(Topic ID: 161259)
Linked Games
Old Chicago
Bally, 1976
Topic Gallery
Battle Creek, MI
Quoted from Dayhuff:Finally got around to setting up my OC. Plugged it in and it even works great. Took some quick pics before I start the cleaning process.
John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, Mi.
269-979-3836
Looks real shweet. Nice deep colors on your backglass.
I was just playing mine for an hour. It's gotta be one of the biggest ass-kickers out there. Hence my previous post on how do you light the top saucer for 5K? It's so brutal I don't think I ever spelled OLDCHICAGO to light it and find out...
Got my OC mobster stencil kit today from Pinball Dreams in Germany.
Well packaged and arrived in good shape.Pinball Dreams.
Hope to get it painted this summer.
Quoted from dasvis:Getting close on first test run on my OC project.... 3 pop bumpers left to rebuild..........
All ready to go, but decided to detail the playfield before testing - ordered all new posts (most of mine were brittle & cracked).
My wood siderails were faded badly, pulled those & will paint with 283188 Rust-oleum satin Magenta. While those were out, I cleaned the playfield with Novus 2 & gave it a good waxing.
Oh, I'm missing one of the wire ball guides in the center - ordered some .094 stainless wire & a bending jig from Marco so I can fab one up. Looks pretty easy. Coming along -------
Damn PPS for their BS "licensing" fees on repro Bally & Williams repros. I really need a nice decal set for my apron.
Anybody looking to buy one of these?
Bad - a small amount of water damage in the playfield outlanes. Average, faded cab.
Good- everything else. Mint backglass, nice playfield with bright colors. Probably works as it was fine when placed into storage.
$450 with a set of brand new legs in NYC. Last shopped a decade ago so really clean but could use a new set of rubber.
Quoted from dasvis:Leg question - Does OC use regular 28-1/2" non-ribbed grey legs?
don't they all? I got chrome 28.5s as I prefer them but I think stock was grey.
OC_alive_(resized).JPG
alive_(resized).png
After months of countless hours rebuilding all of the mechanicals, replacing all of the crappy Bally light sockets & fuse holders - it lives. No major problems or smoke released - score reels reset, scores as it should, over the top buzzer works, extra ball & special works, knocker works, & no flickering/dim bulbs. Yeah, there's some adjustments that need attending to, but that was expected.
Drops work, but don't stay latched up every time & has a dead 1,000's chime, nothing that will take too much time to fix.
Now I'm tearing it back down for a cabinet paint job......... this won't take too long (I hope), no damn Gottlieb webbing to mess with.
Quoted from embryonjohn:I've also seen that the (just above the flippers) 2 1/8 inch white lane guides on some machines are 1 sided with the plastic side on the backside leaving the rubber ring (and all the extra bounce it would add) exposed near the flippers. I'd like to find out which is correct, but I don't think I could take anymore action near the flippers with the rubber exposed.
The double sided guides are correct, from the Bally manual it shows # C-693-5 guides used on these, those are the 1-1/2" white double sided ones. The two outer guides up top are C-694-5, 1-1/2" white single sided & the top center is a C-693-5 double sided.
I do have a question on where all of the red ribbed posts are supposed to go, as I have looked at a lot of OC playfield photos & they are all different. I do know that the solid red post goes on the outer spinner support. It was Greg Kmieg, the designer's "signature" on pins he made.
http://www.jeff-z.com/pinball/redpost/redpost.html
Quoted from dasvis:After months of countless hours rebuilding all of the mechanicals, replacing all of the crappy Bally light sockets & fuse holders - it lives. No major problems or smoke released - score reels reset, scores as it should, over the top buzzer works, extra ball & special works, knocker works, & no flickering/dim bulbs. Yeah, there's some adjustments that need attending to, but that was expected.
Drops work, but don't stay latched up every time & has a dead 1,000's chime, nothing that will take too much time to fix.
Now I'm tearing it back down for a cabinet paint job......... this won't take too long (I hope), no damn Gottlieb webbing to mess with.
So glad you're taking the time to do it right. My family of four originally wrote off my OC as an outdated EM, then one night we played 4 player... They couldn't believe how fast the game is and how much perfection it demands from each player just to stay alive: there's no clearing aside shots to catch your breath cause if you do you serve it right up the the pops and down the drain it goes. I now catch them playing it all alone.
