My Custom Re-theme Pinball Machine

spacies

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Man I have been waiting to do this for a LOOONNGGG time!

I have had a couple of candidates for this project but couldn't bring myself to ruin a good machine. After talking with a mate last week he gave me a phone number of someone who may be selling a pinball that could be suitable. Its a 1977 Gottlieb Quick Draw. It kinda works. It has trouble coining up and once it does go the score reel gets stuck and then no more points register.

So the deal was done and I have the machine back here. I just took some pics:

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So you can see it need some love. There is some wear around the pops and some of the paint is splitting on the lower part of the playfield. The plastics in the centre strip have also sunken a bit so I will need to remove those and reseat them. I will need to do some reading and ask some experts on that one. One thing I am dissapointed about is that there is no slings. Oh well, can't get it right first time I guess?!

So on to the theme, Monster Hot Rods. I have had this theme in my head for about 2 years now and started on the art design about 18 months ago. I have gathered art and ideas and hand drawn a ton of art and probably have enough to do 5 or 6 pins since I only used a small fraction on this machine. More on that later. With my love for V8's, my own drag racing cars and working on Hot Rods and Rat Rods it wasn't too hard in the end to get inspiration and ideas. Also another thing was the original bubblegum cards in the 70's and 80's and the fact that I absolutely love the art by Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, Johnny Ace and Kali Vera. I have purchased several books by those artists and even one called 'How to Draw Monster Hot Rods Like the Pro's!', lol.

So its all happened pretty quick since the pinball arrived a couple of days ago. I searched the web and was lucky enough to find someone who had a NOS (not installed) playfield and I got him to take several high res images so I could get a feel for the layout. He sent the images through, I stitched them together in photoshop and then moved the image to Illustrator. Once in there I measured my playfield and transformed the image to the correct size. Now I have a very close (within a couple of mm's) background to work with.

So first thing to do was to draw the location of the inserts, lane guides, plastics, drop targets etc etc. After a short time I ended up with this image:

Plafieldblank.jpg


I think a couple of things are out (hard to judge by photos) but hey, once I acutally pull the playfied down to strip it and start preparing it I will get the scanner and tape measure out and get it 99.9% spot on.

So there you go, its underway.

.........
 
Right at this point I have just about finished the playfield design. This is where I am at:

Playfield_progress_1-1.jpg


Not bad for a couple of days :p

As for the name of the machine it is going to be RPM.
R (something, not sure) ..Pinball...Monsters. Maybe Radical? The RM fits in great because the inserts/scoring works on ABC.

I hope you guys enjoy following my journey.

Thanks for looking :D
 
This is going to be a very cool project!

Here is my constructive criticism:
The big plastics are too busy. Also, you should have different art on each plastic.
 
This is going to be a very cool project!

Here is my constructive criticism:
The big plastics are too busy. Also, you should have different art on each plastic.

Thanks. I am hearing ya about the plastics being too busy. I will do a test print before I make any changes.

Also the plastics that are currently on there are a mirror image of themselves whihc is fairly common even on todays machines.

How are you planning to get the art on to the playfield?

3 choices:

1: Hand Paint/Airbrush
2: Handpaint/Airbrush and some decals
3: 1 big decal.

All the options will get a clear coat.
 
I don't think the iron crosses on the pop bumper caps goes with the rest of the theme. Perhaps some UFO's or something? Or big alien eyeballs?
 
Sweet I will change the crosses to eyes :D although there is supposed to be a score of 100 points on the tops of the pops. I am looking in to some translucents ones as well so they may not need anything.

Thanks again for looking.
 
If you are doing this for yourself than put swastikas on it for all I care. You are the only one that should decide on how you want your custom pin to look like.
 
If you are doing this for yourself than put swastikas on it for all I care. You are the only one that should decide on how you want your custom pin to look like.

Its an Iron Cross, not a swastika.
I know a little about the history of it but the ONLY reason I put it there was because its a well recognised symbol on the Rat Rod and Custom Car and Bike world. Nothing else mate.

