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Thread: Bally Expressway

  1. #1
    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Bally Expressway

    Capt Card is gonna have to wait. I picked up my first Bally locally for a good price. I couldn't pass up the artwork by Christian Marche and theme. His art is a love it or hate it style with the pointy people and bright colors. Anyway, the backglass is in excellent shape and the cab is pretty good. The playield is filthy (the play meter has 83K plays) has a couple wear spots, and plenty of swirl marks so I have my work cut out for me. Fortunately nothing is broken or missing and the interior is clean with all the relay and component labels intact. This pin has some cool features that Gottliebs don't or at least I've never seen. It has 6 mushroom bumpers, 3 pop bumpers, 2 slingshots, a large ball saving post behind the flippers activated by the center mushroom bumper and deactivated by two white PF rollover buttons, 2 kickout holes, and hidden under the left middle plastic is a ball kicker.
    The goal is to spell "Expressway" but unlike the vast majority of games where something must be spelled, the word has to be spelled in order and can be set so the player has to spell either Express on the liberal setting or Expressway on conservative. Of course there's other things to do but that's the main objective. I've got the PF stripped for cleaning and the back glass out to seal with Triple Thick so far.
    A few pics and a pic of the huge relay banks in the cab.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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  3. #2
    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Express

    Slight correction. The game is "Expressway", not "Express".
    Built in '71.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro pachiwall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Express

    Nice find! Looking forward to seeing what you do to it!

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    Sandwich Shooter jodini's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    Here's a video:
    1971 Bally EXPRESSWAY single player Pinball Machine - YouTube

    Emmadog, what happens to the ball when it goes down the left side on the top? Does it knock out and go back to the top or slide out the side?

    Love the layout of the playing field, love the sounds, hate the glass! HA! But it's growing on me!

    Can't wait to see the build! First, need to put that wire on the transformer a little to the left!

    Watching with interest!
    Joe

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    When the ball goes down that side it hits a rollover for 3K points and just beyond that is a kicker which kicks the ball back on to the PF.
    Your response to the artwork is an example of the responses that artist gets. I love that style and was always bummed that Marche never did any work for Gottlieb.
    I'll likely hi tap the transformer as you suggested but after I see how she plays. I just ordered new flipper coils and later '75-80 (as suggested by several Bally owners) style flipper rebuild kits. Apparently this game is known to have weak flippers and pop bumpers. If the pops are weak, then that's a simple matter of removing some of the windings. And the new coils and rebuild kits will take care of the flippers.
    After spending a few hours on it yesterday it turns out there's a few broken fuse holders which I just ordered replacements for and the gong bell (the other bell is below the 00-99 unit and is a striker type) is missing. The part of the bracket that it mounts to was broken off. I can fix the bracket and I happen to have a spare 5" bell but the solenoid plunger is gone. I have spare Gottlieb plungers and I think that will work though I will probably have to cut it down to shorten it some. Interestingly, this bell has an adjustment so that you can choose whether it goes off on 10,100, or 1000 points. Or just leave it unplugged for no sound. I've never seen an adjustable bell before. Next step is to thoroughly clean the PF. I've pulled all the parts off including all 9 bumpers, rollover buttons, kickout holes, etc. Some of the solenoid plungers are so dirty that I thought they were supposed to be black. Surprised they still move. By the time all that's done and all the stepper units and other switches/mechs are clean the parts should be here and I'll continue on.
    The video above is from a guy in Utah I believe that i've been in contact with. His machine was also missing one of the two bells and you can hear in the vid the same bell sounding over and over again.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Eye Shooter Mrtoad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    another cool, game good luck with it! i need more money and space...
    Restoring the past - Super-8 and Signal

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mrtoad View Post
    another cool, game good luck with it! i need more money and space...
    Man if I could regularly find pins this cheap I'd buy em and stick them in a storage unit. Refurb them as I get time.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Back glass has 99% of its paint left but its fragile. I blew two flakes off from the dude's hair when doing this repair. I was resistant about sealing it
    but looks like I'll have to. So the silver areas are opaque and the white areas allow light thru.
    Anyway, the repair was simply to restore the white paint that flaked off of the guy's eyes, the two small downward pointing arrows, and the girl's hair and part of her neckline. On these old back glasses, certain colors are more prone to flaking than others and it looks like white is the most fragile on this one. First I lightly cleaned the areas and then a few drops ofclear acrylic to seal these spots.First the area gets clear sealed and then painted. This allows mistakes to easily be wiped away w/o damaging the paint further. You can brush the paint on but this can leave brush strokes which will be visible when lit from behind. Airbrushing alleviates this and with spraying, the amount of translucence can be controlled to match the original.
    B and A pics. Now his right eye is a tad whiter than the left so I'll fix that.
    It's an easy procedural process but the hardest part as usual, is color matching but this was easy since most of the paint was already gone.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    I was thrown out of Top Gear Drunkenclam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    That woman seems to have issues Cool artwork, Glad your protecting it
    Ian #UKPachinko

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    Sandwich Shooter jodini's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    Just checking in emmadog...any progress?

