First pinball - Rescued pinball and need help restoring.

Sarconus

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First pinball - Rescued pinball and need help restoring.

Finally i was able to track down The Getaway (paid more than i should have ) but its in a good place now and needs a lot of love.

I have been reading up on how to clean the play field and wax it but there are a few basic things i need help with and hope you guys and gals can assist.

To start things off all the electronics work just fine but here is the laundry list of things that i need to do.I just ordered a new rubber kit, novus 2 and 1 and new pinballs but would like to know what the best wax for the field would be and any other parts i need.

1. The play field and flippers were burnt and lots of burnt wax on the field. This poor thing never saw any new coats of wax. Luckily the play field is intact minus one chip on one of the lights.
2. The Super charger sign left leg broke off so it kind of hangs there.
3. stop light is loose and hangs to the right.
4. Flipper up top seems weak. Could be the poor playing field but does seem a bit weak.
5. Missing a post on left side flipper and the guide seem to be slightly bent.
6. plastics near the flippers at bottom are warped (due to the heat that melted the rubbers etc)
7. Once in a while the super charger closes the gate too fast and ball shots back down the ramp instead of the return on left side. (metal needs cleaning)
8. Several light bulbs are burnt out so need to replace those. (i want to do LED kit later on)
9. Kick back plugger not centered and very weak. Sometimes does not get past the return lane and if it does it just shoots it all the way to the right return lane. :(

I knew that i would have my work cut out for me but I just need some guidance from seasoned pinball owners.

Thank you for any help and guidance you can offer!

playfield.jpg

playfield2.jpg

playfield3.jpg
 
A good carnuba wax, such as Mothers or Meguiars (could have misspelled that one) is what I use. They can be found at auto parts stores or WalMart.

Plastics can be straightened out by a few different methods. Personally I heat them up with my heat gun and once they lay flat I sandwich them between a few books until they cool. A search here or on RGP will give you other methods.

There is a ton of repair information, both generic and specific to your brand, on this site:
http://www.pinrepair.com/
 
A good carnuba wax, such as Mothers or Meguiars (could have misspelled that one) is what I use. They can be found at auto parts stores or WalMart.

There is a ton of repair information, both generic and specific to your brand, on this site:
http://www.pinrepair.com/

I'll second Mothers Carnuba Wax, just make sure that you get the hard stuff in the red tub.

Pinrepair.com is where you want to start. Read through the guide on Williams pins of that era, there is a lot of information there. It sounds like most of the issues that you have will be fixed with a good cleaning. Take plenty of pictures as you take things off of the playfield so that you can see where to put them when you re-assemble the machine. I use lots of zip-lock bags to store the small parts so that I do not loose them. You will want to go to PinballLife.com and get a flipper rebuild kit for that machine. It looks like there was a lot of heat right by the flippers, and I am sure that they will need re-building to get them working well again. Pinballlife will also have most of the other parts that you will need to get it going again.

Looks like a fun pin to start with.
 
A good carnuba wax, such as Mothers or Meguiars (could have misspelled that one) is what I use. They can be found at auto parts stores or WalMart.

Plastics can be straightened out by a few different methods. Personally I heat them up with my heat gun and once they lay flat I sandwich them between a few books until they cool. A search here or on RGP will give you other methods.

There is a ton of repair information, both generic and specific to your brand, on this site:
http://www.pinrepair.com/

thanks for the suggestions. I did read to flat them out i can put them in an oven on top of some wax paper. Is that a recommended solution?
 
I for one will also vouch for Mother's Carnauba Wax. I think I only paid $7 for the rather large metal tin of it from my local Wally World. And pinballlife.com is a great place to order your parts. I had above average customer service from Terry over there and was very happy with everything. Also pinballlife is a great place to order bulbs from, they're pretty cheap.

What condition is the cabinet and backglass in? You should throw a few photos of both of those up on here as well.

Good luck with the restore!
 
