbling' is my escape from my day job - i am an architect (and as most know the 'romance' and 'allure' of many professions gives way to the day in day out pragmatics of business ... translate - i don't get to use much in the way of design skills or creativity / artistic expression and thus use these types of projects to keep from being totally bored!!! - i really wish i had more time to draw and paint for sure - i used to do a bit of 'free' consulting to a friend's toy slot car company in the uk too, that was fun to be involved in as well)

the 'update' ... i got on an airplane and flew back home yesterday for a few days with my folks - can fit a few work meetings in here but brought my laptop along to continue with the playfield art - just finished the 'color overlaps' and will post an image a bit later then likely start on the lower decal

distractions like mom's cooking and recalling fond family memories and now a line on a local pin collector who only has a few of his wood rails of 40yrs collection left (he apparently has a nice '35 buckley hop-scotch w legs available .. not sure if it interests me enough, and some '50s wood rails .. a gottlieb auto race, jack and jill, harbor lights, big jumbo and a few other bits .. oh dear i may need to go take a look!!!...)

and lastly for now - pink spin out car ... yes i always knew i would go with that one ... was just openly looking at options all around, but decided on the pink for exactly all the reasons you listed - to me it works best and is most faithful to the original intent too

now i am rambling - back to a bit more tweaking for king pin in illustrator!

thanks, more later - Ron

Ryan - i hope to print the decals 'soon' !! The printer has poor hours for me to get across the city and deal with them and they aren't open on weekends, and yes it will take a few trips with a bit of the color match exercise too!!

anyhow not much of an update but i think i have the upper playfield decal pretty close now .. adjusted the letters in 'king' and added the 'color overlaps'

i may just put each of the pin locations as a tiny dot on the decal too for helping when i finally install those back as well .. have to think about that

king pin upper decal r.jpg

scrutinize away and let me know what you see (color match still 'approximate )

a zoom in detail of the color overlaps

king pin upper detail.jpg

Hi Ryan -

on the original playfield the 'double' was a decal of some sort that was placed on after the original art work, or at least 'screened over'

if you look at the images of the plainer king pin on ipdb - it had different wording in that area ... at any rate short answer was that i wanted to start with a 'faithful' original art set, but will also likely do an art set that is 'cleaner' or 'corrected' and then print them out as mock ups and decide which to go with

the vinyl has the 'ability' to be stretched if needed and retains its shape, can be restretched etc ... it won't need to be stretched in this application (on a flat surface) - so i'm not too worried, but i DO like your suggestion of an independant overlay guide for pins .. that makes more sense perhaps

as per above, we will see when i do some mock print outs, but yes i likely sit at the 'honor the original' end of the spectrum - at the end of the day the new playfield will sit in the 'original' cabinet too and i think will look more proper at least looking like it was produced with the technology of the day (ie 'color traps' and silk screening results etc.)

i've been distracted with my wood rail expedition and a bit of a family visit / work trip - better put some focus back on King Pin

thanks again for the feedback - appreciated

cheers, Ron

was trying to get some momentum and get back to my king pin project here ... clicked on my links at start of post to refresh my memory on the 'marquee' and how i might build one

to my pleasant surprise i noticed ipdb had added a couple of photos and one was a complete king pin with the same art on playfield as mine !! and showed marquee and legs too

i googled the name under the image - it was an auction site and i signed in to see the game just sold Nov 1 for $750 ...

if anyone out there might know who purchased that game please get in touch as i would like some close up photos of the legs and the marquees too

at least i have the new photo and scanned ads from ipdb update!

regards, Ron

king pin nov 1.jpg

this is the image from the auction - it was 'restored' and i can see what the metal ball dishes would look like now if i did mine ... i may leave them and cabinet 'as is' even though i am doing the playfield graphics over .. not sure!

King pin update time

I've finally found (made) time to push to complete this project (and several other decal projects too! ?)

