High Speed
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Quoted from Skypilot:.Now that I have the prototype in my possession going to give it a once over. I need to look at all the holes punched all the artwork and make sure all the inserts are clear on the hardtop and everything lines up.
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Thanks so much for being very detail oriented. I know the HS community greatly appreciates it.
Can't wait for this to release!
Sorry it didn’t go to plan, darcangeloel
Based on your pics, it looks like yours has some uneven lines in areas. Just opened mine and see the same.
I am interested in comparing with others to see if theirs are the same. Attaching some example pics where black outlines are jagged or broken (next to cop car).
Am I being too picky here?
39A59378-50FB-4F6F-AEAC-450DCF71713C (resized).jpeg3E029493-3B7E-48A7-A9CB-3BE02DAB6B4D (resized).jpegB7BB4876-D981-472A-A2C9-4D86D9BF9C12 (resized).jpegDB87D5F1-EE6F-402A-8FD1-2E02A3A51B25 (resized).jpegE6EA82CD-1049-48B7-B8D8-68D45E83ECC6 (resized).jpegF33D0D82-6BE5-476E-8DFA-91861DB75DF4 (resized).jpegQuoted from Skypilot:I am not sure what you are asking? Is the protective plastic still on those photos?
Attaching zoomed pics with some of the items circled, along with a pic from my PF to illustrate what I mean by the edges of the black outlines.
On my PF, the edges of the outlines are smooth. Here, they look like they were scanned from a touched up PF.
Hope that explains what I’m after.
685EBCE9-224C-4AF2-87A7-8C29C6A97099 (resized).jpeg9D4FC49A-E0E2-4EDE-98AD-6020DCDFA56A (resized).jpegB2587747-3CB9-46B5-91F2-36C5F4DE2B9E (resized).jpegAt least they are consistent 
Please don’t take the above as bagging on the product or expecting perfection. Like you said, there are variances galore in these things.
It was more about wondering if what I saw was specific to mine, as well as if waiting out the summer for the retooling would result in any improvements. Seems to be a “no” for the first one, guessing a “no” for the latter
As with this entire thread, I truly appreciate your honesty and hard work. Again, I suspect I am more picky than most
Quoted from kermit24:Just curious how many people that ordered on day 1 have received the Hardtop for High Speed or a shopping notification? I see one person has here, just curious. No shipping notification for me yet.
Got mine on 7/8, ordered on 6/25.
Quoted from RobF:Fed Ex says mine should show up tomorrow. I was told that they were "crushed" by HS orders so not surprising it is taking a little bit to get them out.
Would be really interested in how many orders they received. I'm presuming the reason for the pause to retool is because they feel demand is sufficient to make it worthwhile. Hoping that's the case, as I want them to continue.
Quoted from kermit24:Strange. I ordered day 1 also and have not heard a peep from them.
I got my "It's shipped" notice about 3 hours after it arrived
Only reason I knew it was coming is that I've signed up with FedEx to email me anytime a package is shipped to my house. Hope yours is just silently in transit, too.
Quoted from Skypilot:Agreed, by the way be glad you do not have to populate the underside of your games. Slows things down tremendously.[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Yikes! Looks like your backbox was as bad off as mine. Rebuilding one from scratch since mine is held together by L-brackets.
Putting that aside to get started on my Hardtop this weekend!
506A5ACA-27DF-43B6-A94D-8EC41EB0668A (resized).jpegQuoted from Azfalconfixer:Finished my hardtop this week. Plays very nice![quoted image]
Nice work! Congrats!
Just finished my initial sanding run a couple of hours ago. Will be posting a rundown once I finish.
9C5869C6-052F-41A0-AD8E-E7F553909A0B (resized).jpegQuoted from peterbrau:Before / After (so far)[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Right there with you. Looks like you had to “cheat” yours upwards like I did. Only holes I’ve had to drill were on the lower playfield.
17B94343-9C2B-49A0-ADD8-EC4BA69207DF (resized).jpeg964E8BE0-C946-4253-979A-261348650996 (resized).jpegFinished! Have one dead pop to troubleshoot and some switches to adjust, but otherwise all went well.
I will say that the whole rebuild process took me alot longer than I thought. Basically 1.5 full days from sanded and poly'd playfield to turning on the power and praying to the Pinball Gods that I won't fry my MPU.
Obligatory before and after pics attached, but I will post a full writeup in the Restoration forum, along with a link to a photo and video dump. I primarily used 4K/60 PFS video more than just pics.
Best of luck to all with their installs!
IMG_0729 (resized).JPGIMG_0886 (resized).JPGQuoted from peterbrau:Very nice! It has taken me more time than that (maybe 20 hrs and not done yet but almost) Most of the time is spent finding the photo that beat helps me put it back together!
Thank you!
Yep, I spent a lot of time going all Zapruder film on my pre-disassembly video. The GI wiring for the pops caused me to lose a lot of time.
As mentioned, Freeplay40 here made that awesome ramp. Came with it when I bought it, but would have bought one regardless. Red would definitely be my choice
Side note for posterity: Dead pop was simply a bad fuse on the Special Solenoid Saver board barakandl makes. Replaced the fuse and all is well. Highly recommend picking that board up if you don’t have it.
Best of luck getting yours done!
Quoted from MrArt2u:Oh. Wow. That is HUGE. I’m guessing subsequent runs will be fixed which means the early installers have one hell of a rare “Special Edition.”
You must work in sales 
It’s like that stamp with the upside down plane, right?
It’s upsetting, but I’m still way better off from a gameplay perspective. Just wanted to warn others who haven’t installed yet.
Quoted from DuffysArcade:No, I meant to print the decal in reverse and apply on the bottom side.
Mine is the same. Not sure how easy it will be to remove the "3,000" lettering...
