Hi All,
Joined the club a couple of months back. The machine was sold as going but seems to have many problems so I decided to turn it into a project. Here is a list of the problems (so far):
- One flipper was quite weak
- Stand up target faces were broken
- Drop target and spinner faces were badly faded and peeling
- Sound volume was very low
- Many lights not working - not sure if this is a globe or matrix problem yet
- Cabinet was shagged and quite battered about
- Cabinet floor had a hole that had been badly patched up
- Playfield was in pretty bad shape with fading and planking
- Battery on MPU board was corroded
I have done the following so far (getting close to the finish line)
- Relocated the batteries from the MPU to a battery holder and cleaned the corrosion from the MPU board.
- Tried to clean the playfield with no success - it was just so badly marked that the only option was to try and remove the mylar. This turned into a bit of a disaster so I went for the easy option and ordered a hardtop.
- Prep'ed the playfield by sanding back and tried several combinations to try and get the inserts looking great but ended up sanding, then clear coating and buffing. Sanded and clear coated the ball lane. The hardtop installation was a breeze and I couldn't be happier with the end result.
- Repaired the cabinet bottom by patching and filling the hole and painted it
- Sanded and repaired the cabinet, undercoated with a high-fill primer and painted with acrylic gloss royal blue. Order a set of stencils from Pinball Pimp - again I can highly recommend this product as the stencils were pretty easy to use for a novice like me with no major issues. Painted the two other colors (Red and White)
- Installed a flipper rebuild kit and also replaced most of the top side components for the pop bumpers
- Added a few custom mods that I had seen on this site such as the Space Shuttle engine LED mod and Lock hole lighting.
- Installed new stand up target faces, spinner decal and drop target decals.
- Installed new plastics and Rubbers. Replaced all lamps with LED's. Replaced Space Shuttle. New flipper buttons and flipper switches.
- All metal polished and legs powder coated. New leg bolts and levelers
- Cleaned power supply and cabinet inside. All wires enclosed in cable conduit.
This was the first pinball restore project I have done however I have done a few car resto projects which helped with this.
Here are a few photos:
Before:
20180211_215553 (resized).jpg
DSC_0213 (resized).jpg
20180212_211021 1 (resized).jpg
After:
20180321_182915 (resized).jpg
20180402_180412 (resized).jpg
20180402_180448 (resized).jpg
20180402_180625 (resized).jpg
20180402_180104 (resized).jpg
I will post some more photos and an update once its all back together and working.
Huston - We have Liftoff !!!