Just wrapped up my last project on Escape of the Lost world and am ready to jump into a new one. I've typically done posts after a project is complete, but this will be my first somewhat realtime job.

I recently did a trade and ended up with a JY, complete with blank NOS playfield, as well as a partially populated JY playfield with production harness and other parts. The playfield currently on the game is a very early dev/proto, with several decals that were stickers, and lots of holes in the back right corner where they were trying out different mechs (looks like it originally had pops?). I will try and document some of this here as I go along, although the previous owner has these pictures up on IPDB as well if you search for Junk Yard.

Full disclosure -- I've shopped games and done some restoration work but never done a full playfield swap so this will be a bit of learning as I go along. I'm looking forward to it!

Here's JY, from garage down to my basement game room. running good.. ready to start tearing it apart.

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First step was to build a rotesserie. I followed skypilots guide. It turned out pretty good I thought.. great design!

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Rotesserie complete.. time to decide what to do next.. I need to strip the other playfield I have, wax the NOS one, and look at other parts I need to order. At some point I need to strip the proto PF as well.. just not sure what order to start things quite yet.

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New Decals for the cab from retro refurb:

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Got a package from ministry of pinball -- only one I've had arrive registered mail.. requiring a post office trip. Question -- anyone have advice for removing the middle apron decal? It needs replacing.. but I don't want to damage anything else as the rest is ok.

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Ordered a lot of new parts, most of which have arrived now:

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Box of nos/ used parts that came with jy:

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Yeah I looked closer and seems you're right. I think the gunk on mine might clean off with good off it naphtha though and negate the need to redecal hopefully. Apron in good condition otherwise.

Thought about documenting this and the need for lots of pictures. I have previously been using my phone and it's a annoying to try and zoom in on pictures for reassembly.

Decided to pull the trigger on a tablet, went with the mini to still be light weight but with a much bigger screen than the phone.

Need to pick up paint pens and I think I can get started stripping the production harness off.

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Apparently you should label with paint pens on tape if running the harness thru an ultra sonic cleaner or dishwasher.. so I picked up a few today. Should get the pf locked down this weekend and hopefully start some disassembly

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Ha ForceFlow I think we read the same thread just picked up some wd40 today, pretty sure my other can is lost in the garage.

Decals are staying -- I have a nos factory cleared pf to swap everything to. The one I'm about to strip was given to me for the harness and any parts needed, play field isn't mine though. The proto one in the game currently is being retired

dung did pulling the Mylar on your pm damage the decal? Curious what you did with it.. repair and re-cover with Mylar?

Took some all-thread and got the bottom pf secured thru holes. Top is clamped to blocks and of wood.

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Ready to flip it and start cutting and labeling. Seems to sag a bit in the middle, thinking about reinforcing from the sides

Got a shaker motor in as well - going to do some fiddling with it and see if I can't get it to go off on crane shots, and maybe pulse with each toilet bowl switch trigger

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This also arrived.. I was advised to stick with a silk screen but I don't have one so I thought I'd try this out. Not too picky about something you never see. However -- major fail, I took it out of the tube and failed to note the staples poking thru that held the cap in place. Sssscratch!

Dammt!!!! Will deal with that later I guess
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Think this thing has taken a lot of direct hits from balls from the vuk?!?

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Hmm gonna have to match up some wires with the complete proto pf.. these were cut already.
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Harness not too dirty but it's for sure going in an ultra sonic bath
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Ok blue tape is out on some of this, photo labels in.

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Just took a look under the proto pf- red proto lamp boards. Kinda cool, may throw these on the nos pf.. any reason not to?

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Cab is pretty damn clean for a game this old.
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Magnet. Wish I knew what the idea was going to be behind this.. I think it would be cool to use the crane action as a trigger to another micro controller to utilize the magnet. Of course new pf won't have magnet so moot point.

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Check out the difference in the subways.. I will be reusing the clean one lol. Going to be using other parts from both pfs though.. interesting to see the different conditions of parts.. you'd think one machine would have all better condition parts but that's not the case

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Slow going.. working across left side. Lots of labeled pictures.

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The vuk connectors to the Optos that feeds the refridge are different on the proto harness .. will have to sort that out later

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Yeah, too bad they never did the code. Wasn't sure if the proto lamp boards are worse an any way than production ones in terms of reliability or durability..

Screw organization and example of picture labeling

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Left side complete. Done for today.

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Success - harness removed !

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Thanks Coyote !! Matched up the flipper and eos wires, that's interesting about the crane. Probably a good choice, would be interesting to have seen it in action though. Red boards seem to match up but I'll find out for sure later once I get the proto pf stripped.

