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Bally Rolling Stones Restore


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A Classic Bally restored for MarkC's personal collection !

 

Background

 

Whilst a couple of us AA pinheads were assisting the unloading of the EM container at Childs a few months back, we were astonished to see a Bally Rolling Stones body half way through. As we dug deeper into the container, we found the head right up the back. While removing the head, I nearly broke the Backglass by accident, thankfully, my hand was in the way of some nasty Backglass breakage. After removing the machine and having a look over it - the machine was average - at best...But the backglass was a nice.....

 

Obviously, I love Ballys of this era, so I took a liking to it immediately and I wanted to check it out. It had heaps of problems that needed attention. Mark had plans to

keep the game for his own collection, so I though I'd ask if I could work on it.

 

I figured that Mark had done me so many favors locating a Medusa, CV and a really nice JP - that I oferred to restore the game for his own personal collection..In fact, I insisted...After all - it was going into his personal collection, and I saw the game restoration as a challenge.

 

Condition

 

Backglass - 9/10 - Really nice. No fade, no flaking. Just a couple of minor scratches.

 

Cabinet - 7/10 - Faded, but structurally ok. No repairs required. Repaint is a possibility in the future

 

Playfield - 7/10 - Day 1 Mylar on the bulk of the playfield. Not on the top ball arch and the area under the flippers.

 

Electronics - 6/10 - Some real ugly "route" repairs done by a bushman mechanic....

 

Objective

 

To restore the game - not recondition. The cabinet will remain unpainted, the electronics will be rebuilt and the playfield will be restored using some interesting techniques. I've never used a airbrush, and I didn't for this playfield. Read on to see what I mean !

 

Starting point

 

So here is what the game looks like, an hour after being removed from the container. I was sprung admiring this game, and I just had to assemble it to see what it looked like. I was a Rolling Stones fan, so it was pretty cool to see the game up close.

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%202026.jpg

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%202027.jpg

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%202028.jpg

 

 

The playfield was filthy and the non mylared section had a fair bit of wear. Had it not been for the mylar, this playfield would have been "shot". Bumper caps were yellowed and burnt, targets worn - usual problems.. But look closely under the flippers.. What the hell is that ?

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20135.jpg

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20129.jpg

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20148.jpg

 

 

Now this picture takes the cake for the biggest butcher job on a power supply.. This was just shite..BRs just floating in the air, wires soldered directly to the connector pins, wires joined to other wires with gaffer tape...sigh...

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20133.jpg

 

Under the bonnet - Filthy.. every moving part was seized from lubrication gone mad. Ever screw was glued to its bracket or to the base. Dirt was forming around the dirt that was stuck to the dried grease...

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20153.jpg

 

 

First step is to take HEAPS of photos, and strip the playfield..

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Hey Nino,

What is that blue stuff under the flippers??

How 'bout the bridge rectifers & the gaffa tape.

It would be great to see it restored.

Don't see too many of those.

Last time I saw one it was getting trashed by those F*@wits !!

( everyones probably saw the vid )

all the best.

keep us posted.

Steve.

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Hey Nino,

What is that blue stuff under the flippers??

 

I believe that would be some type of tape, you know a typical proffessional repair job :rolleyes

 

 

Oh , and Nino- you need to cut your thumbnail a little closer ......to your elbow !!!!:lol

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I am sure Nino and the boys that helped restore this beauty back to life have finished pictures, if not I have some

I wont put them up as its Nino's restoration thread

 

i still cant beleive its the same pinball machine. well over 200PLUS hours has been spent on this one. My wife picked it and loves it. Such a masterful job has been done. Nino well what can i say your a fucking mad man with what you did. and the silent ones thanks for the hours you did one this.

 

its sit now next to my MM and Shrek , but it is awaiting its new buddy Rocky to come home and sit with it.

 

mark

Edited by markc
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All I can say is thanks for coming back here Nino...

