It’s been awhile since my last update on the progress with the Mariner. Thanks mainly to my skate ramp project which took over my Christmas and New Years holiday time. With the ramp mostly done, it was time to get back to working on this machine and edge it closer to completion. For this update I wanted to look at the pricing plates on the coin door.
Decals
All posts tagged Decals
The drop target bank has waited, or more accurately, been put off for, long enough. Time to pull the assembly to pieces and clean it all. When I first got the machine home, the 6th and 7th yellow drop targets were broken. I replaced these back in update #2 so I could start a game and test out the switches. At this point, the drop target bank functions correctly. That includes all switches. So this is a good starting point. If I mess anything up in rebuilding the assembly, I’ll know it’s my fault. The plastic, posts and old rubber had been removed awhile back. This photo is also from awhile ago too as you can see all the areas around the drop targets are incomplete (but have since been finished in previous updates).
First on the agenda for this update was cleaning the underside of the red missile inserts and replacing their old bulbs. All 28 of them. Yes, that’s as exciting as it sounds…. Each row of 7 lamps are attached to a bank which can be unscrewed allowing better better access to the bulbs. But because each bank is wired to the next, it’s fiddly to get the bulbs in and out of. All the existing bulbs are #44’s. These will be replaced with #47’s.
Time for another update on the repair and service on my Gottlieb Counterforce. The momentum has been pretty good, although playing Pinbot is cutting into my repair time 😉 For this outing, I’ll be looking at the two sling shots and top area of the playfield. Normally my next step after the apron would be to look at the flippers. But while waiting for flipper kits to arrive, I decided to shift to the slingshots. There are two sling shots on the Counterforce playfield. The first is on the left, above the lower flipper. The second one is not directly opposite (as you’d normally expect), but a bit higher up on the playfield – across from the upper left flipper. I’ll start with the lower one first. Sitting behind the slingshot, we have an out lane and two in lanes. Like with the entire machine – it’s seen a lot of action and had much neglect. Lots of cleaning required and some damage I can’t undo. Thankfully the plastic is reasonably good and is not cracked. The green lane hoods are damaged (melted) from the bulb that sits below them and one has a few cracks on the front. I’ll try cleaning these up, but will most likey replace them.
A very minor update this one – there should be a bigger one ready on Monday or Tuesday next week. I’ve been looking at recreating the decals for the drop targets and stand up targets. Thanks to a fancy printer my mother in law uses for craft and scrap booking, I’ve been able to come up with an excellent result. The decals are cut into vinyl then peeled and stuck on. Here is one of the orignal (broken) targets that was at the base of the Counterforce cabinet, along side a second hand yellow target with a new decal installed.
