I picked up my first SS project, Space Invaders last April. The project has been on hold for the last few months as I have been attempting to secure the various bits for my upcoming High Speed restoration (gotta get the parts while the gettins good). I decided to post the work done thus far as I am about to get back in the game on this one.

The cab was a bit rough around the edges, the back where the head attaches was separating from the body and the left joint on the head itself was also coming undone, the interior of the cab was dirty and stained. The game was missing a couple of legs, the lockdown bar and unfortunately the PF glass. The playfield as one might expect took the brunt of the damage from being stored for many years without glass. Thankfully the mice that had resided in it were evicted before I took delivery. The MPU was also in fairly rough shape and looked like it had taken an acid bath with Jerry Garcia. Almost all of the metal components had some amount of rust and/or were pitted. Amazingly the cabinet artwork and the backglass were near flawless. I definitely had my work cut out for me.

Semi complete album: http://s1209.photobucket.com/user/nerdygrrl/library/Space%20Invaders%20The%20Invasion%20Has%20Begun?sort=2&page=1

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-First step was to get it working. I picked up one of BarakandI’s rebuilt MPU’s. I can’t say enough about the quality of his work and his overall help. He’s really great guy and an asset to the community.

Once it was determined it worked and amazingly passed all of its tests it was onto the tear down/gutting. The artwork was in pretty great shape so I was going to leave it be, but the interior needed a lot of love. Typically, I am a traditionalist when it comes to these things, however in this case I decided to go with a black for the interior instead of the traditional grey.

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Next up was disassembling the playfield. Thankfully the family of mice that once resided under the apron were evicted prior to me taking delivery.

This was my first ever attempt at a semi full/full tear down and I am still a little worried that I might not get it back together properly. Thankfully I took about 5,000 pictures, if only I could remember where I put them.

I keep going back and forth about having this professionally touched up and cleared. The perfectionist in me says do it, I’m just not sure if it’s worth it though

As you can see there was not much left worth salvaging off of the playfield. It was going to need flippers, plastics, posts, bumper caps, etc. I was really stressed out about finding plastics for it. I knew they hadn’t been run in quite some time and the market was bleak. You can imagine my shock when a week or two into the project CPR re-released their SI plastics set. Major score. I was also able to source some pop bumper caps from pinball resource and that place I shall not name in PA.

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Time to move onto the metal. This stuff was dingy, rusted, pitted, etc. I had been following whridlsoncestood High Speed restore thread and knew if I wanted to do this right I needed to pickup a tumbler and buffing wheel, so off to Harbor Freight I went.

What a huge difference a little elbow grease makes. It’s like night and day. I was able to clean up and polish everything except for the backglass lift, that was too far gone. Thankfully Marco had some in stock.

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The trim around the head was a little meh, so I decided to hit that up with some paint as well. I also fixed the loose joint using some nails and wood glue. Hopefully it will hold for another decade or so.

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The apron was was just trashed so I decided to strip and repaint. I am going to order a decal kit for it this week.

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The bulk of the body is almost entirely done. I just have to run a few more grounds and source a new 6x9. This one is kind of toast.

I added a little decorative touch to the speaker grill. Originally I wanted to paint a giant invader in the middle, but I just couldn’t get the scaling right. This little guy won’t be visible from above, but I’ll know he is in there

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I have over a hundred hours and too many dollars then I care to admit into this project. All that remains is the playfield and lighting. Still going back and forth about having it professionally touched up and cleared vs just letting it be. Sometimes you have to know when to walk away.

This project has been a blast thus far. I have learned a ton and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I can't thank my local New England pin community enough for all of their help and guidance. I can't wait to get this one finished.

Toddzilla, Yeah, it's coming along pretty nicely. I feel really good about where it is now compared to where I started. The machine was a great first SS project to work on. It's nothing too expensive so there is some wiggle room for the occasional error. Having the right tools made the job easier as well as the abundance of restoration threads on here

DZ, It was a combo of the trip down to you and finding out that I will have a definitive answer about a High Speed playfield in 3-4 weeks. I decided to start cleaning and polishing the playfield's bits and bots as well as sorting the PF parts. Won't start dropping more cash on it until the HS PF is secured and then it will be full steam ahead on finishing this guy off.

The playfield cleaned up pretty nicely. It has the traditional wear around in the ball lanes and around the inserts. Nothing too egregious. Everything is still intact on the underside. That is the part that really scares me. I keep going back and forth about doing a full strip and tumlbing every bit and bot underneath.

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itshowtime, Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely check out your post.

Aladdin, yeah the buffing wheel makes a world of difference. It really brings the metals back to life. I picked up one of the harbor freight 6 inch guys for $50. It worked better than expected, though I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than pin parts. In hindsight, especially when working on larger pieces (coin door, lockdown bar) I kind of wish I had spent the extra money and gotten the 8 in wheel.

Having the tumbler has helped immensely with the little bits. It's definitely worth acquiring. I just set it up and let it go while I work on other tasks. I have a batch in there now vibrating away.

I keep debating on an ultrasonic cleaner, I'm just not sure if the results are any better than a soak in simple green

Honestly, just a noob move. This is my first head to toe restore-I thought a good wire brushing would be enough to keep the rust off and away. Thanks for the tip. I will look into having the replating/coating done. I know there are a few places in state that handle such things.

I have replaced all of the plastics (actual plastics, caps, bodies, bumper caps, post covers, acorns). I was just referring to cleaning the various bits. I know a lot of guys like to throw assemblies, bases, coils, etc in the ultrasound. I just wasn't sure if it worth it-if the results are better than a good soak.

I don't think anyone that has seen this wished theirs was in a similar condition. Yours must be rough

I am a huge SI fan in general. My folks had an upright in our pub when I was growing up and I would play it daily. When I got into pins I knew it was just a matter of time before I hunted one down. It really was the perfect first SS project.

According to the manual and parts catalog this came with an 8 ohm speaker.

The 6x9 that was in there was a little hard to read, but it appears to be an 8 ohm/8W speaker. Traditionally these came with 4" speakers. That being said, there aren't any mods/extra holes drilled out for it, leading me to believe this was in it from the factory.

I see what you mean. Still, there is a ton of potential. I am amazed how far my cab has come. I am really looking forward to finishing it off.