Complete Minty Stern Seawitch...now on site at SWL Salisbury 🤓

[new forest pinball]

Yea I know , I am always banging on about classic sterns and how awesome they are, how I played them in my youth etc... yawn yawn.
But it’s a fact they are awesome! And Seawitch is no exception. In fact it’s my favourite classic s.s. Period. And anyone who knows me knows I am a classics addict.
Plan is to do a mint restoration on this . We have one of Johns (John Greatwich from the u.s.). New playfields Which are awesome. He kindly agreed to send one to us directly. We have number 20 of 28 playfields , these have never suffered from clear coat problems. They look incredible.
Rosie stripped it out today and this is what we got. Plus a picture of the original Playfield which is actually not to bad for a Seawitch.
Hopefully you will all enjoy the journey....any comments always welcome. The backbox is pretty bad, with the usual dodgy mdf stern use. Cabinet filthy but solid. Here’s what it looks like.....


Here’s the new Playfield. The light board is pretty grim to....

 

[windoesnot]

Looking forward to this one Keith

 

[new forest pinball]

Cabinet preparation underway. Got rained off today though..... backbox and cabinet getting sanded down....
First layering of filler on the more severe damaged areas......

The The backglass light board has been primered and a few coats of white gloss. Notice that whoever drilled the lamp holes did it from the wrong side!..... look at the state of those holes! would never of happened at Bally..............


Also the wiring harnesses have had a good wash n clean.....

As soon as we have a dry day we will sand it again more flat and smooth. Then primer time............

 

[AlanJ]

I hate the mdf they used on the backbox surround.

 

[kevlar]

I believe that's the machine I tilted through and DQ'd out of the festive at Swl a few years ago. I still haven't calmed down!

 

[Jay Walker]

The white Insert board has the displays laid out in designer Mike Kubin's trademark pattern.

In the back box pictures, can I see traces of purple paint? Maybe it's a left-over Ali back box

I hate the mdf they used on the backbox surround.

And while on the subject, I once stored a back box in my kitchen, under the counter. A coke tin left on the surround must've eventually leaked, causing the Mdf to swell up in a large bump.

 

[new forest pinball]

Hi all,
Apologies for the delay in an update.....
@Jay Walker Yes well spotted think they may of used a non stencilled Ali cabinet and just used the base purple as undercoat, this pinky/purple colour was visible on both cabinet and backbox.

@kevlar Is is indeed the very same machine.... you vandal!

So the cabinet and backbox went into primer. That mdf absolutely drinks paint!.......
Then the base coat was applied...
Baaah, fiddlesticks! Cannot find the primer pictures anywhere.... Oh well it’s u er boring anyways........
Next the “First wave” of stencils...

 

[new forest pinball]

First wave stencils on….. just the right humidity for the paint today…. Not sure on using black next maybe use an aqua blue in its place (?)…..

 

[huggers]

A lot of people don't know that this game was actually based on The Beatles, also by Stern.

I kid of course. Looking superb matey

 

[new forest pinball]

Just in time before the weather changes . Decided on blue in the end. Looks pretty cool . Be sure to let me know your thoughts….. time to pack f2k for the uk open classics…c u there

 

[cmrl9]

Yea I know , I am always banging on about classic sterns and how awesome they are, how I played them in my youth etc... yawn yawn.
But it’s a fact they are awesome! And Seawitch is no exception. In fact it’s my favourite classic s.s. Period. And anyone who knows me knows I am a classics addict.
Plan is to do a mint restoration on this . We have one of Johns (John Greatwich from the u.s.). New playfields Which are awesome. He kindly agreed to send one to us directly. We have number 20 of 28 playfields , these have never suffered from clear coat problems. They look incredible.
Rosie stripped it out today and this is what we got. Plus a picture of the original Playfield which is actually not to bad for a Seawitch.
Hopefully you will all enjoy the journey....any comments always welcome. The backbox is pretty bad, with the usual dodgy mdf stern use. Cabinet filthy but solid. Here’s what it looks like.....
View attachment 179165View attachment 179166View attachment 179167View attachment 179168View attachment 179169View attachment 179170View attachment 179171

Here’s the new Playfield. The light board is pretty grim to....
View attachment 179172

Wow when people say the Beatles is basically a seaswitch, from looking at the picture the layout exactly the same. Having played a Beatles recently

 

[cmrl9]

Just in time before the weather changes . Decided on blue in the end. Looks pretty cool . Be sure to let me know your thoughts….. time to pack f2k for the uk open classics…c u there View attachment 182296View attachment 182297View attachment 182298View attachment 182299

Looks better than a Beatles gold

 

[new forest pinball]

Lots of progress on the painting, before the weather changes. Got the coin door and framework done in original hammered silver, forgot to take a before pictures…..
Also had opportunities to put cabinet protectors on and new door decals…….

Take a look at this power supply pcb , plus all the hard wiring oh dearie dearie moi…..

