Pinball Restoration Jurassic Park

[drcrippen324]

Well having just sold my bride of pinbot i set about looking for another project somthing a little more adventurus this time having done a fairly easy flipper rebuild and clean up on a bride of pinbot then (still in my collection) a slightly more dirtyer and more indepth refurb on a rocky and bullwinkle i have settled upon jurasic park a 1993 data east machine with a real fun table toy of a T Rex that eats a ball whilst in play and returns it via one of the 4 kick out holes (yuo can imagine the motors and electronics involved) along with a lane changing ramp and a few other goodies its got it all bar a spinner

Internet Pinball Machine Database: Data East 'Jurassic Park'

rating a high 8.2 on the ipdb it had to be a winner and the price for this errrrm... beauty to be a bargin of £150 so what lump of scrap wood and rust did i buy you ask your self well upon collection there was no power full stop the guy said it was untested as ther ewas no power cord with it (for those not in the know a pinball power cord is fixed not unplugable) and it had a "little water damage" hmmmm debatable on how much is a little
so on hereing the little water damage a rock tumbler was purchased (£22 john lewis) and i spoke with new in town about media to load it with (thanks bud) and having fetched the machine have taken pics of it as it stands so as to documen tthe refurb for those of you intrested and those of you that wonder just how much work gose in to a total pinball refurb from wreck (risking been scrapped) back to playable clean working machine fit for a colection
hope you injoy my tears of pain joy and frustration along the way
this refurb is going to be done on minimal budget to prove that a quality pin in your own home is within reach of most with an initial outlay of £150 + £25 fule to collect it the story begins (wish me luck )

[digital1]

How much would that be in US?

In the pics I don't see the water damage except the side, is there a lot?

I would love to do what you are doing but there are several people close to here that do it as a buisness, They grab them up fast.

[drcrippen324]

well the playfield is just dirty i mean dirtyer than a dirty thing from dirtysville the water damage is mainly rusty gates posts all the ally parts have oxydised and the water must have been mudy or dirty some how as all the plastics have areal thick film on it

i started tonight by giving it power found the missing power cord was because they must have moved it without unpluging it from the wall as it had been ripped out and took part of the fuse box out of the machine so that repaired and a cord fitted ra nover the machine quickly with a meter and was brave enough to fire it up there was a fault on the 5v rail so sorted that quickly it was a dry joint and again fired it up sucsess it runs the dmd is perfect no faid in no lines or pixles missing and even the T-Rex (most faulty part of jurasic park) ran through its test sequence the flippers are strong and wont need rebuilding just the usual rubber kit and bulbs out that i could find wrong as far as a parts list gose so they are now on order so far running total of £198 working out about $250 so still on a winner just gonna have fun trying to find the missing translight fo rth eback glass
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just found a translight but no way will i pay $85 pluss shipping for it and also would like the topper if i find one the right price but so far they are in at $65 pluss shipping so it can stay on the wish list for now

hopefully more of an update with pics tomorow with the tare down of the playfield for cleaning and waxing then waiting it out for the parts delivery

i did opt for a set of new balls too as the ywere also rusted and pitted to hell so 7 new balls at £1.10p a ball as it is a 6 ball multi ball and a captive ball at the top of the play field

[johntofva]

Looks like a great project Doc.

[MrGneiss]

This should be a very cool thread, can't wait for more!!

So, where did the previous owners keep it, out in the garden??

[hanabi]

Ohhhh real nice project Doc!!

Makes you wonder what kind of abuse or lack of love these poor toys suffer, be them pinballs, pachis, etc...

Congrats on rescuing this one and good luck with the restoration!!

[drcrippen324]

funily enough yes the previouse owner did keep it in the garden the ebay advert read

Im being honist about this as my gain could realy be your gain i found this pinball machine next to a skip on a pub clearence job i am doing and was told to take it if i wanted it figring it must be worth somthing. When i realised there was no power cord and wouldent know where to begin getting one or testing the machine befor i pluged it in i have decided to sell it on ebay as the pictures show it is not in great shape and is currently to big for my house so has been stored outside overnight under a cover and will be untill collected or delivered it has ot be worth £150 to some one so that is what the bin is set to or you can bid on it and risk the rain coming befor the end of the auction

naturaly at that price the gauntlet was layed down and no i didnt want to risk the rain so the button was pressed

[drcrippen324]

