In Progress It's Turtle Time - TMNT Shop Log

[PeteB]

Greets,

Here we go again with another shop log. This time it's Data East Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in for restoration for a client.

The game arrived a few months ago but restoration didn't start until recently. The restoration will consist of:

• Playfield strip and clean
• Cabinet head redecalling
• Cabinet body touch up
• Electronics repair
• LED conversion

This one appears to be a good "core" with little wear, but due to it's age there are a few problems. First off, I've set the game up and had a little play / tinker to see what we're dealing with:

Aside from it looking generally dull, a few features aren't working, it can't keep track of balls and there's an issue with the sound board.

 

[PeteB]

Time to take a look around...

Main side art is pretty good, minor touch ups and repairs needed:



The head needs replacement decals:



The back isn't as rough as I was expecting:


Even the underside is acceptable, but I'll sand this all anyway:


Backglass is nice, although there is one scratch which may be of concern:


The playfield:


That coindoor should be easy to fix, and notice the lack of shooter knob lol:


Nothing scary in there:


Aha! Fixes needed on the back of the coin door:


Nice fag burn on the flipper button:


The armour is generally ok, but small issues like this appear. I think I may be able to repair this without stripping the whole thing:


The backglass lock doesn't work OR there is no correct key:


Goodbye lock. Didn't need you anwyay:


The usual discomfort on the lockbar receiver:


Lamp board looks nice, but it doesn't line up the score display with the window in the backglass. Must fix that.


The back of the backglass:



More to follow in next post......

 

[PeteB]

Inside the head, the electronics look pretty clean but I don't like how the large cap on the left is dangline loosely:


Dangly fuses:


GI connectors all look pretty nice. This game hasn't seen much use.


Here we go with hacks. The connector block going to the display:


Back to the playfield. The inlane plastics are completely wrong. Why?


PIzza wheel. Worn but not the worst I've seen:


Ramps and pop bumper area look dirty:


I'm going to polish the sh** out of this piece of metal:


Shooter lane, not too beaten:


Time for a peek under the hood:


Eww!!! WTF?!


As I haven't spotted any major hacks or lols under the playfield, here's a generic overview:


Interesting:



More to follow in the next post....

 

[PeteB]

Time to start pulling things apart.

Off comes the apron and again to my surprise only slightly dirty:


Stripping:


Stripping more:


This thing is off. I like how Data East put plugs on everything so you can take it all apart easily, unlike that Bally/Williams crap:


Dusty ramps:


Well this really p*ssed on my parade. Can't take the damn ramp off because some idiot put a connector block on the wire, stopping it from going through the playfield hole. Why? Just why? Look 6 inches further along and you find the factory connector:


Nevertheless, I'm not one to be beaten:


How on earth did a ball go missing and get stuck there?


The flippers, apart from looking shabby, are all cracked anyway and will need replacing:



More to follow in the next post...

 

[PeteB]

When people try to tell me I'm not busy, I feel like giving them a shake! Apart from TMNT, there are 2 other projects going on - a Rollergames ready to receive touchup and then clear coating, and another Johnny Mnemonic half way though playfield restoration. These projects are abandonned until TMNT is done:


Almost down to the bones on the playfield now:


Done:


After hoovering up all the crap, I'm now ready to start cleaning the playfield. First a wipe down with some damp clothes and then moving on to the magic eraser and Isopropanol Alcohol. I use the 99.9% pure stuff, not 91%.


While most parts of the mylar look pretty nice, and have little ball wear, it is rather tatty around the edges as seen here:


Some places the edges are lifting, allowing dirty under, and in others it looks like the mylar has shrunk a bit revealing glue which has attracted dirt:


This is the biggest concern. A crease/bubble between the pizza wheel and left targets. It not only looks ugly but could cause ball hop as well. There are a few other instances similar, and I don't think this can be repaired:


Looks clean-ish but with mylar issues. Luckily the playfield has a factory clear coat, and after discussing this with the customer we've decide to peel the mylar off. Risky business. So this is where the playfield currently stands, pre mylar removal:


Meanwhile, small metal parts are off for stage 1 of clean and polish. All hail the tumbler:


Ramp before:


After stage 1 of cleaning:



That's it for now. More tomorrow.

