I'm a masochist for terrible project games. Like seeing a homeless puppy, I lose sleep knowing there's broken dirty nasty games rotting in someone's barn. That I just have to rescue.
Last month I was driving through rural Indiana for a work trip, was bored on a few hour drive so looked up some amusement operators and started calling. Lucky me, first and closest one I called was a nice guy. Said I was looking for project games and he said he had just the one for me.

He was about 30 minutes back from where I came from but went for it. He took me back in this big detached barn/warehouse through bunches of converted arcades, redemption games and pool tables. Up the ramp to the loft and there was a Xenon and Mr. and Mrs. Pacman sitting off to the side. Pacman didn't really interest me, the Xenon looked to be in decent shape! Upon closer inspection, I found lots of playfield wear as expected, the backglass was 90% gone. We put down the head and I peeked inside and saw a complete boardset. Looking into the coin door it was filthy.

IMG_20181119_172230 (resized).jpgIMG_20181119_172321 (resized).jpgMVIMG_20181119_172407 (resized).jpgMVIMG_20181119_172812 (resized).jpgIMG_20181120_140420 (resized).jpg

Upon getting it home and inspecting it - it was missing the Bally -54 transformer/rectifier setup... very bad news. I tried calling the operator and he knew and though I did. He said he never had it. I asked if I could have the one off the Mr. and Mrs. Pacman and he politely declined. Worth a shot.

I SCOURED years back of pinside/KLOV/RGB/tomshardware posts of people parting out games. Looking for similar transformers. Researching alternatives if I couldn't find it. Found a few of the rectifier boards, but the transformers were non-existant. Found a few for similar Bally SS, and they were $300-400.

A couple weeks later, I got EXTREMELY lucky and found an archived Spy Hunter partout ad. Contacted the seller and he just happened to have the transformer AND rectifier board setup. I was thrilled to pay $150.

This brings us to this past weekend.
I finished up some other projects and directed some time to get a good assessment of the game, plug it in, and make a list of what it needs.

External cabinet is in pretty good shape! Will DEFINITELY need a new bottom to the cab, all sorts of crap in there.
It's filthy. There's literal dirt on the top and bottom of playfield and in the cabinet.
Guessing this was stored outside, with the glass off for a bit. Woof.

I popped fuses into the power board, tested the bridges and diodes.
Went to the game, inspected all the connectors. I found a few had burned and there were a variety of crappy hacks to counter it. But for the most part, they looked good.
Plugged in the transformer and tested voltages, also looked good.
Plugged the rest in, and I was very surprised to see it booted! Displays all turned on (albeit not completely) and the attract lights were cycling though.
I coined it up and tried to start a game. Sound works!
Coils didn't. I look on the underside of the playfield and see a fuse I missed.
Popped it in, tried again and ALL coils locked on.
Looking closer, it seems whatever "tech" was looking at it last had clipped half the coils in a "troubleshooting measure".

DSCN4531 (resized).JPG

DSCN4532 (resized).JPG

DSCN4533 (resized).JPG

DSCN4534 (resized).JPG

DSCN4543 (resized).JPG

DSCN4537 (resized).JPG

DSCN4538 (resized).JPG

DSCN4539 (resized).JPG

DSCN4540 (resized).JPG

DSCN4542 (resized).JPG

DSCN4544 (resized).JPG

Did I mention this thing is filthy?
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

DSCN4575 (resized).JPG

DSCN4576 (resized).JPG

DSCN4594 (resized).JPG

DSCN4595 (resized).JPG

DSCN4577 (resized).JPG

DSCN4561 (resized).JPG

DSCN4571 (resized).JPG

DSCN4567 (resized).JPG

DSCN4573 (resized).JPG

Today I pulled the playfield, used a firm wire brush to loosen all the dirt on the underside, then blow it off with compressed air.
Before and after:

DSCN4565 (resized).JPG

DSCN4600 (resized).JPG

Bringing it inside on the rotisserie, I tore down the top end, to find even more dirt. And some leaves, pretty much confirming it was sitting outside without the glass.
How the playfield isn't completely destroyed I don't know.
Did a softer brush and a vacuum everywhere that worked decently. And that's where she sits now.

DSCN4597 (resized).JPG

DSCN4598 (resized).JPG

DSCN4594 (resized).JPG

DSCN4599 (resized).JPG

Too true

Last night I made a playfield protector from the scan I have. I'll pick up some PETG from the local plastics place and cut it out.
http://petersenplastics.com/item/petg-2/
Should be under $20, not bad.

I'll also get some new rod there!
http://petersenplastics.com/item/extruded-rodtube/
6 feet for $12.50, very not bad! I believe they also have a laser cutter in house to cut it to length.

Reached out to Electronmagic to see if I could scan his very nice original backglass.
He kindly invited me over, and I got some very nice scans!
The mirrors complicated the edges, so we'll see how that goes.
Going to clean it up in Photoshop, then do some research if I should print on a translite material or a vinyl sticker and apply it on the bare glass.

