Complete Fishy, Fishy, Fishy! - 3 x Fish Tales Restorations

[Asiapinball]

Ant

Incredible work as ever. A question though. On the orange fishy I see the slingshot and kick out pivots have been powdercoated. Is there enough clearance to get them back together OK. I have always got.my powdercoater to mask off any where there is moving parts as i see uoh have done for some other parts. Is masking off the pivots unnecessary? Also does your powdercoater make sure anything threaded doesn't get powdercoated so the machine screws go back in ok? Mine does but I'm not sure how he does it and he says its a faff. Maybe it's also unnecessary?

 

[Ant-H]

Incredible work as ever. A question though. On the orange fishy I see the slingshot and kick out pivots have been powdercoated. Is there enough clearance to get them back together OK. I have always got.my powdercoater to mask off any where there is moving parts as i see uoh have done for some other parts. Is masking off the pivots unnecessary?

Good question. No I would say masking off pivot points is a good idea as due to the thickness of the powder they will bind.

Like you said my parts were fully coated. What I do is to use a small drum sander in a Dremel and remove the coating from any of these kind parts.

Also does your powdercoater make sure anything threaded doesn't get powdercoated so the machine screws go back in ok? Mine does but I'm not sure how he does it and he says its a faff. Maybe it's also unnecessary?

My powder coaters do however tape off any threads which imo is definitely a must for me.
He uses a heat resistant tape to mask the treaded parts up. You can actually see the tape still on one of the threads in the below photo as well as a couple where I’ve removed it.

 

[Ant-H]

I made a good start on rebuilding all the mech for Fishy No1.
All the coils received new coil wrappers and any screws were polished and any nuts, coil sleeve and springs were replaced.






The last one I rebuilt was the fishing reel mech.

The motor was cleaned and casing was polished up to remove the tarnished look it had.
Before

After

I also replaced all the optos to ensure they would be nice and reliable.

A belt was also replaced as before I started the restoration, the reel would occasionally slip when trying turn.

The opto bracket was then mounted to the reel mech so that it was ready to refit to the playfield.


Next job is to do that all again for Fishy No2

 

[Asiapinball]

My powder coaters do however tape off any threads which imo is definitely a must for me.
He uses a heat resistant tape to mask the treaded parts up. You can actually see the tape still on one of the threads in the below photo as well as a couple where I’ve removed it.

Mine must do the same. I think he mentioned that he tapes off the screw threads but he must have always removed the tape as I have never seen any.

 

[Ant-H]

Now the zinc plating is done I could make a start on rebuilding all the mechs for Fishy No2 as I’d like to get it so it’s basically at the same rebuild stage as Fishy No1.

Once I’ve completed the underside on both these games I’ll finish rebuilding the top sides and completing shop Fishy No3.

The mechs came out great considering how rusty they all were.


Pop bumpers were first on the bench to be rebuilt.

Catapult mech was next followed the fishing reel.


The last ones to go back together are the flipper mechs for both games, as well as the rear gate mech.

With all the mechs for both games fully built and could start on the harnesses. The first one to go back on is the switch harness, so I fitted new switches throughout and also replaced the old plastic tubing.
I also fitted the harness stand off posts for both Fishy No1 and No2



Next job is the lamp harness which I’ve started but I lost the will to live half way through removing the old rusty sockets

 

[Jay Walker]

Ant,

I see that the two catapult units have different links fitted; the orange one has the older pointed link, the zinc-plated has the newer type. I'd be worried that the newer type would break the spring, as tended to happen with flipper assemblies when using that combination.

 

[Ant-H]

Ant,

I see that the two catapult units have different links fitted; the orange one has the older pointed link, the zinc-plated has the newer type. I'd be worried that the newer type would break the spring, as tended to happen with flipper assemblies when using that combination.

I’m not too worried. If it was a mech that gets used constantly, like for example a flipper mechs then yes it may break the spring eventually. But for this mech I think it will be fine.

If it does however end up breaking the spring, they cost pennies and are quick to change

 

[Ant-H]

I finally finished replacing all the old lamp sockets on both games. The ones on Fishy No2 weren’t great.

It took a while but was definitely worth it in the end.

The coil harnesses were next , so all the old cable ties were replaced as were some more lamp sockets.

They could then go back onto the playfields.

Once everything was in place and the wires soldered back to the coils, I like to neaten the wiring up so a few extra cable ties are needed

At this stage both Fishy No1 and No2 and pretty much neck and neck and the next job was to rebuild the boat ramps for all 3 games.
Out of the 3 ramps, the one from Fishy No3 was definitely the best which is good as that isn’t being replaced.
The ones on the other 2 however didn’t look good at all.


Old one on the left next to its replacement.

