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Pinball Restoration - Pinball Expo 2024 - Ivan Cicognani & Giorgio Avato

Pinball News (Pinball Expo 2024)·video·25m 44s·analyzed·Oct 18, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

European restoration team showcases detailed Vara House of Aurore rebuild combining digital scanning, custom artwork, and artisan craftsmanship.

Summary

Ivan Cicognani and Giorgio Avato presented a detailed restoration case study of a Vara House of Aurore pinball machine at Pinball Expo 2024, demonstrating a comprehensive European-based restoration approach. The project involved playfield scanning and recreation at 800 DPI, custom artwork design integrating red/black/green accents inspired by Elvira Blood Kiss Edition, professional automotive-grade painting, custom plastic part recreation using CAD and laser cutting, and extensive cosmetic refinishing of metal parts. The restoration philosophy emphasizes preserving originality where possible, leveraging local Italian artisan shops for specialized work, and iterative design collaboration among team members.

Key Claims

  • The playfield was scanned at 800 DPI to allow pixel-by-pixel modification and accurate color matching

    high confidence · Direct technical specification during playfield restoration walkthrough

  • The team uses original cabinets whenever possible and prefers not to use new ones unless severely damaged, citing the importance of original pinball machine smell and authenticity

    high confidence · Giorgio explicitly states preference for original cabinets and explains reasoning

  • Italy has a disproportionately high concentration of pinball machines compared to other European countries, with many machines imported at end-of-life

    medium confidence · Giorgio provides historical context about pinball arcade distribution in Italy since 1963, mentioning Italy as second largest warehouse after USA

  • The restoration required recreating all plastic parts from scratch using CAD/Solidworks modeling and high-DPI Photoshop artwork due to original plastics being damaged and unavailable

    high confidence · Ivan describes plastic recreation methodology in detail, including scanning, tracing, and CAD modeling process

  • The team brought six fully restored pinball machines to Pinball Expo 2024, representing significant logistical coordination and assembly work completed in compressed timeframe

    high confidence · Giorgio mentions Robert requested four pins, but they brought six; references intense summer work schedule

Notable Quotes

  • “It's a long process. So this is the first try, so not so good. And then we did the idea of gray, red, and the green from Elvira. So these are accents.”

    Ivan Cicognani@ 2:12 — Describes the iterative design process for the Blood Kiss Edition aesthetic, showing how collaborative feedback refined the color palette

  • “Because the PlayFab was scanned at 800 DPI. So you can, pixel by pixel, can modify it so it's it's nice”

    Ivan Cicognani@ 2:35 — Technical specification demonstrating the precision approach to playfield recreation

  • “So it's the sorb is in the fiber and you have a smooth surface so this is the printer midway and the step so it prints first i think three or four white layers and then all the other colors together”

    Ivan Cicognani@ 4:24 — Describes the multi-layer printing process for the custom playfield artwork

  • “We normally change the bottom part. Yes, for us it's difficult. In Europe we cannot find the hinge. So normally we use 14 millimeter thickness”

    Giorgio Avato@ 6:09 — Reveals practical sourcing challenges in European restoration work and workarounds

  • “90 95 percent is the original machine but everything every screw was mounted every screw was refined”

    Giorgio Avato@ 8:18 — Quantifies the restoration philosophy: maximum originality preservation combined with detail refinement

  • “We tend not to put too many mods in the PMO machines because we don't like it. Sometimes it looks a bit cheap. Sometimes they even fall out when you play.”

    Giorgio Avato — Articulates a restoration philosophy favoring restraint in modernization, prioritizing period-appropriate aesthetics

Entities

Ivan CicognanipersonGiorgio AvatopersonAndreapersonAlexpersonGabrielepersonRobertpersonVara House of AuroregameElvira Blood Kiss EditiongamePinball Expo 2024event

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball Expo 2024 featured detailed restoration case study presentation showcasing European artisan-based approach to machine preservation

    high · Structured presentation with photographic documentation of all restoration stages; six completed machines brought to Expo

  • ?

    design_philosophy: European restoration team employs restraint in mod installation, prioritizing period-appropriate aesthetics over contemporary upgrades to avoid 'cheap' appearance

    high · Giorgio explicitly states avoidance of excessive mods; selective use of LED accents and custom controls only where they enhance original design intent

  • $

    market_signal: Italian pinball artisan restoration market demonstrates viable business model with access to specialized labor and cost advantages compared to US/Northern European markets

    medium · Giorgio references abundant specialized shops in Italy offering custom work at relatively low cost; contrasts with Northern European sourcing difficulties (cabinet hinges, plastic parts)

