After a few months of trying to get a board repaired for my Star Trek: The Next Generation pin, I finally had a little luck and bought one from a dealer in the UK. It arrived a couple days ago, and as I was installing it in the backbox, I realised that my pin needed a little loving. So, I’m going to go beyond shopping it, and see how much I can restore it to get as close to NIB as possible.
I’ve talked with a couple specialty places in the US, and I’m going to get one of them to restore the playfield for me and clearcoat it. I’m going to take care of the rest, which basically means stripping the parts from the top and bottom of the playfield, cleaning everything thoroughly, replacing and/or rebuilding some parts, repainting and re-decaling all the models, testing all connectors and wires, and repairing/repainting the cabinet (if I can find a way to reproduce the cabinet decals, that is). A lot of rebuilds and parts replacements will be required, but everything’s in decent shape, and the end result will be worth it.
Best part is, these kind of things are supposed to take time (getting the playfield restored takes 6-10 weeks alone), so I’ll have an excuse for taking six months. That said, something close to NIB will be worth a fair bit of coin, so with luck it’ll be an investment. I have The Getaway re-wired (thanks Marvin!) and working now, and will be getting a bag of parts for both machines while I’m in Philly next week.
I’ll probably start a couple weeks from now, and will post progress reports as I move along. yay toys, and it’ll keep me occupied during the summer, provided I’m not travelling too much.