Stellar Wars on the improve

[Marty Machine]

Hi All,

I've been tinkering away at my Stellar Wars (Wms) for the past 2 weeks, replacing things almost daily.
(just ask Markc - i keep him in business hahaha).

When i originally got the machine, ALL the plastic posts were a very dark purple (almost black) colour which made the overall playfield look very dark and lacking lustre.

I've replaced most of the posts with transparent-coloured types, which has already brightened up the playfield drastically.



Enjoy
MM.

[Marty Machine]

Here's the top lane-guides before changing them to something more colourful (just above the top3 bumpers).
See how dark the posts are ???



MM.

[Marty Machine]

The first thing i did was change ALL the rubbers :

I can absolutely guarantee if you want your gameplay to speed up, CHANGE THE RUBBERS !!!!

What a load of dirty, perished, hardened culprits these were:


I love the fact that someone went to all the effort to repair a 'kicker' rubber instead of spending $1 or so 


Flipper rubbers were hard and crumbly, now the ball flys off the flippers with new ones fitted.


Even the shooter tip was crumbly and crap.



MM.

[Marty Machine]

I changed EVERY globe in the machine (all #44's), which is a good practice, rather than spend the rest of your days replacing dead globes every 2 days 

You can even tell which ones are dead (or dying) just by their dark appearance....trash 'em !!


Some #89's were hiding under the large red compass at the bottom of playfield.
These are wired in series, one was blown so the compass never lit up.
I was shocked upon playing the first game and getting all these red flashed in my face....cool ! 

Guess which one was blown??? 


MM.

[Marty Machine]

Here's the original purple Lane-Guides, cracked and stuffed too:



The shoot plunger had issues, i think it was bent from misuse? and although someone attempted to file it, it still 'grabbed' a lot on the plastic sleeve.
The plastic sleeve was so tortured that the end shim had come off, and often the sleeve would come out with the plunger and often slow the springback, launching the ball 1/2 way along the ball aisle..

Replaced with new shaft, sleeve and springs, hey, why not? huh?


MM.

[Marty Machine]

Just recently, i replaced ALL the screws in the playfield with new chromy ones.

Amazing what a difference a new screw makes.......to your playfield 

The original screws, dull silver and browning from light rust and corrosion.....


NEW screws, looking all chromey & sweet.....


MM.

[Marty Machine]

More to follow as i start adding extra features onto the playfield....

[illawarra_steelers]

Marty,

Did you totally strip your playfield, then fully clean before putting these new rubbers on your pin?

Cause if you didn't the rubbers will be dirty as within a month or so.

Stella Wars - oh the memories, up there with the best Williams pins from any era....oh the memories!!!

[Marty Machine]

Nope, i gave it a basic wipeover without stripping everything off, although each time i removed/replaced parts i'd find new dirt to remove.

I'm yet to go deeper into Mylar repair/replace and Novus and all that stuff.....

As it is, i'm buzzing to have the game running happily at the expense of sacrificial rubbers, but i'll replace them again when it's all settled.

MM.

[Strangeways]

Keep the updates coming Marty - you are doing a great job..

As Tony mentioned, after you have had your fun playing the game - Strip the playfield and go crazy cleaning it... It will play even better and you will have a clean game that is MORE FUN !

[markc]

starting to look good mate

but I can see a few more parts  needed 

[stuba]

your photos are good marty. some of those globes from the titanic. it'll come up a treat less that mylar. 

[jyebow]

I agree Marty, New rubber speeds up the game heaps , great for such a small $ outlay.
Lookin' good.Keep us posted on the progress.
cheers Steve. 

[Marty Machine]

Thanx for the kind words guys.

My major challenge is trying not to play it for long enough to strip down and clean/polish/mylar it.... 
one day.

MM.

[humpalot]

Nice game.
Have you done anything to that backglass?  Looks like it's flaking bad, if that's the case you need to seal it to stop it getting worse.