First job was to strip and clean the ramp from Fishy No3. I simply used some foam cleaner followed by a good polish.

Next I re-grained all the ball guides to remove the ball trails and refitted them to each ramp.


The holes for the wire guides on the 2 Mirco replacements, were much too small so needed to be opened out to avoid chipping the clear coat.
I then added a piece of Mylar to where the captive ball goes and installed new ramp decals.

The centre ball guide went on next as well as new stand up targets.

They were then flipped over so that the mounting bracket, lamp boards, Comet LEDs and wiring harnesses could go back on. Like the main GI harness, the Boat ramp harness for Fishy No1 and 2 received new lamp holder throughout. I also tidied up the wiring.
Final job before they could go on was to finish re-assembling the ramp for Fishy No3 with new Titan post rubbers, captive ball, plastic and plastic protector.
I installed the ramps for Fishy No1 and 2 onto their playfields but am holding off with the one for Fishy No3 as my plan next to completely strip and shop that playfield so that it will be pretty much at the same rebuild stage as the other ones.

But with boat ramps now in place on the other 2, they are really starting to take shape

Fishy No1

Fishy No2

 

[Smraedis]

Is a shame starboard is spelt wrong on the replacement ramp.

 

[Paul]

Is a shame starboard is spelt wrong on the replacement ramp.

Startboard you mean???

 

[Ant-H]

Is a shame starboard is spelt wrong on the replacement ramp.

Yeah its unfortunate but is what it is when you go with a Mirco Playfield, and repros in general to be honest. There just not many options out there.

Personally things like that don’t bother me to much, as i’d still rather go with the a new ramp as the originals get battered and these too had ****ed inserts chipped up clear.

 

[Triple H]

Doesn't it bother your customers?

 

[Silverpaolo]

Doesn't it bother your customers?

I’m his customer and the answer to that question is….no … I didn’t even notice it till people pointed it and it doesn’t bother me I’d still rather have a nice new pf than an old pf in … it won’t be first time a mistake has been made on a pf and it certainly won’t be the last

 

[Ant-H]

Doesn't it bother your customers?

No not at all. As I said, if you want a new playfield there’s not many options out there. CPR or Mirco. Both seem to have issues when reproducing some games artwork from the originals.

I’ve seen some misaligned or have added/missing text.
On a Mirco IJ playfield you get a Vampire Willie, though I’ve heard he has finally fixed that.

So a decision needs to be made at the start and for a FT, to either accept the small misprint on the new one or if bothers you, live with a ****ty ramp/playfield with cracked inserts/clear coat.

 

[Ant-H]

Before I start stripping the top side on Fishy No3 I wanted to do a few more little jobs on the other two.

First up was to install the flipper mech and as usual the dimples for these were way out. If I used what was there the bushing wouldn’t even line up with the holes

But once I drilled new holes for the screws they all line up great.
I also finished cable tying all the harnesses together soapart from fitting the insert LEDs on one of them, I think I can say the undersides are done. Though I am waiting on new stand up targets and decals so I will have to change those.




The backboards needed to be done next. Firstly I filled and sanded them down, followed by some primer and 2 coats of satin black.

I replaced all the lamp sockets as again they were rusty. I also polished all the screws as well.


After that it was a quick job to re-instal the lamp harness and get them back on the playfields.

I wanted to install the plastic ramps next as I had a feeling they might be a pain in the **** to do.
So before they could go on, I fitted a few plastics.
These kits came with Planetry Pinball and though they are licensed and the quality is really good a couple of them still needed adjustments to fit correctly.

For example the plastic that goes around the base of the fishing reel was slightly to big when compared to the original so was hitting the bottom of the mech.

So I basically drew a line around it and used a dremal to sand away the excess in order to give me enough clearance.

The other plastic that I suspect will need looking out is the one that goes at top right. I think it will hit the wire form but won’t know until I get them back and installed.

The others I fitted went on great.

The last thing to do was to try out the plastic ramps. Both the originals I took off were cracked in various places so need to go. The ramp flap on fishy No2 had even started to rot away

The replacements came with Starship fantasy and look great. The reason why I thought they would be a bitch to fit was they have been made in slightly thicker plastic when compared to the originals

New vs old

And I was right, due to the increase in thickness they were a complete ball ache to align with the boat ramp and mounting posts.
After some slight adjustments to the mounting posts I managed to install them so that they were spot on. The final test will be once the wire forms are fitted.

 

[Happypin]

Yeah its unfortunate but is what it is when you go with a Mirco Playfield, and repros in general to be honest. There just not many options out there.

Personally things like that don’t bother me to much, as i’d still rather go with the a new ramp as the originals get battered and these too had ****ed inserts chipped up clear.

The TAF from Mirco I fitted on my restore was not identical. Like you say we don’t have many options.