 

So much great stuff already!

 

I love these posts... Makes me want to grab a project machine.... even though I have 3 already:D

 

Look forward to seeing more on this one.

 

Surely if you were to put this on location all it needed was more tape to stop the bridges rattling and an under playfield squirt of WD40 and she'll be right for another 6 months:p

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All I can say is thanks for coming back here Nino...

 

So much great stuff already!

 

I love these posts... Makes me want to grab a project machine.... even though I have 3 already:D

 

Look forward to seeing more on this one.

 

Surely if you were to put this on location all it needed was more tape to stop the bridges rattling and an under playfield squirt of WD40 and she'll be right for another 6 months:p

 

Thanks for the kind words - I have another Restore that is current that I will put up as well, and the list of machines "in the works" just keeps getting longer - just the way I like it...

 

One observation of mine since I "returned" - There are a lot of very savvy restorers (including yourself ;)) that have come along, with really impress me and inspire me to post more restores..

 

WD40 ? Standard kit in the "old days" :lol

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Update - Whats under the Blue Goo ?

 

Body

 

The body is a straight forward procedure covered in my Strikes and Spares restore. Yep - I forgot to take pictures of the process on the Rolling Stones.. The body is stripped completely, washed and cleaned, the metal parts are removed and polished in the tumbler. Legs are cleaned and new legbolts and leg levellers are installed. A new power cord is installed. The door is stripped, washed - all parts in the tumbler. The door skin, side rails and lock down bar are regrained simply by using 180 grit wet/dry followed by 320 wet/dry with windex. The ball plunger is polished on the buffer wheel, and new springs installed.

 

Electronics

 

Solenoid Driver has the ground mods done and a new 5V Cap is installed. check the display voltage is regulated to 174VDC. MPU has its battery removed - luckily - not much corrosion. But the area was cleaned and a new battery installed with a diode to prevent recharging. Lamp Matrix needed a couple of SCRs replaced - no big deal. The Rectifier board was a disaster - see the picture above.. The fuse holder, connectors, bridge rectifiers and ceramic resistors are replaced - the whole board gets an upgrade ! The connectors and pins are replaced on the harness itself as well. When completed, it looks like this ;

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20098.jpg

 

 

Displays are all checked and connectors re flowed. All the digit resistors are replaced with 100K OHM 1/2 Watt resistors.

 

The Blue Mess

 

Whats underneath the gaffer tape ??? Well after a few Beams, I decided it had to come off...Pictures describe it better than I ever could !!!

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20160.jpg

 

Here's an ever "better" picture...

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20164smaller.jpg

 

 

:cry:cry:cry

 

 

There were two options - Airbrush or Decal... I can't airbrush for crap, so its going to be a decal. first thing to do is trace the area up and then think about how to fix this problem - biggest challenge I've had so far !

 

Here's the trace...

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20176smaller.jpg

 

 

Hmmm.... What to do next ??

 

:unsure

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The "wallpaper" effect was not part of the area to be touched up - thankfully :D

 

Up until this point, I had never had to deal with this kind of wear, but I guess it makes sense. There are plenty of examples where a playfield is completely worn to wood in the "high traffic" areas. Well I think this game was one of them. Thankfully, this game had "Day One" mylar (installed on the production line), so 80% of this playfield was protected and the artwork is intact. So you should be able to work out the areas where the mylar is. It ends under the "1000 Bonus" light - in the shape of a "V". So there are three different levels to contend with.

 

The highest section was above and beyond the "V" in the section between the flippers. This is where the Mylar is applied from factory. Then there is the area below that, which is simply the bare playfield with its protective clearcoat (factory). Finally, there is a section "worn to wood" - and within that section, there is some sort of reaction with either water damage or the adhesive backing from the gaffer tape than was applied.

 

So there was some method in my mad idea to apply a decal here. The first thing to do was remove the existing wear by creating a "flat" area. The areas left with artwork just peeled off - it was unstable anyway. So I used a chisel and just lifted it gently, but creating a border beforehand. This would give me a stable and flat area to work with.

