I've always meant to start a thread /mini diary on how my Road Show was progressing. Others have posted very interesting updates and photos with their container pins and how things are going with them. I love reading those! Well my tear down is finally progressing, albeit very slowly due to time constraints. I already attend topl which gives me my weekly pin fix, plus with family stuff and work it doesn't leave a lot of time left over to work on it. But I am determined to see this thing through to the end!
I am definitely still a beginner to basic pin repair and restoration. This is my 2nd attempt at a pin. I got this RS way back in April and off the top of my head, the things that were wrong included:
- Sound board not working, as detailed in one of the Menace Files.
- Red and Ted eyes not working - no open, close, I think one of them could move their eyes to the left but not back.
- A bunch of switches not responding, pop bumper not working.
- A bunch of GI not working - a whole string of lights in the back box and the row of flashers behind Red and Ted at the back of the playfield. There are some board hacks to repair burnt and broken J120 connectors.
- Broken/cracked plastics in a lot of places.
After I got my sound board working again, the first order of business was to see what was going on inside the Red and Ted assemblies. I got the Red assembly out with ease but I quickly found out that to get Ted out, you pretty much have to do a full teardown. He is a bitch to get out! There are so many hard to reach screws, and the 2 main screws that lock in the yellow bulldozer and his head are really inaccessible. I don`t know HOW operators dealt with a broken Ted in the field. I`m gonna guess they didn`t.
A good month or 2 was spent slowly tearing down all the ramps and plastics but I finaly got him out. So just a few weeks ago, Dr. Menace helped me get Red and Ted fully functioning again - he had just restored a Funhouse and was really familiar with those head assemblies. I`ll leave it to him to describe the nightmare that it was to put them back together. But from what I remember, there were incorrect coils, missing coil stops, some ad hoc repairs and a whole bunch of wire going who knows where. But thank you Dr.Menace! They are now sitting pretty waiting for the tear down and reassembly to finish:
Here are some more pics. I put in new slingshot plastics I got from Mike Wong to replace the cracked ones.
Left side cleaned and reassembled:
Working on the ride side now. Look at that dirt!
City start scoop wear. I ordered a cliffy.
Obligatory shooter lane pic. I cant seem to get the shooter lane any cleaner. Any tips on getting it cleaner? That dirt seems to be quite ingrained into the groove.
I repaired my pop bumper finally. Required a new metal bracket which I picked up from Starburst.
A whole mess of dirty ramps and wireforms waiting to be cleaned.
The apron has paint rusted off. Will re-do the paint at some future date plus I have to buy new apron stickers.
My speaker panel plastic came deformed like this. Melted by a soldering iron maybe?! I'll have to source one from somewhere like ebay. Marcos and BAA seem to have all other speaker panel plastics except RS.
When I was cleaning the translite glass, I discovered it was an incorrect thickness. My new plastic trim pieces I got from Marcos wouldn't fit! Adam told me to try plexiglass from home depot or buy tempered glass. Any shops you guys prefer?
Well I hope that gives you an idea of what a container pin could have in store for you should you decide to pick one up. Anyways, the tear down continues...
I am definitely still a beginner to basic pin repair and restoration. This is my 2nd attempt at a pin. I got this RS way back in April and off the top of my head, the things that were wrong included:
- Sound board not working, as detailed in one of the Menace Files.
- Red and Ted eyes not working - no open, close, I think one of them could move their eyes to the left but not back.
- A bunch of switches not responding, pop bumper not working.
- A bunch of GI not working - a whole string of lights in the back box and the row of flashers behind Red and Ted at the back of the playfield. There are some board hacks to repair burnt and broken J120 connectors.
- Broken/cracked plastics in a lot of places.
After I got my sound board working again, the first order of business was to see what was going on inside the Red and Ted assemblies. I got the Red assembly out with ease but I quickly found out that to get Ted out, you pretty much have to do a full teardown. He is a bitch to get out! There are so many hard to reach screws, and the 2 main screws that lock in the yellow bulldozer and his head are really inaccessible. I don`t know HOW operators dealt with a broken Ted in the field. I`m gonna guess they didn`t.
A good month or 2 was spent slowly tearing down all the ramps and plastics but I finaly got him out. So just a few weeks ago, Dr. Menace helped me get Red and Ted fully functioning again - he had just restored a Funhouse and was really familiar with those head assemblies. I`ll leave it to him to describe the nightmare that it was to put them back together. But from what I remember, there were incorrect coils, missing coil stops, some ad hoc repairs and a whole bunch of wire going who knows where. But thank you Dr.Menace! They are now sitting pretty waiting for the tear down and reassembly to finish:
Here are some more pics. I put in new slingshot plastics I got from Mike Wong to replace the cracked ones.
Left side cleaned and reassembled:
Working on the ride side now. Look at that dirt!
City start scoop wear. I ordered a cliffy.
Obligatory shooter lane pic. I cant seem to get the shooter lane any cleaner. Any tips on getting it cleaner? That dirt seems to be quite ingrained into the groove.
I repaired my pop bumper finally. Required a new metal bracket which I picked up from Starburst.
A whole mess of dirty ramps and wireforms waiting to be cleaned.
The apron has paint rusted off. Will re-do the paint at some future date plus I have to buy new apron stickers.
My speaker panel plastic came deformed like this. Melted by a soldering iron maybe?! I'll have to source one from somewhere like ebay. Marcos and BAA seem to have all other speaker panel plastics except RS.
When I was cleaning the translite glass, I discovered it was an incorrect thickness. My new plastic trim pieces I got from Marcos wouldn't fit! Adam told me to try plexiglass from home depot or buy tempered glass. Any shops you guys prefer?
Well I hope that gives you an idea of what a container pin could have in store for you should you decide to pick one up. Anyways, the tear down continues...
