Restoring Theatre of Magic?

Meph

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I posted this last week on Pinside and got a lot of differing opinions. I think more people there are players and less want any type of major restoration. Anyone here done pinball restorations before want to give me some advice on this machine?

The machine in question is a Theatre of Magic. Its a routed machine and like most routed machine, not well taken care of. When I looked at the machine the first thing I noticed was all the inserts are worn and will need new decals. The only place I noticed wear on paint itself is between the inserts, right outside the Haunted Basement. There were some broken things on the machine like the basement door and the chest. The machine was pretty dirty.

On first inspection I was going to walk away from it but he wants me back tuesday to inspect it after he "shops" it. I don't expect his shop job to be on par with mine but he said he is going to clean the PF, fix the basement, replace the chest, replace flippers/rubbers/etc. He claims everything works perfectly and I will check it good when I go back this week.

I'm planning new decals for the inserts and targets. I also plan on repairing the PF either by hand painting it or using a vinyl overlay like Ed Cheung uses on this Resto: http://www.edcheung.com/album/album06/Pinball/mm.htm
I have a friend that does Auto body work and will spray clear coat the PF for the cost of materials if I want to go that route. Unfortunately I only took a few pics but here is a couple of the PF. I should have taken more.

IMAG0092.jpg


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So my big question is.....if it electronically works perfect like he says, there is no signs of hacks or burns on the boards, and he cleans/repairs like he said, is there any reason I shouldn't JUMP on this for $1500-$2000? I'm pretty sure it will be closer to the $1500 range. I posted this on Pinside but I get a lot of differing opinions there and it seems a lot of people are just afraid of any kind of restoration work. I'm looking for the opinions of some people that might have similar experience.
 
That playfield and cabinet are pretty rough, but...

Assuming:

All of the boards in the backbox are fully working, clean, with no hacks or battery damage
Everything seems to work electrically and mechanically
There is no water damage anywhere
The cabinet and backbox are sound in the joints and no holes, smashed plywood, etc

I'd jump on that for 1500 in a second.

Without extensive restoration or replacement that playfield will never be spectatular, but you could have a solid and awesomely fun player's ToM for another 500 bucks and a LOT of time and elbow grease.

For 2000 at the finish line, that's a bargain.

RussMyers
 
IMO if you go to the trouble to restore it, NOT clearcoating it after it's done would almost be insane when you've got a hookup like that. Just remember that once it's clearcoated, it takes a long time to cure, and you can't play on it for a good while afterwards.

Dunno how hard those decals are to repair...the ones on my Space Shuttle look equally horrid, but I'm getting the repro playfield from CPR, so won't have to worry about it.. :|


*edit* How can you tell the cabinet is rough from those pics?
 
It's an educated guess from the front, including the nasty lockbar hole damage and a lot of the ToM cabinets I have seen.

Maybe I'm wrong and it's pristine, but I wouldn't bet on it.

RussM

*edit* How can you tell the cabinet is rough from those pics?
 
Okay, was just curious. Always trying to learn new stuff, and anything that helps people asses condition from pictures is always handy to have. I'm about to start looking for a Space Station, hardcore.

Honestly, I just take lockbar holes as a fact of life for any game that's been routed at this point. My Nintendo has them. My big blue has them, it's a MIRACLE that my Space Shuttle *DOES NOT HAVE THEM* as it was on route for at least 4-5 years back in the 80's that I know of.
 
Yes the cabinet is a little rough but I don't believe the sides were faded. A little scratched. The right bolt of the lockbar looks like someone might have yanked on the bar at one point but thats an easy fix. My biggest concern is the playfield.

This is going to be my first pin. I am getting back into the hobby after almost 2 decades off. My favorites growing up were Phantom of the Opera and Cyclone. These days i'm looking for a deeper rule set but if I run across either machine I will snatch them up. My biggest challenge is deciding if I want to grab this machine and just accept it as a players machine or spend a little more and throw 2k into a collector quality machine like White Water. I don't have $3500-5000 to dump into a collector ToM, IJ, LOTR, etc.

I'm not concerned with selling this machine but if I year down the road I decide I don't play ToM and want something else, will I be able to trade it for a 2k valued machine?

I think it really is going to come down to seeing it tuesday. If its cleaned up and fully playable then i'll have to weigh the price. If I can get him under $1500 then I don't think it will be a question. If only someone was making a reproduction PF for it right now.
 
I'm afraid of my repro playfield, LOL.

I have no electronics experience at all, and never done a project that size. It's my first pin ever, much less in 20 years. I'll be posting a lot of stuff probably to this forum as well once I get it in and it cures..don't want to strip my playfield until I absolutely have to since I don't have another game to play. :\
 
Well my buddy who collects pins and has done some minor resto before and doing a full restore on his cyclone is coming with me to make a final decision this week. He thinks based on the pics that its just the mylar peeling. If that is the case then the playfield below should be protected. That one pic I showed was the only actual damage I spotted.

If it is just the mylar and the PF below is good, then as long as its electronically sound, this should be a steal. We'll know Tuesday.
 
This is a super fun pin and there are a bunch of mods you can do to it that make it that much cooler (LED's, Saw, Trunk, crystal ball thing).
 
That's not mylar, that's most definitely insert damage.

New playfields are supposed to be coming out. I would buy that for $1500 but not much more if the cabinet isn't really nice.
 
Well today was tuesday and I went to see the machine. Was supposed to be cleaned up and fixed. It hadn't moved. The guy wasn't there like he said and a tech had to take me back to see it. I got him to pull it out so I could plug it in. He claimed it all worked but nothing in the head worked. DMD was dead. Most of the connectors in the head were disconnected, a couple of them were burnt badly. I got a really good look at the playfield today and its definitely not mylar. This was all ruined diamond plate which makes it worse than I thought. At least mylar can be removed.
Basically i'm just walking away from this machine and doing business with this guy. This has been going on for 3 weeks now and he couldn't even take the time to pull it out and clean it up. He says it all works yet the backbox is screwed. I think for my first pin i'm going to steer clear of a project pin. I guess i'm going to have to get looking locally for something. I really want a POTO (favorite pin back in the day) and there are 2 for sale right now in NC and FL. Might look into NAVL costs. Either way, i'm walking away from this machine. If he happens to call me down the line and wants to talk i'm gonna offer him about $600-800 for it. I can't really lose at that cost since the parts alone will bring that.
 
Which shop was this if you don't mind me asking (just wondering if it's close to me so i can stay away :D ).
 
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