I was looking for a project last year and bought this off pinside solely because I liked the theme. Never played one before, but I have a soft spot for space and/or robot themes.
It’s a simple game and very relaxing to play.
So after playing it for a couple of months it was time for the real fun=restoration.
The good: mechanically everything works. Playfield looks fantastic for a 50 yo. Simple art work on the cab to reproduce. All plastics are intact.
The bad: nicotine stained cab with flaking paint, rusted coin door, massive insert cupping. Backglass missing a lot of paint.
This is my first EM restoration and I’m learning a lot. I’m posting this restoration because restorations are my favorite part of pinside. I enjoy following other people’s restorations and appreciate the time it takes to document things. I’m always thankful when others post helpful restoration tips/wisdom. But be warned there will be no restoration wisdom imparted here, as I have none.
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The breakdown went pretty quick. Previous owner took good care of the mechanics as nothing was especially dirty or corroded save the rusted coin door.

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Once everything was off the playfield I was going to tackle leveling the inserts/clear coat.
I quickly realized that was above my skill set so off to CaptainNeo it went.

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Once everything was off the playfield I was going to tackle leveling the inserts/clear coat.
I quickly realized that was above my skill set so off to CaptainNeo it went.

Got the playfield back in a very reasonable amount of time.
Looks brand new! Perfectly level smooth surface.
Some before and after:

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It was in the $400 range not including shipping. Reasonable given the amount of work it took to get everything level. Good communication throughout the process. Would definitely use CaptainNeo again.

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The coin door wasn’t in the best shape. Initially I was going to buy a new one from PBR but then I decided to take up the challenge.
I soaked it in EvapoRust for 24 hours then wet sanded up to a grit of 2000. It’s not perfect, as you can still see some pitting from the rust, but overall looks much better.

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Yep, that is going to take some work! I was really lucky with this one as it wasn’t missing any paint.

Ordered new lamp sockets, chime rebuild kit, flipper rebuild kit , flipper bats, new post, and various switches from PBR.

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Took the chime box apart and put everything through the ultrasonic. I use a 50/50 mixture of purple power and water.

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Thanks for the tip. I’ll watch out for that.
I’ve always diluted it 50/50 and luckily haven’t had any problems. I also have used Krud Kutter and had good results. Ended up sticking with the purple power because it was a lot cheaper.
Honestly what has made the biggest difference was upgrading my Ultrasonic. I used a Harbor Freight for a couple of years and it was decent. My new one cleans significantly better.

After I bought the machine the very next thing I did was order a BGresto backglass.
The Astro backglass is one of the coolest in my opinion.
It was my Christmas present this year. Opened it Christmas morning then boxed it back up where it is patiently waiting in my room.

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I got all the Mechs out of the cabinet. The mounting board was heavily stained. I tried sanding it out but couldn’t get it to look how I wanted so I ended up staining it with a dark walnut stain.
As for cleaning everything I used cleaning wipes on the cloth wire and 99%isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush on all the switches,relays,and score motor. I just couldn’t bring myself to just hose everything down like I’ve seen some do.

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Wow! Yours looks fantastic after the repaint. That’s what I’m just starting.
Luckily my cabinet was in pretty good shape as I only had to replace a portion of the bottom that had rotted.

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Cleaned the contacts on the stepper unit with a Dremel 443 brush.
Score reels cleaned up nicely with Novus2.

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Got all the white gunk off the Jones plugs with the Dremel 443 brush.

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Stripped all the paint off using this Citristrip. Put it on thick and let it sit for about 30 min and the paint came off easily.
Then I sanded with a orbital sander starting at 80 grit up to 220.

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After I primed everything I put the first base coat on. I tried this White Cream color but it is too yellowish under certain light. Any suggestions for the base white color on these Gottliebs?

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Thanks for the paint suggestions!

Replaced target faces with new ones from PBR.

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Thanks Topcard, those paint topics are just the reference I needed!

New lamp sockets and ground braid installed.

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New coil wrappers. My daughter had some art paper that matched the original colors close enough.

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Flipper mechs tumbled then rebuilt using PBR rebuild kit.

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Got the pop bump mechs installed.

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Ball eject mech.

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Slings

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Stood back to admire my work. Looked over to my work bench to see the pile of new coil sleeves that I forgot to install. Well shit!
Took everything apart and did it a second time.

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I made stencils a couple months ago. They are sitting up in my game room until I get around to getting the base coat on the cabinet done. You are welcome to use them as templates if you want.

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I just color matched the existing coil wrappers with some art paper my daughter had. Cut to size and attached with double sided tape.
None my original coil wrappers had any numbers/graphics, so nothing to label.

Finally got back to this project today. Took a break to let the weather cool down a little.
In the interval I built this 66D Reverb 22W Amp for my son out of a Mojotone kit. Really fun project that I could do indoors. This thing will blow the windows out of the house!

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