Jacksonville, FL
Nice work.
(Topic ID: 67117)
Linked Games
Time Warp
Williams, 1979
Topic Gallery
Quoted from RDM:Damn fine looking work Jeff, that's really impressive.
How do you plan printing/mounting the digitally repaired back glass?
Thanks RDM. I appreciate the kudos. It's a labor of love 
I have a local print shop that I work with that does really nice work. This will be vinyl print on glass. I have had them do other back glasses for me. When back lit the colors are not quite as good as a screen print, but the cost trade off more than makes up for the slight difference. Having this screen printed would be cost prohibitive for a single glass.
Jeff
Winnipeg, MB
Hi Jeff,
First of all, great work and thanks for documenting g it on this thread! I have a few questions for you, though:
Any chance you could provide comparison photos of the original and reproduction backglasses in a lit and unlit state? Also, how much does the bg print run you? ...and by vinyl print, did you mean it is printed on a clear vinyl and adhered to a glass or the ink is shot directly onto the glass?
Keep up the stellar work!
Ryan
Great thread. You're doing an awesome job. Thanks for taking the time to share. I love these restorstion threads.
Mike
Sydney
Quoted from RDM:How do you plan printing/mounting the digitally repaired back glass?
Yeah. Not because I have a trashed backglass on mine or anything. Just curious. That's it. Hope yours comes out well. Looks good so far.
Quoted from RyanClaytor:Hi Jeff,
First of all, great work and thanks for documenting g it on this thread! I have a few questions for you, though:
Any chance you could provide comparison photos of the original and reproduction backglasses in a lit and unlit state? Also, how much does the bg print run you? ...and by vinyl print, did you mean it is printed on a clear vinyl and adhered to a glass or the ink is shot directly onto the glass?
Keep up the stellar work!
Ryan
Thanks Ryan. It's always nice to see folks appreciate the amount of work and attention to detail that goes into something like this.
I would be happy to post photos of the original and reproduction glass when I get it done (both lit and unlit). I'm still a few weeks away from getting the file ready to be printed. I only get an hour or two here and there to work on it in the evenings after work. The sign shop I use prints to the vinyl which is then adhered to the glass. They do very nice work and the end result is quite impressive.
Jeff
Awesome work Jeff! I love your tutorials.
If you are recreating the backglass, have you considered separating the art to layers to give it some depth? Kinda like they did on this Space Shuttle Backglass http://www.edcheung.com/album/album06/Pinball/ss_backglass.htm ? It may give a cool effect on that backglass.
Quoted from Dante:Awesome work Jeff! I love your tutorials.
If you are recreating the backglass, have you considered separating the art to layers to give it some depth? Kinda like they did on this Space Shuttle Backglass http://www.edcheung.com/album/album06/Pinball/ss_backglass.htm ? It may give a cool effect on that backglass.
Thanks Dante. I enjoy writing them
Each color is on its own layer, so theoretically, I could have screens created and a full silk screen could be done. At last count I think there are 15 or so colors on this backglass. That's a lot of screens or layered prints that I would have to put together. I have never done a screen print before, so I can't say with certainty that the file I am creating would be ready to create screens (It would be a miracle if no changes were necessary). It's rather difficult trying to determine if one color is layered below or on top of another with this many colors (i.e. 4 shades of green, 2 yellow, 3 red, etc. etc.). As you can imagine, a glass like this can be a tall task. It might be interesting to try the layered prints on a smaller scale and see how it would work... I'll have to think about that one. Thanks for the suggestion.
Jeff
Quoted from JeffHecht:Thanks Ryan. It's always nice to see folks appreciate the amount of work and attention to detail that goes into something like this.
For sure! I documented the process of restoring my Whirlwind topper and, it's true, not a quick task. (If you're interested: http://www.elephanteater.com/8088 ) So, in short, I DO appreciate what you're doing here, Jeff. 
Quoted from Dante:Awesome work Jeff! I love your tutorials.
Quoted from JeffHecht:Thanks Dante. I enjoy writing them
Wait...there are MORE Jeff tutorials? I gotta look into this.
Quoted from Dante:If you are recreating the backglass, have you considered separating the art to layers to give it some depth? Kinda like they did on this Space Shuttle Backglass http://www.edcheung.com/album/album06/Pinball/ss_backglass.htm ? It may give a cool effect on that backglass.
Bookmarked for reading after work! 
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
www.ElephantEater.com
Quoted from RyanClaytor:For sure! I documented the process of restoring my Whirlwind topper and, it's true, not a quick task. (If you're interested: http://www.elephanteater.com/8088 ) So, in short, I DO appreciate what you're doing here
Yes, and thank you too. I used your tutorial for my WW topper and had great success!