  • ?

    community_signal: Collaborative restoration approach involving multiple specialists with different expertise domains (mechanical design, artwork, electrical control, finishing) requiring iterative decision-making and compromise

    high · Team discussions involving Ivan, Andrea, Giorgio with differing initial ideas that evolve toward consensus designs; references to learning from each other's expertise

  • ?

    product_strategy: Comprehensive restoration approach demonstrating modern digital techniques (800 DPI scanning, CAD modeling, custom LED systems) applied to vintage machines while preserving originality

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.077

0:00
I'm buying a Vara House of Aurore, his red-black keys. And since I have two of these machines, we started one machine of the playfield, very, very damaged. We're thinking to do something different. Mainly the project of, I'm an owner of the pinball, this guy and other guy make the project. other guy he make the most job because he's can in the play feed and working on the original play feed but after the we move from he scanning the play feed and we moving right in black and white after red and black we put some color on the place yeah yeah the idea was to do like the blood case edition so not completely back and white but with green and red accent like elvira logo so this is a picture it's a painting a friend of my friend ivan ivan you can call it ivan so what we begin with is uh eventually yeah play feed uh the worst is it the better for us because we have to to do it again from the from start to finish so this is already in pieces we disassemble it okay so yeah okay there's a the first thing we did was to scan of course digitally scan the playfield we already had the graphic so the next step was to uh yeah it's hard to see to watch but
1:34
it's to completely send down to barewood of course the the original playfit so remove everything yeah it's it's really hard to watch but that's how we do it This is an example. We don't use overlay, but this is an example. This is a print, a tried print to test fit it with the original colors, of course. And so I show you. Okay, so this was the first idea, but it didn't look that good. Too much green. We tried also to complete it back in white, and we didn't like it. So it's a long process. So this is the first try, so not so good. And then we did the idea of gray, red, and the green from Envira. So these are accents, and this is a good stage. You can see where it should imprint or other stuff. So these fine details, of course, because the PlayFab was scanned at 800 DPI. So you can, pixel by pixel, can modify it so it's it's nice this is Ivan and Andrea didn't come and we discussed a lot in front of the computer because one have an idea the other one has another idea I have a third idea but after all it's nice so it's always fun to do together the stuff so this was the the final station for the final design we try to work on them very few like the shoes the beyond of the shoes or the taco yeah the heel yeah the underside of the shoe with the red like the expensive shoes
@ 15:34

  • “In Italy it's broken can make me new the lane can... It's awesome because we have a lot of guys in Italy that small, they do all the stuff. It's a wonderful job. Relatively cheap too.”

    Giorgio Avato@ 24:02 — Highlights the availability of specialized artisan shops in Italy as a competitive advantage for restoration work

  • “I started my Pinball passion in 2019, so it's pretty fresh. I remember when I was little, I was playing Roadshow. Pinball was new. It was speaking heads. It was awesome.”

    Guest (appears to be newer enthusiast member)@ 22:44 — Demonstrates how vintage pinball nostalgia drives contemporary collector engagement

  • “And we didn't have a place, so we worked outside too. luckily in Italy it's warm didn't rain too much this year not like last year okay so this is the lamp panel was of course sanded down painted again”

    Giorgio Avato@ 17:28 — Shows logistical constraints and adaptation during intense production schedule leading to Expo

  • “Elvira is in color, like in the Blood Kiss Edition. The rest is black and white, and some parts are also real mirror, like the sunglasses of the bat. The bat, a mirror. If you can look, it's really small, but it's a really nice detail, too.”

    Giorgio Avato@ 19:37 — Illustrates attention to micro-details in themed restoration, including selective color, mirror elements, and subtle Easter eggs

    • Twilight Zone
    game
    Roadshowgame
    Circus Voltairegame
    Budapest Pinball Museumorganization

    high · Detailed technical walkthrough of playfield scanning, custom artwork recreation, and selective modernization (LED systems, mirror panels, custom controls)

  • ?

    technology_signal: Adoption of industrial-grade digital printing and laser cutting for playfield and cabinet artwork reproduction represents modernization of restoration craft

    high · Multi-layer printing process, laser-cut mirror panels, high-DPI digital artwork workflow described in detail

