Over the weekend I picked up a new project. I’m planning on running the Bally Stern OS from DickHamill on this fun shooting classic Stern.

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It’s going to need a lot of clean up. The cabinet is in rough shape and has a few dozen extra nails.

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The coin door is a little banged up, but not too bad. A little straightening out, wire brushing, and rustoleum hammered finish and it’ll be pretty decent.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen plastic coin mechs

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The playfield has seen better days. It has a ton of ground in dirt and some paint loss especially around the pops. The Mylar wouldn’t budge with freeze spray so I had to use a heat gun, and ended up losing most of the paint around the pops. One more item for touch ups.E65C45CE-0520-46D3-BF3D-306691855FC0 (resized).jpeg

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I guess someone didn’t like molex connectors. When I went to pick up the machine, I had to disconnect everything since someone got rid of the connectors and soldered every wire together.

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I spent some time fixing the odd solder job and added molex connectors so the head can be removed now.

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Now that I could detach part of the wiring harness, I tossed it into the ultrasonic cleaner. It’s amazing how much crud was on there.

I’m not sure what it is, but all the connectors for the plasma displays had a blue compound in one of the connectors. Maybe a dielectric for the high voltage pin?

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Spent some time touching up the playfield. I’m no artist, and it shows lol. I went to work with isopropyl alcohol and a magic eraser to get as much of the dirt out as I could.

I tried using an airbrush and createx paints, but I really struggled and need to practice. I ended up grabbing a brush and getting to work making touch ups. Anything is better than nothing on this one.

Before:
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After:
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Didn’t know Trident had a control to raise and lower paddles. It looks like this was used as part of a repair to the collar at some point. It seems the collar is also a different paint shade. Not sure what the original was.59C9FAC0-DA73-453E-A03A-1D10A39E0730 (resized).jpegAE7B077E-62FD-4EEF-B5EC-A79C6B3811F7 (resized).jpegF1A0A043-5D72-4FD5-9206-09AAEEB25EFA (resized).jpeg

It is also cool that the old distributor plate is still on there. I may keep that.074E3A73-4A02-49A5-B5A7-19C097F472BC (resized).jpeg

I’m surprised that the speaker is mounted differently than in my Meteor. I need to order a new speaker if I’m going to redo the sound for the new code.

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Used the oven to flatten out some of the badly warped plastics. I used some Naptha to get off what must have been security stickers that left a “VOID” residue and then some mild soapy water to clean them up a bit. They are still a little yellow, but much flatter and with minimal paint loss.

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Working on clear coating my playfield. I’m using Spray Max 2K. It goes on really nicely, except for where I was using a spray grip that shifted slightly and caught some over spray that dripped onto the playfield. I went a little thicker and it all leveled out. This is also my first time using this Home Right Spray Shelter, basically a $50 pop tent spray booth. It’s perfect for a playfield job, but it think it would be a hassle to spray a cabinet in there. I’m also using a cheep pair of led lights I got off Amazon for $30. These have been worth every penny to give good lighting and fit easily in the spray shelter.

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This playfield must have been made on a Monday. A lot of people complain about reproduction playfields and quality issues associated with them, but originals can be pretty terrible. Check out how the inserts and art work aren’t even close to lining up.

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To tackle some of the really bad alignment of inserts and key lines, I made some laser printed water slide decals with a wider line to help mask the issue. I also created decals for around the pops to help fix the bad paint job, add key lines, and add the suckers back on the tentacles. These were a bit of a challenge to get on because of the hole in the middle. I cut a smaller diameter hole in the decal before soaking it so that the weight of it would pull too much when trying to fix it to the playfield. Once it was dry I very carefully trimmed the excess with a new exacto knife blade.

I left the inserts in front of the spinners and on the left alone since they were in good shape and the thick circles would have clashed with the art. I followed it up with 2 coats of clear to lock it in.

If I were to do this again, I would have printed the circles around the pops on opaque white water slide transfer. The clear is great for black lines, but colors are translucent and some of the bad paint work still shows through.
Decals:
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Before:
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After:
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Last coat of clear is on. Next is sanding and buffing.
Edit: I messed it up… badly. Waiting on supplies to sand it down and start to fix it.

While I’m waiting on supplies it’s time to tackle the coin door and some of the other rusted parts. I used a wire brush and a wire wheel to get rid of any surface rust. I used rustoleum hammered finish on the coin door, and also a light coat on anything that had rusted to help protect it. The lockdown bar receiver cleaned up really nice for as rusty as it was

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Here is my DIY spreader bar. My head is pinched in about 1/4” in the middle, so hopefully this helps it bend back the other way after a while.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update. Coin door is all back together. Only as I got it fully back together did I notice the lock out relay is fried. I’ll have to order a new one.801607FD-3D3B-4662-BCD8-2DA20E5F725E (resized).jpeg

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So after I hosed up the last coat of clear on the playfield where I didn’t clean it properly after messing around, and had horrendous fish eyeing, I sanded it way back and have it prepped for when the new spray 2K cans show up this week

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Soldered up some new Wolffpac displays. I really like the kits. They take a little time to solder up, but if you like that sort of thing they are kinda fun and the price is great. I also like that you can order them In different colors and mix and match. I bought 2 blue, 2 green, and 1 white. I’m looking forward to trying them out.