I have been collaborating with pinside member gsrogers (Garry) since he posted his topic regarding his 1932 pace king pin. Garry kindly and trustingly sent his rare and prescious Ben Hur marquee my way without hesitation and I have made a fair bit of progress to reproduce some hopefully very close to original king pin Marquees from that. I am working with a local foundry to sand-cast the original safely and then recast in aluminum and rework to put the proper letters in place for king pin. As part of the process I scanned and then traced the Ben Hur marquee and added kingpin letters in Adobe Illustrator to match as close as I could one of only a couple of photos out there. After my usual process of some test printouts to get size just write on my laser printer I printed a transparency that will be used by the guys at the foundry as a map or blueprint to get the letters just how we want.

Hopefully this week I can get them going on the casting process and I will ask them to take some pictures so we can all see it as it moves along - should be very interesting. Garry also needs another part that collects the balls for scoring at the bottom of the playfield – I am hoping but not sure if the foundry can cast one of those from my original for his machine too – we will work hard to see if they can !!

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

In addition to working on the marquee graciously loaned by Garry I have continued with the redraw of the playfield Art ( now doing the lower half ) and have been speaking to my printers about how to get the nice metallic gold as well .

I have also been planning to build my own version of a lower base with legs as I prefer that look over the counter top model. It will be of oak which I think the original cabinet is and coloured to match.

My playfield is currently with an architectural mill worker and they are going to try and reproduce it with its cuts and openings exactly. This way I can stain it and apply the decals and install the original hardware – and leave the original playfield intact as well .

While they are at that I have been designing the lower base by starting with re-creating the machine in Google sketch up so that I can now start looking at options and proportions for the legs and lower skirt . I even have a plan to cast from the foundry some leg brace inserts to a manner that I think is respectful of the original design intent - with a vocabulary respectful of the back Marquee.

I think it is coming along reasonably well but as always critique comments and opinions are welcome !

image_(resized).jpeg

Oh - then there is the matter of that horrifically beautiful original flower decal on the sides – I can use the sketch up model to play with some nonevasive original artwork decal ideas that I may place over that - really I might have to as my 'parlour' isn't quite fancy enough for those flowers as rooms might have been back in the 1930s !!

Hi guys – thanks for the comments and interest – exciting and very interesting and educational project so far – let's see how this little experiment works – if it turns out OK I'll consider casting extras

Left the parts with the foundry this morning – being summer holiday season they said it may be a month or two before they get to the special projects but they promised they would take good care of the pieces and do their best – so in the meantime I will get back to working with the millworker on the lower cabinet build and finish my art for the Printers too

More to come

Cheers, Ron

Jeff - do you have a king pin or a line on one?

Ah World Series ... I've been on the lookout for one of those for quite a while ... But alas no luck yet!

Hopefully someday!

You chaps that have them are lucky! Enjoy!

Thanks Ryan - trying to do some work on each of these projects every day so as not to lose momentum !! Going to finish them this time for sure!! ?

On top of all the other numerous decals ... This king pin effort is a big one!!

I am going to cut the seven individual master letters myself ... So as to save the cost and time of the foundry charging to do on their c and c router

That saved money will go to casting the 8 detail pieces that sit behind the lower cab legs - although they are designed symmetrically (all the same) I need to build 4 masters so the casting and pouring is also more efficient

Then there Is the art for play field - I am chewing through that daily ... I think I have just one more section of text to redraw - lower half was teeeeedious and I will be glad to be done

It is even more complicate because to get a nice metallic gold like original I will need be a two part decaling process - printing black on gold then coming back in with more decals over that (red and yellow on typ white vinyl - as colors can't go on the gold metallic) - figuring that sequence is a puzzle in itself! add in test prints in clear on my laser printer for exact registration ... Yikes but getting there

And then the wood work finalization for the play field and lower cab too w millworker!! ?

But I'm enjoying all I'm learning as i go...

