I saw an ad on Gumtree Thursday evening and someone was selling a project Whirlwind. I called the guy and he mentioned he bought it a few years ago as a project but never got time to work on it so he was moving it on. He noted that the playfield glass was broken (happened a couple of months ago - no biggie) and he felt the playfield was in bad shape and may need to be replaced. I was the first one to call him and he was only a couple of suburbs over so I arranged to go and look at it the next day after he got home from work.
When I got there the next day it turns out he had a HEAP of people ringing. But to his credit and his integrity he told them all that I was first to call and arrange to see it so I had first option to purchase. Top guy!
Turns out the playfield was actually pretty good. There was one wear spot near the right return lane where it was worn to the wood but apart from that the rest looked good. There is the obvious wear around the outholes which is easy enough to fix and the spinning discs need new decals but other than that the playfield looks great. There is obviously mylar on it which from my reading I shouldn't even bother considering removing from a System 11 unless I want major paint loss and lifted inserts, but I really don't think I would need to anyhow. All the inserts are flat and apart from a bit of crazing on a few of them they look fine.
The cabinet needs some work and I would probably end up going the whole hog and putting decals on if I fix the cabinet up. Ramps look fine but I will probably buy replacements and all the other plastics (except for slingshots) appear to be ok. Importantly it fired up when I turned it on but couldn't play a game as there is glass EVERYWHERE!!! I also didn't even bother trying to go through the test mode as glass was probably blocking switches etc. I couldn't see anything too bad with my quick look at the boards either. There was a remote battery holder which probably would have saved the boards from inevitable leakage given he had it sitting there for a few years.
I went and picked the game up today and Perth is such a small place it turns out my son and his daughter are in the same class at school.
Anyhow, lots of stuff for me to replace and clean etc etc, but should be a fun project. I just gotta finish off my first one. These are just some quick pics I snapped. I will post better ones when I get around to starting the restoration.
Oh yeah I paid $400 for it.
