Welcome to Pinball Plating. My name is Chris Royalty and I'm a lifelong pinball and arcade enthusiast, car guy, picker, and collector. I'm married to Erin, my amazing bride, and we have 5 girls and one little boy, never a dull moment at our house! Back in 2002 I started buying and tinkering with arcade games and pinball machines as a part of the ministry I was doing geared at teenagers, while I was a youth pastor. This eventually morphed into a side business some years later while starting a new church north of Nashville, and before I knew it I was buying entire warehouses full of games and trying to save them all!
In May of 2016, a good friend of mine, and to many of you, Mike Chestnut, passed away (see pic at bottom). This was, and still is, a huge blow for so many of us. The entire pinball community misses him like crazy. Mike was an amazing guy and a huge motorcycle nut. He had a business working on bikes and initially began plating chrome parts for motorcycles.
But Mike also had a love for pinball, and because of his experience in plating parts, he began fooling around with plating some parts for his pinball machines. As he restored his own machines with custom plated parts, his friends began wanting custom parts as well. Next thing you know, Mike had started a new business of sorts, and he became the go-to guy for plated pinball parts.
After becoming friends with Mike, I also began to grow closer to Mike's dad. Following Mike's passing, I begin helping his dad fulfill outstanding orders for Mike's business. As we worked, we began talking about the business, and what I never imagined would happen, did happen. His parents offered for me to purchase and carry on Mike's plating business. I consider this a huge honor because Mike worked hard to always do right by everyone; he was a man who valued his reputation. I will never be able to fill his shoes, but I want to offer the same services (and a few new ones) at the same level of quality and at the same competitive price point as Mike â I too was a loyal customer.
Mike actually purchased this domain (pinballplating.com) but he never got around to using it. I feel extremely privileged to be part of seeing his dream become a reality. I now own all of Mike's inventory, and we are adding to it every week! That's how pinballplating.com was born. I want to offer a huge thanks to Lee and Beverly Chestnut for even considering to allow me to be part of Mike's business moving forward. I'm glad to share in this endeavor, and it's due to their kindness that both of our families should be able to benefit from Mike's work for many years to come.
If you have any questions about custom plated pinball parts, powder coated parts, or anything else, please feel free to contact me. I would be honored to help you with your projects, whether you are brand new to the hobby or have restored machines for years. Hit me up! I value the relationships I make more than the parts or the money involved. I look forward to getting to know you and building many more new friendships in the future in this crazy hobby we love!
Mike Chestnut was known far and wide for the work he did on Kawasaki Turbos. He had a real passion for them, as he did pinball. A huge thanks to Lee and Beverly Chestnut for asking and allowing me to carry on some of his work in the pinball hobby. This business will in a way, always be Mike's and it's an honor to continue it in his memory.