I'm thinking about being in "the club" I will set the scene before the question >>> I've only owned Williams/Bally machines in the past/present, apart from a Stern Wyld fire when i was in my teens. I have the opportunity to purchase an Apollo 13 machine, it's in bits but complete and looks to be in pretty bloody good shape. I have some experience in putting pins back together and what i lack in some technical ability i have access to others that do. Here's the question/s to all you owners and lovers of this machine.... What is the main issues you guys would think of for someone considering buying this machine, that question includes the obvious, difficult or non existent parts, issues with fixing or even access to parts needing replacement and on the non technical side, enjoyment- long term playability. I will add that i have a Judge Dredd, Getaway, Revenge From Mars, Fish Tales and Bride of Pinbot currently in my lineup. If i've missed any other criteria then please fill in the gaps. TY!

Well it took 6 years but i'm going to the MOOOONNNN!!!
Just bought a fairly decent example that is mostly all working, cab is quite sound and has been re-decaled with the alternative decals. Everything works except the moon magnet which the previous owner said had stopped working a few months ago so he disconnected it (said the moon was feeling warm in that area) and the display has a couple of lines out (just purchased a really good 2nd hand display) Really looking forward to diving into this title Still has the factory mylar attached which does appear to be still quite good but the whole machine does need a good clean. Couple of obvious things that have stood out so far is that all the pads behind the targets are perished or gone and some of the powder coating on the rails is getting a bit sad. The machine had been partially changed to LEDS so there's still quite a few to swap over. Bit of work ahead indeed but loving the game play so far!!

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LOL yeah A local guy paints these scenes usually on saw blades and hand saws for display purposes so i asked him to do me one on a standard board with some scalloped edges and of course, it had to have the words "FISH ON!!"

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So i popped the hood up for a closer look underneath today and discovered the previous owner still had all the connections attached for the moon but had just removed the 4A fuse. Now i only had some 3A and 5A on hand so i whacked a 3 in there to see what would happen which instantly blew. Just going off what i've read so far it's most likely a blown transistor on the moon magnet board?? i'm presuming that's on the driver board itself or is there a separate board for that? I'm yet to print out the manual for this but can anyone tell me which transistor on the board would be the potential culprit? Guess it could be a short in the magnet itself also or an exposed wire shorting too. What's the best way to remove the moon unit assembly for inspection, just unbolt the brackets from under the playfield and pull the moon out from the underside?

Cheers!! It does look like the magnet wires have been extended in length as there is a visible join underneath and the wires do look intact. It's getting on into the early morning here so i'll pop the moon open later today and have a check with the DMM. If that side of things tests ok then i'm guessing there's a blown transistor somewhere on the driver board, something is shorted blowing that fuse.

Did some continuity testing on the wires into the magnet and if i'm understanding this correctly the magnet coil must have shorted out.
Attached the alligator clip to the magnet wire that goes to the fuse clip and then tested both wires on the magnet coil at the place shown and both wires had continuity. Tried the alligator clip on the other black wire that comes from the magnet and then tested both wires as shown, same result. This would make sense that the fuse is blowing and if so then the transistor should be still ok on the board.....hopefully the fuse has protected the transistor
Please correct me if i'm wrong guys.

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Thanks for this, i wasn't sure if the continuity reading was accurate or not. Do we know which transistor on the driver board is responsible for the moon magnet? I don't seem to be able to find mention of it in the manual, i'm used to Bally/Williams manuals having the transistor list showing which trans for which coil. Will do another check of the ohms also.

Did an ohms test of the magnet coil and it was showing 5 ohms which is about right for a working coil according to this article i found on the internet >>> http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2015/12/apollo-13-my-moon-my-magnet.html
This article also showed me where the little magnet board is and once it was pointed out i had a DOH moment LOL, had spotted it but didn't think it had anything to do with the moon magnet.
Reading through this article gives me some areas to check, the transistor on the little moon magnet board first and foremost. I might need to remove the transistor from the board to test it properly as i'm not sure i can test it in situ. I have done "dirty" trans testing on Bally/Williams machines ( for coils ) where you are grounding the metal tab of the transistor which will make the coil fire. Don't think that will work for this particular transistor.
The article mentions a board that runs the 7 digit display that sends signals to the little moon magnet board AND also a potential for the issue to be back on the driver board itself.
Gonna try testing the transistor (or just replace it ) and then go from there.

Thanks, yeah i already knew which type of transistor it was and have some IRL540N on order (should get them in the mail tomorrow) I did discover upon removing the small board that the IN4004 diode was virtually cracked in half so i have already replaced that, luckily had a few spares in the parts box from previous work. I'm just going to replace the transistor straight up but will most likely test it once removed anyway. Hopefully that's the main culprit

OK....so now i finally AM going to the moon
Replaced the transistor just now and it's working 100%
Whilst waiting for parts to arrive i did a refresh on the boosters of the rocket, just tidied up the red (with a brighter colour) and made the outside edges black, refreshed the chrome/silver of the boosters also. I have left the white for now but might do a full repaint later on down the track.
Next is to replace all the half perished rubbers with Titans and i'm going to put some Comet spotlight towers on the slings (waiting on packages). The lower half of the playfield is quite dark on this machine i think, possibly more so than even JD.
Loving playing this title
Has anyone ever done some target decals for this machine??

