New Pinball - Space Shuttle

[Compy]

I have just practically stolen (well, only $250) a Williams 'Space Shuttle' pinball. I present to you unit #535 of the 1984 classic.

Pictures below. A few notes:
The playfield has wear from the years it has been played.
The board has the famous AA battery leak, I am going to mod this to get the batteries off the board.
The entire cabinet needs a good cleaning, especially the coin mechs
I am going to replace the rubbers, new flippers are on the way.
The coin mech needs to be worked on, it jams (bah)
The plunger has been removed as I am fixing it to have a tighter spring tension.
The unit boots up and all the solenoids work, the game plays quite well actually.

I plan to replace parts of the playfield with LED lights, maybe even parts of the backglass as I feel that "white" areas can be accentuated with these. I may even illuminate the shuttle toy.

Thanks, tell me what you think! This is my first pin!

[Sid]

Now why cant i get a deal like that

Awesome Steal!!

[luckydog]

you got a great deal for one that actually works right from the start

[mudfud]

check this guys website. he restored, perfectly, this machine. he even made replacement space shuttles that could be illuminated. I think he works for nasa

Space Shuttle Playfield Renovation

[Compy]

check this guys website. he restored, perfectly, this machine. he even made replacement space shuttles that could be illuminated. I think he works for nasa

Space Shuttle Playfield Renovation

Yep, I have been reading that page very closely!

He is the one who gave me the ideas for the LEDs. This will go great next to my Kiwame when my game room is finished.

[pinball wizard]

great find,and at a great price !!

[drcrippen324]

Now why cant i get a deal like that

Awesome Steal!!

the deals are ripe and ready at the moment over here sid is the shipping that will be murerouse oh and Mrs sid when the huge crate turns up and she realises the contense is bigger than the crate when it is built

[Eddie]

Nice score.
Looks like the mylar is really bad. Remove it and you should have a really nice playfield underneath.

[SpinCycle]

Wow! Congratulations on getting a really great machine at an incredible price!

I very recently was seriously considering a Williams Space Shuttle at several times your price -- and even at that higher price I still would have thought it money well spent!

Great find!

[Compy]

Thanks all! Yeah, I need to see what I can do about the mylar. I may test a small region with goo-gone and a lightly heated hair dryer. However I need to find someone out here in the Atlanta (well, north thereof) that does clear coating. I plan on upgrading many components here to LED displays.

The good news is Ed Cheung did a complete revamp of the SS playfield and has it all documented here: Ed's Space Shuttle Pinball Machine

Much of the same modifications Ed has done there are similar ones I plan to do. I have some new flippers on the way, I need to get new pinballs for it, though. However I am about to remove the playfield and begin a very very detailed cleanup and parts repair (all of which will be documented and photographed for (y)our nerdy viewing pleasure)

If you guys have more tips, please share!!

[hanabi]

Congratulations!!

What a bargain price for a great pinball, super theme

Looking forward to seeing this one being restored

[Frank A]

The machine is in the Price Guide for $ 800.00. You did well.

Frank A

[slothappy144]

check this guys website. he restored, perfectly, this machine. he even made replacement space shuttles that could be illuminated. I think he works for nasa

Space Shuttle Playfield Renovation

That site belongs to Ed, he is an engineer who works on the Hubble space Telescope (HST)
I have been emailing Ed for the last few weeks, he is interested in having me print his repro backglass' on my new 24" wide printer.

Congratulations on the pinball purchase, nice and affordable. I like the space shuttle. (sim available on WMS pinball collection, I have it for the PS2)

[Eddie]

Remove the mylar with freeze spray a can of compressed air turned upside down.

This technique works really well if not the best way to remove it.

YouTube - Pinball Restoration Tips: Removing Mylar with Freeze Spray

I dont know who made the vid but it shows the process then remove any residual glue with Naphta.

[drcrippen324]

, he is interested in having me print his repro backglass' on my new 24" wide printer.

wished you had mentioned the new printer befr crimble befor i payed over $180 for a translight (REPO!!!)

[slothappy144]

Keep it in mind if you have a damaged one, I also have an hp 4670 scanner so I can import, fix/clean then print trans-lites.

[Compy]

The translight is actually in VERY good shape, however the playfield is crying out for help. I am stuck between trying to repaint or do an overlay.

[slothappy144]

I have repainted very poor PF's before. Bride of Pinbot I repainted the entire center. On a Spy hunter that was wore to the wood in spots I repainted just the bare wood spots.
Much of the graphics on the older (pre 2000) pinball are pretty simple, silk screened cartoon like. Paint the entire color in the area, if an area has a wore spot fill in the wore spot, then paint wherever the color leads, often it has a black boarder or gets very narrow , another good spot to leave off. Try to fill in any wore down spots with the color. Some guys will clear coat BEFORE they start touching up, that way they can and back to the original. Clear coat the new paint before playing. it will not hold up otherwise.
If your right handed start on the left side so your not resting our hand in wet paint. I have smeared new paint, and it is a waste of time. If you hate the touch up you can always sand it down and put on an overlay, it is hard to get a really good overlay. Some pinballs have slight variances in the production runs, and the overlay might not fit just right around inserts.

[rubberratt]

A great deal ! Will be a great project and should keep you busy for a while

[DugFreez]

$250 seems like a very good deal. Where did you luck into it? Craigslist, someone you knew?

I like Space Shuttle. One of my friends has one. It came out right about the time of pinballs I liked. What I mean is, most older machines really don't interest me. I at least like some ramps and speech on pinball machines and system 9 machines and newer are right up my alley.

I see CPR has Space Shuttle playfields open for preorder. As much touchup as that playfield needs I would almost think a repro playfield would be the way to go. The bad part of that is I've heard that they keep the pre-orders open until they get enough people signed up to get them...then they make them. It might be quite a wait.

Throw in a new plastic set and you have a practically new game for under $1000 total. You could always clean yours up as good as you could and just keep your eye on the playfield release...like I said...i might be quite a wait on it.

Congrats on your purchase.