Quoted from pinwiztom:

Why is it that most every QS pin that i have come across
has significant PF wear (flaming) around the bonus inserts,
if not totally blown out.
see below for what i typically find (not mine)
SDC10484_(resized).JPG
Hard to find one even in semi decent condition.
My QS pin's PF is just above tolerable in the wear dept.
My BG had loads of bubbling and sheets flaking off, fortunately found a NOS BG from John Jukes.
And the CAB and head has water damage ( the head surround appears to be fiber board).
Since this game is hard to find in any condition, I did buy it when i would have otherwise passed on it due to its condition.
I actually paid more for the NOS BG than I did for the actual game.

Quoted from cottonm4:

If it was/is so good (not knocking it---I want one,too) why are the production numbers so low?
Quicksilver: 1201 produced
Seawitch : 2503
Iron Maiden: 1100
Catacomb : 3943
Big Game : 2713
If the players went crazy, why such low sales figures? Were they too good (i.e. not Drain-o-Matics) and the operators could not make any money with them? Or did Stern have a sales force problem or factory production problems?
I have a Big Game and a Bally Playboy. Big Game is head over heels better than Playboy but Bally sold 18,250 Playboys.
Why the low numbers? Thoughts.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Snappy flippers: Check. I rebuilt mine. That, along with steep pitch, I get get air balls. I get glass balls. I get balls jumping over the sling shots. I get balls jumping over the upper play field plastics. It's a gas.
Educate me: What are the, " crazy plastic pop bumper rings and translucent lighting" of which you speak?

Quoted from cottonm4:

This is what I am finding out. I'm rather new to this stuff. My journey started when I built a visual pinball about 3 years ago. One thing led to another and I wound up buying a decrepit Bally Playboy. And the quest to find another pin was based on the different visual pinball tables I played and You Tube videos I watched. That led me to actively search for my Big Game. And that led to learning about these other Stern tables. Forget Joker Poker, Forget Mata Hari and others I once lusted after.
I have one more Stern that will be in my possession in about two weeks and I will say no more until I have it pried from the seller's cold, live, hands and home safe.
After that, after I push, pull, and squeeze, I will be able to make room for 3 more pins in my house. They all will be Sterns of this era.
It is for sure all about supply vs. demand and I feel like I am late in arriving to the party.

Quoted from pinwiztom:

While Bally may have had an gentleman's agreement with Stern on the boards,
I heard they played hardball with the distributors, and if they carried Stern pins,
they would not get access to or good deals with Bally pins.

Quoted from dothedoo:

Good to know there's one game where I can beat him.

Quoted from dothedoo:

Good to know there's one game where I can beat him.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Talk to me about Simple Green, please. I looked at SG at Walmart; It was a pale green and the main ingredient is water. I went to Lowes and the SG they were selling was darker green and more concentrated, but still the main ingredient is water.
Is there some place you can buy SG that is not diluted? The water part scares me.

Quoted from Drano:

Sweet!
TIGHE also had a copy of that issue that he gave me with the machine a couple of weeks ago.
I'll probably frame it and hang it somewhere in the gameroom... maybe next to my Banzai Run flyer signed by Pat Lawlor
I also scored this playfield from a friend. It needs work but still way better than my original. I'll be able to restore this one and do a much easier swap. I also met with Steve from BGresto at the VFW showcase and saw his beautiful repro glass on Clay's QS. I've ordered one.

Quoted from Drano:

QS did seem to ship from factory with two different aprons. one with a black base colour and another with green. Don't think any of them had red. Who knows why they did this? Maybe to differentiate regional models or they simply ran out of one type and started using another?
This seems to be common with some classic Stern.
On some Star Gazers there were dark blue aprons and those games seem to have come with yellow spinners and stand-up targets.
Other SG had the lighter blue apron and those appear to have shipped with white spinners and targets.

Quoted from vid1900:

Right, but don't take those pictures as gospel.
There are also IPDB pics of Williams flipper bats in Classic Bally games, so whatever somebody submits, can get published, even if not stock.

Quoted from Redketchup:

I can't beleive people still ship pinball with the head on...

Quoted from Redketchup:

I can't beleive people still ship pinball with the head on...

Quoted from Drano:

Whenever I've shipped a machine it's standing upright (coin door to the air) well wrapped and strapped to a pallet.
I don't imagine too many shippers are going to place freight on top of a roughly 20"x20" surface; especially since the shooter rod makes it pretty uneven.

Quoted from Sinistarrett:

Would anyone in the club be interested in a playfield protector for their game? I contacted Playfield Protectors ( Pinside member " protectors") in Germany but they said it was not on their radar.
Perhaps if another Quicksilver owner or two contacted them requesting it, they would produce them. My playfield has its share of sunken inserts and a full restore is not doable anytime in the near future, so slapping a protector on there would make it playable right away. If anyone is interested, please drop Playfield Protectors a request to make it happen.

Quoted from Sinistarrett:

What cottonm4 said.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Her are some pics of my Seawitch that I made a protector for. The center run of yellow inserts are to the wood. Some other inserts have quite a bit of wear, as well.
this first pic is of the bare play field.

This pic shows the yellow inserts but now the play field is covered with the protector ( I apologize. This could be a better pic).

