(Topic ID: 185524)

Sittin' Pretty Restoration - Skirts and Inserts Questions

By wschaub

6 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 9 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by wschaub
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 6 years ago

I am restoring a Gottlieb Sittin' Pretty that I received as a birthday present 48 years ago. It has been inactive for about 30 years. I am not looking to do a factory fresh restoration and am a newbie to restorations. I have two questions, for now:

1) The pop bumpers have white skirts and I think these are original to this machine. All of the pictures of Sittin' Pretty I have seen have skirts matching the tops, red or blue. Are the white skirts considered to be OK?

2) The playfield inserts have sunk a bit. Some pop out but some are being quite stubborn. I'm willing to have another go with a hair dryer and a socket to get them out but as they have art work on them (clown finger tips) and are made of unobtanium I want to be quite cautious. Has anyone used clear epoxy over an insert to level the playfield and prevent further damage to the paint around the edge of the hole for the insert?

#2 6 years ago

Sounds like a great project. I'm looking forward to watching the progress.

Try to do a full playfield scan if you can. Could help as you need to repair art/inserts.

#3 6 years ago

1) Are they okay to you? Functionally/physically, they'll very likely be fine. It depends on how you feel about the cosmetic factor of them. It sounds like they are not original but what truly matters is if you care or not as it is your game. Unfortunately to change these you have to disassemble/remove the entire pop bumper assembly which I am not sure I would recommend to a newbie, especially because this can mess up how well the switches are adjusted/how well the game plays. If you are going through the game you would likely have to adjust these anyways. However if you are going to be doing anything to this game that is one of the easier things you can do so while I would not recommend it if you could avoid it, I would say go for it otherwise actually.

2) People fill in these dips when clear-coating entire playfields but that is likely way out of your league both because of the process (especially with the added task of filling in inserts) and also because you have to disassemble everything on the top and bottom of the playfield to get it down to the mechanically-bare wooden playfield board. I haven't experienced cupped inserts myself on my own games (it is a fairly common issue though on others' games it seems) so I can't really speak of a different remedy for this myself, somebody else may be offer more insight, I am not sure if there is another good way. You may be able to find reproduction inserts with the art on them or decals of the art to stick on new ones but I have never liked replacing inserts as they always seem to be stark white and look weird when the art ring that slightly overlaps them is gone.

A GREAT game by the way, I don't think I've played one yet but I've seen a lot of pictures and it is a beautiful game! Have fun with it and good luck.

#4 6 years ago

Generally 50's woodrails inserts sink as opposed to being cupped.

And usually from this era they do come out with hair dryer and gentle pressure from underneath.

Then a small bit of wood glue and to level and job done.

And put an object on top of insert while it dries as they can rise slightly on drying.

Don't recommend epoxy as if you make an error it can look awful.

The enemy of good is better!

#5 6 years ago
Quoted from A_Bord:

Sounds like a great project. I'm looking forward to watching the progress.
Try to do a full playfield scan if you can. Could help as you need to repair art/inserts.

At the risk of revealing just how much of a newbie I am, by scan do you mean a slow pan of the playfield?

If I want to document my progress, do you know of a more appropriate forum? - Thanks

Never mind, I just spotted the proper forum.

#6 6 years ago

Otaku - Thanks for the feedback.

I am OK with the white skirts as they have been that way for at least 48 years, maybe more. The skirts from the lower bumpers were chipped so I have already replaced them with new white ones from Pinball Resource. Being brand new they are far brighter than the bodies and the skirts from the upper bumpers. I could buy new red and blue skirts but I'm guessing I'd be in for new tops and bodies to keep the colors matching and be headed down the road of a factory fresh rebuild.

I was not planning to clear-coat the playfield after talking to Steve at Pinball Resource and reading a post on Pin Repair (I think) on how the play-ability of woodrails is affected due to the more slippery surface and lower angle compared to newer machines.

#7 6 years ago

Shapeshifter OK, you've convinced me to have another go with the hair dryer. - Thanks

#8 6 years ago
Quoted from wschaub:

Otaku - Thanks for the feedback.
I am OK with the white skirts as they have been that way for at least 48 years, maybe more. The skirts from the lower bumpers were chipped so I have already replaced them with new white ones from Pinball Resource. Being brand new they are far brighter than the bodies and the skirts from the upper bumpers. I could buy new red and blue skirts but I'm guessing I'd be in for new tops and bodies to keep the colors matching and be headed down the road of a factory fresh rebuild.
I was not planning to clear-coat the playfield after talking to Steve at Pinball Resource and reading a post on Pin Repair (I think) on how the play-ability of woodrails is affected due to the more slippery surface and lower angle compared to newer machines.

Replacing skirts with new repros works ok and they go ok with original caps.

Don't replace original caps if they are good as they are marbled and impossible to replicate.

Nice to have repro pop bumper caps but original marbled caps are in another league!

1 week later
#9 6 years ago
Quoted from wschaub:

ShapeShifter OK, you've convinced me to have another go with the hair dryer. - Thanks

The hair dryer / socket wrench did the trick. I've also replaced all of the bulbs in he machine with #47's. I've run into a problem with the replay button, likely linked to the 100k stepper and I've posted that in the tech forum.

On to completing, well replacing the springs I mangled, on the roto-target rebuild.

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