After a one year casual search and 3 months of a serious search, a BC that’s only an hour and a half away finally came up for sale. I snoozed and am still kicking myself for missing one in NJ back in May. Thanks to another Pinsider who pointed me to the thread (Thanks to freddy as I never got a response the first time due to the seller’s pics bouncing back to him.) I re-contacted him and within a week I was picking the machine up. Another great seller who even fixed several things that were initially being sold as part of the deal. Even the other issues listed weren’t as bad as stated so I was very pleased.

The game only needed two functional repairs (And yes, I bought the game unshopped and nothing gone through so I wasn’t worried!) which needed the back box jackpot light board pin connectors resoldered and a set of flasher lights that had an internally broken ceramic resistor: both easy fixes. Seller had already fixed a broken seafood wheel, Fish Bone-Us, and coin door switches. The cabinet has the yellowed cabinet art (Should be replaced first week of November) and has the black inside cabinet vs. orange. All the plastics are present with the only broken one being at the milk drop targets. The playfield is planking mostly everywhere (Again, I knew this) and doesn’t appear to have any mylar other than the pops and the ramp drops. There is some cat eye inserts (2x, 3x, etc) wear and the #4 at the Seafood is almost gone and may inserts are lifting. All of this is fairly typical and the plan is to restore the cabinet immediately, and hope that the playfields from CPR get released in a few weeks as planned. And that there’s at least one PF left for me! The ramps are pretty good although I’m still going to pick up a set of both when Starship Fantasy makes these. The side rails are good, the cabinet was never drilled anywhere and is in fantastic shape under the playfield, in the cabinet and in the back box. There’s absolutely no burnt pins, etc. Heck, even the boards still have the original serial numbers to the game. Really shocked to see. The backglass is relatively good as well. Only a few areas peeling back.

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A little faded? New cabinet art incoming.

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My plastic set showed up from France quickly. I decided not to put them on until I get a PF. I did however take liberty to set up the 3D stand. Nice job Stu and CPR! I got them here http://www.zpeakabonks-pinball-paradise.com/boutique/set-de-decors-williams/set-de-decors-williams-bad-cats.html . CPR said they will be re-running the plastic set again soon.

Hoping someone remakes the cardboard and perhaps the plastics in the back box. Mine are fine, but it would be nice knowing there's parts if needed.
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I tore it down top side to shop it as I don’t know how long it will be until I get my hands on a playfield. Until then, I want to play the game, so most of the topside hardware was tumbled. Many posts and all the ball guides were cleaned, but left in place. I’ll tend to them when I do the playfield. I’ve been experimenting with some LED’s and have it mostly converted other than short some warm white frosted for the GI. Cool whites are in it now but they’re a bit too bright with the orange plastics. Will go with some WW frosted. I adjusted all the switches and have it playing perfectly as of 30 OCT 2014.
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This afternoon was stripping the cabinet. My old Clark heat gun on low with a putty knife scraper made it about a 1 1/2 hour project.
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Some pics of the cabinet while tearing it down.

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This was kindy creepy:
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The playfield out:
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There's a few that were selling theirs on here already and I have my old plastics on it for now after just tearing the playfield down for a swap.

I hope not, it's a pain hauling pins in/out of my basement and you know first hand!

You have a fantastic all original and glad to hear you're liking it. It's different, and not for everyone, but it is very unique. And Python's art really shines especially on this title.

Thanks! I do have some and will keep that in mind!

Cabinet art is here. Nothing has been done tonight but here's the art compared to the old and aged removed art:

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Exactly, like a pumpkin I'd say.

I'm fine with it because it's so faded and am just happy to have some art to replace it. But I know most wanted to see what the new and corrected art looks like.

Yep, it's likely a match to painted cabinets and I did follow him doing that. Who knows how faded or off mine is anyway. I've looked at a handful of BC both painted and decaled and hard to say without seeing them all side by side. The art looks good overall. It lined up nicely and installing without any cursing. Yet...

Few pics of the torn down cabinet and some polished parts so far. Anything to large will get cleaned, sanded and polished with my polishing wheel. Still amazed how the inside of the back box is clean, and the boards are untouched and perfect. Yet the outside, although no damage, was so faded it looked really bad.
Larger parts tumbled
Smaller cabinet parts
Stripped cabinet
Parts waiting to go in with exception of Shocktop. They're long gone

Cabinet needed very little filler. No lockdown bar holes, no gouges, etc. Just the usual leg areas.
Sanded cabinet and painted edges
Front sanded and painted edges
Back box left. Minor snag cutting on the one side

Looks great whitey. I like the chrome trim!

This is the last and as far as I got before I had to leave out of town.

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I'm leaving it on at the few places that it is there and that a new playfield is coming soon. I've had mixed luck on non cleared playfields so figured why make it worse.

If yours is good, I'd pull it if you have before.

Decals finally done now that I'm back. Now realize I shouldn't try to put on cabinet decals while jet lagged. They came out ok, but after measuring a dozen times, the front is off center slightly. I could've prepped the cabinet better but rushed it to just get it done. I'm overall happy with it, but it's not perfect. Oh well, that's why I don't "restore" as I don't have the talent like the pros.

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Cabinet is mostly done. Just a few odds and ends and the playfield can go back in temporarily. I'm really hoping CPR gets the playfields out soon now. Again, there's little issues with the decal installation (My fault, not the decals), but I'm still happy compared to what I started out with.

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Comparison of before and after:

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Thanks, that does make one feel better. Yes, anything was an improvement and as much as I'd prefer perfection, that fact is it will get banged up from use or moving at some point in its future.

Thanks! They're not very common to see. I guess it's the love/hate the theme and gameplay. It's fun but it's not for everyone due to some unbalanced scoring, lack of multiball, etc.

Lol the rare yellow edition!

Karolina came to investigate the work. Not sure what she thinks lol. Wife and I are curious what she'll do hearing the game play.

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