Richmond, KY
I am in need of a replacement Twilight Zone cabinet. Virtuapin is 16 weeks out.
Who else besides them has replacement cabinets?
(Topic ID: 332588)
Quoted from rx3:I too am looking for someone. I had a nightmare experience with Virtuapin and won't use them again. Has anyone used letsplaypinball.com?
Let’s play pinball =Out of business.
Quoted from ForceFlow:Does he have a website? Or facebook page?
Was never able to find something for him. I just know he sells replacement backboard panels and dmd/speaker panels on eBay
Quoted from rx3:I too am looking for someone. I had a nightmare experience with Virtuapin and won't use them again. Has anyone used letsplaypinball.com?
I received pm asking about my experience. Instead of having to answer more pm's, I'm just going to post it here. I know it's frowned on, but I don't think it's a big deal sharing my experience.
So, a few years ago I ordered a MB full cabinet with decals, paint and silkscreen on backbox. Upon receiving it, my back glass and back box trim didn't fit. Too big. After numerous emails and pictures, Paul told me it's a tight fit and I just needed to work it in. There was no way it was going to fit, as the backbox appeared to be made too short by 1/8". I measured it several times and confirmed it. In addition, the silkscreen on the back had a smudge in the lettering. Paul told me a slight imperfection in silkscreen is normal. I personally have silkscreened about 6 backboxes and never had a smudge or imperfection. I'm a novice working in my garage. He's a professional.
In order to finish my MB, I had to have a glass shop make me a smaller back glass and I had to cut down all my trim, which cost me extra money. It finally fit, but was a little wonky. I kept complaining to Paul and he finally agreed to have me ship the back box back to him so he can check it out. He sent me a new back box which immediately fit perfect with the correct size trim and back glass. No explanation from him and I was still out the cost of new trim. I pressed him when he finally admitted they made me a WPC backbox, which is smaller than the WPC95. He took the whole matter nonchalantly while I went through months of waiting, extra work, extra costs and frustration for my cabinet. Never offered an apology, discount on next cabinet nor compensation for my extra costs. I know he's not required to do that, but if I owned a company and wronged a customer like this, I would be so apologetic and offer some compensation. To this day I'm super pissed and yes, I know, I should get over it now.
His company seems to be doing very well, so he must be doing something right. Maybe I just had bad luck, or maybe others are hesitant to post their bad experiences because he has a good reputation here.
Edit: Forgot to add that when I was attaching the legs to the cabinet, I could feel the wood was definitely softer than oem. The bolts never tightened like oem as I could feel the wood compressing or caving in (for lack of a better word).
Quoted from ForceFlow:Does he have a website? Or facebook page?
Search for his name in some of the pinball FB groups, he'll pop up......
Quoted from rx3:I received pm asking about my experience. Instead of having to answer more pm's, I'm just going to post it here. I know it's frowned on, but I don't think it's a big deal sharing my experience.
So, a few years ago I ordered a MB full cabinet with decals, paint and silkscreen on backbox. Upon receiving it, my back glass and back box trim didn't fit. Too big. After numerous emails and pictures, Paul told me it's a tight fit and I just needed to work it in. There was no way it was going to fit, as the backbox appeared to be made too short by 1/8". I measured it several times and confirmed it. In addition, the silkscreen on the back had a smudge in the lettering. Paul told me a slight imperfection in silkscreen is normal. I personally have silkscreened about 6 backboxes and never had a smudge or imperfection. I'm a novice working in my garage. He's a professional.
In order to finish my MB, I had to have a glass shop make me a smaller back glass and I had to cut down all my trim, which cost me extra money. It finally fit, but was a little wonky. I kept complaining to Paul and he finally agreed to have me ship the back box back to him so he can check it out. He sent me a new back box which immediately fit perfect with the correct size trim and back glass. No explanation from him and I was still out the cost of new trim. I pressed him when he finally admitted they made me a WPC backbox, which is smaller than the WPC95. He took the whole matter nonchalantly while I went through months of waiting, extra work, extra costs and frustration for my cabinet. Never offered an apology, discount on next cabinet nor compensation for my extra costs. I know he's not required to do that, but if I owned a company and wronged a customer like this, I would be so apologetic and offer some compensation. To this day I'm super pissed and yes, I know, I should get over it now.
His company seems to be doing very well, so he must be doing something right. Maybe I just had bad luck, or maybe others are hesitant to post their bad experiences because he has a good reputation here.
Thanks for sharing.