 

The bare playfield is porous, so no decal will adhere to it for a long period of time - something I learnt from another pinhead ;). So I had to seal the area with some sort of lacquer or sealant. I found a can of Cabots clear lacquer finish at bunnings and started to experiment on pieces of wood. The aim was to have a level area that would be a great preparation to lay down the decal.

 

Decal

 

The trace was scanned into photoshop and with a bit of time and luck, some "mock ups" were printed out - using no colors - no color matching yet. Just the size and alignment were important here. Here is an early sample of the decal ;

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20198.jpg

 

 

Bit of fiddling around, but the idea is starting to look like it might work. So once the size and aspect is right, we add color ;

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20184.jpg

 

 

Were is the writing ? There is no such thing as a "Rollings Stones" font, so it had to be created. Few hours later and viola ;

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20238.jpg

 

 

The color matching was a headache... All the colors were close except the light blue. That was near impossible to match... So the art is printed on vinyl adhesive paper and left aside for a while...

 

 

So now the area that the decal will be applied needs to be sealed and raised to the playfield "artwork + clearcoat" level. By doing that, the decal can be added to that level and BE level with the MYLAR... so that the additional mylar I will apply to protect the decal, and to keep the bottom of the "V" flat will be one level.. Hard to follow :unsure

 

The aim is to have the entire area LEVEL, by raising the non mylared areas, adding the decal and then applying the new mylar..

 

So first the area is prepared with a light sand and then the surrounding area masked and covered.

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20080.jpg

 

 

Thin coat first

Wait 4 hours

Thick coat

Wait 4 hours

Sand with 800 grit

Thick coat

Wait 4 hours

Sand with 800 grit

Thin Coat

Wait 4 hours

Sand with 800 grit

 

Test for level with the mylar - and it is JUST under.. Perfect height. Now with the application of the decal, it will be level..

 

Remove the paper and test the section with a "mock run" of the decal installation.. The decal has to be trimmed to "butt up" against the mylar "V"..Note the "V" is "dead centre" between the flippers, but the artwork is not. So the Decal has to be trimmed ! I did this by tracing the "V" area on the playfield and transposing that onto the decal in "reverse" - ie the underside. I trimmed the decal so that it "meets" the "V" and it does !

 

Further trimming is required, with a straight metal ruler and an exacto knife.

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20087.jpg

 

 

After COUNTLESS hours working on this decal, I had to remove the backing and line up the four corners - with those lines in the artwork - and I had once attempt. It took 30 minutes of procrastinating, and it was all over in 15 seconds.. It was either going to fit, or I was going back to the printer !!!

 

Here it is - installed ;

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20089.jpg

 

Keep in mind that with the flash on the camera going off - if "changes" the color slightly - so it might not look that great, but it looks better in real life !

 

This was the most time consuming and difficult process of the restore.

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The RHS return lane was worn to wood where the "But I like it" writing is.

 

"But I Li" is under the factory mylar, the "ke it" is worn to wood. In fact, the ball could almost just sit at the crease of the mylar if the ball was trapped by the RHS flipper. I did not employ the same technique as the main worn area, so I sanded the area flat and then applied another decal running from the "ke it" all the way up to the entrance to the return lane. It was trimmed to "buff up" against the factory mylar, and it took 5 minutes to trim and install. I did a test "run" with some of the hardware installed ;

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/Picture%20094.jpg

 

 

Heres a later picture with the full sheet of mylar installed over the two decals. The hardware is installed and this will be the final result;

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/picture%20359.jpg

 

 

Under the playfield

 

Every mechanism was removed cleaned and soaked in alcohol to remove the years of crap that had built up, and to completely remove the lubricants that were smeared on the plungers.. YUK... So all mechanisms rebuilt and re installed.