I'll take a photo of where my red posts were originally in the AM
Quoted from embryonjohn:So glad you're taking the time to do it right. My family of four originally wrote off my OC as an outdated EM, then one night we played 4 player... They couldn't believe how fast the game is and how much perfection it demands from each player just to stay alive: there's no clearing aside shots to catch your breath cause if you do you serve it right up the the pops and down the drain it goes. I now catch them playing it all alone.
Always a treat to see this happen. That's why I love to do shows... really fun to see a well-tuned EM hooking new players who otherwise didn't expect it. 
I only have one red post on my machine. How many should it have? I just purchased a machine that is in really nice condition. It was in storage for 35+ years and almost started and played a full game right out of the truck.
I have a buzzer inside the cabinet, but i'm not sure when it should sound or how to test it. Any hints?
OC is a great machine. I PM'd about the cabinet stencils as they look great. The side art is the only issue with my game aside from some discolored and cracked posts.
The single solid red post should be on the right side of the spinner. In looking at the OC flyer, it shows no red ribbed posts used at all, just the single solid red on the spinner - but I have seen photos of several pins (mine included) that have several red ribbed posts installed along with the plain white. I think that there may have been a change from early production to later production in the type of posts used.
The buzzer is the "over the top" feature, which sounds when you roll the pin over 100,000. If you look closely at the top center of the backglass there is also a 100,000 point light that will illuminate for each player if they go "over the top"
I think the cracked posts are common, as about 2/3 of my white posts were broken... the red ribbed posts were all oddly perfect.
Greg Kmiec who is the designer of the OC game would put a single red post on all the games he designed. This was his way of saying "I designed this game" when showing it to friends.
John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI.
269-979-3836
Quoted from Dayhuff:Greg Kmiec who is the designer of the OC game would put a single red post on all the games he designed. This was his way of saying "I designed this game" when showing it to friends.
John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI.
269-979-3836
yes, I noted this in post #60 above ... another bit of useless pinball trivia.
What's the deal with those craked posts. I've rehabbed plenty of pinball machines that had white posts and none of them had splitting right down the middle like OC did. It was almost uniform in the way they all split. They must of been running through a bad batch or something when they made OC.
I do like the occasional red post thrown in the mix as mine had 4 in various places. Kinda looks like the red light district
I had one for a few years, I enjoyed it very fun to play. When it came time to sell it what a pain it was. I never had so much trouble selling a pin, the Condition was very good and priced to sell ( 650 ) it took me 5 weeks and finally it was sold it for 500 to an out of state buyer. not much love or like for OC in the "D"
My 2c is it is fun to play and hard to unload.
Brian
My chromed parts for this game come in Tuesday.
Game is at CPR artist Lance Foster's home for repainting with Pinball Dreams OC Mobster decal set.
Changing up a few colors from what Pinball Dreams did.
Dillinger will be in gray and we might change the headlight colors.
I am open to any color suggestions?
They advised me I have the only one in the US. Another Pinsider has said they have one and I would like to see a pic of it.
I will be posting pictures as the job moves along.
Funny thing this is the 2nd time repainting it, once I did it when I got it and now a professional job with the Mobster version.
Quoted from dasvis:.... Just a little cabinet fading, I think I can touch that up.
An engineer's hammer?
oh boy, .....
Interesting about the Greg Kimec design red post thing. It's funny, I was just looking this guy up the other day in connection to my Spy Hunter, with it's unusual lower end, and how OC also has an unusual bottom layout. Anyway, I did not notice the red post until you guys mentioned it, and sure enough mine is there right where it's supposed to be. I looked on that guys site, and he has a nice collection pics of people's red posts. I would like to find his signature post on my SH, but so far I have not found any unusual, or contrasting posts for this game. I noticed there was someone elses name on the design, maybe this was at the end of his design career, and he was training the new guy in and decided not to use it since he was involved? There are a few other games that Kimec did that the guy doesn't have pictures for. I have an Amigo back there in my stack of old EMs.. I might dig through and see if it's there. I might also have it on my phone too- I think I'll look through pictures of my games before I start moving and unpacking games just to see a red post. Heh.
--*--
Those stencils for the side of the game are awesome! Too bad my games are all stuffed in here like sardines, and you can't really see the sides of most of the games. Tsk. If nothing else though, I'd love to get at least the stencil part for the front- I love that purple/Yellow/Black interlaced thing. Really sharp.
I have Love for my OC! It was my very 3rd pinball machine ever, and my first one this Collection around!!
-dPinball
Quoted from embryonjohn:Dialed in it's crazy fast, has a killa spinna, drops, pops (5 total) replacing slings and oh, did I mention the booooobs...
What a badass game. I saw a backglass to this game hanging up at our Old Chigago pizza place haha it was mint.
