Carnival Queen - 1958 bingo project

joeycuda

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I bought a Carnival Queen project close to 10yrs ago I think. While bingos are often considered worthless to many, this one was missing the backglass! For $50, I took it, and it's been in storage ever since. I watched RGP, Ebay, etc.. for a backglass, but nothing turned up.. I did find the complete manual package, then in the past year, a seller in Memphis had 2 NOS backglasses for sale! I bought one, while the other is still here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CARNIVAL-QU...665?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336b84a6d1

The project is complete!

Thanksgiving day, I decided to pull the project out to set it up for the first time in who knows how long. Something interesting about this game.. Sheet metal covers the coin door and wrapped around the front/side to front, to front side. I pulled most of it off, but you can still see it's on one side below:

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Also, there is a hole cut in the bottom of the game. I know this was used as a gambling device, and the sheet metal around the front of the cabinet probably offered extra security, but does anyone see the logic in the cut out in the bottom panel here??

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Looking at the other side, the paint is in pretty decent original condition for the age and fact this probably pulled in a TON of money in its day.

So, I put the legs on the game, and noticed that these pinball legs have another layer of metal on the inside of the bolt hole area. I think these may be original to the game.

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There she sits:

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Now, let's take a look at the playfield. There is some light paint flaking near the top, but it's in a solid area. It CAN be fixed. Overall, I think this playfield can be restored to look near new. I don't feel like you must clear coat an old playfield, but I'm guessing what I'll do to fix it and seal it:
-clean with Magic Eraser and alcohol, and Novus 2
-touch up as necessary
-automotive clearcoat
..but that's a ways down the road at this point

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The worst damage to the playfield paint:

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Check out the old style connectors..

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More of the top:

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I thought the Union Made decal was interesting:

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It looks so neglected:

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This heavy thing is the backbox, where most all of the mechanisms are. I believe this part alone is as heavy as some pinball machines. You wouldn't believe how heavy it is until you tried to lift it:

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Open the front 'door' and see the Magic Screen mechanism:

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What makes it so heavy:

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Hard to see here, but there's some sort of a mouse nest down in there...

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I have a Night Club magic window machine. All it really needs is for me to clean up the motors and it will operate fine though. The playfield is excellent but the backglass could use a replacement. Assuming I get the backglass replaced at some point it will be at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show some year...
 
Not sure if this foam was installed to catch dripping oil?

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2 of us had a hard time lifting that into place:

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and now... there seems to be a piece of trim missing on the right front edge of the backbox. You can see what's there on the left and how something is missing on the right:

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Unfortunately, I ran out of time and didn't even get to plug it in. With the mouse next down in the bottom, I need to get the actual back off and clean it out with a shop vac. I'm afraid to plug it in, as there could be debris in the way of something like a switch stack. Also, what seemed like the original power cord is very stiff and brittle. I should update this in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that it just 'works', but that's a lot to ask for.

After getting it mechanically sound, I plan to restore the playfield. I'd then like to do a full cabinet strip and repaint. I don't think it will hurt the value of this one too much, and given that it would be kept more as a mechanical marvel, it might as well look nice. More later...
 
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