Backglass is in pretty good shape although the handle to take it off is cracked and needs to be replaced. Left side is very faded and the front as well. The right side is less faded and in better shape.

backglass.jpg

right.jpg

left.jpg
 
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Not in bad shape at all! Just wax her up and clean it up and you will be flying :)

I have done wax paper in the over, it worked great just be careful.
 
Anyone know where i can get plastic insert replacement for my play field? I need the red arrow for Getaway Jackpot. I found decal replacement on ebay but the actual inserts has chipped.
 
Anyone know where i can get plastic insert replacement for my play field? I need the red arrow for Getaway Jackpot. I found decal replacement on ebay but the actual inserts has chipped.

Marco Specialties (http://www.marcospec.com) sells a lot of plastic inserts.

Congrats on the game. My main advice is to pull off absolutely every part off the top of the playfield including the pop bumpers.
 
Marco Specialties (http://www.marcospec.com) sells a lot of plastic inserts.

Congrats on the game. My main advice is to pull off absolutely every part off the top of the playfield including the pop bumpers.

Yea that is what i am planning (hopefully get it all back together too!) but want to replace those chipped inserts and hopefully without too much pain.
 
Yea that is what i am planning (hopefully get it all back together too!) but want to replace those chipped inserts and hopefully without too much pain.

I would just fill the insert, rather than replace it and lose the text printed on it. Minwax Polycrylic works quite well to fix chipped clearcoat...I think if you level the game and keep adding light layers of Polycrylic every few hours until it's level w/ the playfield, it should fix up pretty good. Or, you might even be able to fill it w/ some clear superglue (carefully...don't wanna get it anywhere else! ...that's why I'd use Polycrylic - it cleans up very easily if you screw up)
 
I would just fill the insert, rather than replace it and lose the text printed on it. Minwax Polycrylic works quite well to fix chipped clearcoat...I think if you level the game and keep adding light layers of Polycrylic every few hours until it's level w/ the playfield, it should fix up pretty good. Or, you might even be able to fill it w/ some clear superglue (carefully...don't wanna get it anywhere else! ...that's why I'd use Polycrylic - it cleans up very easily if you screw up)

I completely agree with this method, if there is art left on the insert. Insert decals really are a last resort.
 
I would just fill the insert, rather than replace it and lose the text printed on it. Minwax Polycrylic works quite well to fix chipped clearcoat...I think if you level the game and keep adding light layers of Polycrylic every few hours until it's level w/ the playfield, it should fix up pretty good. Or, you might even be able to fill it w/ some clear superglue (carefully...don't wanna get it anywhere else! ...that's why I'd use Polycrylic - it cleans up very easily if you screw up)

Fantastic i will look into this. is there a way to color it minus a colored light ( i just ordered LED lights for all of the play field)

Also does anyone know why my pinballs fly into the air when i hit the first row of stop light targets? When the ball comes off the left flip and hits them it shots all over the place (imagine why my super charger ramp is broken).

I have tried to google this and cant find answers. I assume it may be the rubber behind the targets?
 
Fantastic i will look into this. is there a way to color it minus a colored light ( i just ordered LED lights for all of the play field)

Also does anyone know why my pinballs fly into the air when i hit the first row of stop light targets? When the ball comes off the left flip and hits them it shots all over the place (imagine why my super charger ramp is broken).

I have tried to google this and cant find answers. I assume it may be the rubber behind the targets?

Colored Lights are the way to go if you are wanting to have more color in the inserts.

Those targets take a beating. When they are hit, they bend back and then the ball will rebound up into the air. You can minimize this by replacing the foam that is in the back of these switches. The new foam will not eliminate this, but will minimize the air-balls that you have. Also, look at the mounting bracket and make sure that it does not tilt the target backwards, that will also cause air-balls. You can bend them forwards slightly, but the metal will likely not hold its shape with the repeated pounding from the pinballs, you may need to replace those as well.
 
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