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Bit of an update on my moon magnet, worked briefly and then stopped again
It's not blowing the fuse so i'm pretty sure the transistor on the moon magnet board is still ok. I pulled the 7 segment board and tested the 3 transistors on there that are involved with sending the power and hold signals to the moon magnet board and it appears (if i've done the testing properly) that at least 2 have gone awol. Other thing i did notice is that this board has either been repaired a few times before (replacing the 3 transistors) OR it was done really badly the one time because the tracks are lifting somewhat at 2 of the 3 transistors.

I recently had ordered an after market moon magnet board from applejuice whom i've bought items from before and decided to ask Jim if he had any plans on recreating the 7 segment board also as it seems to be as problematic as the small moon magnet board. I know he does awesome work with his boards and mods so was hoping the 7 segment board could be done also. Received a reply from Jim that he'll look into doing this board soon so if any of you guys want to replace either the moon magnet board or (hopefully soon) the 7 segment board with more robust versions this is his website >>> https://mypinballs.com/electronics/store.jsp
In the meantime will probably send my board to a local tech guy cause i'm a bit nervous about replacing the 3 transistors considering the track issue. I don't have the best soldering/de-soldering gear so don't want to risk stuffing the board up.
I'll definitely be buying a more robust version from Jim when he gets to doing these as it will be far better than the standard Sega board, plus of course those original boards just aren't available anymore.

Awesome!!

Just added the spots today I might adjust the angle a bit yet but happy with the results. My camera does tend to adjust for light so if it's too bright it backs off somewhat but also compensates for when it's a lot darker and makes things appear brighter. I can definitely say it's made a hell of a difference to the lower half of the playfield. I also added the same Comet Quasar bulbs to the upper spot towers too.
Edit** I did have some of the mancave lights off for the 2nd pic so it looks a little darker in the top part of the playfield, if anything the contrast looks more like it does to the eye.
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I was just having another look under the playfield today and spotted this which i'd totally missed before. Is this standard?? The black wires from the connector go to the coil on the back of the moon motor and the other side would go to the driver board. Is there supposed to be a capacitor and what looks like a LED attached?? Just wondering cause i noticed one side of the LED wiring has either been de-soldered OR broken off. Not keen to solder it back on if this is a hack that someone has added cause i have no idea what it will do/is for.

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Still most DEFINITELY in for one of these Jim
Awesome work!!

I've made mention of this in Freeplay40's ramp thread

Thanks!! just wasn't sure if it was factory or hacked in later, can never be positive sometimes with machines that have passed hands many times from new. Have you got a link for somewhere that sells these?, don't think i've seen anything like this around over my side of the pond.

Hopefully these well help you out Jim but let me know if you need anything more specific

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PinChatt Ended up getting these neon tubes from Digikey but same specs as the one's you linked for me. Is there a positive/negative side to these as there's no definitive markings at all?? I'm assuming it doesn't matter which leg goes where but felt it was best to ask first

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Sorry for the delays in posting this guys, been distracted the past few weeks with various things going on, work, went to a concert, new Bond pinny turning up Received a test board from Jim some weeks back so i could provide some feedback (along with another tester also) and the board looks fantastic!! There is some slight issues with location of the 7 segment display and some timing issues with the magnet which Jim could explain better but in brief, the magnet hold was good for me and perhaps just dropped the ball slightly early, although it still dropped into the subway no worries. These kind of details was exactly what he was hoping the testers would be able to provide. I know he is planning to be able to have the display colour as an option so i was provided with 3 colours for the test board. Unfortunately i had a bloody hard time trying to get good pics of the colours, even with my camera on manual exposure setting and backed right off
As you can see the window on my machine is a little discoloured around the edges although i did try cleaning it from underneath and perhaps the mylar is a bit hazy too so that doesn't help with the pics either. Red would be the least bright but i liked it. Green is brighter again and i quite liked that too. White is the brightest of the lot although Jim mentioned to me that it could be adjusted in settings, i'm sure he'll be able to explain that better also. To the eye all colours look great and the white was perhaps a tad too bright to stand out as clear as the red and green although it's possibly the best option overall. Not sure if there was other colour choices but it wouldn't surprise me. Also included a pic of the small moon magnet board i bought earlier. I have no hesitation saying these boards are gonna be virtually bullet proof compared to those crappy originals.
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Sent you a link to a youtube vid also to show ball transit times between the entry ramp switch and the magnet core.
Question for the group - When is the machine supposed to do the magnet grab and moon rotation? Is it supposed to be every time you make the ramp? Is it controlled by certain hit targets/lanes?

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I like the thinking on that but if my understanding is correct the CPU controls what occurs when the ramp switch is initially triggered so i would think the programming on the game ROM would need to be altered to allow that?