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WhiteWater restoration


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Here is my next project?a Whitewater. It wasn?t a game I played back in the day and not really something on my radar, but when the opportunity came up to buy one in OK condition and ripe for resto, I jumped on it. I?m sure I said to quite a few people after finishing my Addams that I was done with restos for a while and that the next pin I bought was going to be something in good condition, but the lure of another resto got the better of me. My aim is to finish this by the end of November. Let?s see how we go. Here is the starting point.

 

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_5950_zps04a3ce25.jpghttp://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_5997_zps57891d11.jpghttp://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6078_zpsa19bc4cf.jpg

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By the end of November!!!

Looking forward to this resto, might motivate me to pull my finger out at my slow pace.

 

haha, well I'm 2 weeks ahead on the resto vs thread update, but it is still ambitious. We'll see how we go.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

wh20 Looks like a difficult resto.

 

Doesn't look much harder than Addams. Once I get the mini playfield and ramps off it might be a different story.

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I?m 3 weeks into this resto and feel like I?m making petty good progress. Here?s an update.The cabinet has been fully stripped.

 

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6044_zpsb5a3878e.jpg http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6065_zpseeefd917.jpg

 

Sanding the stripped cabinet is a pretty labour intensive process, especially getting the glue off. The photo below clearly show the sanded area and the glue residue left after the decal strip.

 

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6070_zpsbfbba5d5.jpg

 

This time round sanding the glue off seemed to happen a lot easier than it did with my Indy. I?m not sure why but I think it was probably because I was more confident with what I was doing and maybe I wasn?t as tentative when hitting it with the 80 grit sandpaper in the initial sand.

 

The cabinet ended up being in really good condition and only needed slight filling of a few chips, scrapes and light indentations around the legs. There was also some small de-lamination of the plywood on the underside that required re-gluing.

 

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6080_zpsc89b22ec.jpg

 

I also got stuck into the cabinet interior that's been fully prepared and painted. I?ll let the photos do the talking here.

 

http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6085_zps031ccdef.jpg http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6088_zps6dcdfb23.jpg http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx90/jonathongrivas/IMG_6087_zps5425f026.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Things are progressing well with this resto. I?ve got multiple things happening at once. Here is the update regarding the playfield.

 

The existing playfield is?well?rooted is the best way to say it. Thanks to @WATSJOHN for the really nice original playfield that only required a good clean and very minor touch ups on the edges of a couple of inserts.

 

 

Here is the before and after shots for the underside of the playfield after a light sand.

 

 

Over the last week I?ve got stuck into the playfield strip and swap. Thanks to @JohnJones for lending me his rotisserie. The upper playfield has been fully striped and labelled with lots of photos. Parts have been bagged in small sections and placed in snap locked plastic bags ready for cleaning and polishing. The complete strip took about 3 hours. Removing all the ramps and the mini playfield was fiddly but not as hard as expected.

 

 

My approach for the lower playfield is to label everything with masking tape and a texta and take lots of general photos. Then remove all the PCBs clean and attach to the new playfield.

 

 

Then move to the pop bumpers. I really don?t enjoy this part. Anyway, I?ve learnt from previous mistakes to do this job early in the process. Easy access to be able to staple down the globe wires is really important. Because you are working on both sides of the playfield at the same time this is where the rotisserie has really come in handy and made the job a lot faster/easier.

 

 

Then onto removing, rebuilding, cleaning and polishing the big parts like flipper mechanisms, kickouts, etc. Here are some before and after shot. The new coil wrappers really look nice.

 

 

The wiring hardness was pretty clean but I gave this a good clean with Shellite anyway. I slide the existing cable tiles up and down so I can really get in between the cables, clean and then slide them back into place. You'd be surprised how much dirt is on something that looks clean. This is also a good time to do a thorough inspection and repair of connectors and broken, frayed or damaged wires.

 

Now that everything is cleaned, tagged and polished it?s time to remove all the hex screws ready for the transfer.

 

 

To make this step quicker and easier I already had a set of hex screws left over from a previous resto polished and ready to go. This allows you to unscrew everything, do the transfer and screw everything back into place quickly while the layout is still fresh in your mind. Removed screws will be polished later so the process can be repeated for the next resto.

 

Here is the bottom of the playfield all transferred with just a few minor jobs, like the subway, to do before getting stuck into the top of the playfield.

 

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Good on ya Jono. This looks awesome, and the tip about the pop bumpers is really helpful. Get them in while the playfield is still pretty clear.

 

Did you buy new coil wrappers, or did you make your own???

 

That JohnJones guy sounds like a top bloke!

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Did you buy new coil wrappers, or did you make your own???

 

I made them up myself in WORD. I scanned an original wrapper so I could match up the font, font size and letter spacing. I reckon I got it pretty much perfect. Happy to share the template if anyone is interested.

 

There is a good list of wrappers at pinballrebel but the Williams ones are an older style. http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/coil_wrappers.htm

 

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are you using a tumbler for the screws etc? how are you polishing the larger parts?

 

Yes, I have a tumbler. I've just switched from corn cob to ground walnut shell media, (Zilla desert blend ground walnut shell from PetBarn) which seems to work faster and run quieter. I'll post an update re the larger parts shortly.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

hey @JohnJones, any tips on installing the playfield protector? It seems like it is only held in place by the star posts.

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The ramp flaps also keep the protector in place.

 

Do a practice fit before peeling the film, and this will show any bits that are not a perfect fit, and highlight any spots that would be best held down with some double sided tape. I give the playfield a final clean to remove any dust etc, stick a small dot of double sided tape at the back of the top loop, and a couple of other parts that may move or lift, peel off the underside film, then press the protector down. Then I carefully pull off the top film, trying not to move the protector.

 

I use a 3M double sided tape that is able to be re-stuck and doesn't leave residue when it is removed. I don't remember it's official name, but last I think I got it at Officeworks.

 

Looking at the quality of the rest of your work, I know you will have no troubles tackling this!

 

Also, I'd be very keen for the coil wrapper template, as the pin rebel ones don't match and the bought ones are way overpriced.

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