So this project has been ongoing for a while, but I've just now gotten around to documenting it while the project itself is on pause (more on that later).
A family friend heard I was into pinball and mentioned that they had a game in their garage that they've had for just over 20 years. I went to check out the game and it was a very worn and trashed Space Invaders (sorry for the picture quality, its some of mine and some from the previous owners cell phone). This was the first thing I was able to see when they opened their garage.
Not a good first image of a project game
Just a bit worn...
just a small crackOk, so the cabinet is pretty trashed. Heavily worn all over, lots of planking and de-lamination. Chunks are missing in the front and the sides. The back of the head is super swollen and the cabinet is definitely out of square at this point (main cab and head). Definitely a bit of work here to bring this back. I'm thinking "Okay, its crap, but I can build a new cab, stencils are available, cabinet parts can be had if needed, its possible." Lol, yeah I'm an idiot.
Whats left of the playfield is covered in dirt and nasty grunge. At some point, a mouse had visited the game. It left piss stains and droppings all over. Apparently, it had a thing for both the captive ball area and the outlane areas.
Who needs artwork
Looks close enough to the original artIts heavily worn. Chunks of art are missing and were filled in with a combination of sharpie, black paint, wax and who knows what else. All plastics are super faded and warped like hell.
Well, this could be a problem. I'm not aware of any repro's and I'll pass on overlays. My best hope would to be to find a good NOS playfield. If they exist...
Okay, lets take a look inside. It can't be much worse than the outside. I mean it has a coindoor that looks pretty good, and they even had the key.
Ooooh no scratches or flakingBoth Backglasses look surprisingly good. No cracks or flaking or anything. Not sure how they survived that well in a Missouri garage for 20+ years. Yeah, they are a bit dirty, but that will cleanup without too much trouble.
Most of the manualHey Look, chewed up manuals. That's okay though, I'm not a fan of the bottom of the first 20 pages anyway...
For the record, the schematics were untouched. Apparently the paper schematics are printed on does not taste nearly as good as manual paper.
Nice displaysWe have all the original displays it appears.
yay boardsOkay, looks like all the boards are there. Good start.
looks a bit crusty to meWell this board is pretty destroyed. Less good of a start. But there are a ton of options available here. Non issue.
And the rest of my pictures from this time are lost to the abyss that is getting a new phone, or two.
It has the original transformer, transformer cage, -49 rectifier board with original diodes and bridge rectifiers with minimal hacking or burning.
It also has a mouse nest the size of a basketball and enough chewed wires on the cabinet harness to make this a bit more challenging.
The playfield has all mechs in place, not horribly rusted, no chewed wires (somehow) and only a few hacks to be seen. Plus a few more hidden ones I'll find later.
Not as exciting as the guy who found a SI full of dildo's, but a challenge none the less.
Long story short, I got it for $225. I figured the backglasses alone were worth that, not to mention the transformer and some playfield mechs.
I live 2 hours away and was driving a Pontiac G8 at the time, so my Dad and bother were able to pick it up for me at a later date and bring it up to my place a few weeks later.
Bringing it homeIt traveled 2 hours on a highway like that. They knew it came apart, but it was dark and they didn't want to disconnect all the cables. That's fine though, it made the ride just fine.
Well this should be fun. This is my FIRST pin project and only my 2nd pinball at the time.