The Shadow Pinball Shop

 

 

Day 1 7/9/2013

 

Will write this up later so just going to put a series of pics on for now.

 The pinball room!!



Before shop - it's a very dirty boy!!!

Mini playfield removed - noticed form my new plastic set that two plastics are missing from here - can you spot where they should be?  All will be revealed later when I put the new plastics on !!!

Lower playfield shot

Upper playfield shot

First wireform retaining bolts

Underside of mini playfield and fixing bolts

Prior to removal of next wireform

 Next wireform removed

 First 2 wireforms removed from playfield

 Next wireform retaining nut location

 upper retaining nut(removed)

 Wireform removed

 Right divertor removed

 Right divertor removed note right ramp appears to have been painted silver!!!

Right divertor

 Right ramp with fixing bolts/screws

 Playfield with right ramp removed

Underside of right ramp - now the problems become apparent why it has been painted silver because someone has attempted to re-weld it and they have broken again.  Not sure how I'm going to fix this yet?

Next wireform mounting points

 Last wireform removed

 Playfield after removal of last wireform
 

Mini playfield mounting bracket - don't know why it has a strip of gaffa tape on it!!!!

 Pic shows mounting points for mini playfield bracket - top and bottom of pic

Upkicker wireform and hardware

 State of sanctum needs some repairing

Now the point I am stuck at.  Some numpty has welded the left divertor shaft to the crank arm, which means I cant get the divertor off the playfield and everything else underneath ie plastics and left ramp.  Scratching head at the moment on how to get this off.  Might try grinding with a dremel

 

This is all the bits I can't get off because this silly weld

 Slingshot plastic removed

View of right posts for slingshot

 And left

Bottom ball guides removed - note broken plastic

 Shot of lower playfields with slings, posts and lane guides removed

This plastic and mongol is next

 Now removed

 Now stripped

 Shot of playfield after removal

 Pillar and screws from edge of playfield

Shot of posts next to be removed

 Same posts on the other side to come off next

 Apron off - in good nick!

 Steel ball guides all coming off next

 Shot with steels removed

 Next upstand to be stripped

All bits removed with their hardware

 Upper steels next and you can now see upstand stripped

Plastic removed a bit tatty to say the least!!

 Upper steels before removal

Upper steels removed 

 Shot with a lot of the steels gone - and that's if for today - it's beer o'clock!!

 

Day 2

 

Left diverter now off playfield - bottom of shaft is slightly bent

Well you can see the good old Dremel ground that weld off a treat and I managed to get the crank arm off the diverter shaft!! 

Another steel removed

 

View of left ramp with diverter removed(at last!!)

Diverter removed - you can see it's filthy!!!

 

Left ramp on the bench before being stripped

Bits and hardware stripped off left ramp

Plastic removed from under left ramp - again filthy!!

Underside of same plastic - minging!!

All the bits stripped from plastic and associated hardware

 

Updated shot of the playfield so far

 

 Post from the playfield next to the ball launcher

 Another steel removed note missing both nuts

 More steel!!!

 Final large steel removed

 Updated shot of playfield - top

 Bottom

 

Opto brackets removed with screws

 Upper playfield pic for post positions

 

 Lower playfield post positions and rubbers

 All the metal post and sleeves removed from the playfield

 On investigation the sanctum repair was very poor so removed the decal to find a nice hole in the table!!

 A bit of work required here to get this looking as best as I can

 Last shot of playfield with all the targets dropped down just flipper bats to remove then the deep clean can start!!!

 Mini playfield before removing any bits

 Visible bits removed for cleaning

 

So this is all the nuts, bolts and posts etc that are now off to the tumbler for a couple of days!!!

Let see how they come out

 

End of Day 2 now time for a few beers with some friends!!! - back soon!! 

 

Day 3

 

Time to give the playfield a good going over with some Novus, but first just a wet wash to get the muck off!!!

 First pass of Novus and already its starting to shine hopefully you can see it

 Sanctum is the worst bit and that will be next to fix

All in all for it's age the playfield isn't to bad.  Bit of cracking around the feature inserts but I've seen a lot worse so I think the finished job will look nice.  LEDs have been ordered today and i'm going to colour co-ordinate the GI lighting - hope it looks atmospheric!!

 

Day 4

 

 

 

Ok starting to clean all the bits now.  here is the pic of the back of steel before cleaning.

 

Here is the other side after cleaning with a grinder with polishing wheels on it - this was after only 5 mins !!! not bad for first attempt.  Will give it another going over and see if I can get the 'Manny' mirror finish!!!

 

Here is a couple of shots of the sanctum after I had filled it and sanded it smooth.  just waiting for the Createx paints to come to airbrush this then I will be applying a water slide decal overlay of the wording (thanks to rudedogg for the file for this) and covering with a mylar to protect it.  More of this later.

 

 

 

Day 5 

 

 Just a quick pic of the sanctum magnet before I remove it to do the repair to the playfield

 

Noticed a repaired ring. will have to try and get one !!

One of the wireforms before cleaning

Same wireform after cleaning  think you can see the difference.  Not going to put pics of all of the wireforms on as they all have come up about the same.

 

 
 
 

 

Whilst waiting for my pain to come to repair the sanctum I decided to re lamp the whole machine.  here is a pic of some very dirty lamp boards.

Inserts were filthy before cleaning

 

 And after cleaning looking pretty good

Time for a pic of general illumination on the table - note I have gone for blue leds left and right, green under the mini playfield and red under the top right brick decals,  Should look nice and rich once completed.

 

Pic of the playfield with the inserts with their LEDs in - taken without flash so a bit shaky 

Backbox re-lamped with LEDS I used green under the shadow lettering, blue down the left and right, yellow behind his face and the rest warm white.  I think this looks mint but pics don't do it justice.  You will have to come and see it at the Manchetser show!!

