Next on the agenda were the playfield repairs. The topside of the playfield was completely stripped of all parts prior to doing any work. Next I removed the old mylar pieces by heating it up with a paint stripper gun (on the low setting!), and slowly pulling it up while heating it. Next the old mylar glue and dirt was removed with Prepsol wax & grease remover, rags and a lot of hard work!
All of the paint touch-ups were done using Chromacryl artists acrylic paints, using a small brush. The worst area to repair was around the centre eject hole, not only was the paint chipped away but the wood itself was splitting. This was fixed by working PVA wood glue into the cracks, then smearing a thin layer all around the tapered edge of the hole. Before this though I had to touch up the black around the hole as best as possible. It was necessary to use several applications of paint to build the paint thickness back up to the same level as the original paint. Also I had to fill and retouch two postholes, which were added by a previous owner just below the “up post” lanes, that didn’t belong there.
When all of the touch-ups were done and deemed good enough I applied a new sheet of mylar to the whole playfield. After the mylar was done, I flipped the playfield over and repaired all of the lamp sockets by soldering the bases and cleaning them out by running a 3/8’ drill bit in a cordless drill on the slow speed. Also I soldered the connecting wire to reach socket directly to the tip that makes contact with the lamp, as seen below to further increase reliability.