Quoted from AUKraut:Search for his name in some of the pinball FB groups, he'll pop up......
I did. Most of the results are people saying to just search for him. 
Quoted from ForceFlow:I did. Most of the results are people saying to just search for him.
At this point are we sure he exists?
Quoted from Dan_Halen:At this point are we sure he exists?
I can confirm he exists at least on eBay he does
Quoted from rx3:I received pm asking about my experience. Instead of having to answer more pm's, I'm just going to post it here. I know it's frowned on, but I don't think it's a big deal sharing my experience.
So, a few years ago I ordered a MB full cabinet with decals, paint and silkscreen on backbox. Upon receiving it, my back glass and back box trim didn't fit. Too big. After numerous emails and pictures, Paul told me it's a tight fit and I just needed to work it in. There was no way it was going to fit, as the backbox appeared to be made too short by 1/8". I measured it several times and confirmed it. In addition, the silkscreen on the back had a smudge in the lettering. Paul told me a slight imperfection in silkscreen is normal. I personally have silkscreened about 6 backboxes and never had a smudge or imperfection. I'm a novice working in my garage. He's a professional.
In order to finish my MB, I had to have a glass shop make me a smaller back glass and I had to cut down all my trim, which cost me extra money. It finally fit, but was a little wonky. I kept complaining to Paul and he finally agreed to have me ship the back box back to him so he can check it out. He sent me a new back box which immediately fit perfect with the correct size trim and back glass. No explanation from him and I was still out the cost of new trim. I pressed him when he finally admitted they made me a WPC backbox, which is smaller than the WPC95. He took the whole matter nonchalantly while I went through months of waiting, extra work, extra costs and frustration for my cabinet. Never offered an apology, discount on next cabinet nor compensation for my extra costs. I know he's not required to do that, but if I owned a company and wronged a customer like this, I would be so apologetic and offer some compensation. To this day I'm super pissed and yes, I know, I should get over it now.
His company seems to be doing very well, so he must be doing something right. Maybe I just had bad luck, or maybe others are hesitant to post their bad experiences because he has a good reputation here.
Edit: Forgot to add that when I was attaching the legs to the cabinet, I could feel the wood was definitely softer than oem. The bolts never tightened like oem as I could feel the wood compressing or caving in (for lack of a better word).
My sincerest apologies you felt wronged in your experience with VirtuaPin. We strive to improve all the time, and sometimes it's a learning experience for us, as well. We always try to make it right in the end.
Feel free to give me a call and discuss it with me. I don't recall you saying you felt this way, and I assure you we're not nonchalant about our customer satisfaction.
Thank you for sharing this, so we can make it right.
- Paul
Edmonton, AB
Quoted from NoahFentz:Feel free to give me a call and discuss it with me. I don't recall you saying you felt this way, and I assure you we're not nonchalant about our customer satisfaction.
Have reached out to Paul in the past and was happy with the customer service !
glad this will be resolved !
Quoted from NoahFentz:My sincerest apologies you felt wronged in your experience with VirtuaPin. We strive to improve all the time, and sometimes it's a learning experience for us, as well. We always try to make it right in the end.
Feel free to give me a call and discuss it with me. I don't recall you saying you felt this way, and I assure you we're not nonchalant about our customer satisfaction.
Thank you for sharing this, so we can make it right.
- Paul
Thanks for your response. I looked back at my emails and I definitely let you know my frustrations, in a polite manner. Maybe too polite and the reason it dragged on so long. I still have months of emails asking about my backbox and months of you not taking care of it. In my emails, I sent back the backbox and you sat on it for days without telling me anything until I kept asking, when you finally admitted you sent me the wrong back box. I'm not going to post the emails and just let this die already. I have to say, you appear to be a nice guy and were never rude to me. In addition, after reading my emails, I'm now remembering I had to cut my light tub too! That was a real pain in the ass to find a replacement, since they were not available.
Quoted from rx3:Thanks for your response. I looked back at my emails and I definitely let you know my frustrations, in a polite manner. Maybe too polite and the reason it dragged on so long. I still have months of emails asking about my backbox and months of you not taking care of it. In my emails, I sent back the backbox and you sat on it for days without telling me anything until I kept asking, when you finally admitted you sent me the wrong back box. I'm not going to post the emails and just let this die already. I have to say, you appear to be a nice guy and were never rude to me. In addition, after reading my emails, I'm now remembering I had to cut my light tub too! That was a real pain in the ass to find a replacement, since they were not available.
