What's up, fellow anglers?
So, the long process of tearing down the FT that I bought the first weekend in May and getting it ready for rebuild is almost done. Turns out my power driver board and cpu both had issues so they are out for repair, which gives me plenty of time to go nice and slow to get the table looking the way I want it to before I repopulate it and get it ready for play. This is my first experience with a modern table. My first three pins were either EM or early SS. As always, there is so much to learn. I have a few questions for you peeps who have been through this before, but first I wanted to share what I have been working on so far. Let's take a look...
So here is a good example of how dirty this thing was, along with a look at what a little Novus can do (just light pressure with Novus 2 on a microfiber cloth - I won't likely ever have to use it on here again). This second photo was taken right after my "first pass" of cleaning. After my second, more thorough cleaning of these trouble areas, they brightened up even more. Just trying to maximize my effectiveness without wearing away the Diamond Plate.
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In the past week I have finished depopulating the playfield and rebuilding the pops, which were a mess. The skirts were chewed away horribly and everything was old and filthy so I decided to replace them. I had a busted lamp socket in the middle pop so that got fixed as well. Also, rebuilding the pops gave me a chance to clean around and under them as much as I wanted. Like every other inch of this game, these areas needed it. Yokes, spoons, switches and such were fine and everything in the under-playfield mechs that needed it got a good soak in the ulatrsonic during the rebuild. I also rebuilt both of my slingshot kickers since the mechs were a mess. One side had a broken linkage and the other had a soon to break linkage and no spring. By the way, check out the FILTH on that mini boat ramp metal form in this picture of the pop bumper area. Thank goodness for the ulatrsonic.
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Last night I took the dome off and worked the fish topper over. Like everything else, it was FILTHY. Still, after some Mean Green love and patient cleaning, it looks great again. Can't wait to see it lit up properly once I am done with the rebuild and the boards are back!
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So, as I hit the homestretch, the three questions I have are...
1. My topper dome is a mess so I ordered a new one from Marco. It was scratched up badly and somewhat discolored with a few good cracks in the base where the screws go through. I found silver, adhesive backed mylar pretty easily online. I have that ordered as well so I can trim a sheet to size and get it stuck back up in the top of the new dome when it arrives. For those of you who have ordered these new domes in the past, are you happy with yours? Obviously I already ordered it so my mind was made up, but I am just curious if you folks have been satisfied with your new ones.
2. My playfield has very little in the way of major issues. There is some wear in the two spots where the wireform ramps drop the ball down into the inlanes, but I am ordering some Cliffys to go in there to keep that from getting worse. The one thing is that on the playfield, wherever there has been a lot of ball action, the Diamond Plate has "dulled" from wear and doesn't shine as much. Should I just apply the multiple coats of Blitz wax and stop obsessing, or is there something else I can try to do to restore the luster to the Diamond Plate? My buddy Matt who used to work for an amusement company back in the day is telling me to just wax it down with a couple coats of Blitz and be done with it, as it looks way better than it did when I got it. This is the first time I have dealt with a modern game with Diamond Plate on the pf so I am just looking for feedback. Here is a picture that I hope illustrates what I am talking about:
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And here is a picture of the entire playfield without me "obsessing" about that dull effect.
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3. I am thinking that this table is going to look pretty great when I am done and that has me thinking about a COLOR DMD! For those of you who have purchased them, are they really as easy to install as the website claims? Are they truly just "plug and play?"
Anyway, I welcome any and all input about my questions. I'm definitely getting excited to put everything back together and get my boards back from the guy who is working on them (Jerry Clause for anybody local who is reading this - GREAT guy!).
Cheers and Happy Fishing!
Tim in Motown