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Earthshaker Pinball Restoration: FINALE

Cary Hardy·video·20m 45s·analyzed·Mar 15, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

Earthshaker restoration finale: cabinet art, playfield reassembly, backglass swap, and gameplay verification complete.

Summary

Cary Hardy completes the final restoration stages of an Earthshaker pinball machine, including transformer cleaning and painting, cabinet masking and decal application, playfield reassembly, backglass replacement, and final gameplay testing. The restoration showcases practical techniques for older System 11 machines, including workarounds like vinyl mirroring instead of traditional mirror blades due to space constraints.

Key Claims

  • Factory-glued bolts on transformers sometimes cannot be easily disassembled without significant effort

    high confidence · Speaker notes from experience: 'I've had some that literally just they're glued in because the glue that they use at the factory when they're creating these things'

  • Vinyl mirroring is a functional substitute for traditional mirror blades on System 11 games when space constraints prevent standard blade installation

    high confidence · Direct demonstration and explanation of repro ramps being wider than standard, preventing traditional mirror blade fit

  • Frosted backglass material provides better light illumination than frosted alternatives, but newer reproductions tend to be darker with deeper black tones

    medium confidence · Observation during backglass installation: 'new ones they are darker so which in a way I like because the blacks are much more black'

  • Earthshaker decals are notably 'tacky' and prone to air bubble formation during application, requiring careful technique

    high confidence · Live commentary during decal application: 'These are very tacky decals. I should have shaved off a lot more of the excess'

  • The playfield fit is extremely tight, with mirror blades unable to physically fit in the available space

    high confidence · 'This thing is snug. Toit. Very toit. No way mirror blades would have fit in this thing.'

Notable Quotes

  • “I hate to say it, but I'm going to do a lot of like, it'll work. It'll be good enough kind of thing.”

    Cary Hardy@ 1:17 — Reflects pragmatic approach to restoration when perfection is impractical or time-constrained

  • “if there's anything underneath there, a decal is going to magnify that particular defect.”

    Cary Hardy@ 6:32 — Key technical insight about surface preparation importance for decal application

  • “These are very tacky decals. I should have shaved off a lot more of the excess that's on the sides over here because that was a problem”

    Cary Hardy@ 10:02 — Direct feedback on Earthshaker reproduction decal quality and application difficulty

  • “Smoke test is a success, meaning no smoke, no fire.”

    Cary Hardy@ 13:12 — Colloquial terminology for initial electrical safety verification before full operation

  • “the new ones they are darker so which in a way I like because the blacks are much more black”

    Cary Hardy@ 18:02 — Quality observation about reproduction backglass material characteristics compared to originals

Entities

Cary HardypersonRustypersonEarthshakergameTitan PinballcompanyClassic Playfield ReproductionscompanyUnit F-14companyStarship FantasycompanyMarco SpecialtiescompanyPinball Lifecompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Creator documenting detailed restoration process for educational value to community, including techniques for surface preparation, painting, and decal application

    high · Entire video serves as instructional content with narrated step-by-step techniques for each restoration phase

  • ?

    product_strategy: Earthshaker restoration incorporating vinyl mirroring solution to address space constraints preventing traditional mirror blade installation on System 11 platform

    high · Direct demonstration and explanation: 'I'm going to assume the reason why they don't make them is because the lack of space for these things... But just to give you an idea that it is going to do somewhat of the job.'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.062

