Last November I picked up two barn find Williams Hayburners II machines and a Williams Derby Day head. The pins were stored on their backs so the back plates were beyond repair.


1 (resized).jpg
Because these were stored in an out building they required extensive cleaning in the ultrasonic cleaner with Simple Green.
4 (resized).jpg
5 (resized).jpg
6 (resized).jpg
The numbers on the score reels were shot so they were replaced with ones I made with my Cricut.


7 (resized).jpg
8 (resized).jpg
9 (resized).jpg
The horse unit was disassembled, cleaned and the leather washers were brought back to life with neatsfoot oil.
3 (resized).jpg
The machines were then put onto the test bench to make sure that they could be repaired before investing more time into the project.
10 (resized).jpg
I made new backs and used JB Weld two part wood restoration to rebuild the damaged parts of the cab and head.
2A (resized).jpg
2B (resized).jpg
11 (resized).jpg
12 (resized).jpg
The cabs and heads were then sanded, primed, painted white and then speckled with a speckling brush.
13 (resized).jpg
14 (resized).jpg
The artwork was projected onto card stock and stencils were made.
14a (resized).jpg
14b (resized).jpg
Green and black Dreatex were airbrushed onto the cab to give the soft edges that the original art had.
16 (resized).jpg
17 (resized).jpg
Legs were bought and the backglass were scanned, fixed in photoshop and printed on paper to test the reel openings as well as the light masks before sending off to have them printed by GameOnGrafix. Also new tempered glass was ordered because these were missing and the pins use an odd glass size so standard glass would not work.
18 (resized).jpg
GameOnGrafix printed a black mask layer as well as a top color layer for me. I’ve used them several times in the past for this.
21 (resized).jpg
22 (resized).jpg
The apron art was beyond repair so it was remade with Gerbermask and the Cricut with Createx for paint and clear coat shot on top.
20 (resized).jpg
The playfields were beyond touch up repair so one was a total repaint and the other only has the original two tone lettering so it was a 95% repaint. The pf’s were depopulated and cleaned.
19 (resized).jpg
The pf’s were sanded flat, clear coated and drop filled.
20240310_131645 (resized).jpg
I made svgs of all of the pf colors (white, black, dark green, red, orange, light green and yellow) as well as all of the letter and numbering. Each color was then masked and airbrushed starting with white.
20240310_142856 (resized).jpg
20240310_151530 (resized).jpg
20240310_153052 (resized).jpg
For two color numbers I sprayed the background number color, masked off the key line and then masked off these numbers when the area cooler was sprayed.
20240312_145813 (resized).jpg
The main colors were then masked and sprayed.
20240311_085927 (resized).jpg
20240313_084019 (resized).jpg
20240313_142648 (resized).jpg
Finally all the colors were masked and the main background light green and yellow were sprayed.


20240313_164050 (resized).jpg
20240314_114238 (resized).jpg
Any touchup key lining was then done.

20240315_165518 (resized).jpg

Lastly the the pf’s were clear coated with Spraymax 2k. I found that by using halogen spots I could get the clear coat to cure in about three hours. The data sheet for Spraymax says that it can cure in as short as 30 minutes under IR light so these halogens must have put out a fair bit of IR as well as heat.

Here are some shots of the finished machines.
20240325_155620 (resized).jpg
20240327_123243 (1) (resized).jpg
1000001499 (resized).jpg
1000001501 (resized).jpg
1000001502 (resized).jpg
1000001503 (resized).jpg
1000001504 (resized).jpg
1000001505 (resized).jpg
There you have it, four months of work in one post! I plan on bringing them to the Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee the weekend after next.

24 (resized).jpg

I was afraid that the createx white/red/florescent pink mix for pink would not cover the black so on the first apron I laid down pink and masked off the letters and sprayed black. If you look closely at a Williams apron you'll see that some of the black is turning the pink to a slightly darker shade (Williams laid pink over black as best I can tell) so on the second I laid down the black and then sprayed the pink. That's how I would recommend doing it since it is easier and looks original.
Screenshot 2024-03-28 at 8.48.07?PM (resized).jpg

I should mention that the key to all of this is Gerbermask. Bord turned me onto it and it is hands down the best masking material I've ever worked with. It is the perfect combination of just enough tac but not so much to lift paint, supple texture and excellent masking property. There is no way I cold have gotten as fine a detail as I did with vinyl.

The other thing is don't try to save solid black lettering. Just blow it out and repaint it, it is not worth the effort to save and the end result will be better.

One of the cool features of these pins is that you can play a two player game. Some of the other horse racing games that I've played like Nags only is a one player game. We can give it a go at the MGC!

Another cool feature of the .game is that the flippers zip open to give the rotating turret launcher a bigger arc to shoot from.

Lastly according to IPDB "'Hayburners II' is credited with introducing 3-inch flippers to the game of pinball in place of 2-inch flippers that were used since their introduction in 1947. However, Sample games may exist of Gottlieb's 1951 'Happy-Go-Lucky' as shown in its flyer, where the flippers appear to be 3 inches in length or longer."