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    I've gotten the new parts in-a flipper coil to match the other one, new fuse block, bulbs, schematic, stuff like that. The schematic has a separate page describing an add a ball conversion kit which allows the operator to that or replay so I'll look into that later. I also was figuring out how to address the wear area under one of the kickout holes. I bought a DIY silk screen kit 2 years ago for this type of work so I made a screen of the area and printed it on wood. Turned out good although the edges aren't as crisp but that's because the its in unfinished wood and the ink absorbed. Also, the screen has part of the S cutoff but all this was just to see if it would work. Turns out all that's moot, because I found another playfield for 30 bucks and its partially populated. It's just as dirty but only has one small wear spot as opposed to 4 on my current one. So this project went from a full shop job and touch up to a PF swap and shop job.
    Also ordered a repro backglass which I was surprised that someone had done the work for.
    Also tried Novus 2 on the cab and it works very well-brightens the old colors up and cleans the grime off.
    Here's pics of the silk screen process. First you get your image and print it on paper or clear plastic. Affix that to the backboard and screen and expose it to the sun for 1 minute. Soak in water for 15 minutes and you're done. I used the low res screen and it worked great but there's a hi res version for very detailed art. The 2nd to last pic is out of order , its the image printed on plastic that goes on the silk screen to get exposed.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter jodini's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    That's cool! Can't wait to see it on the blue.

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Thanks but since I found another PF, I don't need to silk screen anything. I am glad I finally tried it out though because it sure beats IMO, using waterslip decals and then clearing over that which is what people typically do to reproduce text on a playfield.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    New backglass. Turned out beautiful.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Sandwich Shooter jodini's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bally Expressway

    Nice backglass! Where did you get it?!

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Yeah man, I'm really impressed with it. The pic doesn't do the colors justice. I found a guy that does these after a bunch of research.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    I've disassembled and cleaned all the score reel mechs and replaced the coil sleeves. I had to order one replacement coil because the old metal sleeve wouldn't come out and there's a pic of it next to the new replacement. I don't know why some coils have metal sleeves and some are nylon? Replaced the broken fuse blocks and installed new fuses. I received the replacement playfield so I'll clean that up next and then swap all the parts. The PF is dirty and has more planking than my other one I can minimize that. It does have much less wear over all which is why I picked it up. Other 2 pics are of the as-is replacement PF, and dirty score reel parts for 1 of the mechs.
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    Well its been almost a year and I haven't yet played a game on this machine but that's pretty common with pin projects. Much more involved than any pachinko resto so its easy to put them off.
    I should be finally playing the first game in a few days once I get some rubber rings for the mushroom bumpers. I just picked up a 3rd Capersville so I now have a playfield that can be restored. The first one I have is German which is cool but I want an American one. The 2nd one is essentially a parts machine-no backglass, the head was dropped and is coming apart and the playfield has at least 50% paint loss. The acquisition of this machine is what made me get around to getting the E-way up and running.
    Back to the Expressway. In the past few days I've been swapping playfields and the hundreds of parts and adjustments that go along with it. The new playfield is now mounted back in the game but the top only has a couple parts on it. I still have to install all the posts, plastics, flippers (waiting on a rebuild kit) and a couple other odds and ends.
    Pics are of the side of machine after cleaning with Novus, front view, front view with old playfield, and the Capersville on end.
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419988046.702904.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1419988062.105995.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1419988074.321493.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1419988086.438342.jpg
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Pachi Puro emmadog's Avatar
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    and she's done. another great game saved from a basement and being used as a storage shelf.
    -new coil sleeves in all solenoids
    -newer playfield
    -new bell in backbox (original was broken off)
    -restored pop bumper caps
    -new rubber ring kit and bulbs
    -new backglass but original is still in machine
    -new flipper rebuild kits
    -new flipper bats
    -cleaned and serviced score mechs and stepper units
    -lots of switch adjustment and cleaning in general
    The object is to light the letters "EXPRESSWAY" for a special (free game)
    at game start, the letter E lights at top of playfield. if its mushroom bumper is hit, the light goes out and the letter X lights, etc. some letters are associated with a standup target and some are the mushroom bumpers. the top 2 green pop bumpers light alternately with the bottom yellow one every time a 10 point element is hit. this is also true of the 2 special lights of Expressway is made. so not only do all the letters have to be hit but the ball has to hit the special when its lit. the left and right outlanes also alternate with 10 point hits. if the ball drains on the lit side, the mileage score is awarded. upper left has a ball kickout channel that scores 3K and shoots the ball back up and to the right. the left pop bumler is usually how the all gets there.the right side's kick out awards the "mileage score" which advances throughs the game when certain targets are hit and shoots the ball down to the left flipper. gettin the ball in there can happen from the rop eight bumper or a skillful (or lucky) shot from a flipper. the top center kickout awards points and raises the lit post between the flippers to save the ball from draining. two small white rollovers lower the post which of course are very easy to hit.
    great fun and lots of skill shots are required to light the letters. if the player is having trouble hitting the correct letter, there's one target that will award the player whatever letter is next in the sequence. there is a catch though and that is this target is only lit "randomly" so it's a help to the player but with a catch.
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1420304396.771463.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1420304442.091103.jpg
    EM Pinballs & Arrangeballs

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    Kungishi ballsofsteel's Avatar
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    Question Re: Bally Expressway

    Quote Originally Posted by emmadog View Post
    I've disassembled and cleaned all the score reel mechs and replaced the coil sleeves. I had to order one replacement coil because the old metal sleeve wouldn't come out and there's a pic of it next to the new replacement. I don't know why some coils have metal sleeves and some are nylon? ....
    Old habits die hard, I guess. Games up through the '50s had coils wound on a metal sleeve that wasn't removable. Maybe they figured a plastic sleeve wouldn't last?

    I never tried it but the Clay page said something about jumper wires to a transformer and heat the coil up and the sleeve slides out. I do know that a Magic City would have gone in the parts bin before I bought a dozen coils to revive it.

    coilsaw.jpg

    Ground around 1/8" off the back of a hacksaw blade. A few gentle strokes cuts through the "thin side" of the worn sleeve - carefully putting a seam in that fine 'seamless' ALCOA tubing. Gotta have that 'big dubya' on my coil wrappers.

    "Knowledge is good." - Emil Faber

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