WH2O restoration post 5: Floating Gently Along
Now that the Upper PF is done, attention turns to the Main PF. Each section gets all the pieces, bolts, posts and screws removed and placed in ziploc bags, leaving me with about 89 baggies in a box. Man, I hope I can get all this back together.
Underneath, I unscrewed all the targets and loosened the flipper bats. The replacement targets got soldered in, and all others got cleaned up so they look nice again. Soldering in the targets was tougher than I anticipated, as there is nothing to push against when they are just dangling from a vertical playfield.
Next was removal of all the lamp housings so I can clean the inserts from underneath. Out comes the alcohol and Q-tips, and I can’t believe what a difference it makes. I stuck a 40 watt work light in the cab and lowered the playfield to bask in the awesome. I see 2 inserts that didn’t get cleaned; they looked dim and dingy compared to the clean ones.
While I was down there I replaced all of the bulbs, just for good measure. I’d ordered 9 boxes each of #44 and #555 bulbs, might as well use them.
Back up top, the now bare playfield gets some attention. There is some slight insert wear that can be cleaned up using black and white paint, so that gets taken care of. I bought a nice, fine point sable brush and some black and white Model Master paint at a hobby store. If I do say so myself it looks pretty good.
It’s hard to see from pictures, but just the little bit on touchup I did makes a difference. The PF was in pretty good shape anyway, and fixing the black around the inserts makes the wear that’s still there less noticeable.
There was also this weird little hole in the PF, almost like it had been drilled. I painted it, then filled it with Krazy Glue. The glue I use is very thin, like water, so it files holes without leaving bubbles. It also runs down into cracks in plastics and bonds them solidly. it took several applications of glue to fill the hole, and then some sanding to get it flat. Now, if you aren’t looking for it, you’d never know it was there.
After that dries, 3 coats of Kit paste wax get put on and buffed to a nice shine. Mmmm. Glossy.