 

[Ant-H]

The playfield swaps for Fishy No1 and 2 are nearly complete now and it’s there a couple of small jobs to complete.

In the plastic set, you get 2 plastics which I believe were intended to be used as keyrings. IMO they are pretty big for that so I though I’d repurpose them for Fishy No1 and fitted them onto of the plastic boat ramp.
I have the wave decals to install on Fishy No 2.


Next I installed a new decal to the Casters club cover and also to the spinner on both games.

I had initially screwed the old stand up targets in place to check alignment and once I was happy I install to the new ones as the old were battered and really rusty.

The ones needed assembling and found that the plastic target itself wasn’t riveted on that good as they were really loose. So I ended up re-riveting them.



Installing the newly chromed wire forms is a job I’ve really been looking forward to doing as I think on Fish Tales they really bring the whole playfield together.


My plan is fine tune the wire forms during the play testing stages especially the one that feeds the ball back to the playfield at the start of multiball so that is goes to the left flipper.

Now that the wireforms are fitted I could install the last plastic.
This one in particular isn’t a straight forward swap. It sits at an angle over one of the pop bumpers. The original plastic has a slight bend to it by the top mounting hole. This is what enables the plastic to sit at an angle.
It also has a small brackets that needs to be removed and riveted to the new plastic.

You can see the bend on the original plastic on left compared to the new one on the right.


So I very gently heated up that area on the new plastic which soften it enabling me to it put a slight bend in it so it matches the original one perfectly.

The final jobs to do on both playfield swaps is to add some colour matching anodised nyloc nuts and I’d like to try out a little fishing rod mod I’ve got in mind for the left side of the playfield

 

[Ant-H]

The 2 FT super mintys are now nearly ready to go back into their cabinets

I’ve finished checking everything over and replaced a lot of the nyloc nuts that will be visible with some coloured anodized nuts. Green on one game and blue on the other.


The last thing I wanted to do was to try out a little fishing rod mod I had in mind to go just above the fishing reel mech.
So shopped around and found the smallest fishing rod I could find.

The one I used is actually designed for ice fishing
However even this was still slightly too long so I needed to reduce its size somehow.

To do this I basically cut a section out of the handle so that it would fit on top of the large fishing rod plastic that goes on the left hand side. I cut both ends off then removed a piece from the middle.


Once I was happy with the size I then pinned and glued the section back together.

I wasn’t keen on how bright and plain the handle looked either so I painted it in a light brown and added some thin black vinyl strips down the length of it.

In regards somehow installing the fishing rod, I drilled a couple of small holes and glued the heads 2 hex screws using epoxy into the shaft of the handle. I then used spacers to mount the rod above the plastic.
Overall I’m well pleased with how the first one came out, so I ended up making 2 more for the other playfields.

Now I’ve finished both Playfield swaps, the plan next is to completely strip and shop the playfield from Fishy No3. I’ll then test all 3 while they are still on the rotisseries as it’s easier to make any adjustments to switches etc should they be needed



Underside on Fishy No1 and No2 before:-

Completed Undersides:-

 

[JAG555]

Great work! Love watching this as you progress through.

I have a really nice Fish Tales with a new playfield, decals and mirrored backglass (I won’t post a picture as this isn’t the right post for it). I have to say, it is probably my favourite game. It is just pure fun!

 

[Max]

Amazing work as always.. the rod mod is mint!

 

[Ant-H]

Amazing work as always.. the rod mod is mint!

Thanks mate

 

[Ant-H]

Great work! Love watching this as you progress through.

I have a really nice Fish Tales with a new playfield, decals and mirrored backglass (I won’t post a picture as this isn’t the right post for it). I have to say, it is probably my favourite game. It is just pure fun!

It’s funny you say that, as I’ve got a FT that’s currently buried in storage and I was contemplating selling.

But I’ve playing one the other week and since working on these 3 it’s reminded me of what a fun game it is.

 

[M4carp]

It’s funny you say that, as I’ve got a FT that’s currently buried in storage and I was contemplating selling.

But I’ve playing one the other week and since working on these 3 it’s reminded me of what a fun game it is.

Keep it mate, proper classic Even my kids still love it, my youngest is 23 so about 8 when I bought it and it’s his favourite and I have had all the greatest 90’s pins.

 

[Pharo]

Just got one myself the other day and loving it fun game but still hard enough to keep you on your toes

 

[Ant-H]

Keep it mate, proper classic Even my kids still love it, my youngest is 23 so about 8 when I bought it and it’s his favourite and I have had all the greatest 90’s pins.

Yeah I think I will keep it. It’s a really enjoyable game especially for non pinball players

 

[Ant-H]

Onto Fishy No3. This one is a topside playfield strip and shop of the original then a rebuild with oak wooden rails, new plastics, star post, titans, plastic boat ramp and well as re-chromed wire forms.