0:00
There is the transformer! What I'm hoping is that these damn bolts come out of here. I've had some that literally just they're glued in because the glue that they use at the factory when they're creating these things it just can't happen. So I'm hoping that I can disassemble this with ease and then maybe even get it painted and stuff tonight.
0:30
all right when it comes to the transformer getting it all cleaned up I basically just use that super degreaser the same stuff I use for my ultrasonic and douse all the cables and everything with that let it sit there for a good while and and then just get a microfiber cloth and wipe it all down and they come out pretty damn clean there's only so much you can do with this section right here.
0:59
I haven't performed any kind of method on making that look sexy other than I mean, I've got some ideas but it'll be fine. I mean, once again,
1:17
I hate to say it, but I'm going to do a lot of like, it'll work. It'll be good enough kind of thing. So my main plan here is to get this all masked off and this needs to be black and that's what we're gonna do next the longest part is just getting everything masked off I mean I typically get like a Walmart bag to get all these cables and everything on one side and then I'll just use masking tape all around the edges and the same goes on that and it doesn't take but five or ten seconds to paint the damn thing and then I'll polish all the metal back up and then assemble it back up again
Johnny Mnemonic
game
1:55
Just get you a big old giant roll of painters tape. Bam. Masked and ready to go. This took me, I don't know, a couple of minutes. I mean especially if you have the wider version of it. Then you just start around here and just work your way all the way around. Pretty much ready to rock and roll. Yep. That one is nice and coated. On to the light panel. I'm really hoping that this is just going to clean up. It might, but it might not. So I'm going to take all these bulbs out and then we're going to try just cleaning it the see if it'll actually work or not when it comes to just without having to do a complete restoration and stuff so what i'm doing is going through each of my ziploc bags and each of these ziploc bags contains components to the back box and cabinet and all i'm doing for a lot of this stuff is giving it just a really good scrubbing with steel wool you should have seen this thing before i mean the metal is nice and smooth now so this is the like the lockdown bar mechanism right here underneath and this goes like this somehow or another. It holds this but all of this may not look pretty because it's not been polished or anything but it's gonna be mechanically sound and nice and smooth so there shouldn't be any issues with it gliding left and right underneath the lockdown bar and everything. So just working my way through the ziplock bags getting everything cleaned up.
3:51
some parts going in here. There is the transformer. Again, it'll do. Oh, it's definitely not perfect, but it's going to have to do. It's going to have to work, guys. It's looking like it might rain today, and I'm losing time here, so I'm going to have to start painting on this damn thing. i've done worse so this is what i'm having to deal with and if i was just to put decals over this it would not look good at all and this is like pretty much all up and around here so i'm using the paint filler right now spray on because it dries really quick and it sands very well so it's a quick fix but we got to get this all nice and leveled out All the cabinet carriage bolts have been sanded down on the heads there and basically just going to do a nice good coat of black gloss more rattle can over these and let it dry Probably a couple of coats and see how it goes on and that was literally one stroke just going over that just like or seriously took me like three seconds like and we're gonna let it sit there and dry and those should be done look literally just beat the rain pulled this sucker in here after getting all cleaned out and we are ready for paint uh more rattle can uh it is what it is but uh i think we're ready to go man damn weather yeah all right i think we are ready to lay down the art on this particular side all i've done is basically just got everything lined up to where everything looks pretty damn centered and before placing it on the wood i have gone over this with 1000 grit sandpaper and then microfiber top microfiber cloth tack cloth would also be nice just to make sure you don't have any kind of like debris up underneath there that's going to cause any kind of defect. Because like I've said before on every single time that I've laid any kind of decals down, if there's anything underneath there, a decal is going to magnify that particular defect. So I've just got something heavy right here to hold this decal in place so I can at least get the first so many inches started. And then after that, I can remove the transformer and start laying the rest of it down.
6:53
Let's see, I've got this squeegee that I'd like to hope is pretty damn clean. And we'll glide across this.
7:07
Looks like it should. Sweet. All right, so I'll put that right there for right now. And then we're going to get this show on the road. Hopefully the light is good enough. Now if these are anything like the Johnny Mnemonic decals, then this might be a very slow process. Definitely would not have preferred to have any kind of flurries like that.
8:39
It's like I'm seeing air bubbles but they're bubbles that haven't been even exposed yet. So now that that portion is down, let's get this bad boy out of the way. I may have to move the camera to get a better visual. Oh no. Oh no!
9:38
I'm not going to lie, that was almost bad. These are very tacky decals. I should have shaved off a lot more of the excess that's on the sides over here because that was a problem Now where the hell oh my X knob has started trimming this shit off
10:47
all right that's pretty much it now I just need to do go around the edges and everything usually high grit probably about 600 or so I'll go around all of these to get any type of residual off but there's one side down
11:47
This is my least favorite portion of decals to drop down. I always seem to have a difficulty with it, so I'm hoping that this one goes down smoothly. I've got it all lined up. It's a matter of just getting the damn thing down now.
12:47
All right, you guys getting to witness the first time the Earthshaker is back on all fours. There we have it. All right. Continue the build. Smoke test is a success, meaning no smoke, no fire. LED display is looking good.
13:47
Everything on the play field is looking pretty good. So, yeah. I think we are ready to marry these two items again. Oh, man.
14:01
Let's check the sound. sound looks to be working so here we are everything is all connected everything should be good to go i still have like the tape on here and uh protective coating on the vinyl because of the plate fill this thing is snug. Toit. Very toit. No way mirror blades would have fit in this thing. So we are ready to lower this plate fill down hopefully in its final resting place. There it is. It's in there. Oh man. Let turn it on now the only thing left to do is my apron cards and the new mirror back glass oh man but now i'm gonna play test the hell out of it to make sure the damn thing works oh i still have to put this piece on right here snap so let me get that installed all right i wanted to show you what the uh mirror blades quote mirror blades look like for these older games like a System 11.
16:18
I'm going to assume the reason why they don't make them is because the lack of space for these things. It doesn't help that these repro ramps are wider than the standard ones. But just to give you an idea that it is going to do somewhat of the job.
16:36
That this vinyl mirroring, it's okay. I mean, it is what it is. But I think it's doing the job by refracting light.
16:48
And it doesn't look too bad. It's not as great as I'd like it to look, but not a bad substitute. So I still have the old and busted back glass on this game at this point in time. We've got stuff like this. The girl's face is falling off! And I went with the prototype, so I have the pink Cadillac that matches the Playfields pink Cadillac instead of the mismatching system, things like that. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to change this out from the old and busted to the new hotness and see what it looks like. And bam, there it is. So I almost, it's probably not picking up as well on the camera because the camera is allowing more light to come in. So this to you probably looks very illuminated. Whereas to me, it looks pretty dark in the areas where there's not bulbs and I use frosted all the time because they you know do better on illumination I almost feel like I probably need to have like led cool white strips to make it brighter but you know it's also going on with the sunlight around and everything so it's probably not that bad I mean overall it looks really great it's just the mirror back glass the new ones they are darker so which in a way I like because the blacks are much more black but there we go Earthshaker is pretty much complete except for my apron cards. I need to get those, get a sheet of glass on there, and I think we are ready for the show.
18:41
I walk alone, I walk alone Till the end I walk alone Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah Earthshaker is in the house And this thing is going to need some work I could watch you for a lifetime You're my favorite movie A thousand years Alright, what are you supposed to shoot for?
19:36
No! I'm supposed to see what I'm supposed to... Okay, I'm supposed to be sure. Yeah, because it's flashing. Yeah.
19:51
Oh, you got that ramp shot finally. And that wraps up this restoration series, everyone. Special thanks to Titan Pinball for providing me with a number of awesome items for this project. Another special thanks to my brother Rusty for recreating the artwork for the cabinet. And of course, a thank you to all of my Patreon supporters. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. The back glass, plastic set, and playfield were purchased through Classic Playfield Reproductions. Powder coating was through Unit F-14 located in Plano, Texas. The ramps were from Starship Fantasy. All replacement parts were ordered from Marco Specialties or Pinball Life.