Here is another opinion, based on my personal preference based on having a great looking and working pin. Not necessarily having a beautiful factory finish but a fun game to be truly proud of. This would be my plan of action.
1. Find out what's working and what's not working.
2. Resolve those electrical problems. Consult the skilled people at Pinside for help if necessary.
3. Once everything is working properly and reliably (which will necessarily mean a few games played on a bad playfield) consider the machine is really a number of sub-sections. These are:
a. Cabinet
b. Lightbox insert (Wood electronic board in the head)
c. Playfield
d. Relay board (In bottom of the cabinet)
e. Cabinet wiring and devices such as chimes, flipper switches, tilt bob, front door
Those are the 5 major subsections of a pin. Each of these sections can be further broken down within themselves but those are the 5 sections.
4. I would tackle each of those sections individually and not move onto another until the last one gets done. Me? I like to start with the playfield because that gets the most eye time.
Playfield:
I'd remove every post, every screw, every guide, flippers, bumpers etc which are fastened onto the playfield side. Then I'd identify which parts protrude up from the underside such as slingshot pushers, lamp bases, switches etc and make them no longer protrude. That means unscrew switches on the underside, push them through, disassemble kickers and tie the (now) loose dangling solenoid underneath so it doesn't damage.
I'd make the playfield top so bare you could slide a stick from top to bottom and not hit anything. Just wood and paint. If there's empty exposed light sockets I'd stuff balled up corner of a paper towel in each to protect the lamp contacts.
I'd use 98% alcohol with a Magic Eraser and go to work cleaning as much as possible, followed up with Napthia. It should look a lot better at this point, except for holes in the paint.
Then I'd take it outside, preferably on a cloudy day and take TONS of photographs of the playfield. I'd isolate colored areas in my view finder which appear closest to original (not dirty or faded) and snap photos of that particular color. For the Surfer it looks like only 3 colors... Red, Blue and Yellow not including Black and White.
I'd view the photographed colors in my camera's screen and compare it to the original and make sure the two match. (Some screens are off color)
Then I'd take my camera to the art store and buy acrylic paints according to the colors presented in my camera screen. I'd get the Liquitex band, heavy body along with the tiniest brush I could find, and one a bit bigger.
I found that playfield touch-up is really a boogy-man. It can be scary and intimidating at first, but I guarantee you'll get into it moments after you begin. I had a mindset that I was going to ruin and destroy my playfields, expecting to do so which made everything I did look fabulous.
Perfection is NOT necessary. Just fill in the original paint cracks and chips. The original paint will have a sheen to it while the acrylics will not. That's OK. Fill the missing colors, do the black highlight trim etc. I used a good magnifying glass for some tight areas.
If you need to repaint text then do that last, after you've gained experience using the paints and brush. Acrylics are a **dream** to work with because they're water soluble and you'll need a damp rag nearby for mistakes.
You can spend a few days doing the touch-up or a few weeks. The time spent in this is proportionate to the outcome. I also found there is no "done" when it comes to playfield touch-up. There comes a point in time when you have to stop and say "good enough" and stop.
Please know that I am not an artist by any means. Other than my two pins, I don't recall the last time I ever brush-painted. But I am far and away more satisfied redoing my own playfields, knowing I did it myself rather than staring into a dilapidated mess, or paying someone else.
The inserts are probably going to be dished and sunken. I fill those in with Miniwax Polycrylic, dripped in on the end of a brush, and slowly worked to the edges. Usually a 2nd application is necessary.
Once that point is reached I let the paint dry very well, then a quick final wipe with Napthia and spray about 1.5 cans of Varathane Crystal Clear water-based paint to seal it all.
I let it sit until the Varathane smell disappears and wallah! While it's not perfect, it's incomparably far superior to before and will stay that way in the far future. A job very well done.
Your Surfer playfield looks to me as very fixable. You know how to disassemble and reassemble things so why not? Here's a couple before-after pics of my SO76 playfield. Remember I had not done this before and questioned my ability:
DSCN0598.jpg IMG_3580.JPG
My complete SO76 restoral thread is here with step by step progress reports: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/first-em-pin-in-30-years
Moses Lake, WA
