Pop bumper crack repair

[BomberHQ]

Hi,

Im refurbishing a 70's Zaccaria Aerobatics em which has some cracking on the pop bumper plastics:



I'd like to try and repair them if possible. Thoughts so far are:

• Liquid super-glue (cyanoacrylate). Never seem to have much luck with this in terms of strong long-term fixes. Maybe its a preparation problem.
• Solvent-based modelling adhesive (Humbrol Poly or Revell Contacta) which effectively welds the parts together. However the plastic needs to be the right type and Im not sure what plastic these parts are made from.
• Two-part epoxy. Less neat, but would probably work for both these repairs.

I'd very much appreciate any views on the above or other ideas.

By the way, this is my first pinball refurbish/repair - Ill post an intro on the 'newbies' forum with an intro and some history on the Aerobatics.

Hope everyone is well and their pinballs are keeping them sane, one way or another!

Kevin.

 

[ronsplooter]

David sells some repro parts through his website, although not specifically for Aerobatics:

http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/

Worth emailing him to see what he's got. Andy at pinmania may also have some 2nd hand spares.

in terms of repair, I'd go with epoxy or plastic weld for the bumper body and just buy a new of the other bit. The modern repro will work fine

i did a series of vids restoring an Aerobatics a few years ago that may be of use:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCgrMX7FJMQtrzXZkg5R9ESOytA5YBzJi

 

[BomberHQ]

David sells some repro parts through his website, although not specifically for Aerobatics:

http://www.zaccaria-pinball.com/

Worth emailing him to see what he's got. Andy at pinmania may also have some 2nd hand spares.

in terms of repair, I'd go with epoxy or plastic weld for the bumper body and just buy a new of the other bit. The modern repro will work fine

i did a series of vids restoring an Aerobatics a few years ago that may be of use:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCgrMX7FJMQtrzXZkg5R9ESOytA5YBzJi

Hey Ronsplooter,

Thanks for the reply, and thanks for the videos! I found them a little while after I bought the Aerobatics in 2013 - gave me the confidence I needed to have a go at restoring it. Then life got in the way for a few years (built a new house and had kids!), so bizarrely COVID has given me the chance to get on with the restore again.

There's so much great material on the web (and some confusing and contrasting opinions!) that I'm happy just taking my time and working through things.

I got lucky and found another Aerobatics at an auction in 2015, so I have a reference machine to check everything when I put it back together. The second machine was in a bit of a state, but it looks like the only thing missing is the sound card. The playfield and backglass look OK under all the grime!

I plan to reuse the sound card on one machine and have a go at making a chime unit for the other ... one project at a time though!

Cheers,

Kevin.

 

[ronsplooter]

Pretty common for the sound board to be missing on this era of Zacc games unfortunately If you get really stuck at any point then I'd suggest giving @Biff a shout as he's the expert on Zacc EM games round these parts

Cheers
Chris

 

[astyy]

Someone on Pinside was remaking the Zac flasher and sound boards, seem to be for sale on Marcos including nice new speaker attached - https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/C8066

When I had Aerobatics here I really wasn't sure on the beepy, screechy sounds, were a bit marmite. The guy above was talking about embedding chime alternative sounds on the remake board that would have been neat.

 

[Biff]

Happy to help if you need it. Re the plastics. I would just buy a new one / old intact one, you already have the bumper and lamp off. you may want to get an entire set though, as the plastics colours may mismatch slightly.

 

[BomberHQ]

Thanks for the advice folks.

Looks like they did a nice job of recreating the sound card. There was a guy on eBay recently selling an original sound card for £80, but I passed thinking it was a bit pricey! I guess it was compared to the £250 I paid for the complete machine in 2013 ;-)

I think if I am going to divert from the original I will go chimes or try something programmable. There are standalone MP3 modules available for under a fiver e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263899839783 which play MP3s from an SD card and will drive a speaker directly. Coupled with a 30W mini-amplifier and decent speaker you could rattle the windows with a Red Arrows fly-past on a replay!!!

Interestingly this Aerobatics on YouTube seems to have chimes, which make the game sound much more traditional EM-like :

On the bumper front, Ill take your advice and replace the bits where available.

Cheers again,

Kevin.