Custom model A recycler

[lotsoballs]

I picked up yet another model A locally for $40 last month; about to tear it down for full restoration/customization as a winter project.

The playfield is badly faded, waterstained, dirty as usual and shot; generic center feature, but it’s got a lot of tulips for a model A; and two of them are the double hit to close tulips! So should be a fun one once cleaned up, it’s been in a storage unit for 30 years apparently so it’s filthy; but has potential!

[Silverstreak02]

What are your plans?

[lotsoballs]

What are your plans?

I’m envisioning a bunny girl theme for this one!

Needs something special for the new playfield art to spice up such a generic model in my opinion. Modern pachinko meets vintage.

[Silverstreak02]

I’ll be following.

[lotsoballs]

Just a cat being weird; supervising.

[jstunt1]

Just a cat being weird; supervising.

Looks like we are both at about the same part on our projects. Looking forward to seeing the project finish


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[lotsoballs]

The upper center feature is cooler than I thought; the rotating thing that looks like the rotor of a Mazda rotary engine has 2 positions; wide open (with both side areas and the center part open for scoring balls)

Wide open:




Or just the center open; making it much harder to hit.

[MrGneiss]

That is cool!! Does it spin every time a ball goes in??

[lotsoballs]

That is cool!! Does it spin every time a ball goes in??

Yeah; it just flips upside down to change from position 1 to position 2 or visa versa with each ball. A weird looking tulip basically!

[ebb]

Quality control is a must
Meow

[WranglerDanger]

I'm following too. On my first restore, so I love pictures of what everyone is doing.

[lotsoballs]

I’m still in the tear-down stage 1; just need to pull the nails to finish that up; and fixing stuff I broke in removing the playfield board. that 1 inch strip of wood that holds the playfield board off the door frame itself is super brittle and a piece broke when prying the nails out; so gluing it back, and a few spots on the playfield board than became delaminated when pulling the big nails that hold it to the door frame.

Then can fire up the rock tumbler and start polishing nails!

Also I ordered all new bumpers for the shooter and a new rebound bumper so it’s 100% reconditioned rubber wise and ready for 50 more years of service!

[Wayne-Ooo]

The upper center feature is cooler than I thought; the rotating thing that looks like the rotor of a Mazda rotary engine has 2 positions; wide open (with both side areas and the center part open for scoring balls) Or just the center open; making it much harder to hit.

Same concept as my Thunderbird machine. Red part up only the center is open. Black side up both side areas and the center are open.

It's a simple feature, but pretty cool.

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[lotsoballs]

Made a bit of progress yesterday; pulled the nails and soaked them in vinegar overnight to remove 90% of the grime/oxidation in preparation for the tumbling/polishing process to begin today!

[lotsoballs]

Now the playfield board has been sanded, and a coat of polyurethane added for better playfield adhesion and bubble prevention.

By tomorrow will be ready for the fun part; new playfield!

Nails will take a couple days in the tumbler with crushed walnut shells and Blue Magic metal polish.

[lotsoballs]

It’s coming along nicely now; the new playfield is on; (no peeking yet! ) and the nails are in done with the Blue Magic polishing stage and now just running the tumbler with clean crushed walnut shells. The nails look brand new already!

I tried a new technique of applying the clear Duralar protective laminate layer over the vinyl playfield that made putting it down bubble free a piece of cake! Don’t tape down one end to the playfield like you do for the vinyl layer; just peel back the backing halfway and apply pressure starting in the center of the playfield board first moving slowly outwards when pressing it down.. no bubbles! (Instead of starting from top to bottom or visa versa)

Now just need to finish the cleaning and polishing of plastic and chrome parts to prepare for reassembly!

[lotsoballs]

It’s coming along now; about 95% done with the machine; just need to install tulips and do all the fine tuning; and need to touch up some chrome paint on a couple areas; like the Nishijin logo on the front and the top center feature.

Meanwhile; I’m working on a cabinet; staining it using orange wood dye. Just need to put a couple coats of polyurethane on that to finish it up.

[lotsoballs]

It’s 99% complete now! It’s an anime theme; Darling in the Franxx; AND a bunny girl theme! There’s just one missing part; that’s not really needed for it to function but it would be nice to find one; the little sliding ball release that drains balls from the upper to lower payout tray. Please let me know if anyone has an old parts machine to pull on off of; or if any 3D printed ones are available. I don’t feel like spending $50+ for a complete front tray off of eBay…just for the one small plastic part.

I just left the frame with the factory finish/patina this time, all stock besides the playfield, LED lights, and new bumpers.

One cool thing about the neon green vinyl is its black light reactive! So it’s got a nice radioactive like glow to it if you have a black light around. Now I’ve got a trilogy of waifu inspired model A recyclers….

[jstunt1]

Now the playfield board has been sanded, and a coat of polyurethane added for better playfield adhesion and bubble prevention.

By tomorrow will be ready for the fun part; new playfield!

Nails will take a couple days in the tumbler with crushed walnut shells and Blue Magic metal polish.

Random question. Where did you get your crushed walnut shells? I’ve been looking all over for them seems like people only want to sell them in bags of 25 lbs in store. Looking for a pound or less


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[lotsoballs]

Random question. Where did you get your crushed walnut shells? I’ve been looking all over for them seems like people only want to sell them in bags of 25 lbs in store. Looking for a pound or less


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I got them from some vendor on eBay who sold smaller bags of it; I don’t recall the seller name; looks like you have to buy 10lbs or so now, corn cob media should work good too; just get the stuff people use for tumble cleaning/polishing brass ammo magazines.