Love those rectifier’s….. bodgetastic! We will replace it all with an Andrew “weebly” diy pcb like this…..

Here’s the pcb mount refurbished……

Connections to the pcb and pcb assembly next……. Have a great weekend y’all…. Keef

 

[HomerRamone]

Should have split that into 2 posts. Cant do a happy and sad like - which it kinda needs

 

[new forest pinball]

Should have split that into 2 posts. Cant do a happy and sad like - which it kinda needs

Yes agree. But i never seem to be organized enough to do that. Then when i think of it i have forgotten to take any before/during pictures, normally due to time restrictions. But good point well made….Appreciate the feedback. Keef

 

[new forest pinball]

Ok so the power pcb has been assembled. Top tip on assembling/soldering the fuse holders: put the fuse in its holders first so that when you solder into the pcb you have the exact/ correct spacing between the two holders.
Here’s a reminder of what it looked like BEFORE:



AFTER:

Next , new connectors for the power pcb and hopefully a chance to refit the cabinet loom, pcb / transformer board and the tilt / coin door board.........

 

[Gonzo]

Looking peachy mate

 

[new forest pinball]

Transformer mounting board completed.......

 

[new forest pinball]

Some steady progress. The backbox light board has been completed. With a set of @AlanJ low voltage displays. We have gone for green in the scores and white for ball in play / credit. We prefer the look of standard #44’s to illuminate the backglass. But using comets for the feature lamps.....

Here’s a shot of the front cabinet with the new shooter housing installed.

The problem we are having is with the shooter rods. Stern classic games have longer rods than Bally s.s. Games.
We cannot find a stockist any place, to purchase new ones. If any of you know anywhere be sure to tip us off!......shaft length is 8 1/16” overall 8 3/4”. So we will attempt a polish, but being 42 years old it’s not that effective..........
Here it is before....


And after...... needed a strong black coffee after all that rubbing! N buffing...... ......
Slight improvement.....

 

[new forest pinball]

Cannot believe it was August when we last looked at Seawitch!
Anyway Rosie was back on it a bit today as she is waiting for spares to arrive on other jobs (Sopranos n Junkyard, if you were wondering, which you probably weren’t).
First here’s the stand up targets refurbished with new targets riveted on thanks to Neil “the Fabulous riveter” Fellender @Fishbulb for this as I have no motivation for riveting whatsoever..... here’s a picture.......what an improvement over the now forty plus year old originals


Next the new “Greatwitch” Playfield got led bars fitted for the inserts and new flipper mechs and coils with the correct coil strengths and mech’s! The mech’s fitted to the originals are unknown to us so I am guessing GOTTLIEB or zaccaria...
Let me know if you know but the pictures are a bit rubbish as it was 9 degrees in my workshop today! And rather dark as two bulbs blew in the light unit....But I fetched some logs n that sorted it! As we’d run right out of vectors ( @paddythegreek ).
Here’s some pictures. Next strip both sides of the old Playfield and strip The siderails of vinyl ready for painting.......

 

[Jay Walker]

Let me know if you know but the pictures are a bit rubbish as it was 9 degrees in my workshop today

They look like Gottlieb to me. It's entirely your own choice, but I'll risk seeming the originality fiend by mentioning that Stern took an awfully long time to produce their coin door sticker; the first game I recall with it was Flight 2000.

 

[new forest pinball]

They look like Gottlieb to me.

Hi Jamie,
Yeah think you are right about that. They are definitely being replaced with original Stern. Just no power there in comparison.
One job done today. G.I lamp holders fitted, wire strings installed and soldered.
Insert leds tinned ready……..

 

[Moonraker]

Yep, the old ones are Gottlieb flipper mechs, typical Italian (that's where the machine came from) operator bodge fix.

 

[new forest pinball]

Some progress... loom removed from the old Playfield and cleaned including the clips and the screws were hand polished.
(Not by me, as it is rather tedious but in a strange way rather rewarding (?) Has been fitted to the new Playfield but only the loom via the clips nothing else has been re-connected yet. Few pictures.....


Next job up, is to repair/repaint the side rails. These are in very poor condition indeed, but they have been in service for over 40 years I guess! From my experience of classic stern games the rails are always wrapped in a patterned black vinyl similar to Williams games of the same era. So the first job is to remove it then fill any imperfections (the rail in the shooter lane is über worn!!! ) sand them down and then paint them a gorgeous colour.......

 

[new forest pinball]

Time to strip, clean and rebuild the pop bumpers. We were expecting the B-695 type pop bumper mechanics like this below..

For those of you new to classic Stern machines this is the type that had the unique stern grey plastic rings. Very hard to find nowadays (fortunately Gary @Gary Flower had a bunch of NOS ones which we purchased from him some years ago.
But to our surprise our Seawitch had the older type B-196 mechanisms. With the even rarer three piece pop bumper rings.
(See below.......)

So what we intend to do is a mix of the two mechs, using new body’s and the plastic type rings.....
Here’s the current condition of the bumpers...