Quoted from RyanClaytor:Wait...there are MORE Jeff tutorials? I gotta look into this
Yes, check out Jeff's awesome Strikes & Spares restoration and his guide to recreating plastics.
Quoted from RyanClaytor:For sure! I documented the process of restoring my Whirlwind topper and, it's true, not a quick task. (If you're interested: http://www.elephanteater.com/8088 ) So, in short, I DO appreciate what you're doing here, Jeff.
Wonderful restoration of the cloud and great documentation to go along with it! I love to see this kind of stuff. Great job!
Jeff
Quoted from Dante:Yes, and thank you too. I used your tutorial for my WW topper and had great success!
Oh, no way! I totally thought I was just lobbing that tutorial into cyberspace only for my own edification. I'm so happy to hear that it helped out another hobbyist. 
You made my night, Dante.
Quoted from JeffHecht:Wonderful restoration of the cloud and great documentation to go along with it! I love to see this kind of stuff. Great job!
Thanks a lot, Jeff. I wish I had the time and know-how to do more of this restoration stuff. I'm really enjoying your posts, though, and feel like I'm learning a lot by reading through your thread. I've also looked-up and favorited a few of your others so that I can read through them in the evenings. Keep it up!
In other news, I got an airbrush kit as an early Xmas present, and just picked up my first EM (Jubilee: http://www.elephanteater.com/9568 ) this past weekend. BG and PF are pretty immaculate, but the cab could definitely use some work. I think that's the next major restore I'll do (likely in the summertime), so I'll be sure to document that process.
Selfishly awaiting more updates,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
http://www.ElephantEater.com
I'm not saying you're wrong on the number of colors, but some of them my just be overlapping colors that appear as a new one. Like the yellow overlapping green in the original screened inks could make a yellow-green. Either way, if you're having it printed the way you're planning, treating them as separate colors is probably the way to go.
Quoted from winteriscoming:I'm not saying you're wrong on the number of colors, but some of them my just be overlapping colors that appear as a new one. Like the yellow overlapping green in the original screened inks could make a yellow-green. Either way, if you're having it printed the way you're planning, treating them as separate colors is probably the way to go.
I don't disagree. I have been pouring over this back glass for a few weeks vectorizing the artwork. I currently am up to 10 colors, only one of which looks like it's a combination of two different colors (green and yellow to create a yellow-green color). Everything else appears to be a discrete color. I'm treating just about everything as a discrete color.
Jeff
Wow, Jeff - another great job!
How would you rate this one as far a difficulty goes? Was this more difficult than the Strikes n Spares? Which was more fun?
I'm definitely going to stop using the word "restore" for any on the work I've done!
Quoted from Grossie:Wow, Jeff - another great job!
How would you rate this one as far a difficulty goes? Was this more difficult than the Strikes n Spares? Which was more fun?
I'm definitely going to stop using the word "restore" for any on the work I've done!
Heh... Thanks Bob.
Strikes and Spares was a much more difficult playfield (I did the whole PF), but I was able to find a NOS back glass so that part was much easier. S&S worked when I got it, Time Warp was mostly dead. Debugging the electronics really wasn't too difficult, but in that aspect, it was more difficult. Time Warp was a complete cabinet repaint/stencil, where the S&S cabinet just needed some touch up. Overall, they were both quite enjoyable. Not sure which one I enjoyed more since bringing these things back to "new" status is quite gratifying
Jeff
Sana'a
1 week later
This is really outstanding work. I can appreciate all the hours that went into the artwork for the backglass. I was just curious how you handle getting the score display windows lined up correctly when they are adhering the new vinyl to the glass? That's the kind of thing you almost need the machine there to check your score windows before you put it onto the glass for good, or maybe you are just basing everything measurement wise off the old glass. Are you sandwiching this between two thinner pieces of glass or just going with a single piece of 1/8"? I am working on something similar for another game and am trying to work out some of the details.
That's kind of what I was wondering about as well.Thats why I was thinking of sandwiching mine between two pieces of thinner glass.That way you have some protection on the inside.Some of those Williams games have score display wiring and stuff rubbing around on the inside of the glass.
The vinyl prints are actually quite durable, so I don't anticipate any problems with a lift channel. I don't sandwich the print between layers of glass... It's just a multi layer vinyl print adhered directly to the glass (I have others that I have done). As far as the score windows go, you are correct, I base the dimensions on the existing glass. Photoshop makes this very easy to do and so far, I haven't had any problems. I'll post detailed pictures of the finished product both out of the machine and installed in the machine when I get it back from the print shop.
