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In Progress Adventures in Budget Restoration: 1978 Bally PARAGON

We were blinded by the shiney.

Actually Bally put them that way round from the factory.

It's later games where we worked out that the solder joints are more likely to break from the shock of the plunger hitting the end stop
 
lukewells said:
We were blinded by the shiney.

Actually Bally put them that way round from the factory.

It's later games where we worked out that the solder joints are more likely to break from the shock of the plunger hitting the end stop
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You know, I did wonder that because the short wire between coil and EOS (see picture) sits nicely where it is, but flipping the coil round so the lugs are away from the coil stop the wire seems a little stretched. It fits but seems awkward.
 
Dave2084 said:
Awesome work ... So glad you bought the game!
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Thank you! Hope you're keeping well? I realised I was stood next to you at UKPP on Sunday whilst playing that beautiful Zaccaria NAUTILUS EM with the perspex windows, but missed you when I'd finished. What a fantastic restoration and lovely game to play. Must have put on at least a dozen games and managed to clock the reels all the way past 1,000,000!

Was that your DEFENDER at the party?
 
Dave2084 said:
When you're done I will be needing full details of the playfield overlay for an up and coming project.
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Quite a few people keen to know all the ins and outs of that little adventure. As you can see I'm making good progress getting all the mechanicals into AAA+ condition. The playfield is totally stripped bare and the next job is to sand it clean. But I'm going to get a scrap of plywood and clearcoat and prime that first as a tester for my method of applying the decal. The bit that's really putting me off is dealing with the cupped inserts. Sanding off the original artwork will reveal how many of them are too low and I'm hoping that I can them raise them just proud of the surface and sand them flush. All evidence should then be hidden with clearcoat and decal.

That's the theory anyway...

... and of course there's added distraction of arrival of my third pinball. Another project. I was warned this would happen ;)
 
Nedreud said:
Thank you! Hope you're keeping well? I realised I was stood next to you at UKPP on Sunday whilst playing that beautiful Zaccaria NAUTILUS EM with the perspex windows, but missed you when I'd finished. What a fantastic restoration and lovely game to play. Must have put on at least a dozen games and managed to clock the reels all the way past 1,000,000!

Was that your DEFENDER at the party?
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Sorry to have missed you!

The Defender wasn't mine it was Terry Sullivans, though I did set it up and take it down again (along with the other 6 classics he brought!)
 
I do have overlay experience or at least fitting one. I did an Eight Ball restoration for Terry (who owns Defender above) a few years ago and that was pretty much bare wood, luckily he had a commercial overlay for it (which is no longer available).

Prep involved sanding it as close to totally flat is I could get to avoid the sunken insert issue which involved much elbow grease. The wood was then sealed with clear varnish and left to dry for a few weeks. It was a bottle check actually fitting the overlay as you only get one chance.

Here's some photos:

farm4.staticflickr.com_3858_14952949258_340e1c5e36_h.jpg
farm4.staticflickr.com_3850_15139126692_dfc9903da6_h.jpg
farm4.staticflickr.com_3921_14952958258_6d846149b3_h.jpg
farm6.staticflickr.com_5560_15139499115_207f0647f8_h.jpg

Tips:
1. Align the inserts at the bottom first. if there is any alignment issues at the top as there was with this overlay (which was different to the playfield only 1-2 mm though) they will be further away from the player so less noticeable.
2. Before fitting the overlay make a tracing paper (or other method) mark with the locations of all the screw holes etc that are not on the overlay.
3. Will add more here if I think of any.

I do have an EBD overlay to fit at some point, likely it will be my winter project this year.
 
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Nice job Dave.
Played a few games at Terrys on the very same game and you did a great job.
 
That tip #1 is tops!

You photos also answer a mystery question I had at UKPP: one of the games, I think it was MYSTIC, had a set of slingshot plastics that didn't seem to match the theme. Looks as though they were from EBD!

Found it! It was MYSTIC. You can just about make me out in my photo:

farm6.staticflickr.com_5561_15107579441_8bc04ac009_c.jpg
 
Nedreud, I'm late here and can't quite believe your achievements.... makes me feel quite quilty for throwing some stuff away ! Truly inspiring. Well done.
 
replicas said:
Nice job Dave.
Played a few games at Terrys on the very same game and you did a great job.
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Yup, @Dave2084's handiwork on that EIGHT BALL inspired me to do the same for PARAGON.

JMP said:
Nedreud, I'm late here and can't quite believe your achievements.... makes me feel quite quilty for throwing some stuff away ! Truly inspiring. Well done.
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Thanks, @JMP. Each to their own ;) And what I save in money I spend in time because it takes flippin' ages to do! I'm such a cheap skate. I even fixed a little plastic EOS spacer because buying a whole new switch just for a tiddly bit of plastic seemed such a waste! Can't believe I picked up PARAGON in March 2013. Oh my... that's 18 months! I was doing quite well until I bought a working machine. Now I spend half my spare time playing. And I'm picking up another project, GOLD BALL, on Monday evening that I'm itching to see if I can bring back to life like I did PARAGON.


MUST CONCENTRATE o_O FOCUS :eek: FINISH THE JOB
 
Ah, I know what that feels like with 2 or 3 projects on the go.... I don't actually throw that much away, anything I think can be reused I keep but the stuff you save makes me think even those that appear past it still have more life in them !! Look forward to seeing the end result. :)
 
We do what we can! I'm surprised how much I pulled off the rusty junk playfield and salvaged. I have bought plenty of new new parts, including the following:
  • All coil sleeves
  • Flipper bushings
  • Every electrolytic capacitor on all circuit boards
  • Every component on the power supply rectifier board
  • Molex connector housings with Trifurcon pins
  • Rubbers
  • Flipper bats and bands
  • Pop bumper skirts and spoons
  • #44 lamps
  • Leg levellers
  • A standard Pinball
  • Earth braid
  • Drop-targets
  • Pop bumper caps
 
Well, it took me 2 cups of coffee but Ive just read the whole thread!
I doubt I'll ever have parts as shiny as that :(
 
David Day said:
Well, it took me 2 cups of coffee but Ive just read the whole thread!
I doubt I'll ever have parts as shiny as that :(
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Well done! 15 pages. That's quite an epic!

Shiny parts just need time, patience and elbow grease. No secret sauce. Best of all, shiny is free!
 
No idea why after all this time I have got email update for this thread....

But it made me look through your Flikr........which is really slow for me for some reason.

Have you taken any snaps of plastics? May as well try on the off chance while it's fresh in the brain. Missing this one.

Camera.png
 
Damn, found some, but really filthy. Got some new bumper caps & dirty spinner though , which may add a bit of wear to it.Cheers lol.
 
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