NBA Fastbreak

[ralphwiggum]

I haven't done a larger pinball project in a couple of years, so I thought I would post one here. I have a pair of NBA Fastbreaks that are going to get the full treatment, Playfield teardowns, cabinet decals, etc. I will post one here, and when I get to the other one, just imagine it as the same process as this one.

So my goal is to knock this out in two weeks. It is an ambitious goal, but now that I have a dedicated workspace, it might be doable.

[ralphwiggum]

Day 1-
Reference Pictures for Playfield teardown. I have already shopped out my previous two NBA Fastbreaks, but those are both gone, and my camera is better than the last time I did one (about 5 years ago).

So here is the playfield as it sits currently-

[ralphwiggum]

Day 1-
Starting Process of removal- Apron, Ramps

[ralphwiggum]

Day 1- Removal of Scoreboard, Player Habitrails

[ralphwiggum]

Day 1- Removal of all of the metal guides, posts, plastics

[ralphwiggum]

Day 1- Removal of rest of plastics, posts, gates, etc.

[ralphwiggum]

Day 1 is done..... All plastics have been separated, metal has been thrown into the tumbler, and plastics posts, and larger metal parts will make their way to the ultrasonic cleaner a little later.

Day 2 is up, and it is the messiest one (even with a vacuum attached to the orbital sander).

Cabinet disassembly, and hardware removal (lots of pictures of the internal backbox because I almost always forget where the plastic rings are and which orientation they are in)-

[ralphwiggum]

Day 2- Bracket Removal, and misc. hardware removal-

[ralphwiggum]

Day 2- The calm before the Stripping Storm!

[ralphwiggum]

Day 2-
Some more Pre-strip pics-

[ralphwiggum]

Day 2- Time for the nudes!

[ralphwiggum]

Days 3-7- No pics to show..... Lots of sanding, filling, sanding, filling. This is a tedious process, but when done right, it makes all the difference in the world. The devil is in the details in this process- Little stuff like filling the backbox holes on the sides and then re-drilling (this keeps the decal from puckering in because the bolt hole has recessed in a bit from tightening), and then also, blending/filling all the seams on the back of the backbox because the particle board they use for the back is complete garbage.

Also during this timeframe, all metal has been polished, all flat metals have been regrained, and all plastic have been polished.

[ralphwiggum]

Day 8- Playfield has been cleaned, polished, waxed, and minor playfield assembly begins, along with the process of priming and painting the cabinet. I am not going to fully populate the playfield as it is sitting in another cabinet while I work on it, and I would rather slide it over to the restored cabinet without all the assemblies on it. Playfields are awkward to move with the long wiring harnesses hanging from them, and putting one in a restored cabinet is even more daunting as you don't want to scratch anything up.

Initial repopulate pics-

[max242]

Wow Ralph, that's quite a project. Can't wait to see the final. And guessing pictures won't do it justice

[ralphwiggum]

Wow Ralph, that's quite a project. Can't wait to see the final. And guessing pictures won't do it justice

Thanks... the worst part about this one is that I have to do everything twice since there are two of them.

I am hitting the cab with a final coat of paint tonight, then after 48 hours... decals are going on.