 

New globes installed.

 

All the metal parts were tumbled - including the all the plungers. All coils sleeves replaced, new switch caps installed where required.

 

The flipper coils were not original, so they were replaced. New full flipper kits were installed ;

 

http://www.users.on.net/~nzambello/rollingstones/picture%20357.jpg

 

 

The game was fired up for the first time and it worked !

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Very tidy flipper rebuild there. They look really neat.

 

Good to see it went to a good home too!

 

Love the updates!

 

Cheers

Jacob

 

Thanks Mate - I sometimes get accused of "being too anal" - but that's the way I do things. The assembly plate is polished, and here's a neat tip ;

 

Note the coil stop screw holes.. They look really bad, one is "elongated". Oversized screws and even wood svrews are common to hold things together.. All you need to do is swap the LHS plate with the RHS plate and you can use the new mounting holes on the plate. Now you can use the new screws supplied with the kit.

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Nino,

 

Mate you have outdone your high standards yet again. To make those decals like you did is amazing!

 

I thought Gavin would of chimed into this thred by now, sure it is only a matter of time.

 

Nice work my friend and once again we all find your work inspirational!

 

Cheers

 

Tony

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  • Super Moderator
Nino,

 

Mate you have outdone your high standards yet again. To make those decals like you did is amazing!

 

I thought Gavin would of chimed into this thred by now, sure it is only a matter of time.

 

Nice work my friend and once again we all find your work inspirational!

 

Cheers

 

Tony

 

+1 Thanks Nino. Love your threads on this sort of stuff. So many great solutions/ideas. :)

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Nino,

 

Mate you have outdone your high standards yet again. To make those decals like you did is amazing!

 

I thought Gavin would of chimed into this thred by now, sure it is only a matter of time.

 

Nice work my friend and once again we all find your work inspirational!

 

Cheers

 

Tony

 

Great point - where is Gavin :unsure :lol

 

I'm looking at picking up some airbrushing skills and hopefully some clearcoating skills as well. I think Gavin is qualified well enough in these areas, and has been offering me advice along the way. Given the hours that went into the decal - especially the color matching, I'd rather invest that time into airbrushing. The only issue there is that to clearcoat - I might have had to take the risk of removing the factory mylar.. A risk I was not prepared to take.

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Unreal

 

I did post earlier but got logged off and the post got lost in the ether.

 

The decal is amazing - Im sure the colour matching was a real pain, id love to know how many print offs it took before it was OK.

 

I find computer work irritating at the best of times ( especially if i get logged off!) and so prefer to paint/spray etc. Ive been debating it in my head - time spent making decal as opposed to time spent airbrushing over templates.

 

If using airbrush and soft enamels then it would have been 24hrs between colours - making the job last several days.

 

My reason for not taking this approach would have been the issue with getting the levels right, but Nino - youve achieved this - i find this more impressive than the decal itself, its a most difficult thing to do!

 

As for clear coating over Mylar - yes it can be done but im not sure how it would last over time. Clear coat is used to protect digital prints also, so can be applied to vinyl, and so im assuming Mylar too. 10 years down the track though - will it still be holding? I dont see why not, so long as the Mylar itself is still holding.

I have never shyed from removing Mylar as i know i can make any repairs invisible, so ive never covered it with clear coat ( or anything else).

 

Personally i hate the stuff ( Mylar) and if i did coat it, in my mind years later id still be asking - "did it hold??"

 

 

But great decal work Nino - looks great!

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There are quite a few threads/stories from the US where they have clear coated over mylar and then claimed it has ruined the playfield. Seems to happen quite a bit with overlays. On reading the instructions for clear coating over an overlay they suggest a very fine sand before adding the clear as this helps adherence. I have also seen it said that a clear coat takes 90 days to cure and not to add any posts/parts until its cured. Seems risky but for every negative there seems to be a positive story as well. After the reading I've done I don't think I'd risk it..
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