Well, I have been wanting one of these for a looong time. Finally one came up close to me only about 30 mins away in pretty decent shape.

For the most part, everything is working, some switches are misbehaving, but other than that electronically seems really sound. All the boards are in great shape, zero Alkaline damage, and no evidence of overheating.

The cabinet is rough, and the decals are totally faded. Some cracked plastics here and there, but nothing major. The playfield of all things is actually in pretty amazing condition, though it will get replaced.

So far I have already ordered a TON of goodies for this thing:
• CPR Playfield from Ron Kruzman
• CPR Mini playfield
• New cabinet decals
• Pingraffix Art Blades
• New plastics set
• and tons of new parts: switches, posts, rubbers, LED's etc...

I think I more excited about this restoration that any i have done in the past, I also think this one will be the best. I Just love this theme!

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Today’s morning sketch

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Well, I started the disassembly today. Let's just say I found quite a few not so good surprises. I soon realized I overpaid for this machine, but that's par for the course for me.

The mpu board and the power driver board had some terrible work done to them, some of which included not even re-soldering some replacement diodes and resistors. The old owner didn't even bother to solder them, just bent he legs and called it a day, they where just floating there.

Next, I discovered some grounding hackery done to one of the main wiring harnesses, aside from that harness appear to be ok.

Then I noticed the playfield slide rails on both sides where totally trashed and the back rails are bent as all heck.

Bottom of the playfield is kind of a mess, with random coils replaced all over and burn marks everywhere from bad soldering jobs. No connectors used, no heat shrink tuning.. at most electrical tape was what I found lol.

The coin door is about 1/2 functional and the service switch bank is toast.

I'm the end is what it is and I'll bring her back, just bummed me out as I trusted the guy I bought it from, but he really got more than he should have on this one. Onward and upward!

Got the playfield and boards all out. Today going to take off the rest of the hardware, remove the ground ware and maybe start stripping the decals. The cab is going to need a bit of woodwork and I love that part of the restore

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Decided No more rattle cans, they do a decent job, but its hard to get a really nice even coat, and getting the good spray paint can add up. I have a compressor so finally ordered myself an HVLP Gravity spray gun! Cant wait to use it
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UVR458/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

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Got a ton done yesterday. I was able to completely dissaswmble the cabinet and backbox.

The cabinet is pretty rough, as it stands it’s definately not “solid”, going to reinforce it a bit.

Broke out the heat gun and stripped the decals

Finally used some adhesive remover and my favorite scraper to de-goo it!

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Welcome Kerry_Richard ya I'm on the fence about the 3D, have to see one in person again.

Nice! hawkmoon you have a topic going love to follow. Chris does amazing work, though I think I'm going to Powdercoat the trim on this one. For two reasons, one... I just spent 2k on brass and crome for 2 other machines, second, i think FT is one of those pins that looks really good with a shade of light blue on the trim... but the color still TBD. And yes, Color DMD a must!!

snowvictim yes I used wood glue and a brad gun. and next is bondo. I pulled the clamps off today, and its pretty darn solid now. Before it was a bit wobbly.

Let the sanding begin. Tonight I got through the fist pass on the exterior and started on the inside.
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What’s the best tactic for sanding tight corners, aside from buying an angle sander?

Oh and this beauty arrived today, looks amazing in person.

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DaKineGamer no problem ill post up the dimensions & pics for you.

Got all the sanding done and moved to filling about 9 million holes, dents, scratches, voids, and whatever else this thing had done to it.

Think it’s going to look great after the final sanding

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Finally done with multiple sanding and filler passes. The cabinet is smooth as butter. Getting ready to start painting in my makeshift booth lol

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Cabinet and backbox are painted and ready for some new decals!

Masking off th bottom sure is tedious but man, such a great look.

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Ya totally I kinda blew it on that front I had primer and got way ahead of myself... came nice luckily but primer would have really helped

Bryan_Kelly do you sand again after the paint before decals?

DaKineGamer here ya go dude let me k ow if u need any more

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All New ground wire installed, guess I bought enough for like 5 machines lol

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Sanding and polishing the nite away.

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Also pretty excited, taking all this to the powder coater tomorrow!

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Just dropped a whole ton of stuff off and my favorite Powder Coater. I went with a blue that is super close to the original blue used on the Apron, but with a bit of silver flake. Think its going to look amazing.

This is just one wall of colors at the place, powder coat heaven.

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In playfield clearing mode. Man, this thing is dirty. I thought the boat ramp plastic ramp was ok, but it’s cracked in numerous places.

At least the unobtanium left fishing rod plastic is only cracked in one place and I think I can fix it.

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Well Christmas came early! A fresh new CPR playfield in all its beauty, can’t wait to get this swap going

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Jenniebear yes, amazingly the original playfield is in amazing shape. Going to polish wax, sand and re-clear shooter lane and offer up for sale

zh2oson as far as I know the only way to get one of these now is from someone who already bought one. This one came from Ron Kruzman

Playfield is long cured well over 30 days old

Not sure about that, In Ron's case this is his business, so yes. However, in general, I think there are many situations where people buy playfields with the intent to do a restore and it never happens. CPR/NOS/Repro playfields pop up here and there in the market.
zh2oson

More goodies! Brand new decal set and a beautiful chrome fishing reel handle thanks to Chris at pinballplating.com sc93cobra

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Thanks Skypilot Ron Kruzman said the same exact thing to me so I bought his install kit! I will do my best to be very careful Ethan k you!

In other news got a box of beautiful blue powder coated parts!! Maas Brothers is the best

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Well, I finally was able to put some time in on the Fish Tales today. Got a lot done.

Cleaned, flame polished and waxed the topper

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Put the decals on the backbox
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Installed decals on the cabinet.

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Installed leg protectors and new - better - leg mounts.

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Re-assembled and Installed power box, power outlet, and wire guides.

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The fishing reel looks amazing! Thanks, Chris @sc93cobra, and I decided to polish the bolts
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Decals and Legs are on!
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