Wait to see what I've planned after all this

Cheers, Ron

Ok folks ... Slow through summer but progress does continue

Foundry sent a quick pick of first cast of the king pin marquee - casting sand not even cleaned off the raw aluminum

Next will be Some clean up and grinding off of the Ben hur letters then a recast with the c n c 'd king pin letters tacked in place

Not sure of the final results but fingers crossed - metal worker says all going very well so far

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I also went over to the mill workshop - there they have given me a sample of a c n c'd repro play field for test fitting my original hardware to - all is in order so they are laying up a piece with walnut veneer - I better get my art redraw done and the vinyl decals printed !!

They are also mocking up a sample leg before they build the new base stand - I hope to see that this week to approve too

Getting closer at any rate

Cheers Ron

Ok - these guys are slooooowww ... But I guess so am I judging by how long ago I started some of my projects !!!

Casters called today saying they had ground off the Ben hur letters from the first cast but wanted me to position the c'n'c-d king pin letters ...

So dove right in to do my best

Quickly coloured the clear letters with an acrylic paint pen then took a deep breath, spaced some test fits and letter by letter laid them down with the suggested super glue!

Tried to keep spacing as best I could to few images of original - what do we think??

Next back to foundry for final castings then some clean up and paint ...

Lower base and cabinet were to be done by end of sept so I've hassled the millworker too!

Cheers Ron

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Thanks guys -

My buddy is 3d printing one of the masters for the custom decorative leg brackets as we speak - those will go back to the foundry in a few days with the king pin marquee master

I best put some time in tonight on finishing the artwork ...! One last paragraph of text to redraw

This is one of those projects that has become an ' I must finish' or a ' you're not going to defeat me you stupid pin!' Lol

And keeping momentum up ...

Designed my custom leg brackets in Google sketch up then sent a file to my buddy who printed them on his 3D printer

I will give them some cleanup and they can go back to the foundry with the king pin marquee for casting in aluminum too

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Simple - back side has the 'folded over' flange to the two 'long' sides - I will drill two screw holes in each to suck it up w screws to the leg side and u/s of my new lower cabinet rail - and the bracket will hide all ... In theory

Should all work out swell

I wanted the detailing to match the grooves and design of the marquee - which it does - and will be painted to match and tie old and new together too

Brackets are 3"x3" with o/a 1/2" depth but flange thickness is 1/8 and as a ridge helps strengthen the bracket from behind - will also help support the legs to rails but I doubt they will need it - here is a shot of back side - brackets plastic yet to be cleaned / sanded and once cast aluminum can also be worked / polished as needed

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From a bit back in the thread here is an earlier 3D model mock up where they are in place

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Those flowers on the side are still bugging me !! I'll leave them but still noodling with some temp cover up images

Tomorrow morning masters go back to foundry - and a call to wood worker to pressure him to finish his bit pretty please !

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And a quick shot of the art redraw (just black line without the red and yellow colour rays - as I organize the 'series' of vinyl decal prints to be layered over each other) - to get the metallic gold I will be printing black on met gold vinyl - then the other colors over white vinyl pieces - to apply over the gold decals - in two or three stages ... A bit of a puzzle

Will print test maps on my laser on clear to lay over the cut outs on new play field to ensure all lines up tickety boo

But happy to have finally faithfully traced all the art and text!

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Moving forward

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Thanks Ryan - love that lettering!

Maybe some stain on the cabinet and playfield tomorrow and I hope the castings are finally ready next week too

Great work on your playfield clean up by the way!

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Thanks guys - was struggling w staining the base to match the light or dark stain ... I think I'm happy w my choice !

Hopefully castings are done this week

I think the metal leg fittings will really add to it ... I hope

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Thanks Ryan - I meant I was wondering if I should have done the base in the lighter stain colour

I think the dark ties it in to the original cabinet ...

Do you guys have any idea where I might find some smaller vintage or vintage style leg levellers?