    • 3:21
    okay so this is the first expensive shoe yeah this is the first uh print on paper so to to to look what how it looked like we didn't do the print on on plastic because we know the dimension was right so but if it's the first time you have to do a plastic so you can match it up and it sometimes it's perfect the first time sometimes it's not it because even when you scan it there could be a little difference and also from paper to pray for there could be some difference normally we cannot scan we have no big scanning can one time yeah we do piece by piece and then with photoshop we can match it together yeah merge it together yeah of course okay this is the playfield on the printing machine so we painted the yeah before the the actual print uh we paint uh all the slots and all the holes so it doesn't show the the wood because uh i don't like it if you saw wood we wanted black and white completely so you first have oh yeah you have also to clear coat the wood so yeah printing you could so it's the sorb is in the fiber and you have a smooth surface so this is the printer midway and the step so it prints first i think three or four white layers and then all the other colors together yeah it takes a while but it's a nice process to watch too expensive printing machine not ours of course but we have good people that does this And this was the printed version. It was amazing. If you see in person, it was like, wow, after all that work, it was really, really nice. And the color in picture or not, but you can see it pops really, really nice. So this is the cabinet. So we don't use new cabinets unless it's really destroyed. Like it happened on the, Ivan had a big, the city had a big flood. He lost like 20, 30 machines and cabinets, they swallowed up. You have to throw it away. this was a good cabinet perfect for us yes because we can fix it we can if there's a problem we can repair it new bottom if needed normally we prefer to use yeah original stuff because also the the smell of the original pinball it's important for me so it's it's really nice it's different it's right so these are primed so they get primed and to remove all the perfection I don't have the painting stage but it's of course industrial painting. The professional painting. Yeah it's a car painting. Like a car. Yeah, car industry. This is the finished cabinet. A really nice bottom. Perfect as we like it. Yeah. No, we normally change the bottom part. Yes, for us it's difficult. In Europe we cannot find the hinge. So normally it like a certain millimeter We use 14 It will be different thickness Yes Yeah Okay Here is the application of the decals A friend of ours did this Amazing. Because they're almost like a red card, so plastic but thinner. They look really amazing. You can see that in person. Shiny and really beautiful. The holes of the screws were recessed so you don't see the screws from the outside. Because if you tighten them, they would look a bit different. So it's done like that. here is this andrea and alex they're not here but they're really good guys
    6:55
    this is the process okay this is uh this is what i do because i like to do yeah i have a full-time job so i try to help as much as i can so i do the small stuff or stuff that no one else wants to do so i do it yeah this is the the ball guys yeah of course they they all look bad and i don't like it so uh they look need to look perfect so it's it's not that difficult but it takes time so this is the original one it's the first step so you get a semi finish and then the third step with the finishing and it gets perfect and then there's also a final step for hand by hand by hand yeah
    7:37
    so this before and after so they look perfect i can also do a full mirror polish but it takes a lot of time because you have to remove all the setting finish and sometimes it's really deep so you have to to be really aggressive with it but in my twilight zone i did everything mirror polish it looks amazing like like and most like a bumper part you cannot see but not we don't have a picture but whole bumper post the skirt for the bumper is new it's like new we have beautiful company they can make nickel again like newer better than you do all the machine the part metal part is new galvanic process the screw this machine 90 95 percent is the original machine yeah but but you know just like you yeah everything every school was mounted every school was refined if you have questions please ask no problem yeah okay okay let's go forward yes this other friend of ours did like the shooter we asked the shooter with the custom shooter because you use the part of custom colors everything custom of course this we we did also for the other people we have in total six six six pinball machines uh in the hole you can play all of course high-end restored and they're gonna be sold if you want we are lucky the color of the dmd is only three color red green and white yeah we put the pin to the dmd led and the colorization was uh perfect for us yeah italian colors too so even even even better no yeah yeah you can do it was custom made but it was let's go forward this is the the part that i once said black chrome yeah gold chrome red and blue everything you need we can do so it's perfect I like shiny stuff okay so here was the the first part of the assembly so you can see the the flipper there the I was called perfectly a flipper yeah really nice metal machine yeah the USA brand he make this the flippers matter really nice and here yeah we tried out also different types of rubber colors and to match it perfectly so is the first assembly okay and different perspective it looks so nice under the lights of shine is a very was really nice it is still nice so okay we have a guy in it rated us rubbers all the colors all the me flew even with glitters and everything is