Here’s all the parts of the “196” mechs. So many parts..........



Anyway, plan is to clean and polish all parts, replace the body with a nice transparent blue, new yellow skirts and a gorgeous 14 led comet pop bumper lamp Which illuminates upward and downwards into the transparent body......

Here’s the finished article, came up lovely.....notice the plastic ring, these give a lovely “pop” if you have played a classic stern with these original babies you will know what I mean!


The pop bumper caps cleaned up lovely. These are completely unobtainable now unfortunately. Marco do a half ditched attempt but it’s dreadful and completely the wrong colour. Only problem is one has been glued in the past but fortunately Sir Bob of @pinballtoys royalty had one going which he is kindly sending us, it’s covered in a crusty waxed type substance but hopefully it will clean up.............
Here’s the three cleaned originals....



Here’s Bob’s.......



Let’s see what we can do!.....thanks again Bob I owe you one pal....Keef

 

[new forest pinball]

Now if you love classic solid state games then you’re gonna love spinners.
We absolutely adore spinners at NFP and they have to be 100% right and 100% ripperble(not an actual word) but you catch my drift……
Ok let’s talk Bally v Stern spinners. Have you ever asked yourself this question but kept it to yourself in fear of looking a complete dofus (?)
“Why are Stern spinners so juicy compared to others?”…..
Well there’s a couple of reasons…..
1) the Stern spinners are close to 30% lighter! (Bally 38g Stern 26g).
2) The arms on the Stern spinner’s are thinner (thus less friction)
3) The metal on the Stern spinner switch is uber flexible resulting in less resistance from the actuator.
The spinner on our Seawitch looked like this……
It’s a spinner from a 1968 Gottlieb funland. How it got there who knows…..
Fortunately we have a bag of NOS Stern spinners and a few used ones. No chance of a nos seawitch spinner so time to strip a used Stern spinner from a Stern Pinball, pinball first we soak it in stripper…..
Then rinse it , and you are left with this…

The notched side shown in this picture is the rear of the spinner……..
Seawitch spinner decals, like the pop bumpers are unobtainable now, sadly.
But we tracked down some one on pinside that reproduced some 7 years ago and he had a set left! Result! Here they are….gooorgeous….

And here’s the end result, we will hang it tomorrow all being well……

It will need straightening a bit, levelling, lubing, very exciting

 

[Deleted member 2463]

this looks awesome so far Keith.

are you putting in plastic rings for the pop bumpers? I think there is a guy on pinside who has a source for them now.

 

[new forest pinball]

Firstly... to answer Neil’s question @Neil McRae yes we are using plastic rings for the pop bumpers we have a good nos supply, Currently.
Now with four flippers comes e.o.s. Switches a plenty. When you purchase the new stern flipper mechs they only have one e.o.s. Switch and it has no plastic actuators so you need to swap them out and stack them.....
Before we go into that here’s the current setup with my upper flipper e.o.s. Switches


Interesting fact is there are no resistors shown in the Seawitch schematic, so with the help of young Kirk @Tilt_Birmingham
We were able to identify them as 5w 1ohm resistors, although Kirk only had them fitted on one mech the resistor was missing on the other, so think we will fit them and monitor the effect on the upper flippers.......

So here’s a picture of the current lower flipper eos set up........

And here’s the eos pair we need to install..... with longer screws obviously......


And here they are installed.....


Ohhhh and here’s the finished spinner installed........

 

[new forest pinball]

LIGHTING.
Ok, I know end of stroke switches...... Boooorrrinnn...
I’d even rather play tspp I hear you cry........apologies but I find eos switches fascinating and they are so crucial to strong reliable flipper power..... maybe it’s just me?
Anyway back to the subject under consideration, lighting .
THE INSERTS.
Well they are sorted with led light bars, these are our go to now on all classic games particularly when using a new Playfield as they save well over £100 in lamp holders and they look awesome.
GENERAL ILLUMINATION (G.I.).
Now this is the tricky one. Recently a lot of my customers have been sold on comet sunlights, but I struggle with this, preferring the cold look so thought I would try sunlights in the g.i. Sockets and cold starposts leds. (4 led comets) and a couple of led bars.(comet 10 led, one in each top corner of the playfield and one on the apron. Modern stern spike style.
Here’s a map of where we are putting post Leds the idea is to highlight the drop targets and the loop, in addition lighting up the lower flipper area, here’s a map, the star posts that are illuminated are circled in red.... will put my power supply on it tomorrow and let you know what we think......



Here’s the top led bars.....



We have also installed the flippers gone for blue upper and green lower.... for now....


The sun came out in the glorious new forest so we started on the side rails, all but one that needs a bit of rebuilding..
We used rustoleom mode as it’s high build super gloss finish is more suitable to slightly lower temperatures. It was 13degrees so we just got away with it ......

 

[new forest pinball]

.duplicate post. Will update later.....