I've missed checking out these threads for awhile. What a great job you did on that cabinet! Those colors really pop. You don't hear about Frontier restos too often, so it's nice to see this one getting the A list treatment

I considered buying a larger ultrasonic myself before I start my Cheetah build, just like the wiring cleanup you just described. Ultrasonics are a more useful tool than a tumbler IMO. At least I seem to use it more. If you purchase a larger one, please let us know how it works out.

I prefer the look of woodgrain on the backside of the playfield too. With the inserts popped out, that's an easy job to stain & seal. Looking great!

Don't want to open the clear vs no-clear debate when installing a hardtop....but I'm just surprised to see you cleared it after taking the time to sand & buff the inserts to a shine. I appreciate your work, so I'm curious what your thought process was. Perhaps you had no long term issues using this process for your prior hardtop installs?

If the playfield is entirely sanded to an even surface, and if all the inserts have been wet sanded to a gloss shine, then I'm just hesitant to go through the additional step of adding rattle can clear, which could lead to cracking/cloudy issues later on. When I did my Mata Hari harptop install, I just sanded the entire playfield, wet sanded the inserts & didn't use any clear. I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Everything looking great btw

Yeah if the inserts are too polished the clear doesn't adhere well. At least that's what I've seen & heard. It's either a decent sanding & clear, or multiple finer grit wet sanding to a shine. Sounds like you should be fine though.

My best advice is get an extra set of hands for the hardtop install. One guy to hold it up, the other to peel the sticker & supervise the placement. Use your air compressor & tack cloth to get every speck of dust off of there before laying it down. Just take your time with placement & nitpick every insert to make sure you have it lined up just right, then clamp one end in place firmly & take a deep breath before starting. It really wasn't that hard though.

You'll also want to take a good look at the shooter lane. Depending how you sanded it, the groove in the wood may be longer than the cutout in the hardtop shooter lane. You may want to cut it accordingly to your shooter groove length. I was too afraid to cut mine, but the difference hasn't affected my plunges at all. I'm pretty sure all the hardtop grooves are cut shorter than the wood groove

I have to ask..... what's with the hex screws over the T-nuts?

Interesting info. Something to think about when I do my cheetah playfield.

I'm pretty sure I predrilled 3 small holes for the T-nut barbs on my QS swap, but I can't recall at the moment. I had such an awful time with the T-nut installation, the short post screws that didn't go all the way through the T-nuts, etc etc.

Looks like you're doing a great job though!

I've seen that story too many times before. Happened on friend's Xenon install. But at least you caught it early, before you repopulated the playfield. Could have been a much larger headache. Hope it's not a bitch to take off & remove all that glue residue. There might be a thread somewhere from a guy who used a heat gun while taking it off.

Here you go. I had it bookmarked

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/thruster-i-just-met-her-xenon-restoration-/page/4#post-6087209