Well its been a while since an update, so here goes.

I have slowly been recovering from my hernia operation, so while i got mates to lift heavy stuff (like playfields onto a rotisserie!), i could tinker around doing the playfield swap.

First, in terms of the cabinet work that has been done since the last update.

I had bogged it and filled the cracks and sanded to what i thought was a suitable finish, and my nervousness in the photo below proved to be justified


If you look closely you can see hairline cracks, that i thought would be covered.  I tried the wet method, and in hindsight i think this worsened the problem - i think the moisture opened these grain cracks up even more and showed straight through onto the decal - so had to buy another front decal.

Then i went through a variety of methods to get the cabinet smooth.  Ended up using quite a few cans of spray putty, which did a fair job, but didn't seem to fill the grain in completely.  I then found a product called Nordsjo Timber Filler http://nordsjo.com.au/main/page_home.html which worked really well at filling the small grain lines - then a bit of light sanding and a final paint job to show up any more imperfections, which don't look to be there which is great!  Below is a  photo of the cab ready for a final coat - see the patchwork of fillers - paint, spray putty and timber filler - but in the end i got there!



So hopefully some time over the next week i plan to put the decals on - i'm thinking of going the dry method - partially because of the issues last time, but also as i am on the home stretch and keen to fire it up, so would prefer to not wait for decals to dry for days.  After watching a few videos, it seems taking things slowly, and triple checking everything before starting is the go.

In terms of the playfield swap - the rotisserie i constructed is fantastic .  I had it lifted onto the pool table so its at the perfect height to work on.



I really took my time stripping and rebuilding the new playfield and really enjoyed it - taking plenty of photos along the way of each part being removed.

I cleaned the wiring harness while still on the old playfield, by spraying Nifti onto a rag, then wiping along the wires - it came up pretty well really.  I thought swapping the harness over would be tricky, but having the two playfields together, so i could slide it off the old and onto the new made it pretty simple.  Had a couple of mates over and it was done in about 20 - 30 mins



Then took around a week or so (only a little bit each day), to clean all the bits, and put them onto the new playfield - the only shot i have at the moment is it standing up.


All the circuit boards were cleaned, new coil wrappers all round, new coil sleeves, new flipper parts, full new plastic set, new scoop, cliffy protector installed, new mummy coffin, full LEDs installed.

I have also started cleaning up the cabinet hardware staff such as the wiring harness, painting all the bolt heads, polishing the steel bits, so hopefully once the decals are on, it shouldn't take too long to get it back together.