Ah, gotcha. I Novus’d the insert portions prior to install and it seemed to be on there pretty well. Don’t think it will come off easily.
Might want to wait for the Outside Edge folks to chime in on what (if anything) they may offer to address this.
Quoted from Outsidedge:Well, we have been alerted. We will need to work on a solution. However, as a reminder we are down right now... and any reprints will take time.
We apologize for this. I hope you all realize that we put these through multiple steps to make sure these are correct before releasing. Still... it seems we have missed something. It is harder than it seems. It is a little like the worst game of “find waldo” ever. Sometimes your off in the weeds fixing obscure problems.. and an obvious one slips by.
Let us regroup and figure out how quickly we can come up with a fix...or reprint.
Thanks for the response. Not an ideal situation for anyone, I know.
Quoted from Skypilot:New paint and pinballpimp stencils.
Looking nice! I built a new backbox as mine is trash. Will be using PP stencils for that, as well.
While I know they won’t be an exact match, mind sharing paint codes? Will give me a starting point for color matching.
Quoted from detroitzoran:Wow. That's a little disheartening. I still have yet to get to the stage of applying the Hardtop, I just finished the final coat of clear. Working slowly and carefully maybe what saves me. It'll be interesting to see what the potential fix would be... As ita47 points out, removing the printed numbers on the underside seems like it could make the situation worse.
I've never done anything like this before and don't trust my skills as a 'craftsman', sanding the original artwork off gave me incredible anxiety.[quoted image][quoted image]
Looks great, man!
Like others noted, upside is you can resist the temptation to install before the clear has time to cure. That can only be better in the long-term.
Quoted from Outsidedge:OK,
The digits we will send will provide for identical density when lit also.
I was just about to write about that, but made myself re-read it. Glad you beat me to the punch
Thanks for working on solutions for both those of us who have installed already, as well as those who have not.
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:Mine's on the way! I'm terrified of this undertaking as I've never done anything this complex with a machine. Only been at it since February. Here's hoping I don't screw it up! This guide will be a big help -- glad it exists.
I don't think I'll redo the cabinet art; mine's 'good enough' for me. I'm not really one for immaculate cabinets anyway.. Everything gets banged up a little going up/down my crappy stairs. Those awful black legs will likely get powder coated though, they look gross.
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Your cab looks similar to mine. I did a *light* pass with a Magic Eraser and Simple Green on the cab and it really freshened the paint. Again, just need to be gentle.
If it helps, here's my thread about my Hardtop install, including a link to a gallery of pics and vids: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hardtop-on-a-high-speed
Also, if you haven't read it yet, I very highly recommend reading Vid's thread on installing a Hardtop on a Comet. Lots of really good tips there: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-hardtop-restoration-comet
All-in-all, the install process isn't terribly "hard". It's just tedious. You really want to make sure you get photos of everything. I took 4k/60 FPS video, which ended up being a live saver. In hindsight, I wish I had moved a bit slower in the video and captured things from all sides. Would have sped up the process a bit.
Good luck with your install and reach out for any help you need!
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:What excites me is that I feel like I'm pretty close to having what I feel to be a nice, well-rounded 5pin lineup (EBD--needs a hardtop!, Meteor, hardtopped Space Shuttle, World Cup Soccer, and High Speed).
Very nice collection!
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:Slow progress. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit queasy about this.[quoted image]
I hear ya.
No individual part of the process is overly challenging, but collectively it's a good amount of work.
Just keep looking back at the post-install pics to keep yourself motivated
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:I'm feeling sicker about this as I go along. I really hope I can sort it all out from my pictures when I go to reassemble. [quoted image]
I took video for that exact reason. Was concerned I would miss a critical angle. Just make sure to move slowly.
I believe I posted some of my vids in that album, but reach out if you need pics of anything.
Quoted from frisbez:The worst that will happen is that you put something in the wrong spot and then have to redo a bunch of work.
I think the anticipation and fear of messing something up is much worse than the reality.
You got this!
I definitely had to reinstall some stuff due to not thinking through the order. Nothing damaged, other than my pride
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:Not sure how much additional support those pins lend to holding the hardtop down but I certainly wouldn't want ANY waviness in the pop area for sure. Anything that helps to avoid that is probably worth doing.
Mine were flush to the playfield, so opted to leave them in. As mentioned above, the holes in the Hardtop align pretty well, so technically you *could* get them out. Not sure that you ever would.
As I’ve seen Skypilot warn others: Don’t overthink this
PS: I’m also a dev (OK, more Ops, but still...) so I feel you man. The perfection struggle is real, but know where the risk/reward lies.
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:I'm a bit confused on the shooter lane. It doesn't seem to be looking any better as I'm going along and I'm really nervous about doing... Too much.. do I just keep going?[quoted image]
I had the exact same problem. I ended up focusing on sanding out the wear from the eject hole and cleaning up the shooter lane itself, then calling it a day. Like you, I was worried I was going to over do it.
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:I'm a bit unclear on how shiny/clear the inserts should be prior to clearcoating the entire thing. Any advice?
Per Vid, the inserts need to be sanded with 220 so the clear has “tooth” to help the clear adhere to the insert.
I didn’t want to risk ghosting, so I hand polished all my inserts. Wet sanded with 1000, then 3000, followed by Novus 3-2-1, and finally Naptha to strip any residual Novus. Go look back in the thread for my Hardtop install thread (on the road from Houston at the moment) and you’ll see the results.
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:Random question, but.. cliffy for the kickout along with the hardtop? Yes/no? On top of or below the hardtop?
You mean the kickout on the lower left? Or the “Escape/Extra Ball” saucer?
Either way, my take is no.
Also, any Cliffy would go on top.
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