Pile o lamp boards.
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Looked clean from the back but fronts could use a wash! Going in a bin for the ultra sonic cleaner.
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Thanks Buju - I prob won't be working on it every day but will try to keep the posts coming PM's are great, and if you need any photos let me know as I took a ton, many of them lebeled.

So.. the dog loop-de-do mech, seems to be a broken weld on both of mine.. unless there was never a cross piece on these. Can anyone confirm?

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Well this plunger has seen some wet days!
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Bottom almost clear

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And done. Time to flip to pull last topside pieces

This dog - err- thing is TOAST!

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Hmmm but if you look at Marco new ones have that.. seems like it's supposed to be there but is a design flaw due to hitting the pf as you say. Guess it works fine without it

Few final guides on the top.

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And we're done. Gonna take the rails off tomorrow and swap to nos to straighten 'er up.

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Here's the nos one thrown up on the table.. looks nice, can't wait to start assembling but I've got another one to strip first
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Who says ghosting is only on new stern playfields??

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Everything sorted into bins. Done for today. Avoiding the next step cause it means I won't get to play jy for a good while.

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Haha I like that -- although if I did that then I'd just be playing pinball instead of working on the restore still got 3 here that can keep me occupied lol

30l Ultrasonic ordered.. dang that's cash I didn't want to drop but I'm told it's worth it! Had to do something though cause now I've got parts that need some cleaning

What size was the hb one? Harness in it too? I have no idea if 30l is too big or I could have gotten away with 22 or 15.. I def. want the harness in it though and maybe it will fit some larger items which could be nice

Haha ok well I guess 30 will come in handy then!

It works fine -- but playing the crap out of the play field will destroy it and history with it. I am saving the Playfield from further wear/destruction. Honestly it's only the Playfield that is different from any other junk yard, but play wise it's all the same. Nothing special you would enjoy playing on it that you wouldn't enjoy on a nos one.

i don't know that you can really restore a prototype pf without destroying some of its uniqueness in the first place .. But regardless I have no reason not to swap to the nos one, it's much nicer and the proto is preserved.

Last game for a while.. time to unplug connectors

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Old pf warp with rails removed - shown against a glass sheet

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The one time I'm using power drill.. these rail screws are too damn long

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The new wms eos switches!!! Man those were an improvement!

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Rails on nos pf to straighten. Now time to start unplugging connectors

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BIt of annoyance with jy-- with the ball prepping in the fridge vuk you always have a ball coming loose in the game when you lift the play field.

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First time working with this speaker panel and light box system. Nice to not have a board swinging out on one side in your way and looks vex the speaker panel hinge system!

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That's the proto -- yes. No decals on crane. I am pulling that pf out right now, no stripping has occurred yet lots of photos of the topside to be coming henceforth.. will likely start Friday.

HEres some decal examples on the proto --
Note the folded corner on the "window shopping" decal, which was then mylared. Toast decals -- one IS pretty toast that was not mylared, toaster gun decal as well.

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High voltage to Dmd disconnected for good.. colordmd is going in its place. Hoping it gets colored this year

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What the hell are these magnets for? Is this an anti-electrical interference thing?
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And anyone know how to fix the gold lettering without buying a whole new panel?
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Going to be washing all wiring so no labeling of connectors which I usually do.. just pictures should suffice.

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Removal much faster without labeling.. ha! Boards are in good condition.. might install nvram though, will get new ribbon connectors and have new fuses to switch out where needed if any values are incorrect

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Ah! Interesting.. will have to ponder how that works exactly.

Yeah -- the decals are pretty cool, with the magnet under the crane and the holes drilled where pop bumpers used to be. Toaster gun is what I believe it said. Super worn, but still there.

Homage to this machines history -- sent to Europe for a while.

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Ok pf out -- hate that part. Probably done tonight, about time for dinner

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True but unless it's a hard shot it probably wouldn't quite reach the bumpers. I'll have better pictures of it soon to gain a clearer picture of how it was setup hopefully

Yeah that's kinda sad.. mine rarely goes back that far, usually pretty quick to doghouse. However, I think I've only made a weak bus shot to drop down there maybe 2 or 3 times lol, should have been a reward for hitting that shot

That's a beauty! Like the side decals, debating mirror blades vs decals. Is the .3 software better? I've got 1.2 I believe

Terminator mode? Wow gonna have to pick up that rom at least to try it, always love more content

Ha! Ok, I had jumped ahead on the video and missed it. Very cool - but yeah def. a score balancing issue, that's a quick 6 mil you take in there!

