Looking for any of the above machines, not too bothered about condition as I'm after a project.
Something cheap and cheerful!
Something cheap and cheerful!
Pinball info
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Wanted Congo, No Good Gofers, NBA, Junkyard
- Thread starter Steve
- Start date
theres a tired looking junkyard on ebay lol
OP
OP
2 problems with that machine: 1, it's already a £1000. 2, It's in Blackpool.
Not to much is Cheap and Cheerful these days.
Especially the above list all apart from the NBA is well over a grand.
I've not even seen a no good gofers on my searches
For an MM project?
U offering a mm matt? How much if so ;0)
OP
OP
you'd just need a fully populated cabinet and backbox I take it...... then I suppose the donor playfield would get taken out and sold as is....... and you'd need to buy a MM playfield and find all the bits for it. That's gotta be the hard part I'm guessing
Vezzy hinterestingk
Vezzy hinterestingk
OP
OP
I've got at least 75% of the hard-to-find parts, mostly NOS, just need a donor machine now!
Very Cool!
I'm guessing you have seen Wally's game? This is taken from RGP
I’m retired and have been working on building a MM from parts for the
last 15 months as a hobby. It has been a very challenging and enjoyable
project. I didn’t work on it every day and usually only for a few hours
at a time. Some weeks not at all. Any frustration meant quitting for the
day. In retrospect, it has probably helped keep me from making any big
mistakes. The first four months were spent searching for parts and
building assemblies. Much time (most of the summer) was spent preparing
the cab/head for decals, something that I have never done before.
Early on I came to the conclusion that it would impossible to build a
MM without having one on hand to get some critical measurements in order
to fabricate parts that were not available. The wiring harnesses would
also be more difficult without a sample. Since none were near, I bought
one with the thought to restore and sell it. My plan was to replace the
playfield, plastic ramps, all three castle assemblies, all playfield
plastics and posts, clear plastics, dragon/wings, side art,
apron/backboard decals, trim, targets, updated Mantis castle gate
assembly, troll assemblies, translite, DMD, coin door, lock bar, legs,
glass, side rails and so on. As a matter of fact, the ball guides, metal
posts, and wire ramps are probably the only parts on the upper playfield
that aren’t new. The old parts would then be used with my own harnesses
and other hand built parts to build a “player pin” to keep. This was my
first attempt at a complete restoration. I don’t feel like I am in the
same league with some of the restorers that are on the forums and would
not call my restored pin collector quality or mint or anything like
that. I consider myself just an average pinball enthusiast with some
time and patience. I usually did a lot of research before attempting any
portion and didn’t mind redoing something if it wasn’t right. This
worked for me since I had no schedule to meet, and could play my other
MM in the meantime to keep my enthusiasm for the project up. I really
not a collector, so keeping a player type pin works just fine for me.
I bought a donor routed WPC- 95 pin (NBAF) to keep costs down and obtain
some rare parts like the backbox lamp insert panel or tub (which had to
be modified), transformer, speaker panel plus just a big supply of parts
(flippers, slings, jet bumpers, ball trough, auto fire) , not to mention
all of the WPC-95 boards. Only minor modifications were needed on the
cab such as drilling a hole for the launch button and removing some
cabinet wood so that the castle would clear like on the original.
I built the wiring harnesses myself from the schematics and using a
wiring template/ fixture that I made. There were six major harnesses to
build; solenoid/flash, switch, feature lamp, GI, backbox GI/flash, and
opto. The original design has the feature and GI together but it was
easier for me to split it into two. There are also some small harnesses
for the drawbridge opto, back board lamps and plastic ramps. Sections
of all NBAF harnesses were modified to work in the MM, especially the
solenoid/flash. Overall, quite a bit of the NBAF wire was reused. My son
came up with a simple tool to stripe (color code) wires. Exposed wiring
for the ramps was purchased from BAA.
I also made the wooden side rail and back panel, hex posts, gearbox
shafts, and other metal parts that were not available. There are 14 hex
posts that had to be cut, drilled and tapped for 8-32 hardware. The two
gearbox shafts were made with an improvised lathe (drill and dremel).
There are 22 additional individual metal pieces that had to be fab’d.
Fifteen were ball guides. All metal pieces had to be removed, measured,
and put into CAD files. I wanted them originally high pressure water or
laser cut but had to settle for plasma due to resource availability, not
technical issues. A lot of time was spent polishing, grinding edges, and
re-drilling holes in the 18 ga stainless. Every metal part had to be
bent. Some were a lot more complicated than others. A small metal brake
(18 in Harbor Freight) was used to bend the parts. Four wire ball guides
were bent from 1/8 inch rod. (one was available)
A template was made in order to cut additional holes in the NBAF backbox
insert panel so that the lamps would be in the same position as the MM.
