This
is the same shot as the one at the start. Ugly and dirty!
This
is the same shot as the one at the start. Ugly and dirty!
A lot to do on the playfield! I had to start by just taking things off, starting with the bumpers...
On the left is the underside of the bumpers... Not too complicated, but there
are three wires to unsolder for each one, and there are twelve bumpers..
Each
bumper was removed and disassembled. Eash plastic piece was carefully cleaned by
hand, and the metal parts all went into the polisher. And yes, those rubber rings
around each bumper were all white at one time!
The playfield without bumpers, and a number of other items removed as well. On the right you get an idea on the level of crud! The next step is to take off the oak trim that surrounds the outer portion. This is just nailed on, so it came off rather easily. I then sanded the trim and re-stained it. It will be reattatched using screws this time, though..
Unfortunately, the "before" picture of this was accidentally deleted,
so you only get the "after" pic.. It cleaned up well! A lot of
scrubbing and waxing, and it actually is looking good... After this, I reassembled
the bumpers, put the oak apron back on, and replaced all of the plasic posts and
other miscellaneous pieces.
I also re-printed the score and instruction cards
and....
It's ready for action!
The cabinet work is underway... I made a new coin door, since the old one was really beyond help. The cabinet itself is in pretty decent shape; it's just the paint that's bad. there isn't really any repair necessary on the cabinet, and there aren't even any bad gouges or scratches.
The first thing to do is make stencils for the artwork. I made two: one for the white and another for the red pattern. After assuring myself that my method would work, it was on to the next step...
Sanding and stripping! The paint on the main cabinet came off very quickly and easily with a sander, but the backbox was being stubborn. So I used some paint stripper instead... Then I found out why it was being a pain. The backbox was originally painted for a 'Surf Queens' game! Surf Queens was the game that came out just before Big League, and they must have had some extra backboxes at the factory!