STTNG: Restoration-- COMPLETE. Photos inside.

[MameMaster!]

I've posted some photos so far, but I thought I would put them all in this thread for anyone interested.

This is the most ambitious "restoration" I've done to date; but it is not a high end collector's restoration.

Basically I had to replaced the Power Board to get it up and running- and now I'm replacing all plastics, ramps, and many targets/related.

My goal is to get it as "mint" as possible w/o polishing every screw and bolt (the ones that aren't seen).

So far I've accomplished the following:

New legs
New Lockdown/side rails
fully cleaned cabinet
replaced power drive board that was fried.
torn down playfield and cleaned/waxed it.
replaced bottom half of machine with all new plastics including cannons
replaces entire right side and upper right with all new plastics (including lane dividers, rubbers etc etc).
begun to put in LEDs (I like them).
fully rebuilt the upper right ramp with a new one.
all metal polished
all buttons (flippers etc) replaced with new ones.
coin door repainted
plunger gun, taken apart, cleaned, fixed and repainted
new star posts and related

To do- replace the other two ramps with brand new ones. Replace all flipper bats with new repros and rebuild all flippers. Finish all LEDs (full set of coin takers. Install topper I picked up (pics soon)...and a million other little things.

In progress- getting the Borg ship and shuttle professionally painted. Photos soon on those I hope. I want the Borg shipto be more "menacing".

I'm taking my time on this. I spent 3 weeks straight on my Stern Spiderman and that came out better than I had hoped. With STTNG being more complex I'm going a little slower and trying to take a lot of photos.

As mentioned- this is the most ambitious project I've personally taken on as I'm replacing all of the playfield plastics, ramps, rubbers etc.

The photos aren't in any special order, but it's pretty evident the before and after shots. I like the contrast in one of the shots of the old vs the new plastic. The old colors are all washed out.

Just as an aside- the machine was filthy and the plastics were yellow and

[MameMaster!]

more

[MameMaster!]

more

[MameMaster!]

last for now

[pinballjim]

Wow, looking great.  I've owned a couple of games where everything had been remade (eg Funhouse) but never had the nerve to drop tons of money onto the parts.

[MameMaster!]

This was a "must have" machine for me- so I thought I'd go for it. 

[MameMaster!]

Well this restoration is almost at a close.

I've literally replaced all ramps, all plastics, essentially everything on the surface of the machine is brand new (or in the case of the metal- polished).

Yesterday I finally rebuilt all three flippers putting in the prototype stronger coils- man does that make this game play much faster! I really recommend them. I picked up a set at Pinballife.com.

I am replacing the entire top divertor mech/coil. It seems locked up and I would rather have a new one, and mechanically that's the last major part I'm replacing.

I'm waiting on backalley for my custom painted borg ship and shuttle- and I still have a couple of those modded lit ships to add.

More photos soon!

[ChadTower]

I have been trying to do the same thing for Who Dunnit.  I'm having a ridiculously difficult time finding the parts.  No ramps out there.  Took me two years to find the slot reels I was missing and the ones I found were beaten up.   

[MameMaster!]

I thought the ramps would be harder to replace then they thankfully turned out to be.

I've never stripped a playfield so thoroughly before.

I found it easier to work from the bottom and I went counter clockwise on the one as the biggest "layers" of ramps is the upper right.

[yaksplat]

I went through this process on my White Water a couple years ago.  It's a lot of fun to get all of that gunk out.  It's surprising how much black dust appears everywhere.

Where does that all come from anyways?  What component?

[ChadTower]

A lot of it comes from the rubbers as they degrade.

[Mysterioii]

A lot of it comes from the rubbers as they degrade.

Rule of Life #4:  Always use fresh rubbers.

[Mysterioii]

Forgive my ignorance though, I'm not a "pinball guy" but I do find all this interesting.  When you guys put new parts on there like you're doing here, are those generally "new old stock", refurb kits from the original manufacturers, 3-rd party recasts etc.?  I imagine it's a combination of all that and more, and I've seen you all talk about having flat plastic and polycarb bits laser cut by others in the hobby, but when you mentioned replacing the plastics like the cannon I wondered if someone was out there recasting things from molds they made themselves from originals or if they were NOS or what...

[ChadTower]

Could be any of the above.  In the case of something complex like the cannon, though, those do tend to be NOS or just "cleaner than your own" parts.  Not many game specific things that complex get remade.

[MameMaster!]

Well I had the pleasure of almost freaking out when I replaced the flakey aux driver board. The top diverter coil was burnt out so I had been reading that sometimes the aux board can be the cause so to be safe I picked up a new one along with the diverter mech.

Any hoo--- I plugged in everything very carefully, pop the machine on and immediately was rewarded with a christmas tree of lights and a horrendous screeching sound of the speakers. The machine promptly turn off.

Turns out I burned out 5 fuses as I had the ribbon cable connected to the board upside down.

I didn't know this right away- but now that I have a some of these "oh=s$$t" moments under my belt I took the time to realize it was fuses and nothing more **PHEW!!**. Thank goodness those fuses did their job.

Any way the machine is about 95% complete. Here are some photos of my custom painted Borg ship and shuttle coming my way!

[MameMaster!]

Well- this one was the most fun restoration I've done as it was the most thorough.

Since my initial list of "to-do" items I kept adding more stuff such as the red domes in the guns.

I've definitely spent too much- but who cares. This is my hobby and it's been a lot of fun to do. The machine honestly looks as new as I could possibly make it as the entire surface has been replaced, polished, etc etc. as needed.

I have many left over plastics if anyone is in need. They're faded- but if you have a cracked one these may help. Let me know what you need- ideally I would prefer to sell the lot of what I have left over for a small price or trade.

 

[MameMaster!]

final photos- including the current line up. 

[pinballjim]

Damn, moneybags, can I have a loan?

[yaksplat]

That's the first time i've seen a BBB in someones lineup.

Nice collection! 

[MameMaster!]

BBB is running on my VirtuaPin.   

[MameMaster!]

Damn, moneybags, can I have a loan?

I don't drink, I don't smoke- I play pinball. That's where all my cash goes (other than my kids of course!).

[NIVO]

great job my friend! I'll be over next weekend to test it out

[Nephasth]

Damn, moneybags, can I have a loan?

I don't drink, I don't smoke- I play pinball. That's where all my cash goes (other than my kids of course!).

I need to quit drinking...

[yaksplat]

I need to quit drinking...

Drinking at home is cheap, drinking out is expensive.

I quit drinking out.

[mrclean]

Looks fantastic! Invite me over dude I'm a few towns over from you in LI. I'm obsessed with IJ I actually named my dog Indiana..(Some day hopefully soon I'll own a 93' WIJ) I didn't give that newer IJ game a really fair assessment as I played it literally 2x while down in Disney at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (Most collectors opinions on that newer IJ is that it seems rushed and incomplete). STTNG I played at Ed's house that was my fav. pin he had during a hosting he did as part of the meetup long island arcade group (Which is how i discovered this thread). I love how STTNG shoots the ball out right through the loop nice and quick. Theater of Magic it's been a longgg time since I've played that game and that's without a doubt a fantastic machine.  Spider Man never played, actually I really haven't played a ton of newer Sterns yet. I just got my first pin this year a JP just getting my feet wet, but I see the attraction, pins freakin' rock. I don't think I'm going to ever give up my vids / or convert to all pins but they are most certainly fun.

[codeena]

Awesome job on an awesome pinball cab...congrats!