Well still waiting on parts (been promised they be here tomorow) i spent a few hours working on the cabinet today well a few hours erm more like 6 but more about that in a minuet id like to introduce you to my mate rolly (first pic) a dirt cheap £22 from john lewis rock tumbler that has been rumbling away to himself since yesterday with any rusted parts in it (that would fit ) with a mix of birdcage grit and cracked corn the grit removes the rust and the corn polishes beautifuly if you get the amounts right and it dose it all at the same time so as to save tumbling stuff twice with 2 difrent medias results will be shown tomorow but after a sneaky peak tonight its looking good

iv stil lgot some large parts to remove and tumble but my eyes wernt up to de soldering the micro switches attached to them and poor rolly looked like he had enough to contend with for one run so decided they can get stripped off tomorow when the tumbler finishes

so on to the cabinet work iv done the front right hand side and right hand side of the top box, luckily the artwork isnt that complicated wich ment i could sand back the water damaged bubling paint and compleatly repaint by hand the artwork as origonal, been on a budget it would have cost £95 for a full set of reproduction sticker style grafics so decided this rout was both cheaper and alot better so as to try and keep the machine as origonal as posible (repo stickers look good but stick out a mile as what they are )

so you saw the pics above as to what the cab looked like and heres the almost finished job now (just needs a layer of lacker to seal it ) will finish on a sunny day outside for obviouse over spray and choking reasons

[drcrippen324]

parts arrived today

so on with the tare down good old rolly go tfed again with more rusty and oxidised parts and set rolling again and a few parts were to big to fit so it was a wire wool job but Liva steped up to the plate and started on the wire cage ramps for me aswell as cleaning the plastics in the sink while i was taring the pin down to a almost blank play field ready for novus polish and then mill wax seal

its a case of loads of pictures as the play field comes apart so as ot remember how it gose back to gether so wont bore yo uwith to many just a couple of befor and afters on the rust and some tare down shots so you can see how bad things are and how much gose in to dismantelingi got as far as front half of the play field to day in about 8 hours tomorow the rest befor reasembling

[drcrippen324]

well today something a little different

Flame Polishing 101

on pinball machines unfortunately the manufacturers choose to make most of the ramps on modern machines out of clear plastic / acrylic therefor they look fantastic new clear bright and sparkling allowing loads of light through from the flashers and bulbs they install underneath but you know whats coming...

after alot of play the pinballs tend to leave tiny scratches on these ramps and over time turn them from clear to hazy and opaque therefor to restore a machine to top condition these scratches have to be removed alot of you will think i reached for the novus polish again (that i swear by so much) Wrong where novus will remove light scratches it wont remove deep warn in ball marks the only way to do this is A0 buy a new ramp as new old stock or B) use a technique called flame polishing and being on a tight budget and been a fan of the good ol trusty blow torch you can guess wich one i plumped for

in the pinball restoration forums ect they claim any one who flame polishes to be either highly skilled or plain insane (depending on who you talk to) as 1 false move or laps of concentration = bent, bubbled, melted plastics or a fire ball and all three in your hands leaving you in pain out of pocket and searching for usually rare parts from old machines

so without further ado heres a quick video lesson in flame polishing please note not for those with a nervous disposition about damaging pinball machines and before you ask yes this is how i removed alot of scraches from plastics and plastic bulb covers on my pachis

YouTube - flame polishing 101

[luckydog]

Andie, don't burn the house down

[new in town]

Thats how I cleaned up the ramps on my 1993 Indy Pinn.

Was scary at the start but now I'm comfortable doing it.

[beachcat]

interesting accent Doc you make it seem so easy

[digital1]

Very COOL!

[drcrippen324]

ok had a day off and spent 2 more on re asembly so the unveailing will come tomorow not much to show pic wise in the reasembly just an empty playfield slowly being re popultaed hence no posts and its way to late and im way to tired to fire it up for a video

[slothappy144]

Nice project!
I try to lay down a clear coat on the PF (if it does not have mylar coating)
Thats what I did after restoring/repainting the Machine aka B.O.P.
Some will shoot a clear coat BEFORE touching up with paint so they can wipe off mis painted areas without effecting the underlying existing paint.

BTW where in heck do you keep a full size pinball?

[drcrippen324]

i have 2 full size pinballs in the lounge and did have a bo pin the games room but sold that and looking for an old electro mechanicle for the games room now

[drcrippen324]

ok the moment of truth the unveailing of the finished project just needs a translight to compleate

YouTube - jurasic park pinball

and the t-rex sequence
YouTube - jurasic park pinball t rex
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And for those who were asking about my rocky and bullwinkle pin heres the videos of the compleatly finished project

YouTube - rocky bullwinkle pinball

YouTube - rocky bullwinkle hat trick

[MrGneiss]

Thanks Doc and 7 for the great videos!!

[hanabi]

Wow you sure made a nice job of that Jurassic Park Doc and quickly too

Thanks for the all the Videos