This project was just a cabinet restoration for a Twilight Zone that wasn’t in too bad of shape. It belongs to a fellow pinsider that had spent time upgrading some boards and making sure the mechanics played perfectly. Now he wanted the cabinet improved to complete the package. Already installed was a ColorDMD, PinSound board, Invisiglass, Flipper Fidelity speakers, and some tasteful mods and leds. Solid foundation to start, now it’s time for new decals and blacked out trim.
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New Decals arrived from PPS, they look great next to the original faded cabinet.
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The tear down begins….
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The only structural issue with the cab was this minor separation at the back, just some basic wood glue to fix.
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Sanding all done, onto the bondo stage…
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Taping up for primer and paint:
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Moving onto the backbox…
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It’s always surprising to find decals where you’d expect just paint, like on top of the backbox. Instead of stripping it first with a heavy duty sander, I’ll use a heat gun...then break out the sander with some lighter grade 220 grit. This cuts down on ripping open the grain of the wood when sanding off the decals.
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The frame of the backbox that faces the player was really jacked-up, even the owner specifically asked, “Can you do something about that?”, so I tried to pay special attention it. The layers of bondo helped create a much smoother finish in the end.
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New skid rails and more time in the do-it-yourself paint booth…
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Time to silkscreen the backbox, using Nazdar Yellow and some McLogan Graphic Press Wash to clean to screen. The press wash is some strong stuff, specifically meant to work with the screening ink.
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I’ve always done dry decal installs, but the last couple I’ve switched to using the wet method on just the front. It makes aligning the start button hole and centering everything else much easier. Also when using Rapid Tac, the dry time isn’t very long (I’m able to trim the edges just about an hour or so later).
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Decals are all done, now onto installing the ground braid, cleaning up the mounting plate, sanding and repainting the light board, polishing the speaker panel, and refurbishing the transformer.
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The backbox is complete and the ‘frame facing the player’ is smoother than before (not perfect, but much better).
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More details to wrap-up, cabinet protectors, new black tubing for the wiring harnesses, new serial number labels and laminated paperwork.
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Ready to drop the playfield back into the cabinet and complete the assembly:
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Finally Done!
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If Bally/Williams had a Twilight Zone premium, I’d think it would have some of the things this one does: Black Trim, ColorDMD, PinSound Board, Flipper Fidelity speakers, and Invisiglass.
Not bad for an 25 year old machine, hopefully now it will last another 25.
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If you made it this far, thanks for viewing!

Thanks all, it took about 2 months. That's about as fast as my work schedule and family time will allow. I'm just a guy in a garage, working on them one at a time. Nothing like the speed of the top shelf pros (thinking of HEP, Kelly, & McCune).