Indeed... Too bad I have to go to work.. Would love to mess with this all day. Just got off the phone with PBR & ordered some odds & ends for it.

Thanks all, could not have done it without your help.

Next up - a move to the dark side, a Williams Alien poker that I have been promising to fix for 2+ years....

Well, it helped immensely in that the wiring harness (though cut) was still on the light board...

Well yeah, a LOT of hours were spent beeping out wires with my trusty Fluke & scouring the schematic. Found a couple of runs that were done in the wrong color & one or two questionable schematic connections. It's not done yet, but I can see the finish line.

Popping fuse on lower playfield GI Lights & feature lights. Pulled all bulbs & issue went away - must have been a shorted bulb somewhere.
Cleaned underside of inserts w/ Q-tip & #1 Novus while I had good access. How the hell do these get so dirty?
Replacing all with some cheap #47's that I picked up from Pinball life in the 100 packs. Not so sure about these, I think you get what you pay for. Gotta find me some NOS GE #47's from back in the day.

Too late, replaced them all & problem solved.
The "0" match light was not working, looked in the socket & I had gotten wood glue in there. De-soldered & installed new socket - it works!

Still fighting issues. Pulled playfield & lower board to get at the switch banks, check for solder bombs, & perhaps bits of wire shorting something out.
Wiped & blew all debris out, Checked & re-cleaned all switches on the bottom board--- what did I find? .... Of all things a misadjusted contact on the start relay. Damn, must have been in a hurry the first go around. That should solve some issues! Also noted a broken score motor brake at the 3-1/2 position, it's ordered from PBR & should arrive early next week.

Yeah, I don't think Gottlieb would have spent the extra $$ for it if it was not needed.

Well, so I had thought - fuse started blowing again. Finally found a wire loose on the right front light under the apron. Soldered it up & so far it's good.

Installed score motor brake.

Feature lights not working as they should... that's next up.

Rebuilt the flippers.. a lot of WD40 removal here. Thank God that looks like the only place they used it on.
Before
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After - Might go with some orange dot coils from PBR, depending how these play. I put a set of four in my King kool & it really improved gameplay.
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Going to have to buy one of those new repro coin doors from PBR. This one would not have been too bad, except someone buggered up the coin return.
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Continuing with underside playfield. Replacing coil sleeves & polishing brackets while I do so just because they look so good.
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Stalled at the last pop bumper. Short one damn mylar playfield protector. Should arrive from PBR today.......
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Stalled on the RG project.-- with the warmer weather I really need to finish up clearcoat on my High hand .........

To be continued

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Well, High hand got finished (just a player's pin), finished up Alien poker, & restored my Old Chicago.
Now back to Royal Guard..... Need to dust it off first. It's been sitting a while.....

OK, Royal Guard is back in the shop already & assembled. Now, back to this short issue that has been a thorn in my side for the last year or two...
Plugged it in and tested to refresh what is left of my memory, & the GI lights come on, but very dim and then the 10A playfield light fuse blows. Pulled plugs until I isolated the one that was causing the short, that narrowed it down some - it was the 18-pin plug for mostly playfield lights. Desoldered GI light string power leads & it sill popped the fuse. Re-connected GI.
Tracked down the leads for the controlled lights & desoldered..... BINGO. GI lights were nice & bright. NO fuse blown. Problem in controlled light string. Ran out of time, got to head to work. To be continued!

Hope to have this ready for paint this spring.
I have a Gottlieb Top card that's been sitting for 4 or 5 years, a '57 Bally Showtime bingo, & a Chicago coin Top ten waiting for attention........

Looking back, I may be going for the record on longest restore time. I started this over two years ago. Time flys.

Well, after getting sidetracked with a Seawitch project, I'm back on this damn Royal Guard from hell.
Found a decent populated lightboard from fellow Pinsider Gdonovan, it arrived last Tuesday & it looks good. I have it on the bench & have gone thru rebuilding the 0~9 unit & the two stand alone bells. Have the credit unit apart now... another week or so & I sould be able to plug it in & see how it goes.

Thanks, I really get more fun out of fixing these than I do playing them I think. Put on some soothing vintage Steely dan stuff on the UE booms & putter around with it in the garage. Finished cleaning up the replay unit this morning.

Is there gas in the car?

Well, so far every mechanical unit on this replacement lightboard has had an issue, but the important stuff is all in good shape.
1-pt bell was missing, 10-pt bell had some odd homemade striker that was too short, the 100-pt bell was missing the striker, the replay unit was missing a nylon spacer in the switch stack, & the one point score reel had the contact for the match unit on upside down so it would not register matches. All easily fixed or replaced, as I was able to rob them off of the old board.
Gottlieb Decagon score reels bite my balls. I had forgotten what a pain in the ass they are.

Three score reels & the relay bank to go & we test.

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Lightboard mechanical rebuild done! Just some minor cleanup of jones plug sockets & light bulb sockets to go... but we will test this weekend.

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Well, I installed the rebuilt lightboard in & switched it on. It works! No fuses popped. Some minor adjustments needed of course, but I think it's finally working as it should.
Big thanks to all that helped on this 3 year (so far) project... Gdonovan for the nice populated lightboard, Rat-Tomago for his photos, Hoov for the backbox, parts & bare light board that I attempted piecing together, ccotenj for the fantastic backglass, & others who helped make this possible. there are parts from at least 6 pins in this thing. I learned a lot from my failures on this one, was worth every hour that I spent on this (& there were many)
Once I get the adjustments done, I plan on bringing this into my office & playing it until spring.. then tear it down again & do a total repaint.

Just got a shipment in from PBR. I must say, his repro coin doors are stunning!
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Did a bit of polish work on the coin mech holders.... that brass-like plating is the bomb.
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Not perfect, but it will do. still working on assembly.
Damn Iphone pic... not sure what went on with that

I have some extra backbox mechs & stuff if you need it Hoov..

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Well, the mechanicals, lights, switches. & gameplay are now at 100% working. Finally!
Had a small issue with the match & high scores credits not registering properly. Slept on it & had a eureka moment @ 2AM, so I ran out & checked. Sure enough -- I had put the contacts in the score reels in the wrong position...Bingo - Fixed.
Plays great, fun pin, love the two different on playfield specials. This is my first 2" flipper pin - thought they were lame before but this one has changed my mind on the subject.
Next up will paint this spring & it's done.

Note- no backglass in the pin because I did not want to bring it out into my cold garage...

I managed to get white base coat and webbing on the head before winter hit, I pulled all of the trim off of the cabinet and got all of the old paint stripped and went thru and redid any questionable glue joints. Had to knock the front of the cab out and re glue it in.
So, it sits now until the weather warms so I can get paint on it.

Used a wire brush & flicked the paint on with it. Clay Harrell shows the technique in one of his guides. Works ok, I probably went too heavy with it, but it's better than none at all.. practice makes perfect.