Phetishboy
Well-known member
Finally got time today to install mine, thanks Chris. I was a bit scared at first as I didn't wanna scratch, mar or dent this masterpiece. I left the premask on until the last bolt was tightened. Now first off, the undersized Wico that was in there to begin with sucked. Too small, sloppy, no spring, etc. Found a nice NOS 3.5" Orange Ball stick and mated it with a nice Wico leaf base. New spring, nice centering grommet, 4 nice leafs. I was about to install it when I realized, shit, the holes in the aluminum panel were obviously predrilled for the Bat stick base. Since I didn't have an adapter plate, and I sure as hell didn't wanna drill out 4 new Wico holes in the nice, new repro panel, I decided that I needed to improvise. I grabbed a 3/8 inch bit and drilled 4 large 3/16" deep countersink holes into the top of the MDF panel (in the top of the Wico bolt holes) for the carriage bolt heads to sit in, just underneath the aluminum panel. Worked pretty slick, and I was still able to put polished bolts in the holes meant for the Bat stick to plug them and make them look finished for now. I also desoldered all the wires and added crimp connectors, in case a bat stick ever does pop up and I wanna change this one out. The orange ball matches the directional orange ink perfectly, and looks better than the red ball looked. I wish it was taller, but oh well. It's about 1/2" taller than the old one, and actually centers now. I soaked and scrubbed all 4 buttons, replaced them, polished all bolts heads and cleaned all the wiring. Anywho, pics:


