Folks,

I posted that transformation long time ago in RGP and thought that I should also present it on Pinside. All the details of the restoration are described on my personal Website and I hope that the Pinside police will not prevent me from posting a URL link: http://murenae.com/pinballs-playboy/

Otherwise, this is the before:
PB-01_(resized).jpg

and the after.....

I hope you enjoy.
Yves

This is the contents of what I already described on my Web site. I thought it would be interesting to summarize the various steps I took to draw and restore that playfield.

My BALLY Playboy machine is limited to the playfield. I could not procure a complete unit for multiple reasons (lack of space being one of them) and decided to go instead with a decent playfield that was for sale, from a machine which body had been damaged due to water. This playfield was quite beat-up as shown in this picture and needed an extensive rebuild. It was complete, even though most plastic parts had to be replaced.

The playfield shows the two playmates and the extensive damages of the area located between the flippers.

PB-01_(resized).jpg

The plastics were warped and one of them was broken. Fortunately, I had been able to secure a set of very good plastics and purchased all the more standard parts from the Pinball Resource. This was long long long time before CPR issued the Playboy plastics. Finding a specific piece of plastic was not an easy task.

As it will become obvious in the next pictures, I wanted to rebuild that playfield in a very unique way, while preserving the original theme!

The first step of the restoration was to remove all the parts from the top and bottom of the playfield. This was done with the help of multiple digital pictures in order to reassemble everything back to the way it was.

All the parts (above and below) were stored and have been cleaned individually, when new parts are not available. The playfield is shown here with all parts removed but before cleaning.

PB-02_(resized).jpg

Quite a few areas will need to be repainted and redrawn. Fortunately, the two main playmates in the center of the playfield are in excellent condition. The area between the flippers is a complete mess and will have to be redone entirely.

The playfield is filthy as it can be seen, from years of abuse and poor storage. The dirt is deeply encroached and the original colors are barely distinguishable.

This picture shows the playfield after a thorough clean-up. Cleaning of the playfield is done in multiple phases or passes.

PB-03_(resized).jpg

First, I wipe the complete surface with 50% isopropyl alcohol and a soft rag, to remove most of the crud. This can be done multiple times, until the rags come up relatively clean. It is necessary to clean all the surface of the playfield, including the edges after removing the wood rails.

The second step of the cleaning involves the use of the magic sponge by Mr. Clean. This white pad acts like an eraser loaded with some mild chemicals. Suddenly, the original colors are starting to show up again, and the beige and blue of the playfield are coming back to life.

This magic sponge is a blessing for pinball enthusiasts and has been used for the cleaning of playfields, bodies and plastics with an enormous success.

The Mylar films around the bumpers and the slings are always the most difficult and painful parts to remove. One must go very slowly, applying heat gently and soaking the gap between the playfield and the Mylar with alcohol to dissolve the glue. It is a tedious labor of Love and patience.

Here is the playfield, completely re-painted. The Bonus section between the flippers took a lot of work.

PB-04_(resized).jpg

Pretty much every single drawing, insert and line has been touched up or re-drawn. Countless hours went into this work.

Fortunately, the Liquitex Acrylic color Hibiscus matches perfectly the dark pink of the playfield. All other colors have been mixed to approach as closely as possible the original art work.

The white bunny was entirely redrawn from a Playboy logo. The faces of the two hostesses on each side of the Playboy mansion had to be touched up or completely redrawn.

The playmate bathing in the Grotto was enhanced so as to show more of her assets.

At this stage, the playfield is as good as an original one, if not better. All the dark circles around the inserts have been redefined and centered, which was not exactly true of the original playfield.

However, I had another idea in the back of my head and wanted to make this Playboy playfield a unique piece……by simply undressing the two main playmates.

And here is the final version of my unique Playboy playfield.

PB-05_(resized).jpg

Of course it is not as raunchy as Sexy Girl, but provides to the player a nice view of the playmate charms and assets from 1976.

The playmates were painted over their garments and I tried to recreate their anatomy by basing my drawings on the pictures published in Playboy magazine in 1976. At that time, Patti was proud of her furry beauty whereas Sondra was exhibiting a more discrete bush. In both cases, I tried to replicate their beauties as they were in 1976. No wonder that old satyr of Hugh wanted to have ever lasting memories of these two beauties, through a Pinball machine.

The wonderful thing about restoring pinball machines is that it combines all kind of skills: artistic, mechanical, electrical and even historical when you have to go through the 1976 Playboy magazine collection to research the materials.

At this stage, the only thing left is to varnish the playfield with Varathane (or clear-coat) and re-assemble it with all the new parts I have saved for this purpose. But this will be for another time.....

Yves