Taru's repairs

Even a good condition game breaks every now and then, but Taru is able to fix problems herself. She is also good at painting, so the games look really nice both the playfields and cabinets.

10.4.2005:

Jack*Bot cabinet fixing

A ten year old game that has spent most of its life in route, does not look like new, of course. It gets bumps and dents in the hands of players, and also from the various anti-theft bars installed by operator. This was also the case in Jack*Bot that Taru recently bought. But in the hands of a skilled person, even a badly damaged game will be restored into original looks. And I must admit, Taru has done a great job!

Lower part of backbox has a large piece missing.

Anti theft bar's mounting bracket is mounted without sparing the cabinet.

And the same in other side.

Besides the mounting hole, also paint has been stripped away.

Problem areas have been sanded.

Hole is plugged with a wood plug and the surface is made even with filler.

Backbox corner is sanded and filled.

You can barely notice the fixups.

Destroyed image is sketched on the filling.

Looks like a great success!

Only slight difference in color shows that Ms. Pinbot's leg has been restored.

And the fingers dont look homemade, either.

Even if the cabinets condition does not affect game playing, a pinball machine is a piece of furniture and should be nice looking. If I happen to get a badly damaged game, by these pictures I will surely know who to ask for help.

Time for some test playing.

Look here for more about Taru's Jack*Bot.

Indiana Jones repairs

Indy had an anti-breakin bar installed, which left some nasty holes after removal. Also the red paint in front of cabinet is a little faded.

Holes are plugged and filled, but some paint is still needed.

Holes are repaired and red paint restored.

Backboxissa has lots of dents and even some paint flaking.

After Taru's repairs, it looks a lot better :)

The game looks really nice, any collector would be proud of this!

Look here for more about Taru's Indy.

Touchup of Comet playfield

Fixing playfield paint can be difficult, you have to mix the colors just right. And if there are large areas of paint missing, some detective work is needed to find out what graphics should be there.

This Comet was bought cheap along with other games, and it surely has paid itself for the operator. Not only paint, but also other parts are worn. But even if this will never look like new, it could be made to look nicer. And anyway if the paint touchup project fails, it is not a big disappointment. But of course Taru succeeded in making the Comet look fine again!

Playfield when the game was bought. Very sad looking.

Cleaning and new rubbers do not help the looks much.

Playfield is worn where the ball moves, like one seller used to say. So it is in this Comet also.

Some wear...

...where the ball moves!

Previous owner or the operator has tried to fix the playfield with white and yellow paint. The colors just dont match very well, and the accuracy hasn't been of top quality.

Lamp inserts are also worn.

It will need lots of work, but we decided in the beginning that there is no need to make the playfield look like new. And so Taru has painted the playfield every now and then, whenever she had spare time. And comparing the before and after pictures, you can't help but admire her professional work quality. If she only had a decently worn playfield to start with, the results would surely have been like new. But this was a good project to get some experience for next, hopefully smaller touchup job.

Looks nice!

Clear lacquer protects the new paint.

Good enough to play!

Mixing of colors suceeded very well. It sure wasn't easy to make the old shade of white, and of course the other colors are not available straight from bottle either. But now it is even difficult to tell what parts have been painted and what are original. Even the lamp insert texts are nicely done with black paint. Not a job for those with shaky hands. The small people graphics in gray areas were left undone, there are lots of people still on the playfield so it doesn't matter even if the amusement park looks a little less crowded now.