1 week later
Quoted from dasvis:OC head totally stripped, ready for spot fill, sanding & base coat this weekend.
Wow!
It's on now
Quoted from pinball_faz:I love the art, I've never been able to play one.
Drop targets, spinner and kick-out holes... what's not to love?!?
faz
The artwork. Particularly the dominant pastel colors. I've never cared for them personally, but to each his own.
OC_right_side_pre-strip_(Medium)_(resized).JPGOC_right_side_stripped_(Medium)_(resized).JPG
Old Chicago repaint, coming along...
Don't know why anyone would use a sander for the initial paint removal. This Jasco product works fantastic.
First pass I scrape old paint off with a wide putty knife, second pass #3 steel wool. Does a really nice job.
Though a bit stinky. Rubber gloves & eye protection required!
Quoted from dasvis:Used for tapping out the carriage bolts around the coin door frame....
I need a bolt driver for theese bolts. Anyone remembers the size?
1 month later
Quoted from bdPinball:Can't wait to see your final panted product!
-Brian
It's coming along slowly. Base coat on head is done, cabinet needs one final basecoat.
I have a set of Pinball Pimp's stencils laying out flat on the floor under a couple of pins of my office to prep them for use.
Another week or so I'm hoping to have it all painted. --- pics to follow!
I am going to part with my Old Chicago and will be putting an ad up within the week. Shopped playfield with LED's, very good plastics, very nice playfield but has a slight mechanical issue with bonus stepper. Cabinet is average and a couple scratches on the backglass but no bubbling or peeling. Thinking about $ 700. Prefer not to ship. Located north of Cinci, OH. PM if interested.
SO I guess this is the closest thing to an OC club? I just picked one up and finished a basic shop job, and have a few questions if anyone can help:
1) Which way is the spinner supposed to face? Facing the player, is the red arrow pointing down? Mine is this way, as are pics I've looked at... and the the weight bias seems to favor this... but the spinner leans with the bottom edge *toward* the ball... I thought they are supposed to lean so that the bottom edge faces *away*?
2) Mine has #455 flashers installed under the cocktail girl plastics (upper arch). Is this original? I like the effect.
3) Speaking of flashers... the backglass needs some action. I was thinking of putting flashers behind the word "CHICAGO" and maybe in the spots where bulbs are directly behind marquees on the buildings. Any reason I shouldn't try this?
4) How sensitive should the drop targets be? I've had what looked like a few solid strikes, but they don't always seem to drop. Manually checking them doesn't show anything amiss. But this is my first Bally of the era, so maybe that's how they are?
Game is wicked brutal... can never quite tell what's going to happen with those pops where they are. But I love the spinner shot - might be my favorite on of the games I own. Especially if it gets caught in the pops cuz then you get some real machine-gun action sounds, which is quite apropo 
Quoted from dasvis:It's coming along slowly. Base coat on head is done, cabinet needs one final basecoat.
I have a set of Pinball Pimp's stencils laying out flat on the floor under a couple of pins of my office to prep them for use.
Another week or so I'm hoping to have it all painted. --- pics to follow!
Old Chicago bare canvas, ready for stencil work.
LH head 1 (resized).JPGLH HEAD 2 (resized).JPGLH HEAD 3 (resized).JPG
Left side of head, 2nd color....
Unmasked!
Pinball pimp I love you! These were hands down the best stencils I have ever used.
The alignment holes were pure genius. Even I got it to look good. The masking adhesive was as advertised, not too strong - just enough to hold the stencil in place & pulled off easily when done.
Last cabinet I used the god awful Twisted pin stencils, the adhesive was so strong that I thought it was going to pull up the base coat.
Quoted from dasvis:Left side of head, 2nd color....
Unmasked!
Outstanding
Looking forward to seeing it done
Such a good game, first time I ever saw one at this expo I remembered seeing it somewhere and I saw it in the classic horror movie basket case and at an old Chicago restaurant! 
Decided that my siderails were too nasty looking to put on a freshly painted cabinet, so I ordered a new repro set from Pinball life. Tracking shows Monday 10/3 delivery, so I should have it all back together by next weekend.
The pin came with a set of incorrect chrome legs, so I "borrowed" the correct painted non-ribbed legs off of my beater Mr & Mrs Pacman & stripped them bare with Jasco paint remover - then gave them an overnight bath in Evaporust. Repainted with some matching (or at least pretty close) metallic dark grey Rustoleum. Turned out fantastic!
Photos to follow as soon as it's assembled.
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