I don't really like it now anyway so it will go.

Anywho, I stripped the playfield down last night and will scan it on the weekend. I will probably redraw the Quick Draw art and donate it to the pinball gods as a sacrifice and to keep the peace for changing the machine , lol.
 
I kinda thought the Iron Cross worked because the whole Rat Fink type theme but I guess it is more monstered theme. Blood shot eyeballs would be cool.
 
Its an Iron Cross, not a swastika.
I know a little about the history of it but the ONLY reason I put it there was because its a well recognised symbol on the Rat Rod and Custom Car and Bike world. Nothing else mate.

I think he knew that and was merely stating that you could put something hideous on there if you want, becuase it's your pinball. :)

I love this, I can't wait to see it o construction photos. I too have recently thought about doing this, but don't want to spend the dough on a beat-up, but repairable cab.

Any thoughts on your Backglass yet?

By the way, not sure if you saw this yet, but here's some good inspiration for your custom build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJFJKZ_UCVQ
 
I think he knew that and was merely stating that you could put something hideous on there if you want, becuase it's your pinball. :)

I love this, I can't wait to see it o construction photos. I too have recently thought about doing this, but don't want to spend the dough on a beat-up, but repairable cab.

Any thoughts on your Backglass yet?

By the way, not sure if you saw this yet, but here's some good inspiration for your custom build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJFJKZ_UCVQ

Yep. Like I said, make it personal. What you like is all that matters. Not accusing you of being a Nazi or anything.
 
I personnaly think that you should add some more cars and a little less of the aliens. The rodas look cool and i can see the side of the cabinet having artwork done along the line of Nitro Groundshaker with a cool rod on the side. Maybe find a way to use the inserts as part of a car, like wheels or headlights so that they stick out when that insert is lit
 
I kinda thought the Iron Cross worked because the whole Rat Fink type theme but I guess it is more monstered theme. Blood shot eyeballs would be cool.

Yeah I know what you mean about the cross. Lets see how the eyeballs look. Just finishing them now.

I think he knew that and was merely stating that you could put something hideous on there if you want, becuase it's your pinball. :)

I love this, I can't wait to see it o construction photos. I too have recently thought about doing this, but don't want to spend the dough on a beat-up, but repairable cab.

Any thoughts on your Backglass yet?

By the way, not sure if you saw this yet, but here's some good inspiration for your custom build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJFJKZ_UCVQ

All good bro. I will take plenty of pics. An EM is a perfect game for a first attempt. Nice and simple with simple layouts. I hope you give it a go.

No idea on the backglass yet. I do like then name RPM. This fits because the scoring of this game is based on ABC whihc is a tad boring. I like the P and M to be Pinball Monstas but not too sure about the R. I did think Rad or Radical.

Anyone else got suggestions?

Ahh, Coconut Island. Funny you should bring that up. I did the cabinet art for that machine. They found me after they had already done the playfield and the plastics. Maybe later I will do the playfield and plastics and finish the backglass I have as well.

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Yep. Like I said, make it personal. What you like is all that matters. Not accusing you of being a Nazi or anything.

Sweet as.

I personnaly think that you should add some more cars and a little less of the aliens. The rodas look cool and i can see the side of the cabinet having artwork done along the line of Nitro Groundshaker with a cool rod on the side. Maybe find a way to use the inserts as part of a car, like wheels or headlights so that they stick out when that insert is lit

Aliens? Heh. They are Monsters. This whole theme is based on the bubblegum and collectable cards drawn by Ed Roth and others.

Man thanks for mentioning Ground Shaker. I had never seen that before! WOW. Its beautiful. Awesome. Yeah something like that would be great. I have a few more monsters up my sleeve so may use them on the side.

Yeah I was told I should use car parts on the drop targets. I have drawn some just in case.

Thanks to all.
 
Removed Iron Cross and added the pops score (same as original machine)
Added Checkered Flag
Changed plastics
Added the hand and shifter


PF_diff_plastics1.jpg
 
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