Day 6 - Time to put things back together!!

 

This shot shows the first large steel going on and most of the posts put back on the table.  You can also see the attempt at sanctum repair.  Tried paiting it with an airbrush I bought but the damn thing didn't even work.  Then tried hand painting and just couldn't get the colour match, so stuck on the decal I had bought sometime ago which has even a worse colour, but at least it's fixed and flat, and with the addition of the green spot and a mylar, it doesn't look to bad and functions perfectly.  perhaps next time will have a go at painting it !!

More steels going on and the start of some new rubbers

First new large plastic on with mongols etc looking nice

Left ramp installed with new plastic over ramp to prevent airballs - this was missing before

More shiny steels back on the playfield

Last shot for today all the steels back on the table now.  That's it for today as it has been a long one!!!

 

 

 

Day 7 - Coming along nicely!!

 

 

Right hand large plastic going on now with LEDs off first and on, but hard to tell the difference!!!

Small left top plastic on with blue ball blocker on it - note for all of this ball stoppers I had to drill the rivets out and replace them with small nuts and volts as I don't have the luxury of a rivet press.

These are the backboard ramps and metal ball deflector.  Scroll back up and see what these were like when they first came off the table.  have come up quite well is an understatement!!! 

 

 

Finally last shot for today of the ramps, divertor and flash lamps all re-installed on the backboard. Pictures are useful at times - just noticed on this one that a bolt is missing from the top right of the glass guide!!!

 

 

Day 8

 

 

I wasn't going to do any under playfield mechs until I got above playfield completed and working but the ball launcher and trough are much easier before the apron is put back on the table. 

Here is a pic of the ball launcher before removal

 

 

 On the bench ready for stripping and cleaning

Stripped.  I basically cleaned all of this and put a new coil sleeve in and returned it to the table.

Ball trough removed from table - looks fairly dirty!!

 Coil removed and it's filthy !!

All re-assembled and clean and ready to go back on the table.  You can just see the new coil sleeve here

 And now these have been done a shot with the apron back on the table.  You will also notice at this point that 4 star posts have been put back on the table with new rubbers - two on the left and two on the right.

 Pic of the last large plastic assembled complete with mongol (poor fellow has lost his chopper though!! will make a new one later for him)  This is the first plastic that had a hole missing so I had to drill one in, but overall the plastics from classic playfield reproductions (CPR) have been excellent.

Last shot for tonight, with said plastic installed on the table.  Looks amazing with the blue LEDs underneath but you just can't see it very well on the pic.

 

 

 

Day 9

 

Last large plastic to the left of the playfield now added

 

 

Remember early I said there were two plastics missing? - this is them and where they should have been!!! Guess they must get broken easily as in the CPR kit there are two spares of the one at the front

 

And with them installed - certainly finishes the job off !! 

 

 

 

Day 10

 

Pix of the return lane guides re fitted with nice blue LEDs underneath 

  

 

 

Upkicker wireform re-installed





Mini playfield support bracket added

 

Left wireform ramp back on the playfield

Remaining wireform ramps returned to playfield

 

Various playfield pics trying to show the LED colourings but not easy to show so I have added a few.

 

That's it for now nearly finished the top of the playfield only the diverters to put back on next , but will strip and service the mechanisms whilst the diverters are off, then the mini playfield and the top is complete.

 

 

Day 11 

 

Ok here is the left diverter removed from the playfield

And now it stripped down ready for cleaning

Pic of old crank (left) and new crank (right) note the slot at the end has turned it to a round on the old one.  Pretty worn!!

Diverter all cleaned and ready to go back on to the playfield.  Note I have replaced the grub screw with flipper end stop bolts.  This was an idea by Phil of Pinball Heaven.  You can get a much bigger allen key into this an get a lot more purchase on the nut.

Pic of it back on with it new spring installed

Now the right diverter for the same treatment

Stripped ready for cleaning

All done

Again note flipper end stop bolts

And finally a pic of both of the diverters re-installed on the playfield

Now the mini playfield has been re-lamped with full LEDs and new plastics and is ready to be re-installed.

And finally we have a fully working machine with no errors and looking very nice indeed.  next we turn our attention to the individual mechs underneath the playfield.

Starting with upper right flipper

Here it is removed looking pretty filthy

All stripped down and very dirty

And finally all polished up with a new coil sleeve installed and coil cover on(didn't have one so temporarily made from masking tape!!)

Reinstalled on playfield

Next job is to do the two slingshot mechs - again filthy

And now fully cleaned with new coil sleeves ready to go back on the table.

 

And final pic for today of the both re-installed and boy what difference in power these have now got!!!

 

Day 12

Next job I needed to do was to remove the bent side rail from the right side of the cab.  the pic below shows the bent rail removed and the new rails with it's double sided adhesive tape applied ready to go back on machine.



 

Pic of the right side with side rail removed and cab cleaned up ready for new rail to go on.

 

 

Pic of machine with new side rail installed and a lot of the black paintwork all touched up around the backbox and the cab edges.

Next it w as the turn of the both of the main flipper mechs to be removed stripped and cleaned. Shot before

First flipper on the bench

 

Stripped and ready for cleaning

And finally for today a pic of both of the flippers mechs after servicing returned to the playfield.

Day 13 - the last one!!

Quick shot of the drop target assembly for entrance to the mini playfield up kicker.  Stripped this cleaned it and re-installed.

 

And finally the up kicker needed a good clean, so again removed stripped ,cleaned and new coil sleeve installed

 

 I still have a few mechs that need a service but they were in good condition so will do these after the show namely the sanctum wall drop target and that's about it!!

And here it is the finished job, all polished up and ready for the Manchester NLP show on Friday.  See you there if you are going!!