 

[cooldan]

looking forward to seeing this one develop

 

[PeteB]

Me too! It's going to be a beauty!

 

[Jonwolf]

Good work - what do you use to clean up the ramps ?


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[ChriX]

Looks like this is going to shine up nice!

 

[PeteB]

Good work - what do you use to clean up the ramps ?


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Soap and warm water tickled with a soft paint brush. I use Actifizz as my choice of spray soap.

That's it for now, but before I put them back in the game they will be flame polished several times and then waxed/pledged.

 

[Cmor111]

I'm got to have a go at this restoration work sometime, watching all this work being done by others make it look easier than I know it is. Going to ask Santa for a tumbler for Christmas, no point in stripping everything down just to clean the playfield if your not going to clean all the metalwork at the same time.

There is a saying about not being able to polish something but I'm not going to lower myself on this occasion.

Nice work Pete, your showing us all that you have more than one string to your bow in this hobby, keep up the good work and I hope your business keeps growing.

 

[PeteB]

Sanded this little block thing. Masked up and ready for a fresh coat of black:


Tumbler has been going for 2 days. Now ready for stage 2 polishing with different media:


The nicest pop bumpers I've taken out of any game I think. Still going to strip them down though:


Many new parts are ready, including a full new plastic set:


Well, I'm ready to remove mylar. The diarrhoea is about to hit the fan:

 

[PeteB]

4 cans of freezing spray later, and we have 100% total success. Zero damage to the playfield. Perfect!


To remove the glue I'm using flour and alcohol:


This is fun:

 

[PeteB]

Had to take a break from this over Christmas and early January, but I'm back full steam ahead!

After removing all the gunk, glue and flour, the playfield gets several treatments of cleaning and buffing. Now we have a nice playfield base:


Some areas were never protected by mylar and have worn away the artwork. This will have to be repaired somehow:


Likewise, the sewer "lid" constantly bashing into the playfield where the mylar didn't cover has chipped it away. This will get repaired also but luckily it'll be covered by the sewer lid anyway:


Another war wound just at the edge of mylar, this time on an insert:


Starting with the damaged outlane, I've done the first round of repainting:


Now the sewer area is repainted also. This was an absolute ball ache to colour match, involving ordering a special flourescent green which then had several hours of trial and error mixing and matching. In the end though, it was pretty successful I'd say:


The playfield protector has been put down now and it's a perfect fit. Ordered it from https://www.playfield-protectors.com along with a few others and I have to say I'm very impressed. It almost disappears on the playfield and gives it a clear coat type shine with a perfectly flat reflection:


The rebuild has now started with the first round of LED's going in on the GI circuit. Have to say, there's really not much to the GI on this game. Tons of bulbs in the backbox but not on the playfield:

 

[cooldan]

Awesome stuff, I'm turtling just reading this

 

[RudeDogg1]

Awesome stuff, I'm turtling just reading this

Does that involve an old sock?

 

[DRD]

Really nice work. Well done.

 

[edward.emms]

There are at least 2 of these machines left as I own one

 

[Sgt GrizZ]

There are at least 2 of these machines left as I own one

1 round the corner from me too

 

[kevlar]

Nice work!. That's 1 huge mother of a 1 piece ramp section. Can't be too many larger than that in 1 piece.

 

[PeteB]

LED'ing done right. Here that green strip a long the top of the awards is always washed out, even with standard lamps. So I've put green, round-top, frosted bulbs in to give it an even soft glow. It's ok to use frosted spot colours in this case, as the divider behind keeps light from spilling in to the other areas. For the award lights I've used warm white, not yellow (never use yellow, not bright enough), flat top super bright's which have a more directional beam, focussing on the award box.


What do you think about this - the post rubbers - should we go all green:


...or colour match them to each area of the playfield:


Or I could be really boring and just go with standard black?

I'm leaning towards doing a colour match.

 

[gopinball]

I think it looks great with green/yellow/red !

 

[PeteB]

I think it looks great with green/yellow/red !

It almost makes the posts disappear doesn't it? I think this is the way to go!

 

[astyy]

It almost makes the posts disappear doesn't it? I think this is the way to go!

defo looks better