Subbed! I just bought a FT and it should be in from Italy (yikes!) on Wednesday. Maybe following this thread will inspire me to put in the work necessary to get it nice and shiny rather than just getting it playable

I'm counting down the hours until I can start work on my own. Keep up the good work and keep inspiring! Are you planning on doing anything aside from cleaning it up (LEDs, replacement lane guides/pops etc.)?

Here is a link to someone else who did the lane guides and pops:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fish-tales-mods#post-115276

And I love this video showing the LED conversion sold by pinballbulbs:

That LED conversion looks fantastic. I love the LED strips at the top of the playfield and in the drain hole. Overall, it just makes the machine pop!

The playfield on mine looks to be in good condition (some dirt and ball swirl, but no bare wood or raised inserts), but the fish decals are a bit rubbed off. I am nervous about replacing decals because I hear it is a pretty intensive process. How are yours looking? I can't quite tell from the pictures. If you do this, would you mind documenting the process for future generations of FT restorers?

-Jordan

Keep in mind, I've never seen this posted anywhere, but I'd wonder if just letting some baking soda hang out in the cabinet for a while would help. I don't see how this would hurt the machine, but it's obviously known to keep down and absorb smell. Mine has been on a boat for a couple of weeks, so I'm assuming I might need to get some smell out of there as well >_<. I might give this a try.

So how are you going to deal with those inserts? I just got mine shipped from Italy a few days ago and have the same standard wear. I'm going to be checking on Vid's guide to see what he has to say as well, but since this isn't just standard art, I'm wondering how to do this as effectively as possible without screwing stuff up.
Fish Tales Gameplay.jpgFish Tales PF Lower.jpgFish Tales PF Upper.jpg

Vid's suggestion was to just fill the moat around the fish with 2PAC, but didn't really go into detail on repainting it. I don't think I want to do the decals because I don't want the artwork raised from the rest of the playfield. I'll just have to do my best to repaint VEEEEEERRRRRRYYYYY carefully.