Ok, so a few months ago, a CL ad pops up with a functioning Meteor for $350 locally. The pictures look like the playfield is a little rough, but it does say everything works. Typically any SS that functions under 800 is gone quick, so I tell a friend about it. My friend had been talking about getting one after I had gotten my first 2 (strange how that happens). Anyway, he's making some excuse about his basement not being finished, meanwhile this thing is speaking to me. I say screw it, and email the guy that night to check it out. When I get there, it's mostly intact, the playfield is rougher than I thought, and most importantly, the thing smells like it's been sitting in the basement of a 4 pack a day smoker for 30 years. The guy tells me "yeah, you'll need your cleaners" then tells me about the 50 other calls he got since I contacted him, and if I don't get it, the guy from my local pinball place is next in line. That seals it, no way am I playing this on location playing "what if".

So this is the beauty I bring home...

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My first order of business is disassembly, my thought is the playfield should be repaired before anything else. And since there were no rubbers on it, I didn't want to bother putting them on to play it and find out issues. Maybe not the brightest idea, but that's what I did. So after some disassembly, here is what I had with the playfield.

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That was some kind of weird bondo-like patch...still not sure exactly what it was...

After getting the playfield out, it was time for the cleaners...this thing smelled so bad I wasn't bringing it into the house until I got rid of the smoke smell. So I did the glass first (don't worry I didn't do the screen print side...). Those brown paper towels will be quite familiar to me moving forward. The cabinet gets similar treatment with simple green. Finally after a few days of cleaning I think I can get it in the basement to work on...but I can still smell it.

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Anyway, back to the playfield. Initially I was just going to smooth it out and clear coat it. A friend from work had just finish clear coating his Bronco and had some leftover...so Giddyup. But again I heard the voice of the guy I bought it from telling me to patch that black hole, and just get some paint markers and get something close. Well, I'm no artist, but pinside to the rescue...per Vid's guide, decals would seem to be the way to go to fix those missing rockets. So I break out the magic eraser, alcohol and go to work prepping for clear. After cleaning and some touchups, here is what I have...

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After the first clear coat and some sanding, I apply the decals. Fortunately I found the exact section I needed for the repair on reelpinball.com where Steve had done the same section showing how to correct the perspective from a camera. I photoshopped the image to match my colors (at least close enough for me) and threw it on for the final round of clear coat.

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Here's where it pays to listen to Vid...when he says "pretend to hit the decal lightly, wait ten minutes, hit it lightly, wait ten and then give it a light coat"...he MEANS it. Otherwise, you eat the thing up, decide to rip it out before the clear cures, and you are left with this...so sad... On another Vid is right, I decided to repaint the orange around the letters at this point too, because the match was bad. Masked off and airbrushed the whole section, much better for the next round

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For the question about the backglass, it's in pretty decent shape. Sadly, I left in the cold basement (yes, I know...no no..) and I did notice a little more flaking in the time I have had it. I'm still trying to decide whether to Triple thick or not...I'm leaning to no.

I've seen the horror posts about the triple thick falling all off. And since I'm a relative noob, I'm going to default to do no harm here. I'm open to suggestion, the can is ready to go in my toolbox. Right now, my assumption is that with the flaking I have and using LED's in the backbox I should be ok. Again, I'd love input here...

So as I was investigating this game, I noticed that I had the wrong spinner. And it seems correct ones aren't easy to come by, there was one on eBay for $40, but I thought I would just get the stickers. Well, they came, and I didn't like the colorized version. So I thought I would just make my own with some blank spinners (yep, I did 2, in case I screwed up and picked the best when I was done). I decided that the Krylon dark orange was close enough match for my purpose, so I painted them after bondo (concerned about the dimples and a decal) and primer. Then a clear coat, and a transparent decal. I got the art by scanning the sticker and correcting it at a higher resolution. This involved quite a bit of photoshop and bourbon. Fortunately, these decals fared somewhat DSCN3959.JPGbetter than the playfield. There is a bit of ghosting where I think the decal started to lift. Again, if the recommendation is the papilio decal, don't get the cheap crap because it is easier. Anyway, once in the game, it's not noticeable.

So up for another round of clear with new decals... This time I actually airbrushed the decal at my house before going over to spray the whole playfield. After some 3M perfect-it polishing...here's what I have.DSCN3949.JPG

It was at this point I went back to the cabinet to get some stuff ready. After 3 months sitting, this thing still stunk. My initial thought was do a little work on it, get it playable, worst case I can sell it for $600. Well, at this point that's out the window, so I say screw it, I'm all in. The cabinet is getting painted, black for the inside, new clear lacquer for the outside. The front of the head with the sockets got repainted white. Finally, the thing passes the smell test.

And of course, those old smelly yellowed instruction sheets had to go. So even though they are available on line, I rescanned mine and reprinted...minus the yellow. Apparently I have issues.

At this point I also rebuilt the rectifier board per Vid's guide. Although, I preferred having the HV protecting plastic in place, so I mounted the new bridges on the back with heat sinks, and got longer stand-offs to account for the needed extra space.

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For reassembly, I had new pop bumper plastics from PBR. Rebuilt the flippers (minus new bushings which are on order), rebuilt the pop and slings. I replaced needed stickers on the drop targets, realigned them. Note...if misaligned, watching the ball launch around the METEOR drops is quite entertaining, but dangerous to plastics. I've also bulletproofed the Solenoid board per the guide, though I still need to go back and replace the connectors. I've actually played it now, pretty good game, though at this point I still prefer Firepower. As all things, that is subject to change.

Things still left to do: Replace connectors, go through the other boards (MPU, lights, sound) fix the "T" target that won't drop when the solenoid fires, fix the LED flickering issue (likely buy the seige board), there is an issue where the sound goes out after being on for some time. I'm assuming the last one will fix itself when I get around to the other board work.

In the meantime, bourbon and pinball...

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Nothing major to the hardware, scotchbrite on the outside of the legs, liquid rust remover and a cleaning wheel to the inside. Just bought new feet rather than messing with those. Right now I still need to deal with the coin door, I repainted the top and bottom trim pieces with a silver hammered spray paint. I'm still trying to decide if I should paint the rest, leaning toward yes, though it won't look exactly the same. There was also some strange hack that must have been to enable free play that I didn't understand where some wires for the coin mechs were crossed. Also, I thought I had pulled a wire loose during disassembly on the lockout coil, when I reattached it, I have to feed it quarters to run so that must have been part of the free play. Eventually, I will add the switch to the start button, and probably a manual switch to enable/disable free play.

For the rest of the metal, just the scotchbrite and some wax to make sure it didn't rust...but man, that early stern metal is piss poor. Sorry, no pics to show the before/after.