I got my hands on a rare machine and am doing a full restoration on it. I plan on taking my time and doing it right. I plan on documenting the whole process.
I have done several restorations in the past and documented several of them. This one I will take a more professional approach to. My aim is to restore it to factory condition with the exception of adding led lights.
Past restorations:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gold-judge-dredd

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-black-knight-playfield-swap-and-shop-out

Backstory:
I got the machine from a non pinball guy and he stated that it does not work aside from the g.i. turning on. I bought it without ever turning it on and to this day have not turned it on.
Condition:
Upon inspection I noticed the original battery holder had minimal acid damage from the batteries leaking. The acid damaged several components on the driver board below.
The backglass has only 2 small spots on the bottom corners that have chipped off.
The cabinet is very nice and has only a few nicks and the image is faded.
The playfield was dirty and has some streaks where the image is missing.

The pictures below are from the seller, I havent taken any full body shots of it yet
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First thing I did was remove all the boards and backbox harness. I replaced the parts that were damaged by acid and replaced ALL the male side of the connector pins and ALL the female side of the connectors on the harness after running thru a cleaning cycle in the washing machine.

Here is a before shot of the harness. And a picture of the boards with all new connectors, replaced damaged parts and all capacitors replaced.

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After repairing the boards i reconnected the cpu to the driver and bench tested it and it booted up correctly. So far so good.

Cleaning the playfield and preparing it for touch ups and cleacoat.
Using alcohol and Mr. Clean pads to clean it up. A light sanding to even it out. Next step for the playfield is touch ups, light coat of clear, repaint all the white with air brush, then final clear and sand and clear and sand...

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You can see how much of a difference in color there is once its been cleaned. The circled area is clean. There was a thick layer of grime covering the whole playfield.

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The playfield is stripped down and parts are being cleaned and tumbled. Playfield harness needs to be washed.

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I need to replace these labels and the coil labels. Are the files available or do I need to make them?

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Thank you for the link to all those labels and coil wrappers. I will be using the coil wrappers but could not find the correct backbox labels, so I recreated them myself as accurate as I could.

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Before and after of the coils and mechs. Tumbled the mechs in crushed walnut, a couple dabs of mothers metal polish and a spritz of mineral spirit. Coils got stripped of old wrappers and put in an ultrasonic cleaner with some water and purple power.
New coil wraps were printed on the paper suggestex i the above thread and i clearcoated the paper to give it that wax look like the originals.

Heres a before and after.

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Playfield touch ups are about done. Next a light clearcoat so i can put frisket paper on it to do the blank white areas.
Before and after pics

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First layer of automotive clearcoat put on just to seal the touchups before i put the frisket paper on it to do the white.

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Frisket tape applied and painted the white areas. Next is the official clearcoating and sanding. This will be about the 10th playfield I have clearcoated. Shoild be the best one yet. Once the playfield is done ill wait several weeks to put the bottom together and then the top side after its has cured.
In the meantime i will be working on the cabinet.

Here is an after and before picture.

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Found this yesterday while taking the cabinet apart. 38 years ago to the day!

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Playfield clear coat is done. Its like glass. Started putting the bottom back together as well. Wont put the top side together for atleast a week or 2 to let the clear fully cure.

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Installing all new ground braid for the g.i.
All screws and parts for the underside of the playfield have been tumbled and cleaned.

Before
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After
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Wiring harness is attached. Started soldering all the wires and coils. Clean up switch contacts and lamp sockets as I go.
One pic is with flash other without.

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Underside of the playfield is done.. but still have to add leds to the lamp sockets. Should have done the bulbs while i was putting it all back together but i havent ordered leds yet. Feels good to have this mostly done.
Moving on to the cabinet next, that will give time for the top side of the playfield to fully cure to avoid pooling or other defects in the clear.

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Cabinet is underway. Also put a few things on the top side of the playfield.

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Started the art on the cabinet today. Still needs some miniscule touchups and the small stars. I will eventually be clearcoating the cabinet in a flat clear.

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Waited a little over 3 weeks to put the top side back together. The clear coat is sufficiently hard and im not worried about pooling around posts and hardware.
I can now start to appreciate all my hard work now that the playfield is finished.
Still have to tighten up the flipper bats....

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First coat of flat clear put on the cabinet. Started running the new ground braid as well. I expect to make some real progress next week, should have everything done (playfield and cabinet) except the head.

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Finally getting around to finishing this up. Thd head is about done, just need to clear coat it with the matte clear and assemble everything.

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No. The lock will be replaced.

Finished the head. Still need to tumble some parts and hinges then assemble the whole thing.

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Getting close to finishing up. Doing all the stuff ive been putting off.

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Shes home!! Booted her up and worked out a few kinks. Still havent installed the flipper bats so I havent put a game on it yet. Also have to get a speaker for it, so pending the sound working I am almost finished. And I need to install all the labels like the warning and inspection stickers

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Ordered a new speaker. Flippers on. Almost all the labels and stickers have been put back on. Played a couple games without sound. Need to adjust some switches (slingshots, pop bumpers) put the coin inserts in and lastly put the backglass in.

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Finally finished!!! Time to sell.

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