Apron removed. Def gonna try wd40 on the gunk but looks like paint was stripped in areas so likely getting the decal in the middle. Touch up needed on bottom

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Got it up on the rotisserie. Typical dirt under apron.

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Shooter lane wear and drop hole at end of shooter
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Right plastic ramp has repair using a plastic from some other game. Don't think you can find these anymore so I may have to get creative there.
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Magnet has sunk a bit in play field, sticker above cars peeling up
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Overall not too bad though. Will start tear down topside on Friday.

Wire form has seen better days. Looks like lower part was welded on from a different jy or something - much worse condition and two broken welds at the drop. Going to see about getting a new one but pinball plating and more also said they could spot weld before chroming.

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Teaser for Friday -- for anyone with a jy following, compare this area to yours. This is a giant sticker put over the pf. Underside is drilled for pop bumper and at least three switches surrounding it behind rubbers.

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Ok -- getting a late start but I'm up and going. Got some parts in yesterday, well tools at least.

Ultrasonic cleaner
Didn't know what to expect for 30l, here's a size comparison against a hand model I hired for the photo lol

Magnetic nut drivers -- been wanting these, should have ordered a long time ago. Near impossible to find long "shank/nut-end" drivers that will fit on nuts that are run way down a long bolt end, like under pf pop bolts for example, that are also magnetic and standard size. Ended up getting a set of non-mags.
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Finally a pin extraction tool to attempt to pull pins out of moles connectors .. we'll see if it actually works
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Will Ben interesting to see how this cleans up.. pretty discolored as evidenced from areas covered by screw heads

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Dang - this vuk is pretty bent up too.. guess I'll look at ordering a new one

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Oh found one -- thanks Radius118 !! But it looks different, missing a tab. Another prototype thing. Maybe to mount a back facing light? Would be cool to light up the inside of the fridge with a darker light.. maybe uv, or blue or purple? That mount would have come in handy.. oh well

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3 extra mounting holes here, looks like bulb locations were different as well.

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Comparison..

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Anyone help me out on this one -- is this the standard bus mount / plastic deflector on production machines?

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Thanks!

Proto crane vs stock (with decals)

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Backboard off

Comparison

Ok -- here's the "pop bumper" area. Note the holes for switches, and I'm pointing to where the bumper would have been, holes are under the tire track sticker that was then mylared over.

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If anyone has a shot of this area on a stock machine I'd love to see it.. need to know what posts went in here .. thanks!!

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Wow these got cruddy - looks like someone waxed at some point!
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Another shot of pop bumper area. Sticker was put over Mylar, plus looks like a Mylar ring around the pop bumper as it's raised below the sticker in a circular pattern.
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Ok -- time to flip it.
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On that pop bumper area -- I'd love to see what was printed underneath.. but that would require removing the sticker and likely destroying it in the process... hmm wonder if anyone else has a picture of what it used to look like..?

We are flipped, time to start stripping the bottom .. can't wait to be done stripping stuff and move on to cleaning

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What's with the blue trough opto board? I have 1 green 1 blue..

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4 o'clock.. time for some whiskey!

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Today's aftermath lol

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Oh ..huh. Not sure why I never noticed that before, makes sense

That's a wrap for today. Little more than 1/3 of harness left.

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Wow this has to be one of the filthiest subways I've seen.. be interesting to see how it cleans up

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Here's a closeup of the underside where the pop bumper nest was supposed to be. Note holes that are covered up by the topside decal/sticker

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Ok-- I've got all the playfields stripped. Going to start cleaning and cataloging what hardware I need plus extra parts and get a couple final orders in. Habitrail hopefully going out Tuesday for plating with lockdown. Rails and shooter in order as well. Can't decide on chrome legs yet.. spendy.

Here's a comparison of a stock playfield vs the proto, comparing final art changes.

First some shots of proto inserts and sewer wear

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Now the comparisons.
Here's what I noticed:
Brown changed to orange around crane area.
Background Green changed to red on both sides where the rat is
Words added on inserts to clarify-- ball recycle, adventures, junk for extra ball, hurry up targets.
Crane became "wrecking ball" on insert.
Arrow added above this insert
Super jackpot separated to two inserts.
Spike insert became "alley"
Great toilet adv. became the great toilet... interesting choice there, prefer latter.
Ball recycle when lit added to blue triangles on outlanes
Pipes extended above apron to display the team member names.
I think that's it?? It appears the pop had a red explosion around it, I'm still thinking I might remove the sticker there to see..

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