I need some motivation to finish my pin restore

gregatron

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Donor 2011
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Like it says. I lost my motivation somewhere about a month and a half ago.
I was all hardcore for about two weeks then I just stopped. I picked up a Magic by Stern (1979) a few months back and was working on it pretty regularly. I ordered all new rubbers and several PF parts, repaired the MPU and no score display issue, Rebuilt the recifier board and did a bridge rec mod.
(which fixed my G.I. issue)
Rebuilt the high voltage section for the score displays. Did a lot of acid damage repair. Replaced most of the connector housings, Reflowed all headers, recapped the sound board, Welded a couple of broken mechanical linkages. Painted the coin door and legs. And then I started in on the playfield, the biggest issue with the whole machine. It was wrecked! Probably the worst one I've ever seen. I looked for a replacement PF but yeah right...
So, I decided to hand paint the missing areas. Which I did and I'm almost finished. I still need to finish some minor areas. I have even made films for silk screening the small text.
I spoke to a local screen printing shop to see if they would expose a screen for me. (I have all of the stuff to screen print except a UV light) They will do it but I have yet to take it down there.
I just can't seem to find the drive for this... I haven't worked on it in over a month. Does this happen to anyone else??

Here are some before and after pics of the PF. Some of the after pics look a little rough and some colors were mixed wrong (by me) and have since been fixed.

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Wow, that is nice work. If you ever get to Reno, how much would you charge to help with a little touch up on my High Speed? Nothing compared to the work you did on this, but beyond my skill. It has been stripped to the playfield for way too long now. I don't lack the motivation, just the talent. Not sure on the motivation part, as my many projects are proof of. Your playfield work looks great though! (Was that motivating enough to get you going? :) ).
 
Wow, that is nice work. If you ever get to Reno, how much would you charge to help with a little touch up on my High Speed? Nothing compared to the work you did on this, but beyond my skill. It has been stripped to the playfield for way too long now. I don't lack the motivation, just the talent. Not sure on the motivation part, as my many projects are proof of. Your playfield work looks great though! (Was that motivating enough to get you going? :) ).


Thanks man!
It's far from being finished as the more I look at it the more and more I find something wrong. I actually don't have any recent pics. The ones shown have far more "missing" areas than it currently has. it also needs the small text and values added and then a final clear coat.
I wouldn't mind helping out a fellow KLOVer with touching up a playfield. Too bad I don't live closer. I used to take yearly snowboarding trips in the winter and mountain biking trips in the summer nearby. (lake Tahoe) but my friend moved away...
How bad is your PF wear?
 
dude...

you redid that by hand???

holy krap dude... you got talent thats for sure. I wish i had that much of an artists streak.
 
It is mostly a few spots along the upper freeway, and a little in the green area. The rest is nice. The wood was worn down abit so I leveled it out with dolphin glaze. I tried to paint a few areas, but ended up wiping it off - just didn't look right. I think the hardest part is the car on the right side of the upper freeway. The middle part of it is gone.
 
dude...

you redid that by hand???

holy krap dude... you got talent thats for sure. I wish i had that much of an artists streak.

Yeah, I did it all freehand. It's not the best as I was getting impatient at times.
Plus, I only had some crappy pics from the intarwebs for reference.
I have been painting since I was a kid so that came in handy. I do paintings for friends only as a return for a huge favor or something like that. here are a couple I've done.
These are all done in acrylic and done with four to five "colors" not really colors more like shades of gray. I like to do characters from the favorite movie or TV show of the friend I'm doing it for.

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The thing that people like about these is that up close it's hard to discern what you're actually looking at.
but when you step back you can see it clearly.
 

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It is mostly a few spots along the upper freeway, and a little in the green area. The rest is nice. The wood was worn down abit so I leveled it out with dolphin glaze. I tried to paint a few areas, but ended up wiping it off - just didn't look right. I think the hardest part is the car on the right side of the upper freeway. The middle part of it is gone.


Yeah, It is frustrating at times to get the colors just right. It helps a lot if you draw it out with a pencil first then just paint over them using them as a guide. :)
 
This happens to me all the time. I'll go for a couple of months without touching a pinball machine. It happens. You're just about there. I'm sure you'll find the motivation soon enough.

Your touchups look awesome!
 
I occasionally have motivation problems as well. Just shift your efforts to something else until you're bored and then return to the restoration.
 
Harvey Keitel, Storm Trooper.. and uh.. Higgins? Sweet job on the playfield, I'd be proud of it.

*edit* I just looked at the names of the images, that's totally Higgins.
 
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Hey Greg,

Your playfield touch ups look great! Keep us posted on how the shop job goes. More motivation will be to enjoy playing it after you have the job done!! :)
 
Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm gonna set a goal... I will have it ready to clear coat by the end of the month. That doesn't seem too difficult. :)
 
Harvey Keitel, Storm Trooper.. and uh.. Higgins? Sweet job on the playfield, I'd be proud of it.

*edit* I just looked at the names of the images, that's totally Higgins.

Holy shit! I never saw the stormtrooper until you mentioned it. I was wondering why he drew a broken vase on the floor next to a large window, with the reflection of the window on the opposing wall.

That is a badass piece of art.
 
You do good work and your not alone in losing motivation. Hell I got a Freddy im knee deep in that I jumped right into after doing a full pf swap and restore on my Fire. Hell I may have played Fire 10 times since ive fixed it. I seem to put more time into fixing than playing than i get a little sick of looking at em. Still got Freddy, Dr. Dude and Earthshaker to restore mainly just a few broken things and some touchups here and there and a shop out, nothing all that big. Right now I havent touched mine in about a week and just dont care about it. Before i went on a 8 month period where I didnt even go in my basement. Then I went 6 months strong fixing alot of stuff. The way I see it I do this for my personal enjoyment and when I get burned out I just let it go for a little while because at that point im not having fun and I know they arent going anywhere so I just wait for motivation pretty much. I hated Fire just because of the pain in the ass pf swap I had to do although it looks great now I just have no desire to even play it now. My favorite pin is still Spy Hunter which was the first one I restored. Sentimental? Maybe, but it is a very solid pin and fun too. Not many bells and whistles like the new ones but its straight to the point and pretty easy to learn but hard to master.
 
Count me as another one impressed by the painting job. It looks great, and if you don't get anything else finished for a while, at least complete the playfield and clear coating. It'd be a shame if that was left half finished after all the time you've put into it.
 
Nice touch ups for sure.

I have a DK sitting in my garage that has been stripped for over a year and a PO cab that I haven't even started on yet. It happens, I just haven't had time with work and the family, wife gets pissed when I spend hours working on stuff while she watches the baby. Hell its hard enough to even find the time to play some games never mind work on them for me.
 
Nice touch ups for sure.

I have a DK sitting in my garage that has been stripped for over a year and a PO cab that I haven't even started on yet. It happens, I just haven't had time with work and the family, wife gets pissed when I spend hours working on stuff while she watches the baby. Hell its hard enough to even find the time to play some games never mind work on them for me.


Same here, we got a 16 month old and between her and the old lady wanting time and working full time Im just not in the mood to do more work on pins and cades. However I had a 7 month period where I was unemployed and I loved nothing more than to just hang out in the basement and tinker.
 


Nice fucking work. I really like some of the old fantasy-themed 70's pins with their generic artwork that always seemed to be a rip off of something (in this case Frazetta's artwork from the movie 'Fire and Ice' comes to mind). You did a sweet job making it look new again. Are you gonna sand and seal? Or just wax and polish?
 
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