The keys for the head box had been lost somewhere in the past and the previous owner had drilled out the lock in the head box. While searching around in the cabinet when I first got the machine home, I found the left overs along with the hook which locks the head box door in place.
Pinball
Documenting my adventures into pinball repair and restoration
Time to do some work on the coin door on my Fireball machine. On arrival it had 3 coin mechs hooked up, with some sort of modified pricing plates installed. It also contained a delightful sticker warning about the terrible content of the game.
I don’t plan to do too much with the coin door as it’s not in bad condition, but a few improvements can be made.
My first go at play field touch up.
Just below the base of the ramp at the top of the play field, a spot had worn away completely (across orange, yellow and some blue). There was also some marking along the orange flame a little further down which required some attention.
When going through the Fireball machine for the first time, I noticed some cut wires down the right hand side of the cabinet. I made a note of it and moved on. Only later did it occur to me I couldn’t find the knocker.
I went back to those 3 wires and noticed a small metal plate against the side of the cabinet. So this is where the knocker -used- to be. But for some reason, it had been removed.
While I’m waiting on parts to arrive for the pop bumpers and a few different paint colours for the play field, I decided to do some work on the back glass lighting.
The colours on the Fireball Classic backglass are well known to fade over time. Mine isn’t the worst I’ve seen, but it would have looked so much better when it rolled off the production line.
One method I could use to bring back some colour is used covers over the bulbs. Using a combination of yellow and red covers, I could help breath some colour back into the backglass.
For things like High score, Match, Tilt, etc I left those with no covers.