You have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I have no idea who you are. I can't find our email history, sorry. We just shipped our 10,000th order, so it's getting harder and harder to remember everyone and every instance. I can only assume you ordered in the very beginning of our restoration cabinet journey, which was definitely a learning experience. I've since spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars shipping samples from all over the country.
Regardless, my offer stands. If you ever need anything, I'm happy to hook you up. Just reach out.
Thank you, and, again, my apologies.
2 weeks later
Okay so I received my two Cabinets from Kirk in less than 10 days. I am SUPER pleased with these cabinets through and through. The accuracy of the original and craftsmanship is absolutely fantastic. For whatever reason, I was not expecting that but rather more of a universal type cabinet with unique tweaks that did not necessarily clone the original. But for all intents, an purposes, the TZ and HS2 cabinets I received were ABSOLUTE CLONES of the original 90's cabinets. Not one single detail or nuisance is missing.
All major holes 1/4" and larger are already drilled which include the leg, PF bracketry, head bracketry and other critical holes. The various t-nuts were also already installed and ready to accept bolts. The holes smaller than 1/4" need to be drilled based on the locations from the original cabinet. IMO, no big deal there.
The cabinets were 90% ready for painting which is fair and to be expected. The rough sanding was already done and all I needed to do was finish sand them to prepare for paint. Shipping went flawless too, and there was not a single knick to be found. Could not be more pleased! Im sure Virtuapin provides a very comparable product too, but I just could not wait the amount of time it was going to take for them to be received.
Would HIGHLY recommend these cabinets from Kirk.
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngQuoted from wrd1972_PinDoc:Okay so I received my two Cabinets from Kirk in less than 10 days. I am SUPER pleased with these cabinets through and through. The accuracy of the original and craftsmanship is absolutely fantastic. For whatever reason, I was not expecting that but rather more of a universal type cabinet with unique tweaks that did not necessarily clone the original. But for all intents, an purposes, the TZ and HS2 cabinets I received were ABSOLUTE CLONES of the original 90's cabinets. Not one single detail or nuisance is missing.
All major holes 1/4" and larger are already drilled which include the leg, PF bracketry, head bracketry and other critical holes. The various t-nuts were also already installed and ready to accept bolts. The holes smaller than 1/4" need to be drilled based on the locations from the original cabinet. IMO, no big deal there.
The cabinets were 90% ready for painting which is fair and to be expected. The rough sanding was already done and all I needed to do was finish sand them to prepare for paint. Shipping went flawless too, and there was not a single knick to be found. Could not be more pleased! Im sure Virtuapin provides a very comparable product too, but I just could not wait the amount of time it was going to take for them to be received.
Would HIGHLY recommend these cabinets from Kirk.[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Before you go HIGHLY recommending, I'd suggest taking a closer look at the TZ cabinet. It has a glaring flaw that makes it unusable for a TZ. Your gumball VUK needs more space to lower the playfield.
Feel free to give me a call, and I can give you some ideas on how to easily, and cleanly, fix the issue.
There's a reason these things take time, besides volume of orders. Virtually every cabinet has something unique, and every detail matters.
I spoke with John Mohr at TPF last year and I thought he was making cabinets as well. Maybe just the older bally style.
Quoted from NoahFentz:Before you go HIGHLY recommending, I'd suggest taking a closer look at the TZ cabinet. It has a glaring flaw that makes it unusable for a TZ. Your gumball VUK needs more space to lower the playfield.
Feel free to give me a call, and I can give you some ideas on how to easily, and cleanly, fix the issue.
There's a reason these things take time, besides volume of orders. Virtually every cabinet has something unique, and every detail matters.
Are you referring to this cutout:
pasted_image (resized).png
pasted_image (resized).png
pasted_image (resized).pngI had Three excellent cabinets from Paul at Virtuapin. IJ, Funhouse and a TZ.
Excellent quality, but sometimes he gets behind in orders and a long wait may happen?
Paul did a great job on backbox silkscreen and paint. Top notch!
Paul refuses to drill the playfield pivot bolt holes for some reason?
I posted a pic of how I drilled them using my original cabinet.
I had good experience with Kirk Weaver also. No issues for a TZ cabinet.
Scott Hudson
20190923_161523 (resized).jpg20190923_161545 (resized).jpg20190924_161305 (resized).jpg20190924_171717 (resized).jpg20190927_144652 (resized).jpgI had a good experience with VirtualPin last year with a WH2O cabinet they made for me. There was a significant lead time - months, not weeks - but they were up front with me about that. To me it made sense as they were delivering a painted, decaled product and the labor of sanding out an old cabinet with structural issues didn’t make sense in terms of cost. There were enough other projects ahead of it that I could afford not being in a rush.
