This page shows several pictures taken before, during and after different steps I've performed while shopping out pinball games.

LEGS

This picture shows 2 sets of pinball legs (total of 8 legs).  Both sets of legs were in the same condition - very rusty.  The 4 legs on the LEFT have already been cleaned with an acid bath - Lightening Rust Remover.  This stuff is AWESOME!  Simply AMAZING!  Chris Muson turned me onto this product.  During one of my trips to Dallas he gave me a first hand demonstration - my mouth hit the floor when I saw the results.  The legs went from non presentable rust-covered legs to legs that look almost brand new.

PLAYFIELD - Decals

Below are several BEFORE and AFTER pictures showing some work I did on my Whirlwind.  The Playfield was in sad shape.  I installed the decals from PINHEADZ on the "COMPASS" & Bonus Ladder.  I installed the Alan Meyer "Spinning Discs" decals.  I installed the Alan Meyer "FEEL THE POWER" and "Tornado" Drop Targets.  I installed the Alan Meyer plastic repro that goes behind the 3-bank drop targets.  I also replaced a broken drop targets and several stationary targets.  Besides all of that, a new Rubber Kit was installed, Mechs were rebuilt and the plastic ramps were given their first cleaning in 10 years (nasty!).

This picture shows the old, original Spinning Disc decals that were in the game and the new repro ones from Alan Meyer.  The repro decals are nice because they have TEXTURE that assists the spinning discs in "grabbing" the ball and "throwing" it around the playfield.

Here's the new Spinning Disc decals installed - WOW, what a difference!

Here's the COMPASS area and the BONUS LADDER.  The graphics have been worn away from the playfield.  The num-nuts who ran the game on route didn't install the lower playfield mylar - even though the factory one was included in the documentation package that came with the game.  This really detracted from the game, BUT with the help of my RGP pals I was pretty confident I could fix her up.  Heck, at least the slingshot plastics weren't cracked/chipped/broken.

Here a picture of the playfield after the decals from PINHEADZ have been installed.  I'm still looking for the center "RADAR" decal - if you have one or a scan of that area please let me know.  NOTE:  I decided to leave the playfield wear alone by the 4K insert.  That's the only blemish and I think touching it up might make it look worse than better.

Here's a picture of the upper left hand corner of the playfield.  Dirty, dirty, dirty.  The Drop Target plastic is broken, the right drop target is broken, the drop target decals are shot (barely legible).  The clear ramps are cloudy and dull.  The rubber is some strange color combination of Brown/Black/White - yuk.

Here's a picture of the upper left hand corner of the playfield after I cleaned it up.  NICE!  The Drop Target plastic has been replaced with an Alan Meyer repro.  I replaced all 3 drop targets - upon close inspection they all had cracks in them and since I was installing new decals I went ahead and put in new targets.  Look how shiny & clear those ramps are now.  And YES boys-n-girls, you can tell the rubber IS actually WHITE (instead of Brown-Black-White).

This is a picture of the upper right hand side of the playfield.  It shows how dull and dirty the clear plastic ramps were.  The "lifeless" Tornado target and the black rubber previously installed in the game.

Aaaahhhh - fresh and minty.  The ramps are now shiny and clear.  An Alan Meyer repro TORNADO decal has been installed and white rubber is now in place.  NOTE: The Yellow target by the ramp (center of the picture) has since been replaced with a new one.

PLAYFIELD - Side-by-Side Comparison

A friend of mine sold me this set of Alien Pokers.  My wife wanted to know how I could call him a friend ;-)  Needless to say, as you can see from the picture, these games haven't been played for a long time.  One game was a parts game and was missing all of the flipper mechs, a kickout saucer, spinner target and some misc. pieces.  My friend had pulled these out of an Operator's warehouse.

This picture show the two pins setup side-by-side. I have finished shopping out the pin on the LEFT.  I haven't touched the pin on the RIGHT.  The pin on the left looked just as bad as the pin on the right.

Same set of games from a different angle.  WOW - big difference a shop job can make.  From "Trash" to "Treasure".  Now the trick is to perform the same magic on the next game.

Here are some pictures of both games after I've finished shopping both of them out.  This included creating and installing the repro Drop Target decals.

Playfields - Side by Side, both shopped out.

Playfield Close Up - After shopped out - everything is clean.  Shows the repro drop target and Spinner decals I made in Photoshop.

Games - Side by Side, both shopped out.

Playfields - Side by Side, both shopped out with lights out in the Room to display the game's light show..

If you've forgotten how bad of shape these games were in then go back to the beginning of this section!

TRANSLITE

This picture shows a Translite (Whirlwind) that was pretty nasty on the backside.  My theory is if its brown then that cuts down on the translucency so the graphics won't be as crisp.  The brown is dirt & smoke accumulated during the 10 years the game was on route.  This picture was taken when I was about halfway done cleaning it.  I cleaned it with NOVUS 2.

COIN DOOR

This page was last updated on 03/04/03