Firepower is back in service!

metahugh

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Finally!!! This was yet another game that was left for dead. I just couldn't bring myself to part it out and now that it is almost completely done I am glad I didn't! It always feels good to save a game. It was a super dirty game and totally dead. After a long time and a bit of money I have it up and playing! Pictures taken during the process are here:

http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=5423

And pictures of the end result are here:

http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=5766

The playfield was not in great shape, it had lots of planking and was super dirty. It appeared that it had been played on location without being cleaned because the dirt acted like sandpaper and damaged a few of the inserts. I got into this knowing that I wasn't going to sink too much time since playfields are rumored to come out in the future. I just wanted it playing and looking decent. It has been stripped down on the top and cleaned under the bottom of the playfield. The top was buffed and waxed and touchups in the red and black have been done. I chose not to go too crazy with the touchups.

The CPU, Driver, Sound and Power boards all needed servicing. I had to:

CPU Board
Replaced all ROM Sockets and the 40 pin interconnect
Replaced all wiring headers
Socketed the CPU and the PIA and installed a new CPU and PIA
Replaced all capacitors

Driver Board
Replaced the 40 pin interconnect
Replaced all wiring headers
Replaced a few transistors for a few dead coils
Installed new resistors for the lamps

Power Board
New Caps New wiring headers
Upgraded Diodes D7 and D8

Sound Board
Replaced the bridge rectifier (BR1)

The displays were working 100% so I got lucky with those. Other items
besides cleaning included:

1. Replaced the bridge rectifiers in the head for the lamps and solenoids
2. New legs
3. New backglass
4. New pop bumper bodies, skirts and lamp sockets
5. Flattened the original plastics in the oven
6. New red translucent shooter and flipper buttons
7. Flipper rebuild and new flipper bushings

This is also my first all LED conversion. I'm not a super big fan of LEDs but in this case it came out pretty nice in my opinion. Everything is LED minus the two flashers. I put a combination of white and red LEDs in the backbox from Pinball Life (The concave lens LEDS) and all of the other 44 LEDS are frosted types from www.cointaker.com. I probably wouldn't go full LED on newer titles and this game does have the typical on/off effect LEDs bring to the table but overall its pretty nice. I was most impressed with the frosted LEDs in the GI, I was expecting it to look horrible but I was proven wrong.

Now I say it is 99% done because there are two things that need to be done. The Highest Score light on the light panel is not working and will require further troubleshooting to fix. Also my apron and shooter gauge are not in nice shape. I have a good scan of the apron and I will be using it as my first Illustrator project. Once those are done I can call it 100% done, at least until new playfields come out :)

Here are some vids:

Gameplay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FDiis-wkz8


Video of the LEDs in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1QplDRRDyM
 
Congrats! I just ordered the 2nd half of my playfield LEDs, did most of the inserts and was impressed at how colorful the ablaze 3 led lights look in the playfield.

I debated on the flashers and decided to go ahead and get them. Without it the insert is a different blue when flashed as opposed to when in lit power mode. That was driving me nuts -- lit i a nice deep blue but then it is more of a light ice blue when flashed.

I'll have to get some pics of mine up when I'm finished this week.
 
Congrats on the resurrection! Sounds like yours was quite the troublemaker. That feeling you get after every major step in your rebuild... great, isn't it?
 
Congrats! I just ordered the 2nd half of my playfield LEDs, did most of the inserts and was impressed at how colorful the ablaze 3 led lights look in the playfield.

I debated on the flashers and decided to go ahead and get them. Without it the insert is a different blue when flashed as opposed to when in lit power mode. That was driving me nuts -- lit i a nice deep blue but then it is more of a light ice blue when flashed.

I'll have to get some pics of mine up when I'm finished this week.

They did look great Chris, thanks for letting my dad and I play a game while we were down there. I grew up after that era, it's a completely different feeling(better) than playing it on the Wii collection. The game is a lot of fun and has some character.

@ Hugh - Congrats on getting that running bet that's a good feeling.
 
Congrats on the resurrection! Sounds like yours was quite the troublemaker. That feeling you get after every major step in your rebuild... great, isn't it?

Yes it does! I had it working and all of a sudden it blew the CPU (6808). Right before it blew I smelled a burning smell. After this I socketed the PIA and I was paranoid trying to figure out what blew it the first time. Turned out that it was the flasher resistor board under the playfield that was making the burning smell. What a relief!

They did look great Chris, thanks for letting my dad and I play a game while we were down there. I grew up after that era, it's a completely different feeling(better) than playing it on the Wii collection. The game is a lot of fun and has some character.

@ Hugh - Congrats on getting that running bet that's a good feeling.

Thanks Kevin :) Its always nice to bring something back and make it playable.
 
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