I drilled out my own lower cabinet side holes (on WH2O it’s good to make them slightly lower than factory so as not to crunch the mountains when you slide the glass in place.) Not too big a deal, easily arrived at with a drywall square and some masking tape to mark the spots. On the phone, Paul was very accommodating and even generous with his time, happy to answer my questions and even just shoot the breeze about pinball. Overall a very good experience.
I haven’t heard of Kirk Weaver before today, I will put him in the Rolodex. My shop is sometimes pinball, sometimes cabinetry, and while I could build these in house, the setup to make jigs and figure it all out is not the greatest investment of time if it is ultimately reinventing the wheel. Besides, you really want to just cut as much as you can on a CNC at this point, it seems to me.
Anyhow, glad I checked out this thread, there’s always someone else to know about out there!
Okay I now see the clearance issue for the Gumball VUK in greater detail. Looks like that thin strip filler strip was added but not clearanced for the VUK. I looked on the old TZ cabinet and it is missing that strip altogether so obviously there would not be an interference there.
I can clearly see what small area needs to be removed by installing the rear plastic glass support because it has the already has the required opening in it. So by screwing that on and tracing the opening, I can simply make two cuts with a small hobby saw then snap off the piece that's in the way. Overall, its a simple five minute fix. Thanks for pointing that out Paul.
I also want to echo that I have worked with Paul at Virtupin in the past, and have done a lot of business with him although mostly messing around with Virtual Pinball stuff. He has always been very helpful just as several others have stated and is my first go to for anything VP.
pasted_image (resized).pngQuoted from wrd1972_PinDoc:Okay I now see the clearance issue for the Gumball VUK in greater detail. Looks like that thin strip filler strip was added but not clearanced for the VUK. I looked on the old TZ cabinet and it is missing that strip altogether so obviously there would not be an interference there.
I can clearly see what small area needs to be removed by installing the rear plastic glass support because it has the already has the required opening in it. So by screwing that on and tracing the opening, I can simply make two cuts with a small hobby saw then snap off the piece that's in the way. Overall, its a simple five minute fix. Thanks for pointing that out Paul.
I also want to echo that I have worked with Paul at Virtupin in the past, and have done a lot of business with him although mostly messing around with Virtual Pinball stuff. He has always been very helpful just as several others have stated and is my first go to for anything VP.[quoted image]
The gap starts at 5.25" from the left and ends 7.5" from the left.
I couldn't, in good conscience, watch you paint, decal, trim, etc and not say anything. That would be horrible! Glad I could help.
I have nothing but good things to say about Paul at virtuapin.
He is friendly, helpful, very approachable, knowledgeable and wants to produce the very finest products.
Im very happy with Paul and the service he supplies.
I hesitate to buy from Kirk Weaver.
Im not stupid and know that you cant please everyone, and that he has sold thousands of games.
The public is a harsh critic.
Im positive that he can produce a good product given time and experience.
Still his legacy continues.
Quoted from pinballinreno:I have nothing but good things to say about Paul at virtuapin.
He is friendly, helpful, very approachable, knowledgeable and wants to produce the very finest products.
Im very happy with Paul and the service he supplies.
I hesitate to buy from Kirk Weaver.
Im not stupid and know that you cant pease everyone, and that he has sold thousands of games.
The public is a harsh critic.
Im positive that he can produce a good product given time and experience.
Still his legacy continues:
http://www.kirkweaverbadpinballseller.com/
Kirk's checkered past is well known for anyone who's been in the hobby for some time.
Here's hoping he's cleaned up his act and is actually doing something positive for pinball.
All the best if he is.
Kirk is licensed to make Bally/Williams cabinets from Rick @ Planetary Pinball.
He uses the real blueprints and specs.
Not some backyard hack
Quoted from turbo2nr:Kirk is licensed to make Bally/Williams cabinets from Rick @ Planetary Pinball.
He uses the real blueprints and specs.
Not some backyard hack
Not throwing stones at Kirk but just because Rick sanctions something does not mean it’s guaranteed to be perfect. I seen so pretty crappy artwork that Rick licensed out at times
Quoted from mmr61184:Not throwing stones at Kirk but just because Rick sanctions something does not mean it’s guaranteed to be perfect. I seen so pretty crappy artwork that Rick licensed out at times
Yes that's for sure look at the PF Mirco does licensed though Rick too just saying
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