I’m also going to rebuild the flipper, pop bumpers and fishing reel mech.

Looking over the playfield its in pretty good condition in terms of wear for FT, but looks like it’s never been shopped or had a deep clean in its life

And after stripping the topside, you can really see the dirt. It’s definitely been polished in the past as I can see remnants of old wax in places and on the old star posts.

Cleaning and polishing will is next

 

[Ant-H]

After I had stripped the topside of Fishy No3 all the metal posts were put into the tumbler with some fresh medium crushed walnut shell along with a couple of dollops of autosol.

I generally then leaven it to tumble to 3-4 days sometimes a bit longer if needed.
It still amazes me how a some of these parts can turn out after a long session tumbling away.

Whist that was going I started out on playfield. First job was a good clean with some cleaner to remove the majority of the dirt. I then used a magic eraser to remove stubborn marks/dirt.




When it comes to polishing, I prefer to machine polish the playfield using a few different 3” pads along with a couple of different waxes/polish.
That way I find it minimises swirl marks and you can generally achieve a really nice finish.

For this particular playfield, i was really pleased with how it came out.

Whist the top side of the playfield was still striped down, I serviced the fish reel mech and replaced the drive belt.
When put next to each other you can clearly see the stretch in the original belt that I removed.

Final job before the rebuild starts was to fit new blue pop bumper skirts and bodies along with the new oak side rails I had made earlier. Instead of green, this set were dyed a dark blue then clear coated afterwards.

 

[Dinsdale]

This man is not of this world.

 

[Ant-H]

The Playfield rebuild on Fishy No3 is basically complete.

I installed new star posts, silk screened plastic set, Titans all round and the same pop bumper/lane guide plastic combo as Fishy No2.

Like the with the 2 playfield swaps, I fitted star post lights by the slings as well as some colour coded anodised nuts, though I’ve run out so need to wait for me to be delivered.

I re-grained all the bull guides to remove the ball trails and had wire forms re-chromed.

Personally I’m really pleased with how this playfield turned out. For being an original PF, imo it looks just as good on the top side as the 2 full playfield swaps on Fishy No & No2z


Before I refit a playfield back in the cabinet, for me, I prefer to plug it all back and test everything with the PF still in the rotisserie and next to the cabinet. IMO it’s so much easier to make any switch adjustments or fault find that way.

After plugging Fishy No3 back in, everything worked great and the only things that needed slight adjusting were the pop bumper switches.

Once I was happy that everything was good, the playfield went back into the cabinet for finally testing.

When it came to the apron for Fishy No3, it was in fantastic original condition. So apart from a good clean, all I did was to re-chrome the wire form on front and install a new high voltage sticker and rubber.

I still need finish making fishing rod mod for it, and I’ve decided to install mirror blades like the other 2, as I just wasn’t happy with the print quality on the art blades I originally fitted.

After that, the next jobs are to finish testing the playfields on Fishy No1 & No2 then get get them back in their cabinets, rebuild the other 2 aprons, install the remaining armour and dmds and do some play testing on all 3

 

[Ant-H]

Like with Fishy No3, I plugged the playfields for the other 2 games in when they were were still outside the cabinets.

Apart from adjusting a pop bumper and sling shot switch, I did have a head scratcher moment with the rear gates on both games.
For some reason they wouldn’t activate.

After testing and re-testing different parts with some added swearing thrown in, the last thing I checked were the actual coils themselves.

They were both brand new but upon closer inspection, when I peeled back each coil label I could see a brake in the thin coil wire on both solenoids .
So I swapped them out and as expected, fixed the issue.

Before lifting the playfields back in and alway replace any bent latch springs as straight springs makes lifting and locking the playfield in place a lot smoother.

The last job on Fishy No1 and 2 before I could do some play testing was to reinstall the aprons.
The aprons on both games were not in great shape and had missing or damaged decals.

So to match the rest of armour they were both stripped and chromed.

After to chatting @stumblor regarding his old FT, he actually still had some extra apron decals that he had printed for FT restore a few years ago.
They are printed on a clear backing and were great quality.

Like with cabinet decals, I use the same method for any stickers, weather its art blades or Mylar as I find you get minimal/zero air bubbles.
I use a good amount of solution as that way I can re-position the decals if needed using a felt applicator.

Once applied, I wipe away the excess application fluid. I can then see if there are any air bubbles. Luckily for these, they both came out great.



Final jobs was to fit new caution labels and restore the apron hardware before fitting the chrome wire guide and getting them back on the playfields





After some play testing, the last couple of jobs will to fit the remaining pieces of armour, the DMDs and the mirror back glass.