Nice pickup.

Oooooo! This is gonna be fun to watch. I'm waiting right here!

wow, that's looking like a real mess!

best of luck with this restore, you have your hands full that's for sure.

I'll be checking out this cool thread. Last year I bought a dirty non-working Xenon that had/has issues. I enjoyed cleaning it up and getting it working better. Awesome when you first get to hear the voices and sounds, and get to see the light show. Just picked up a nice Xenon backglass on ebay, so I'm happy bout that. Have fun w/ Xenon!

Those two playfield holes take a post like this one, with a rubber installed. Good luck with the restore. My Xenon has the identical wear between her legs

detail.jpg

Oy! That's a job!

The wear is there because the post between the flippers is used to "bump" the ball back into play after a left drain. Sounds easier than it is, but it's a cool feature of Xenon. The ball quickly changing direction like that wears the playfield between the flippers especially if the balls weren't new.

Nice score, you're going to make that think look awesome!

I think that us pinsiders might be more excited about your new machine than you are. I'm looking forward to all your updates.

Looks like a fun project! I really enjoy seeing these old Bally's come back to life!

Yes! And this is a machine I can get into way more than Hulk. I can keep looking at what you're doing and look at mine...

I've been looking for a project Xenon - congrats!

great thread, nice bunch of pictures too! I am clearcoating mine as you are getting ready to tear into yours

that background sound you can turn on or off in the menus

TJ

That XENON definitely looks right up your alley JDS....I'm looking forward to this thread...daily! Sorry those XENON plastics over here weren't NOS new....luckily a new REPRO set isn't bad on the wallet.

I am loving my HULK....you did such an amazing job with the PF....the ball glides on that CC'ed baby and it plays great!! I am infatuated with landing that TOUGH skill (or shill as the people at pinfest read it..haha) shot off the plunge. It's so simple but very rewarding. I had a handful of people at the show congratulate me on my purchase....it felt kind of weird like I had just birthed a child or something?! But they knew it was a beautiful machine....all them did.

You are a very talented....plumber?! Hit the switch....you are deep in pinball land now....time for a serious career change

Now onto MS. XENON.....

I hate to ask this ....but what exactly is Xenon supposed to be about? What's the story?

it's about sex with a female from outta space!

ok gimme those tilts!!!

LOL!

Oh...you said TILTS! Phew!

The original light strip along backside of tube on my Xenon looked very similar to yours w/ some bulbs broken off, others not working, etc. I decided to just order a new XENON BLUE LITE STRIP from Pinlogic. Although not an exact match to the original, it is plug & play, works good, and I like the color of the lights. Not sure if he has anymore available.

The tube on your Xenon looks a bit better than mine did. Are you going to just clean yours up, or buy a new one? The tube on my Xenon was cracked at entrance end w/ a piece broken off, and generally quite worn, and not very clear. So for me installing a new tube was the way to go.

I noticed the color on your plastic playfield posts is same/similar to the ones that were on my Xenon, and I'm fairly confident they are originals. I didn't care for the color, so I installed new dark blue ones of same style. I can certainly understand if you stick w/ the original color playfield posts even if you decide to install new ones, ...if you decide to not clean up the existing posts.

Hard to see the condition of the legs on your Xenon. They look a bit rough, but perhaps ok after cleaning them up. After cleaning up the legs on my Xenon and looking at them closer, I ended up ordering a set from Marco that looked like a fairly close match to originals concerning style/finish/color/length. Looks good, but the new manuf'd legs are not quite as wide as originals.
****Leg - 28-1/2" gray Bally, #P-4052-8, New production of the famous Bally "Gun Metal Gray" legs used on most Bally pinball machines until 1988.****
... and I put a new set of 8 leg bolts.

FYI: The wear spot down center drain on my Xenon is very similar to that shown in your pic, but smaller, going from right knee down to the "N" in bonus.
I would say that the designers of Xenon playfield wanted to slow and direct the ball into the center drain, so they installed an off-center metal post noticably below the flippers, and located the metal guide rail behind right side flipper closer toward center than the similar left side guide rail.
That right side guide rail is definitely contributing to why that wear spot runs from the right knee down toward the center drain. That off-center post primary purpose is not to help us save ball from center drains, but that is a 2ndary purpose/benefit imho.

Have fun w/ your Xenon project pin!

Whridls: Curious if you plan to install a new diamond shaped up-arrow SBA Bally sticker on front of coin door after you get a chance to clean it up? I put a new one on my coin door.
And are you planning to leave the SBA $1 coin mechanism installed as is? I think you should.
It makes sense the way yours is. The up-arrow SBA sticker points directly to the center SBA coin mech. On my Xenon (and as shown on Xenon promo flyer), it has 3 coin mech's like yours (2-for quarters, 1-for SBA $1), but the $1 SBA coin mech is on the right side. Whatever.

The playfield plastics and pop bumper caps on my Xenon cleaned up nicely, none broken, etc.
However, at least 3 of mine are warped some. I did not try to heat em up and flatten them.
Are you just plannin to clean up your playfield plastics & bumper caps?

Good luck w/ your project.

Methos:
You can't see from the pics posted thus far, but on lower playfield under each flipper bat, is the word "THRUSTER". So, on Xenon you use your thrusters to shoot the ball back up the playfield.
When you do get a Xenon project pin, and get her working:
When she suggests at some point that you "try a tube shot", I recommend you go for it.
Then she will be satisfied temporarily and she will let you know that.
And of course, just after your last ball drains and game ends, she's gonna say "try me again"!
Does this help clarify things at all for you concerning what the deal is w/ Xenon?

I've only played it a handfull of times - I was wondering if there was a backstory on the theme, some sort of classic 70's X rated version of Star Trek 1 or something....

Regarding the post colors, the originals fade to that light pink color. They were originally blue like found on Embryon, Fathom, Mr. and Mrs Pac, Baby Pac etc. The reproduction version while cast in the correct style do not let light shine through, which IMHO does not do the game justice. Try to find someone parting out an old game and get some unfaded blue posts for the best effect.

Forget that crappy light strip. Don't the new ones come with the LED's already attached and ready to go?

Loved the Hulk Thread, Cant wait to see your progress!

Yeah!!