I gave up looking for two of the wire ramps (I actually found a Peasant
Ramp) and was practicing bending 1/8 in rod and then by luck found a
metal sculptor who said he could duplicate the originals. He has made
the Catapult and Right Wire Ramps with stainless rod. Up close, they
wouldn’t pass as originals but they look fine in the player pin and the
TIG welds seem to be a lot stronger than the original spot welds. Maybe
later I’ll get these plated but they look pretty good in stainless.
At the present time the player pin is complete and running with the NBAF
board set, new ROMs, used plastic and castles parts, used playfield and
plastic ramps, all handmade harnesses, hand built metal parts, and the
custom catapult and right wire ramps. I have not done a lot to this pin,
basically a good cleaning , flame polishing the ramps, and replacing
decals on the drawbridge and troll flaps.
The restored pin is also completed. It is being play tested to make any
final adjustments. It is amazing how different a pin is with a new
playfield. It is really fast and smooth. I can make shots much more
easily than on the player pin.
Having been through this, I believe that a person with some moderate
metal, woodworking/painting, soldering, and electrical skills could
build a replica MM for under $7000 (minus labor- lol). It, of course,
would not be as valuable as an original but would have many, many new
parts as I have outlined in my restored MM link below. This estimate is
based upon procuring each part from the lowest cost vendor, taking
advantage of the good deals found at pinball shows, building assemblies
rather than buying completed ones, finding a donor WPC-95 relatively
inexpensive (under $1500), and having an actual MM close by. If you
have welding skills and can fab the wire ramps, the cost would be a lot
less. The time commitment is huge. I bet I have over 100 hours invested
in wiring harnesses and over 100 hours in making/bending metal parts
alone.
Recent part searches have led me to the conclusion that this project if
started now would be a little harder (not impossible) because some parts
are getting more difficult to find. For example, I can no longer find
the catapult bracket. Making parts is tough.
Big thanks go out to the vendors who have made parts available,
especially those who remanufacture new parts. Also to all who post
restoration tips/pics/ideas on the forums. (Clay’s DVDs and Bryan
Kelly’s gallery of restoration tips were especially helpful.) Thanks to
Gary Martin and Eric Schmitt who originally posted on RGP in Aug 2010
that a project like this was definitely doable and got me thinking.
I have over 1000 pics of the process and have included a portion in the
link.
If any of you are ever around Frankfort Il and would like to see the
player MM, contact me and stop by. There is a buyer for the restored MM
and it is going to be picked up in a week or so.
The link to the pics is http://tinyurl.com/7nvg88v (some date
stamps are incorrect)
And the link to the new parts installed on the restored MM is
http://tinyurl.com/82buqey
Wally
I'm guessing you have seen Wally's game? This is taken from RGP
I’m retired and have been working on building a MM from parts for the
last 15 months as a hobby. It has been a very challenging and enjoyable
project. I didn’t work on it every day and usually only for a few hours
at a time. Some weeks not at all. Any frustration meant quitting for the
day. In retrospect, it has probably helped keep me from making any big
mistakes. The first four months were spent searching for parts and
building assemblies. Much time (most of the summer) was spent preparing
the cab/head for decals, something that I have never done before.
Early on I came to the conclusion that it would impossible to build a
MM without having one on hand to get some critical measurements in order
to fabricate parts that were not available. The wiring harnesses would
also be more difficult without a sample. Since none were near, I bought
one with the thought to restore and sell it. My plan was to replace the
playfield, plastic ramps, all three castle assemblies, all playfield
plastics and posts, clear plastics, dragon/wings, side art,
apron/backboard decals, trim, targets, updated Mantis castle gate
assembly, troll assemblies, translite, DMD, coin door, lock bar, legs,
glass, side rails and so on. As a matter of fact, the ball guides, metal
posts, and wire ramps are probably the only parts on the upper playfield
that aren’t new. The old parts would then be used with my own harnesses
and other hand built parts to build a “player pin” to keep. This was my
first attempt at a complete restoration. I don’t feel like I am in the
same league with some of the restorers that are on the forums and would
not call my restored pin collector quality or mint or anything like
that. I consider myself just an average pinball enthusiast with some
time and patience. I usually did a lot of research before attempting any
portion and didn’t mind redoing something if it wasn’t right. This
worked for me since I had no schedule to meet, and could play my other
MM in the meantime to keep my enthusiasm for the project up. I really
not a collector, so keeping a player type pin works just fine for me.
I bought a donor routed WPC- 95 pin (NBAF) to keep costs down and obtain
some rare parts like the backbox lamp insert panel or tub (which had to
be modified), transformer, speaker panel plus just a big supply of parts
(flippers, slings, jet bumpers, ball trough, auto fire) , not to mention
all of the WPC-95 boards. Only minor modifications were needed on the
cab such as drilling a hole for the launch button and removing some
cabinet wood so that the castle would clear like on the original.