This pic shows the left sling shot with lots of wear around the "shoot again" light. If you look carefully you can see the layer of Lexan bordering around the sling posts. You can also see the open area where I had to make a profile cut to match the inlane guide to allow for installation. I got in a hurry cutting the protector for Seawitch and made lots of sloppy cuts.
This protector is temporary. Once John Greatwich gets the Seawitch play fields into production this Witch will get a new play field. In the mean time, I have a game that plays smooth and fast. It is a gas to play and when I"m playing I don't notice my sloppy cuts.

Here is a pic of my Big Game without the protector. There is heavy wear around the "X" and "Z" bingo card lights. My bingo cards were in pretty good shape and I wanted to keep them that way so I made a protector.

This is the protector before any play action. This is another game that plays fast. Well, it did. I'm restoring it and the play field is out to Keith Holbrook in Grapevine for clean up and clear coat. I've been busy restoring the cabinet all the way. I have not decided yet if I will reinstall the protector for the restored play field at this time.

I've got a Nine Ball with a real nice play field but the tremendous amount of inserts are cupped badly. I don't play it much because I don't want a nice play field turned to crap due cupped inserts. Now that I have my Big Game work out of the way for awhile, I will be making a protector for this pin until I have time to schedule it for a restore.
I have another classic Stern coming in in a couple of weeks. Supposedly, the play field and inserts are in good condition; We'll see. But it does not matter the condition of the play field. It is is nice, I will make a protector for it to keep the play field nice until I can clear coat it. If it is crappy, I will make a protector so I can enjoy the game until I can budget it in for clear coat.
Quicksilver has a lot of inserts and if they are crapped out, making a protector, or buying one--if possible, will make it a fun game to play until the owner can get it budgeted in. Same with Catacomb with all those inserts.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Can someone tell me please where can I source the blue triangle lights on the play field?
Both of mine are shrunken and warped. They are fixable, but I sure would like some new ones.
Thanks.
[quoted image]
As I continue to prep this play field to send to the restorer I just see so much hard play action this play field had to endure through the years. Look at the wear where the posts were mounted. Those posts got loose and the game kept getting played. And played. And there are these wide rings of bare wood where paint used to be.
There are oversized holes all over that I am plugging up and sanding smooth. There are extra holes that someone thought they needed to drill and add some wood screws.
Obviously, this pin was well played and all of you who have played QS say it is a blast. I am looking forward to when I can get it back together and enjoy it.
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Quoted from Drano:

I'm with you.
I've been wanting to get new white strips for a long time. Thanks for the tip. Hopefully I can find some locally.
I also notice that my BGresto glasses are thicker than original and even trying to move the old ones over to the new glass caused them to split.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Which pin are you trying to outfit. Stern used a couple of different coils depending on which pin.

Quoted from Flynnyfalcon:

Quicksilver resto finally done.
Cab completely redone. Semi matte finish
New Mirco playfield with extra clearcoat added
New plastics
New posts
Titan rubbers
All mechs rebuilt
All boards serviced
Legs and coin door powdercoated
All hardware tumbled polished or replaced
All wiring cleaned/replaced
Back glass is good but may replace
Still tweaking but plays pretty good already. Need to get some more ripping from the spinners. Any tips?

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Quoted from Flynnyfalcon:

Awesome advice, thank you!! 200?? You mean 20 right?

Quoted from cottonm4:

Glad to hear this. I have been getting 100 spins on Big Game inner spinner. But I don’t have camera on to prove it.
200 is phenomenal ! A goal to strive for.

Quoted from NeilMcRae:

could be environment also would be good to understand from highclasspinball more about the colour differences. I got a quicksilver playfield from mirco and it looks great in my view. (also got meteor from CPR and that looks great too).
To be honest though, the playfield I want is nine ball. Its simple the best stern on the planet. Mine is ok at the moment but I'd love a mint one. (oh and an Ali playfield I wouldn't say no to also!).

Quoted from cottonm4:

Christopher at pinball replacement parts make some 555 lamp boards for Big Game, Catacomb, Cheetah, Flight 2000, Freefall, Meteor, and Nine Ball. I have them in my Big Game, Catacomb and Nine Ball. They work great.
How many would be interested is getting a 555 lamp board for the Quicksilvers you are restoring or the Quicksilvers you are building. Obviously, I would like one of these for my QS build. There is safety in numbers.
Anybody interested?
https://pinballreplacementparts.com/collections/all?page=3
https://pinballreplacementparts.com/collections/all?page=4
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Quoted from pinfixer:

Some of you may have seen my classified ad for the Star Gazer insert board.
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/96675
I have been asked to reproduce the Quicksilver insert board. This is a huge time saver if you are trying to convert another Stern title, or scratch build. If I can get at least four committed buyers for the insert board, I will reproduce Quicksilver as well. Feel free to PM me directly if you have interest. If you have tried to make one from scratch you can attest to the work needed to cut these out. Made from 3/4" MDF board painted white exactly as original. This is the wood with cutouts for displays and lamp sockets.

Quoted from terrapinmark:

Oh..... did you get a fourth Quicksilver? My friend Andrew R. told me the game was junk!