The flower decal is an original of some sort - on both side - I'll leave it there but have an idea for covering over without damaging , with a removable one of my own I think ... will see may leave it visible as it 'was what it was'

Playfield art ... will wax the stained walnut veneer and then yes vinyl decals laser cut

This will be trickier though - as it will be a few applications - first will be all the black on metallic gold (but the reds and yellows can't print on that so will be applied in sequence(s) 0ver the base decals

Hi Jeff thnx
Yes I looked at his site but didn't see any
I will shoot him an email

I won't be able to pick these up for a week or so but at least the progress continues - with some elbow grease, paint and polish I think I can make these to turn out very very nice

I have to keep up momentum so I can return my 'lender' his donor part back safe and sound with a little something extra for Christmas

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Thanks Ryan – my experiment with the 3-D printed brackets wasn't as clean – the fine sand didn't like the fact that I hadn't smoothed the plastic prints and so it grabbed when the casts were pulled open and then filled w molten aluminum

I think I can clean them up really nice as well though with some work – at least I will give it a shot

Cheers Ron

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Hi guys – I don't think there is any lost wax type process but I will check again when I see the caster at the foundry

I think what he told me is that the sand is mixed with An adhesive and so they pack it around the pieces in a two part mould - or a one piece imprint mold if they can - it hardens – they open it and remove the piece – close it and pour the aluminum

I could be totally wrong but I think that is how it goes

I remember him telling me there were two types of sand they can use depending on the parts

One way or the other – I'll clean these up to my standards or have another run at them

To add - yes Jeff I suppose it is 'lost sand process'

Ryan - great link - but that is a different process - in this casting process the master isn't destroyed at all – so I think that they packed sand carefully with an adhesive around the master in a manner that it can be opened up and the master removed – then the cast is closed up again and molten metal poured in – and then the sand is broken away for the new part??? I'll be sure to ask the foundry again

This project has been a lot of work – and there'splenty yet but I am happy with the way it is turning out I'm looking forward to keeping it going And finally finishing it

I do have to get on to some of my other projects to – like the decals for my other machines !!!

Others who would like one or two of my deckles have been waiting for a few years now – oh dear – but I will get some done

I took my El Dorado down today and set up this game so I can maybe get its decals dialed in a bit and printed in the near future as I work more on king pin

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Guys – do you have any advice on what type of paint I might use with best results on the aluminum casting's – I will be painting the deep red and yellow colors and I'm not sure if I should use enamel thickly? – I don't want brushstrokes but a nice smooth finish

Regards Ron

I'm Excited about the next few days – as I'm hoping on Tuesday or Wednesday to go down and pick up the castings and then start the exercise of cleaning them up fitting them and painting them too – in the meantime I have been keeping my eye open patiently for some nice 'what if' early type leg levellers to see if they might finish off the bottom cabinet nicely

As I don't have access to small diameter leg levelers and don't even know if they were in use in the early 30s ( I have a pair from the 40s for a regular sized pinball and they looked too large to my eye ) I just thought I would be patient and start thinking of some creative way to do my own – and have been looking for some brass fittings from that time period that might nicely match the ball shooter tip and it's fantastic patina

The other day at an antique mall I started looking at drawer knobs or pulls and thinking they might have some potential

Today I came across some very old brass ones at a Christmas fair – antique sale – and I immediately grabbed four as they looked really promising in finish shape and size for the bottom of my oak legs !

I really like them - what think you?

Cheers Ron

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Jeff - can you post a pic or two pls and thnx

Neat thing is the threaded bolt will allow for levelling adjustment like true levellers but the brass knobs are a bit more 'regal' ... maybe somehow suiting for the king pin

Ryan - thanks - yes you get the 'intent' ... and lol I think you two ARE the only followers!!! Lol

Jeff thanks very much for posting those pictures – I appreciate it

Darcy! How are things? You've bought a few more machines I see

Ok! Castings are finally back w me ...