really good yeah okay here we tested different colors for the for the lanes and this one we put a paper to a form perfect protector in Germany you can do it yeah so protects a bit we refine the stuff that originally was not good like this support from the lamp it didn't look good the original one was bit ugly this plastic is too new yeah we're gonna come there yeah he had the bumper post new everything shiny every screw is perfect so normally normally the bumper post is blue the cap this is you we find lucky and fun for the nba shop yeah because we it wouldn't have looked good in a different color like blue so yeah we got lucky we could find so we opted for the transparent lane with the color lds here you can see all the ball guides satin finish perfect like i like it okay uh so rubber okay okay when we come to plastic because of course the plastic original plastic are color and some were missing some are broken so i didn't first i shouldn't have done it at the first place but the guy said it was too difficult so i said okay i do it never did something like this before but i tried so we scanned the original plastic high definition and then we traced it i traced it with the computer so i did it with two step because i'm a mechanical designer so i use solidworks so i put the printer in the in the software i traced it with the computer with this software and i recreated also the broken parts missing parts okay so this is the the 3d model okay then from the 3d model i imported it in Photoshop at a high dpi's not vector but because in vector it takes a lot of time but if you do a high dpi in Photoshop it will be good you can see it it's perfect so this is the the first layer the gray layer and then it's the the white layers and the fact that I started with plastic they were bad I have to recreate a lot of stuff so it was a long process and then the the black outline of the thing and then yeah the final outline where the cut should be so the holes and everything so it matches all together These are all the plastic parts, you can see in the left the five that are transparent, so they have no printing. All the other ones have printing too. A lot of work, but it was funny because I haven't done this first time, so I'm now an expert, sort of. So the plastic when they were made, they were beautiful. I didn't expect it to be that good, but really also the guy that does the cut of the print was very, very good. So if you have a question, of course, yeah, no, no question. Yeah. Because it's not black and white. I had a new new one. Yeah, no, we didn't buy the new one. Because somewhere no, no, no, difficult from somebody. Yeah, the first I cannot find anywhere. There was a USA, Europe, but there's something to plastic in this car, Steve. Easy to broke and difficult to find. That's what they say to me. Normally, my friend gave me the plastic and we reproduced for the standard one. But this was more challenging, so I had more fun. More fun.
    14:12
    Okay, on the upper side, there are also the two plastic that are behind the translight. They are also black and white, also a lot of work, but they turn out really good. There's also a smaller lock over there. Okay, so I want to add a little thing we do normally mirror mirror blades because it looks nice it looks wider the pinball and i did it in my twilight zone something different i want to do also the back panel mirror so it gives you depth really deep deep yeah yes yes so i started to take the measurements of course of the original one put it in my cad files then this is the the the shape of the laser cut and then we have a guy that does laser cut for us he's uh 60 percent of the time good but you have to to be there and say what you want because yeah is okay so this there's all the quality is not too good for the picture but you can see you will see that it gives you really a nice touch okay so this is a cool mod from a french french guy yeah french guy yeah it's It's technically two LCDs in the eyes and they look really nice. You can change the color from yellow to red and it's really cool. Yeah, we tend not to put too many mods in the PMO machines because we don't like it. Sometimes it looks a bit cheap, I don't know. And sometimes they even fall out when you play. So we try to do just the little things like this one. and yes on the ramp the ramps are new but of course the ramp decals we did new because we do it with black and white yeah with these red and green accents and the spine yeah we did this we put it back and we put a led strip that is controlled by by some switches so it changes scholar yeah we have a cheery Gabriele cheeries awesome he does like for the does like controllers and every if you want we can give you the the counter is really really good great person too so yeah if you need something the next day he does it yeah okay so also the frogs were black and white green accent Venus yeah this is the the ramp sticker so nothing is left original this time so this was my workshop floating now a small place but okay yeah and a lot of work and of course everything in the end because you plan you plan you plan but But then when it's like one month, you have all together and we have six pins. Because Robert said bring four pins this year. So we brought six pins, of course. And it was a lot. But he, Alex, Andrea did it. I did my part too. And this year, full of stuff, full of work. Nice. We didn't have a place, so we worked outside too. luckily in Italy it's warm didn't rain too much this year not like last year okay so this is the lamp panel was of course sanded down painted again and of course the front part was done too because it was all color so it was scanned it was redesigned it was awful on the back side there's the black because you don't want all the lights coming back but just because technically it's insert and like the play field different style of insert so we did this block spider to paint it like it should and this is the final result of the behind the back glass okay here's a stage yeah so you can see a bit more stuff okay try different colors we looked really nice so we put green inside here you can see at the plastic when we mounted them of course the holes were almost perfect every did a good job this time okay so this is too okay so you can see the insert we we kept the inside colored because once there's of Of course, a lot of work if we want to do clear. And so you can find maybe not every clear answer. And then why we didn't do a complete black and white. So the colors of the answer that I like. Yeah, it gives the accent. You can see it. It's it pops.
