- This topic has 144 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Got the easy stuff stripped off the topside of the playfield tonight. need to undo some wiring underneath to get most of the rest off, some I’ll add little molex connectors for ease of re-hookup, others, namely the pop bumper light wires, I have to un-solder and re-solder later.
then some initial cleanup for a scan before I start
messingtouching things up.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
1 user thanked author for this post.
topside now totally stripped, did a minimal cleanup to get rid of most of the dust/dirt and scanned it to have in case I mess it up trying to remove the mylar (hopefully it doesn’t pull all the paint with it that would suck). Here is a scaled down quick stiched version of the scan. scan was at 300dpi, this is roughly 1/3 that at a low 4k res
 as you can see there is a fair bit of touch-up to do mainly around the top rollovers and around the pops where the stupid floating plastic protectors trapped dirt and ground the paint off. 
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
1 user thanked author for this post.
Dang. This is some cool stuff.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
This game is the definition of a sleeper hit. Very much like Robo War, not a big hit in its day but once you discover it there is no going back. Great pinball.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
so in the vein of ‘best/better/perfect is the enemy of good’, I’m debating what to do as far as touch-ups. some of this is pretty damn detailed and trying to match colors let alone dithering would be butt impossible for me. when I did this with pinball pool and incredible hulk I basically just did black keylines for touch-up and left the rest. this one I want to do a little better than that. first up is the top ship in this photo, sorry for the glare. it’s been partially wiped out by the pop bumper ring, and I definitely want to fix the pop bumper mess, but what do I do with the ship????? look at the detail in those guys! and do I try to color match the orange and the yellow rings around the pop, and add back in the skinny white ring? decisions decisions.
on the bright side I got the myler off with minimal paint loss, and did the next cleaning phase and I gotta say when I ‘wet’ it with naptha it looks damn nice, at least for a few seconds until it evaporates. While I debate, I think tomorrow I’ll do some initial black touch ups then get the first coat of clear on to lock things in place.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Not to make your life miserable but since the claim on this one isn’t just “I restored this” but “I built this up from parts” I would find a way to go the distance on the pf.
Fortunately you have 4 other ships that you could Photoshop a composite of. Have you done waterslide decals on a pf with a printed white base? If they’re feasible this seems like a good candidate. Wish I had more experience w them so I’d know if I’m talking out of turn. I’ve only used them on bumper caps.
Either way you’re way ahead of the rest of us that don’t have an Alien Star reassembled by hand in their laundry room…
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
1 user thanked author for this post.
LOL, hadn’t thought of waterslide, I have not yet done any of them, but I do have the materials, sounds like a test is in order. Thanks for the idea!
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Bord is right. Cloning can be done with success i more than one area here. Ship is a candidate. So is kind of the yellow half ring, only flipped. Both the orange and the white ring seems like simple rings that can be generated with use of “stroke”. I know, easier said than done. Fortunately, you’ve got the scan to experiment on now and if you ever decide update your vp table. It would be very cool to have a bit worn pf and a restored one avail.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Did a bunch of black touch-up for initial coverage, and put the first sealing coat of clear on. I’m using KBS diamond clear which I brush on, worked pretty good on pinball pool and incredible hulk. Actually looks really nice with just the black touch up done and shiny clear on.
While waiting on that to cure for a couple days before sanding, more touch-up, more clear (need to level areas of high wear before decal can work), I’m continuing work on the cabinet. Today, using Count-Down as a guide since I had a spare set from a system 1 , I installed the playfield supports and prop rod. Normally alien star had wood support rails, but since I had nothing with those in them and the playfield is the same size as the system 1 playfields, AND I had a system 1 to measure and locate everything right I used those. I’m sure it would not have been to hard to figure out the wood ones location, but this works.
wiring is just laying in there, have done final layout on that yet. I used my wall hanger close encounters playfield to test the supports out. sits level and steady, and prop rod even works I count today a success.
 
Oh, I’ve also been running batches of metal parts through the walnut shell vibrating tumbler thingy to polish them up nice, no pics
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
This is an amazing thread, you do amazing work and that is not an amazing countdown playfield :)
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
lol, nope not count-down, although I did end up pulling count-down’s playfield out to make it easier to measure the location of the support brackets and could have easily thrown it in there as well.
Oh, and thanks :)
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Hope you realize how off-the-chain this project is. Thanks for letting us tag along.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
interrupted by holiday travels and minor repair work on other pins but back to work on it. got some more touch-up and clear on the playfield, and today I made the replacement set of rails for the table and have them dyed. next time I do a coat of clear on the playfield these will get a coat of the same stuff. Depending on how that comes out I may have to light sand and do another coat, but no worry as there are at least a couple more to do on the playfield once I get the rest of the touch ups done. waiting for my non-chromatically challenged color matching helper to get the yellow and red closely matched before tackling those.
here’s the rails freshly dyed.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
I’ve exhausted my vocabulary of enthusiasm for this project in previous posts so I fear repeating myself.
I always rush to read any update. Hope they continue.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
I don’t care if I repeat myself. I love this machine and seeing it being built up from scraps is very interesting. I realize, almost all I know about pinball is playing the damn thing ;)
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Damn. Really enjoying following this crazy project. Thanks again for taking the time to share!
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Thanks for the kind words guys, I’m having lots of fun with this project.
I wonder what this could be for???
had some help matching color.. a lot of yellow, a little black, a little red, a touch of white.. and
not a perfect match, but I’m happy with it, only one section of this area painted. sheen is not the same either so that will help even it out more when it gets cleared.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
trying to post.. getting error….. ok, working now
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
got another coat of clear on the playfield today, one more paint layer to go then more clear. getting closer. table rails have been cleared and are good to go.
pulled the transformer panel out today and soldered in a nice new fuse block and repro label printed from our good friend Peter’s work @inkochinto
also tested the bridge rectifiers and verified those were working correctly, and replaced the big capacitor on the board.
got more of the wiring done, coin door all wired, tilt bob installed and wired, main cabinet harness fastened in place, and as you can see above added a blinky light for the start button. Still need to figure out which wires feed the knocker and hook that up, and that should take care of the cabinet wiring.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
I spent a lot of time going back and forth, trying different methods, materials and colors, but in the end I was not ever satisfied with any of the ship re-creations I did, it just seemed to obvious to me that is what they were, others may not have noticed but I sure would have, so I decided to do this instead. Basically, I ditched the white pop bumper ring as it didn’t seem to fit anyway being basically the only white on the playfield, I blacked out and redid the orange rings and yellow swoops (is that a word?) around the pops, and rotated the one yellow swoop so it ran through the worn gap in the ship. Not totally original, but I’m fine with that. Pic taken with latest coat still wet and before it settles down smoother. probably one more light sand and coat of clear before I go all through the grits and polish, maybe 2.
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Forums are currently locked.