Very happy w them all things considered - next is to clean them up and develop some new metal finishing skills - will pull out my dremel and metal grinding and polishing bits of various shapes and sizes, maybe some files too for the clean up and picking out some lost detail

Couldn't help but mock all up loosely ( stand is just balanced back on 'feet' and marquee sitting in place, not at correct angle - Garry's blessed Ben hur donor marquee helps visualize the goal w the clean and paint

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A very interesting and curious lesson learned – I just noticed that the castings are slightly smaller than the original in the longer dimension!?! – it must have something to do with the aluminum quickly cooling – I will have to ask the caster if he has any idea

Not much that can be done about it and really no big deal I suppose as it is probably about 1/8 of an inch overall and when the Ben Hur is not there alongside to compare no one would have any idea about the small difference in size but a great lesson to learn for future work of a larger nature perhaps

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And here is a pic of a piece Garry was missing on his King Pin and I was able to cast for him too

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Yesssss..this project is still alive and moving forward

Months ago I had received the castings for the marquee and have since shuttled them to a few metal workers for cleanup and then to an engraver so he could finish up the details etc. He has just asked me to polish up the pieces even more before he does his bit, after having them at his shop for two weeks! Grrr- so I have taken on the task with hand tools and dremel and hopefully within a couple of days they will go back to him to tell him to finish his part !! Then I can get some paint on them and get the donor part back and new 'extras' to Garry here too!!

Garry – so sorry this is taking so bloody long but keep the faith !!

Middle piece is nearly 'cleaned' and lower one needs a bit more elbow grease-

And don't worry folks - other decal projects are moving along as well - spin out artwork with matching colour info going to the printer this week as well FYI to anyone who might've been waiting and given up on that too

Cheers Ron

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Ok - photographing polished aluminum not so easy! Engraver disappeared on holiday but called today for me to collect these up - although the camera can't capture it and picks up detail differently, to me these look really really good and I am very pleased with them in person - much improved from before - I still need to sand them out to soften his edges a wee bit but don't have any proper sandpaper here tonight - Will also pick up some degreaser and some red and gold Enamel paints ... and maybe some primer? - and hopefully if all goes well after some more effort and elbow grease this weekend can you call these finished and send generous and oh so patient Garry his bits back finally !

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Another hour or so of finicky hand filing / grinding and sanding and buffing in areas I wasn't pleased with along borders and letter edges ... a bath in degreaser and rinse to be safe and now let these dry before we delve blindly into applying paint!!

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Thanks Garry - not sure about that - but I've sure put in 300% trying to do my best!

Fought with learning to handle enamel paints today and after much effort at color matching attempts I think I'm calling it and leaving well enough alone - my gold is more vibrant and my red just a tad less 'rich' - but I want to add a 'gloss' lacquer or top coat which will hopefully bring it closer

I'm a perfectionist and they're clearly not perfect or exact lol but I am very pleased with the result all in all

We're close now

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Lol - Garry the original is richer / brighter !! We can't have that.

Just letting a test coat of deeper gloss red dry on the mock up - if it works out the two recasts are next in line ...

Meanwhile my old brass drawer pull levellers are setting up in a two part epoxy

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I did some more experimenting and testing and decided to add a top clearcoat brushed on - by testors - same manufacture as the enamel paint - it brightened the flat red just enough and gave it a nice sheen so now it is far closer to the original and I can leave well enough alone!

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Back out of storage! - with decorative leg brackets screwed on ( I had hoped to use my cast metal ones but I just can’t get them crisp and clean enough so for now at least I’m going to use 3-D printed ones which I will paint and detail).

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Yes ... Work continues

Painted the brackets with the red and yellow enamels same as the marquee and then used an aluminum enamel and am very very pleased with the results - I could paint the entire rear of each bracket with the aluminum enamel too and they would look like cast metal parts but I think I will leave them honest and unpainted to show off my buddies fantastic and generous 3-D printing efforts if anyone ever takes a look underneath.

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OK – just trying to keep the pinball project momentum up so it doesn’t lag again for another year or more!! – now all the brackets are completed – painted and installed – so I think I will first get my spin out decals printed and then move back to doing this play field !

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