(Topic ID: 28788)

Worst hack/repair you ever saw.

By mcclad

11 years ago


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    #657 8 years ago

    OK, I have one to add one to the list.... With some shame attached as I'm one of the lucky ones that got scammed by Fernando Bigi / Oscar Saidon from Gaucho Pinball. Very long story short, 8 years ago I bought a MM & WW package from him for a fair price. I'm raised in Mexico, so I called him and spoke at length in Spanish. He's a good con artist cause I was confident. Wrong. Sent $2500 deposit having agreed on balance on delivery. Then delay excuses started to pile up. Just long enough to no longer be able to file a complaint on eBay. (* separate story, but eBay refused to help even though it was an obvious scam because he had successfully "got" me on the technicality of their rules *) He knew the deadlines precisely as he stopped answering calls and emails as soon as that deadline expired. I called friends in Argentina, and got some pressure on him. Still no luck. Then he posted a very nice HUO TZ on eBay with a start price of the same $2500 he owed me. I won uncontested so I said ship it! He did. Just not the machine in the pix. Here is the "Clearcoated HUO play field" in the pic below. And adding to this thread's fuse collection, four of the fuses in the machine. She was special.

    It is hard to show in the pictures, but the "clear coat" was applied without taking the machine apart. It was on the PF, and EVERYTHING else too! To make matters worse, there was no attempt to keep dust and crap out so you can see some of the stuff embedded in the clear. You can also see some of the clear on top of the bumper caps and the micro bubbles in the inserts on the door. Not to mention that nothing was leveled or prepped. That was my salvation too... because it actually came off pretty easily with plastic razor blades. But wow.

    And for your viewing pleasure... the GI from this HUO.

    Happy ending: Enjoyed restoring the machine to a 9+. Exorcised its demons, added the third magnet, and fixed everything to top form. Sold it fairly recently with no regrets as it isn't my favorite game after all, but it was very cool when the third magnet 'dropped'.

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    2 years later
    #1712 5 years ago

    Back to what this thread is about.... Creative use of incredibly bad habits (or lack of proper parts) to make a pinball machine work. GI at its best... Diode's fried, connectors hard wired sort of...:

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    11 months later
    15
    #2055 4 years ago

    Here goes another example of the classic long screws to attach the flipper bracket and go through the playfield. As you can see the perfect paired holes above the EB insert and the flipper bat axle. Not pictured too was the kickout saucers both were stuffed with paper napkins cause you wouldn't want to find out why they weren't kicking balls back... not to mention the points as well as their importance to the rule-set.

    The price was good so I decided to take it anyway, but normally I'd just walk. Fixing damage to a large solid color panel in the PF is beyond my ability, and has the extra problem that if it isn't a perfect match, really makes the machine look amateur.

    IOW. price was good, and I'd driven too far. Got another 400 off for the not reported damage and just paid a grand.

    The solution was to embrace the holes. I got little bullet hole stickers and after smoothing the area by hammering the wood flat with a plastic shoe, placed them over the holes, and added a few more so that it looked like the terminator had been sprayed with bullets. CC'd the whole thing, and now, beyond not bothering me, they kind of make me smile.

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