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Added the new trim I got from Marco. Be very careful if you buy the new lift trim, it’s sharp! Take a file to the front edge so you don’t cut your fingers.

As for the back glass, I did some touch ups using createx transparent paints, with a light coat of white over the touch ups. Works nicely.

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Added Frank’s Button Battery Board and got rid of the on board battery on the MPU.

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Swapped out the old rectifier board for a new one. While I was at it I added a plug that is controlled by the main power switch. I’ll use this to power the speaker amp later.

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Soldered up a new RoyGBev board for the Arduino to run the Bally Stern OS software.

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I dragged my cabinet over to Jeff the PinballPimp to scan. If you have been looking for Trident stencils, you can reach out to him.

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Yes there are 4 slingshots total, and the upper 2 advance the bonus ladder while also changing what side the 1000 spinner bonus is on. Once the clear is done it’s going to be fast and a little crazy to play. Looking forward to it.

I’m going to have to pause my work for a week staring in a week when I have family in town, so the playfield will get some extra cure time before fine sanding and cabinet stenciling.

I’m not sure I buy into that. There is something with a grease like consistency packed into the socket that was oozing out.

*Edit - I was wrong. I eventually found it in more spots where it was from the green wires*

Getting ready to strip down the cabinet and fixed the banged up corner with some resin. This is my new favorite way to fix corners.

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Sanded and primed the cabinets. Getting them ready to sand down again and coat it with grain filler

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I wanted to make sure I got the serial number captured before it’s lost for good

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Another day, another coat of primer. I used the remains of a can of primer to go over the insert so the back box is nice and bright.

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I’m mechanical engineer by trade, so working on pins is fun for me. This is the third machine so have worked on. The other two are on here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1965-williams-big-chief-restoration
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-meteor-20201

Made new rails for the playfield to replace the raggedy vinyl wrapped ones and fit. Cot of primer on them.

A lot of people use white oak to make theirs because of the hardness, but I have had good luck with poplar. You can find it in almost the right size so you just need to rip it to the right height.

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First light coat of recycling bin blue

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Final coat on the playfield is done and sanded. Not bad for my first playfield clear coat. There are a couple dimples, but otherwise it turned out well. I’ll have to give it some time before I buff it with novus 2 and wax it.

The only good thing about my mess up earlier is that the undercoat was sanded and left to cure for a week before the final top coat, so it should cut the remaining cure time some. Also, I see every guide telling you to wet sand with a block to flatten it out. I did that in between early coats. Before the last coat, and after, I gently used my 5” random orbital sander with wet sand paper. It saved my arms a lot of work, and looks to have worked well.

Before: (you can see some of the dust that settled into the surface, and some orange peel. I don’t know how you avoid that with a rattle can)D6195BF3-48A9-4503-BD67-E837EE56D196 (resized).jpeg

After Sanding (800-1000-1500-2000-3000-4000-5000-7500-10000)9A21CB8D-1899-48AC-9A3F-FF0FC2CE846C (resized).jpeg

Second coat of recycling bin blue

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That is what I have used in the past and have had good luck with it. I try to stay with the same paint all the way through the process to help ensure good adhesion (i.e. all rustoleum or all krylon). I know there are certain paints that don’t work well with the Oracal Oramask paint stencil material and can cause it to bubble, so I try to stick with what I know works if I don’t have material handy to test with.

Sure, that would be great.

As far as I can tell the body of the monster is what appears to be close to Rustoleum Gloss Berry Pink (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Painter-s-Touch-2X-12-oz-Gloss-Berry-Pink-General-Purpose-Spray-Paint-334025/307244840)

The guy seems to be pretty close to Spa blue by looking at mock ups. (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Painter-s-Touch-2X-12-oz-Gloss-Spa-Blue-General-Purpose-Spray-Paint-334045/307244843)

However, if I want the guy on the side of the cab to match the playfield and back glass it is closer to vintage teal (https://www.maxwarehouse.com/products/rust-oleum-painters-touch-satin-vintage-teal-spray-paint-12-oz)

Looking at the white rails next to the playfield, it really brings out how yellowed it has gotten over the years. I think I’m going to repaint the new rails another color. I lined up some samples with purple, navy, bright blue, and black to see if any of them jump out at me.

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