The Machine: Bride of Pinbot ..... A Pinball Restoration Story

[session9]

The Machine: Bride of Pinbot ..... A Pinball Restoration Story

This documentation of text and photos is the end of a long journey with this game.

This is by far the most extensive, complete, restoration I have completed to date. Every single bolt, screw, switch, wire, solder connection, you name it, has been gone over, replaced, or upgraded.

An uncountable amount of hours, patience, and labor has gone into bringing this "Bride" back to life.

Some notable highlights of what has been done to this machine......

Upgrades and Restoration:

Original Diamond Plate Playfield w/ Red Center Heart insert

The Playfield has been Professionally re-worked and Clear Coated by Christopher Hutchins @ HEP (High End Pins)

New WPC89 Rottendog Power Driver PCB
New WPC89 Rottendog CPU PCB
New PinScore LED Display
New Shuttle and Heartbeat Ramps
New Skillshot Eggcrate Plastic
New Ball-Lock Plastic
Cliffy Ramp Protectors
New Chrome Bride Helmet
Pinball Pro Subwoofer and Backbox Speaker Upgrade Kit
Every single Bulb (#555, 44, 89, and 906) Replaced
New Shooter Rod Assembly w/ correct tension spring
New Flipper Assemblies, Coils, and Bats
New Flipper Buttons
New Flipper Buttons Switches
All coils completely rebuilt and replaced
New Rotating Head Motor
Completely disasembled, cleaned and Rebuilt All Pop-Bumpers with new parts (bodies, skirts, rings, fiber and metal plates, springs)
Cabinet was stripped and completely sanded down to bare wood, bumps, bruises, and dents, repaired, sanded, and refinished
Inside of cabinet completely disassembled, sanded, cleaned, masked and repainted
Installed All New Cabinet Art
Installed All New Ground Braid inside cabinet and backbox
Installed New Power Cable
Rebuilt Line Filter
All Metal Ball Guides were re-grained and polished
All Playfield and Under Playfield metal parts nickel plated or polished
LockDown Bar and original System 11 Siderails completely stripped, chrome plated and polished
New Lockdown Bar Seal (Bear Seal)
New Playfield Glass
New Legs, Extended Bolts, and levelers
Upgraded Leg Mounting Plates
Coin Door completely disassembled, cleaned, rebuilt with new parts, and re-finished
New Playfield Rubber Kit
New High Polished Pinballs
New Apron Cards
Backbox Lightboard masked and refinished
Installed NOS Mini Playfield
Installed New Serial Number, Caution, Information and Instruction Decals throughout cabinet in original locations.
NOS Translite
NOS Keychain

http://usergallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/blechewite

 

[Stinger357]

I must be the first to applaud you in this endevour. This is just amazing what you have done with this machine. Like taking someone from the dead and reanimating them to life. Alot of patients and skill went into doing this and for that I must applaud you! Good work! I too want to be able to do something like this with a project machine, but I am 40 and a little over the hill to be learning a new trade. But Alas it is a fun hobby! Hope you have many years of enjoyment out of that pin, or at least hey triple the going rate for it!

 

[tomdotcom]

Wow alot of time and ALOT of money put into that restore. Will be damn hard to ever let it go

 

[jar155]

Awesome. Bride of Pinbot is one my of my top 10 games of all time and I'll never let mine go. I'd love to do this same sort of restore, but I'm up to my eyeballs in projects right now.

 

[HHaase]

What kind of paint did you use, and how was it applied? Looks great.

-Hans

 

[BaconSM]

Not to take away from some of the exceptional restores for vids in these forums but this restore is truly one of the best! Pinball defiantly takes that extra effort due to all the extra mechanical parts, and I can honestly say, having seen some of the "in progress" work in person on this particlar machine, that these pictures just do not do justice to this better than new restore. You could happily eat off of even the underside of this playfield. Congratulation on such an amazing job!! Having said that, I'll take it! (can't blame me for trying)

 

[beerorkid]

Wow, That looks beautiful.

Makes mine look like her skanky sister

 

[Burt6666]

Awesome job,buddy !!!!!

 

[Deadly]

That's the shit right there! Wow it looks fantastic congrats. Glad to see you actually removed the side art. Funny "and dumb" how people will overlay new on old.
I see so many pins that the playfield is so badly torn up - and with no repros around, the cost of PF resto and the waiting line to get a PF restored I can see why so many pins are getting scrapped out these day. You just ensured that pin has a new lease on life...... and a long lease at that

 

[Nerbflong]

Fantastic work! A pin to be very proud of!

 

[Taco]

Wow you do good work!

 

[gretz99]

Holy cow, that's as good as it gets! Incredible work - that's some dedication, so what's next? You probably need a break right about now

 

[session9]

Thanks for all of the positive feedback guys. It was definitely a labor intensive project but I learned alot through the process. In the end I have a great looking and playing BoP that I am very proud of. Next pinball restoration I do will go alot quicker, and with probably even better results. I "say" I will take a break, but as many who know me, I probably won't I am kinda already figuring out which one I want to tackle next from my collection. We'll see.... maybe my Addams???

What kind of paint did you use, and how was it applied? Looks great.

-Hans

Hans, I used Dunn Edwards "Aristoglo" Alkyd Semi-Gloss Enamel for the head, mixed to the paint chip sample I provided to them. It was rolled on with a very thin foam roller. Sanding between the coats. This is some of the best paint I've used thus far on any Arcade Game restoration I've used in the past.

I am currently doing a Joust cabinet restoration for a friend, and using the same paint from Dunn Edwards. I love the paint. If you don't like working with an oil based (can be challenging) or simulated oil (Alkyd) this won't be for you then. I just don't like anything water based. It does not come out, or look the same.

 

[havok69]

A true thing of beauty. I love that game - used to play it all the time at a bar near where I went to college. Good times. So what was the final price tag for all that?

 

[beerorkid]

Besides being amazingly beautiful, my favorite part about your repair is that you even plated parts that cannot be seen without lifting the playfield. Them some happy balls.

You have me interested in getting the better sound system. Need to look into that.