We share a similar philosophy. My Space Shuttle was absolutely done on the cheap, complete with freehanding the pf art & details where needed (it helped that I have experience from model railroading), although it didn't need as comprehensive a restore. And even though it's still not a perfect resto by any means, the compliments I got at Louisville Expo were astounding.... it placed 2nd in best of show behind a pimped Medieval Madness (how is that even a fair fight lol).
My Firepower though? Total wreck. And a total ___-man's attemp. I hesitate to say "poor" since I should have been able to afford better, and I won't say "cheap" because when I chose to drop coin, I'm anything but. But STILL! When I looked at the condition it was in, I had to decide what to fix and what to let go. The cabinet was terrible... I had to rebuild and reinforce part of it, and respray... but I left the "scorched" looking art trails; even after I polished the siderails and ball guides, I left the oxidized bolts and fasteners intact. I wanted a blend of "like new" and "battle scarred".
I rebuilt the pf, mechs, and boards... but left the wiring harnesses (including some slightly oxidized sockets) alone. Part of that was not wanting to make more work for myself and since I didn't know if the wiring was broke, I wasn't going to fix it. So that sounds like laziness, I can't call it the "lazy man's" restore because holy heck, the time I spent was almost unconscionable. Especially when it came to board work (I think you witnessed some of my aggravation there, ha ha). As if boards weren't enough, this game fought me every. step. of. the. way! But now that it's done and plays better than other restored FP's I've touched, it was absolutely worth it. And I can look at it's character quirks and historic tells and know that I have something truly unique and special: a survivor.
In other pursuits it's said you can choose to do things cheap, right, or quickly but you can only pick two. But there's no such thing as being poor, cheap, or lazy in pinball if you want the game to play right. 8/10 looks and 10/10 play is fine by me.
So I applaud your approach and efforts and I know they will pay off! You're a leg up on keeping costs down since you can do board work. Everything else is easy, just tedious.
If you get bored or need some inspiration, here's a gallery of my FP pics along the journey. I never started a restore thread here because I didn't think there'd be that much interest in "another" FP resto. But now I wish I had.
Favorited, and looking forward to your progress...!
Watertown, MA