I built the wiring harnesses myself from the schematics and using a
wiring template/ fixture that I made. There were six major harnesses to
build; solenoid/flash, switch, feature lamp, GI, backbox GI/flash, and
opto. The original design has the feature and GI together but it was
easier for me to split it into two. There are also some small harnesses
for the drawbridge opto, back board lamps and plastic ramps. Sections
of all NBAF harnesses were modified to work in the MM, especially the
solenoid/flash. Overall, quite a bit of the NBAF wire was reused. My son
came up with a simple tool to stripe (color code) wires. Exposed wiring
for the ramps was purchased from BAA.
I also made the wooden side rail and back panel, hex posts, gearbox
shafts, and other metal parts that were not available. There are 14 hex
posts that had to be cut, drilled and tapped for 8-32 hardware. The two
gearbox shafts were made with an improvised lathe (drill and dremel).
There are 22 additional individual metal pieces that had to be fab’d.
Fifteen were ball guides. All metal pieces had to be removed, measured,
and put into CAD files. I wanted them originally high pressure water or
laser cut but had to settle for plasma due to resource availability, not
technical issues. A lot of time was spent polishing, grinding edges, and
re-drilling holes in the 18 ga stainless. Every metal part had to be
bent. Some were a lot more complicated than others. A small metal brake
(18 in Harbor Freight) was used to bend the parts. Four wire ball guides
were bent from 1/8 inch rod. (one was available)
A template was made in order to cut additional holes in the NBAF backbox
insert panel so that the lamps would be in the same position as the MM.
I gave up looking for two of the wire ramps (I actually found a Peasant
Ramp) and was practicing bending 1/8 in rod and then by luck found a
metal sculptor who said he could duplicate the originals. He has made
the Catapult and Right Wire Ramps with stainless rod. Up close, they
wouldn’t pass as originals but they look fine in the player pin and the
TIG welds seem to be a lot stronger than the original spot welds. Maybe
later I’ll get these plated but they look pretty good in stainless.
At the present time the player pin is complete and running with the NBAF
board set, new ROMs, used plastic and castles parts, used playfield and
plastic ramps, all handmade harnesses, hand built metal parts, and the
custom catapult and right wire ramps. I have not done a lot to this pin,
basically a good cleaning , flame polishing the ramps, and replacing
decals on the drawbridge and troll flaps.
The restored pin is also completed. It is being play tested to make any
final adjustments. It is amazing how different a pin is with a new
playfield. It is really fast and smooth. I can make shots much more
easily than on the player pin.
Having been through this, I believe that a person with some moderate
metal, woodworking/painting, soldering, and electrical skills could
build a replica MM for under $7000 (minus labor- lol). It, of course,
would not be as valuable as an original but would have many, many new
parts as I have outlined in my restored MM link below. This estimate is
based upon procuring each part from the lowest cost vendor, taking
advantage of the good deals found at pinball shows, building assemblies
rather than buying completed ones, finding a donor WPC-95 relatively
inexpensive (under $1500), and having an actual MM close by. If you
have welding skills and can fab the wire ramps, the cost would be a lot
less. The time commitment is huge. I bet I have over 100 hours invested
in wiring harnesses and over 100 hours in making/bending metal parts
alone.
Recent part searches have led me to the conclusion that this project if
started now would be a little harder (not impossible) because some parts
are getting more difficult to find. For example, I can no longer find
the catapult bracket. Making parts is tough.
Big thanks go out to the vendors who have made parts available,
especially those who remanufacture new parts. Also to all who post
restoration tips/pics/ideas on the forums. (Clay’s DVDs and Bryan
Kelly’s gallery of restoration tips were especially helpful.) Thanks to
Gary Martin and Eric Schmitt who originally posted on RGP in Aug 2010
that a project like this was definitely doable and got me thinking.
I have over 1000 pics of the process and have included a portion in the
link.
If any of you are ever around Frankfort Il and would like to see the
player MM, contact me and stop by. There is a buyer for the restored MM
and it is going to be picked up in a week or so.
The link to the pics is http://tinyurl.com/7nvg88v (some date
stamps are incorrect)
And the link to the new parts installed on the restored MM is
http://tinyurl.com/82buqey
Wally
Cool project, what are you doing about the parts that you can't get.....fabricate them yourself?
OP
OP
Wally's story is amazing, and there's loads of useful info that he's put together. At the moment I'm just accumulating parts, at some point I'll pass "the point of no return" and make a start!
I've got a great metal fabricator nearby who can reproduce anything but I'll only go down that route when I absolutely have to as I want to try and do it with genuine parts only.
I've got a great metal fabricator nearby who can reproduce anything but I'll only go down that route when I absolutely have to as I want to try and do it with genuine parts only.