Quoted from Pecos:I have to admit that tears of joy are welling up in my eyes as I write this. I am completely overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of you Ryan, ZNET and all of the other Project Pinsters who frequent this thread.
As it so happens, I just began moving the first of my pins tonight in a rearrangement of Pecos' Palatial Pinball Parlour. The Queen of Hearts will go next to the Bally Double-Up and the Atari Airborne Avenger. With any luck, I will soon have some pictures to show you.
I will have more to say when my state of pleasant shock, surprise and joy have lessened sufficiently for my brain to begin working again!
All I can say now is Thank You all so much, not only those who contributed to this wonderful gift but also for all of you who participate in this thread. It is indeed an honor and a privilege to know you all!
I will be thinking of each of you each time I look at this beautiful backglass on a soon-to-be fully restored, Gottlieb 1952 Queen of Hearts woodrail Project Pin!
... Even with "brain not working normally from joy" a class act all the way! I do a lot more reading than writing on Pinside and I've noticed the threads I follow most typically have a terrific person (or persons) behind them... rotordave and his travel threads (new one active right now!). pinballrockstar and his Pinball Amigos threads (Crazy Mansion is a blast). Several of the show threads, but certainly labnip with TPF (quiet lately). And, I keep up on this thread pretty much daily even though I'm not actively in the market for games - it may be my most visited thread (obviously I monitor my threads where I introduce products closely as well).
So back about 50 pages ago the deal I couldn't pass up showed up in this thread... https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/post-project-pins-for-sale-here-cl-ebay-pinside-and-others/page/105#post-3790745 . It's still not 100% but it's now a very playable game with a Max2K clear coated PF. And, (spoiler alert...) in the near future I'll be releasing a new product directly related to owning and working on that machine that I think will be applicable to a few other games from that era.
About a month ago I went to an estate sale just a few miles from my office to check out a game - I never would have known about the sale or the game without this thread and the volunteer army led by Pecos that somehow seems to constantly keep it current. I've posted a few leads, but it's rare that I see something before this army.
I've shared links from this thread with my siblings (Texas and North Carolina) encouraging them to jump into the hobby with a project game. No triggers pulled on those opportunities, but Texas seems to be gaining interest!
So, Merry Christmas from all of us, @pecos, everyone who reads/monitors this thread. And thunderous applause for RyanClaytor for being our collective arms, legs, and brains on this one!
-Rob
-new at http://www.kahr.us - Williams system 3-6 display glass brackets!