Attack From Mars Pinball Restoration

[hd474]

I was looking for a new project during the last winter.  I did not want to do another mechanical slot -see this thread:
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=4846.0
So I've chosen to do a pinball machine. By chance I could get a "Attack from Mars"  for just a few hundred bucks, which is cheap even for the very poor condition of that game. I wanted to bring the machine back into a "like new" condition, so I estimated 6 month for the job.
Here are some pictures of the before condition:

The playfield showed heavy wear, the cabinet decals were faded and the error code list on start up was long enough to fill a telephone book. I decided to fix all problems first, to see which parts need to be replaced. Fixing pins is easy, so after one week everything was OK. I repaired the A/V board (Display flicker), the Strobe light PCB, countless switches, many bulbs, coils etc. Basically standard things on pins "maintained" by professionell operators (the machine came directly from location).I decided also to go for a new playfield, since I'm not really good in airbrushing.


Here are some pictures taken during the job:




The following pictures show the final condition:




Many parts (Plastics, Side rails) still have the protective foil on it.

I replaced the following parts (list is not complete):

• Cabinet Decals
• Leg protectors
• LegsGround wires
• Coin Door
• Coin Acceptor
• Startbutton
• Flipperbuttons
• Siderails
• Playfieldglass (non-reflecting)
• Knockerassembly
• Backbox Catch
• Fuselist in BackBox
• Lockbar
• Dot-Matrix Display
• Plexiglas in front of DMD
• New playfield (ceramic clear-coated)
• all Playfield plastics
• Flipper Assy's
• Crap - and Cow Ramp
• Bumper Assy's
• Slingshotarms
• Slingshotcontacts
• Main-Saucer
• Many Coils
• Backboard Decals
• Blackout Module (for Strobe Multiball) by Pinbits.com
• GI Connector (both sides)
• New capacitors on Strobe- and AV-PCB
• All bulbs
• All bulbholders in Backbox
• All switched lamps replaced with LEDs
• All flasher lamps replaced with LEDs
• New „Stroke of Luck“ Scoop
• NewMartian Targets
• „Moving“ Targetbank Guides
• Manuals
• Etc.

The project took 6 and a half month instead of the planned 6, so I think I need to improve my project planning.....

[stayouttadabunker]

WOW!!!
That's night and day! Excellent turnout!!!

[FORDSBS]

Now that's what I call a restoration. GREAT JOB. 

[poppo]

Great job. One nice thing about that machine is you can actually find artwork, playfield, etc.

[slotsteve]

i would hate to know what your in the game for after all that, the old bally /williams game do hold the price, i too have a afm mine to was from ger, we ran it on route for about 4 years in a college in nj it made good money, i turned down  3100 at xmas for it

[robertwinter]

Nice restore, but you got the machine for a few hundred bucks?  If you're talking under a thousand (or even two for that matter), that's one hell of a score.

I'm doing an uber-restore on mine as we speak...

[Yoeddy1]

I heart pinball machines.  I can't imagine how many thousands of dollars I've spent playing them during my life.  This was a favorite of mine.  Excellent restoration!

Jason

[StatFreak]

You did a beautiful job restoring your pin hd474.  

I wish I could do things like this, but I'm all thumbs, and most of them are broken.

[hd474]

@robertwinter:
I paid about $700 for the game. I know this was extremly cheap. You can still get machines for good prices, but you have to be patient and you need luck.

The only thing left to do is changing the envelope for the manuals.  It took me quite a while to get a complete set of "like new" manuals including all the bags with the spare parts. But the envelope, that came with the manuals was pretty dirty, so I made a new one on my own, but the color is not 100% correct and I would like to change this, but finding the correct one is not really easy...

I used to play pinball for all my life, but today I don't play very often anymore. After the restoration of that game I made only about 30 games just to check if everything is working 100%. I'm currently planning to sell the machine and go for a new project. Since I have some Bally Bingos from the 50's, I might will restore one of these. This will be a much harder job compared with a modern pin.

Jens

[robertwinter]

@robertwinter:
I paid about $700 for the game. I know this was extremly cheap. You can still get machines for good prices, but you have to be patient and you need luck.

That's a great price!

I've gotten lucky a few times on game purchases.  Like you, I end up restoring them and selling them for a decent profit.  It helps fund my pin/slot hobbies!

[slotsteve]

I paid 1600 for mine it was part of a 40ft cont full i bought , we ,bought it to sell but needed a pinball for one of the schools so we put it there it made good $$ for us, we ran pinball auctions in nj for 17 years use to sell between 100 to 180 pins a year, most came from overseas a few loads from canada we only got 1 afm out of all the loads , as far as restoring a bingo unless they are worth alot over there i wouldn,t waste a day they are a hard sell  and there are still loads in wharehouse,s here in the states

[hd474]

@Slotsteve: I know Bingos are worth nothing, but that's not the point. An EM Bingo would be a much bigger challenge to bring back in a "like new" condition than any Pin or slot. *****Why do you climb on a mountain? because it's there........*****

I do not do any of my restorations for money, I do it just because I want to know if I can do it. I still have all mechanical slots I ever restored and there are nicely packed and stored in my cellar. With the Pin it's a different story, it was fun to restore it, but now it needs to go, cause I need the space. I will sell it to a good friend for 4500,- Euro/$6000,- incl. all the old parts (legs, playfield, diesplay etc.) I'm not even sure if this covers my own cost, but I do not really care too much about this.

[knagl]

Wow, fantastic job -- I mean, FANTASTIC!  It looks great!

I haven't played Attack from Mars in quite a while, but I have "Ruled The Universe" on it twice in my playing history.  Do you know about the hidden cow video mode?

[1975ranchero]

beautiful, just beautiful.