IMG_20190121_140123 (resized).jpg

Dbv?

Edit: googled it, dollar bill validators

I would but I have to be at my friend's wedding, thanks!

Did a Photomerge in Photoshop. Turned out OK.
Not sure why I'm getting the thick stripes in the scan.
The mirrors in the corners wouldn't let me get a clean scan of the corners.
I snapped a couple pictures also that may just suffice

Capture (resized).JPG

This project will certainly be moving slow, have some priorities ahead of it.
That being said, I'm a lunatic and always thinking of what the next steps are for all my projects.

Took the backglass inside, it's not completely terrible!
The edges of the backglass were difficult to scan due to the little mirrors.
Mocked up the scans in Photoshop to see what's missing.
There's still some missing art, but hopefully the rest can easily be copied from elsewhere on the backglass.

Considering:
What's missing is more or less one big chunk
What's left on the sides and bottom are relatively well-intact
The intact parts have the mirror chrome effect
The chrome effect around "Xenon" is still on the glass

My thought was to make a mask of the missing material, print it out on a translite, and put it behind the backglass.
Confident I can get it to look pretty damn good.

OR

Don't fuck around and just print out a new complete translite, scrape off what's left of the old one and move on...

The hardest part would be matching the colors.
I have a Pantone, would that be a reliable reference to hand off to a printer?
Also, in the latter option, the color match wouldn't be so critical.

IMG_20190204_221102 (resized).jpg

Capture (resized).JPG

On the printing the whole translite thought...
I popped off the mirrors, easy, just some foam and adhesive.
This will allow me to get scans of the corners I was missing and make one VERY nice translite on the computer!
Project for another day...

IMG_20190204_225750 (resized).jpg

Froze my ass off in the garage for an hour tonight: stripped most of the hardware and wiring from the cabinet.
Used a dead blow hammer to knock out the bottom and in 2 hits it was on the ground.
Fell with a little black cloud of 38 years of doom.

At least the bottom is solid, will serve as a decent template for the new one.
What should I use? 1/2" ply?
What should I put around the border underneath? I think last time I just got some 1/2"x1/2" dowel rod.

Plan for the cabinet:
Make and install new bottom
Evaporust and tumble the hardware
The cabinet is in pretty decent shape structurally, maybe just some black touchups
Run new ground braid
Sand down the inside of the cabinet, maybe spray paint it
The legs seem to be decently spray painted. May keep them, or they would be a good first project for the sandblaster/powder coater at the hackerspace.

DSCN4629 (resized).JPG

DSCN4663 (resized).JPG

DSCN4668 (resized).JPG

DSCN4671 (resized).JPG

DSCN4673 (resized).JPG

So I measured the playfield scan I have and it seems to be perfect.
I'm going to print it out and see how it looks.
Getting authorized on the big boy laser at the hackerspace so I'll be able to cut a playfield protector!
Whipped it up tonight in Illustrator.

Capture (resized).JPG

Trying to keep it cheap! Just want a dirty players game that will work forever
I'm already at around $500.
Partially because I splurged $50 on a flipper rebuild kit.

Got authorized at the hackerspace today on the big laser!
Spent $17 and got a new plywood bottom. I was going to cut it in the woodshop, but the laser makes perfect circles so why not use that?
Went a little crazy and engraved a Xenon logo above the coin bucket location!

Also spent $12 on a sheet of PETG and cut a playfield protector. Got home and tried it out, a few things to tweak but for the most part it's perfect! Which means my playfield scan will make an excellent parent for an overlay.

MVIMG_20190221_215540 (resized).jpgIMG_20190221_225151 (resized).jpg

Thank for the kind words, all!

Took 10 minutes and cut out the missing pieces: forgot one bulb and two posts. Had to cut some more material by the apron, biff bars, inlanes and the 4 rollovers at the top. Note for next time is I should have measured to confirm. For the biff bars I just quickly eyeballed it where it was drilled into the artwork. Not bad to get 99% but it would be nice to have a perfect one. Fortunately the PETG cuts easy with scissors or wire cutters. It now lies flat!

I'll try printing an overlay, but I kinda like the patina of the worn playfield. Goes with the theme of this highly polished turd!

IMG_20190222_143747 (resized).jpg

Back at it!
Got authorized on the large format printer at the hackerspace and printed out the playfield scan on regular paper.
Spent 30 minutes cutting it out with an xacto.
Test fit it and it's perfect!!!!
The protector naturally fits perfect also.
Plan is to do a crappy job airbrushing the white, then put the playfield/protector on and start rebuilding.

IMG_20190311_201912 (resized).jpg

IMG_20190311_203715 (resized).jpg

MVIMG_20190311_215710 (resized).jpg

Also found this star post I 3D printed.
I like the style of the trashed original, but that's not ideal for 3D printing.

IMG_20190311_210600 (resized).jpg

30 more star posts coming up in translucent blue!
Just the first layer took nearly 20 minutes.
I'll check in the morning and see where it's at!

Capture (resized).JPG