Jeff
Again, really great work with this, Jeff! Your time, effort, and attention to detail are readily apparent.
Quoted from JeffHecht:I'll post detailed pictures of the finished product both out of the machine and installed in the machine when I get it back from the print shop.
Anxiously awaiting,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
http://www.ElephantEater.com
3 weeks later
I made a trip over to the print shop yesterday to proof the print.... I'm quite happy with the way this is turning out. Here is a shot of the print coming off of the printer that I took with my phone. You will see that it is printed in reverse. This is printed on clear vinyl and will be adhered to the glass so that it looks correct when viewed from the front. After this is applied, a white diffusion layer will be laid down, followed by a final black layer which is the light mask.
The smaller print of the BG coming off of the printer is one they are doing to put in a light box in their shop for display purposes
I'll take comparison shots of the original and the reproduction glass and post them when I have everything back from the print shop.
Jeff
So glad to see another update on this thread.
Following closely and admiring your work, Jeff!
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
http://www.ElephantEater.com
Hi Jeff,
has you made the stencils for the cabinet by your own?
Can you send me the PDF or something else?
I will start to maky my Time Warp Cabinet and Backbox in 2 or 3 month.
Hi Jeff,
Was poking through this thread again and I started to wonder about your process for creating the cabinet stencils. Is that documented in any of your other restoration threads? If not, would you mind talking about it a bit?
Thanks,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
http://www.ElephantEater.com
Ok... Here are the pics of the back glass. Please keep in mind that this isn't a screen print. It's a vinyl print applied to glass, so the colors aren't as "punchy" as a screen print.... It's also about 1/10th the production cost of a screen print. I'm willing to deal with the trade off. The nice thing is that if the printing technology improves, I have the vectorized artwork
Original glass. Look closely and you will see that much of the yellow and red is missing. There are also gobs of electrical tape on the back of the glass to outline the score windows. If it comes off, so does all of the ink under it.
DSC_6107.jpg
Vinyl print replacement
DSC_6105.jpg
Light mask of vinyl print
DSC_6106.jpg
Glass in the game
DSC_6109.jpg
Jeff
Quoted from lash:Hi Jeff,
has you made the stencils for the cabinet by your own?
Can you send me the PDF or something else?
I will start to maky my Time Warp Cabinet and Backbox in 2 or 3 month.
I made the stencils with a roll of clear acetate film and a hobby knife (x-acto) before filling and sanding the cabinet. It would be rather easy to take pictures of the cabinet and make vectorized versions of the artwork and have stencils made this way. In fact, when I restored my Embryon machine, this is exactly what I did. I found the whole process of making the cabinet stencils with the acetate much easier than reproducing them in the computer first.
Jeff
Quoted from vid1900:Really excellent work Jeff !
How hard was it to get the air bubbles out of the glass/vinyl ?
Thanks Vid. I didn't put the vinyl print on the the glass. This was done by the sign shop. I asked them how they do it and they run the glass and print through a huge rolling laminator. The gentleman at the print shop indicated that it wouldn't be too difficult to apply this print to glass myself... not sure I'm that adventurous
Jeff
Interesting, this big roller.
I wonder how it would look printed on standard translight material and then the masking print behind it? I always see sign shops trying to sell their backlit film signage and the colors really pop, except the black is not black enough (hence the masking idea).
Quoted from JeffHecht:Thanks Vid. I didn't put the vinyl print on the the glass. This was done by the sign shop. I asked them how they do it and they run the glass and print through a huge rolling laminator. The gentleman at the print shop indicated that it wouldn't be too difficult to apply this print to glass myself... not sure I'm that adventurous
Jeff
This thread is insane thanks Jeff for keeping us posted. I want an airbrush now.
1 week later
Jeff,
This is absolutely stunning. Thanks so much for taking us along on the ride. I've certainly learned a lot on the way. Here's hoping you and I get to meet face to face in a couple months. *fingers crossed* In the meantime, I look forward to your next restoration thread, and please take a moment to bask in the glory of your NEW Time Warp.
Take care,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
www.ElephantEater.com
I'm pretty surprised that I'm the only person aside from Vid who has commented on this completed work of art. Just thought I'd bump this thread in order to hopefully put some more eyes on Jeff's attention to detail, educational documentation, and amazing craftsmanship. At the end of the day, if there were kudos coming from a single pinsider, Vid is THE person I would want to see on my thread. I'd consider that a win, Jeff.
Bump,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
http://www.ElephantEater.com
That has got to be the nicest Time Warp in existence. Props for restoring a title that doesn't get much love.
Parker
6 years later
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