I decided to tear down and restore a BoP as my first restoration. I've never done a playfield swap before but I figured this would give me something to do while I'm in covid quarantine I built a black pipe rotisserie, painted it up, and set it up on my patio last Saturday to enjoy the sunny weather while I worked.

Getting the playfield out of the machine by myself was the hardest part of the teardown by far. The teardown itself was quick and easy, and I was finished with both sides on Sunday except for a few posts and other small bits. Dishwashing the harness also went surprisingly well.

Although I have never done this before, the guides on pinside are so good that it's really hard to screw up. Thanks Vid1900, mof, and everyone else who spends time putting together detailed instructions on this site.

Next weekend, I'll start re-populating the bottom of my new Bauthamburg playfield.

I will have 2 older playfields and other parts for sale if anyone is interested.

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It seemed a little daunting before I started, but actually doing it turned out to be WAY simpler than I thought it would be. No more difficult than putting together a puzzle or a lego set. I have taken hundreds of pics so I'm hoping that putting everything back together will not be too hard. We'll see if I've overestimated my abilities

Thanks Jon. Any major challenges you've run into? Do you have a restoration thread on pinside?

Interesting. I got my playfield from Bauthamberg. I've heard good things about their playfields (and it looks fantastic) so hopefully I won't run into many (any) issues with the pre-drilled holes, etc. We'll see.

85vett nice job on your restomod. How did the purple paint hold up on your chrome, and what brand/kind of paint did you use?

one switch replaced, dozens to go. . .

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I'm using the yellow tape to remind myself which I've replaced.

Ah-- tough to sell after doing all that work, but I think many of us like the restoration work as much or more than the actual playing.

Starting to populate the new playfield

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Cleaned up inside of cab, repainted the sides, new ground braid installed.

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new playfield rails created & painted, plus some regrained metal rails

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Repainting my coin door using the Brian Kelly spatter technique. Flat base followed by gloss enamel speckle - easy to do and looks great when it's done

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Repopulating the bottom of the playfield was MUCH easier than disassembling. I didn't have to stop every 10 seconds to take a picture and notes

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Yes, but I had to return the playfield to Buthamburg. Awaiting a new replacement. Hated to disassemble again after all that work. I've started up my target alpha restoration in the meantime.

After installing the t-nuts (pressed in, not hammered) and then installing the various bars (did require some tapping with a rubber mallet), I noticed scratches appearing under the clear in areas that I had not touched. I also got concerned about the clear being very soft - I waited 3 months to start populating the playfield but I could still very easily make an impression with my fingernail. Also, I had microfiber cloths under my clamps to protect the finish while the playfield was on my rotisserie. The microfiber cloths left a patterned impression in the clear. It seemed to me that the clear may not have cured properly. Peter at Buthamburg assured me that the playfield would be fine but agreed to take it back to have a look and possibly swap for a new one. Top notch customer service. I may be overreacting - this is my first playfield swap, expectations may be unrealistic, etc., and I admitted as much to Peter. I will say that the repro playfield he makes is beautiful looking and every hole appears to have been drilled in its proper place, no messed up artwork, etc. I would not hesitate to purchase another from him.

I have finished all of my cabinet work, added rad cals, paint, new legs, etc., so I felt like I was in the home stretch. At least I got some experience removing, adding, removing all of the wires again

You’re welcome. The RadCals were very easy to install (yes, I installed myself). One of the side panels they originally shipped to me had a big gouge in the bottom - like the cutter went off track or something. I asked for a replacement and Mirco took his time but eventually delivered. They look very nice installed.

As for the side rails, I did make those myself out of pine. Pine isn’t a super hard material but the ball really doesn’t hit it much in this game. I coated the rails with several coats of black enamel spray and poly spray and they should hold up very well for the life of this game.

I need to take some pics of the finished cab. It looks really good all lit up and shiny