    19:12
    Okay. Yeah this play is an LED display Speakers and you with the speaker LED ring that Chirige does really nice Okay and that the backless the backless a guy that we know is really talented. He did, we say just what we wanted, he did perfect. So Elvira is in color, like in the Blood Kiss Edition. The rest is black and white, and some parts are also real mirror, like the sunglasses of the bat. The bat, a mirror. If you can look, it's really small, but it's a really nice detail, too. So all together, it's an amazing package, I think.
    19:57
    Here you can see. It's also glitter, the stiffest glitter color. It's really nice. Here is the spider and here is the... I don't know how... This is my friend was thinking last year because we want to make the sky blue. And so we started with the sky blue and the sky blue coming very well. And this year we're thinking red. For next time, probably purple or different. I like to work on the Circus Voltaire. Yeah, the process is, it's nickel. Nickel plate. At first. And then there's a candy paint that is baked. Like a clear coat mixed with color. You can call it candy.
    20:46
    Currency? Ah, 500 lira. 500 lira is lira. It's the old lira. Now we have euro, but during the times there is this machine. yeah I keep the original 500 yeah I was can use cents or different but it was cheap yeah now it's 25 cent now it's a euro because this machine probably come from France I don't know yeah in Italy a lot of machine came to Italy at the end of their life actually so our warehouse was Italy in the 90 is first USA second is Italy. When my father starting to rent the machine on 63. And we buy a lot of machine from friend, normally go to Germany, France, but we buy to later because Germany have this lot machine Rotami don't need the pinball in Italy, we have a lot of arcade on the sea because we are a country on the sea and is a huge quantity of example. Remember Daytona from SIGA, probably Italy is the same quantity of all of the rest of Europe. And this way from Europe, many people come to buy in Italy very cheaply, people. I remember we sell in 2000, 100 people for 300 Liras, 150 US dollar, 150 Euro. And now disappear whole. And now we have a lot of sopranos there in Italy. It's unbelievable. We have a lot of soprano in our team. Everywhere, yeah. He is almost rare. Bass is everywhere. And cheap.
    22:23
    Yeah, Ivan is in the history forever. He's in the family. I started my Pimor passion in 2019, so it's pretty fresh. He's a very good guy. I went to the Budapest Pimor Museum. It was three hours. My girlfriend had to pull me out because I was hooked again. because I remember when I was little, I was playing roadshow. Pinball was new. It was speaking heads. It was awesome. So when I got back, I searched for a pinball machine. I didn't know you can buy a pinball machine, so I went online. I saw that 10 miles from us, there was one guy who was selling it. It was him.
    23:04
    So I went there. I looked at the machine. It was perfect. It wasn't restored. It was a little bit restored. but the fish was clean in the original condition. It was beautiful. So I bought it for him. And then we became friends with Andrea and everyone. We have a good team now. It's always fun to do stuff together. Next project is making a room in the play field. I don't know how. I learn a lot. They learn a lot from me because I'm really precise. so his restoration every year going up better because i'm always like this could be better this could be better but i think that's the normal process yeah and i created some small how to artigian more work here he can do everything yeah in italy it's broken can make me new the lane can Yeah, it's awesome because we have a lot of guys in Italy that small, they do all the stuff. It's a wonderful job. Relatively cheap too. So it's, if you need something, you can find it just outside your house. So it's awesome. Okay, so here you can see the red chrome. It's beautiful really. And here there's the complete machine. Bianchi, you show the Elvira. Yeah, of course. because yeah behind us the environment was the inspiration for this project so yeah this was a last time because we do also the yeah with also the screen printing of the heads because i i made the screen printing so we we perfect like this and the pattern two on the back so it's like the original and we we we were packing here and we did that at the last time my building center and it's closing during the summer season. And we had the space there to pack because we did three very large wooden pallets to protect them from damage and stuff. And this is the best picture because we're all together outside eating pizza and drinking beer after a long day of work in the summer heat because we don't... No, Italian pizza, the good one. But German beer, so it's a good mix, I think. And yeah, it was really hot And we don't use air conditioning that much in Italy, so we use big fans, but we keep us cool. So, yeah, that's all for now. Thank you very much. You can see it now. Thank you very much. Show the machine.