A couple of months ago I bought a 1976 Gottlieb “Surf Champ” pinball machine out of a basement where it had been the last 20 or so years. I completely stripped down the top side of the playfield and cleaned all parts. Metal went in the tumbler. I replaced the plastics, cleaned the star posts, replaced all bulbs, buffed and polished all the metal ball guides and all larger metal parts. I did a hasty touch up to an area near the kick-out hole. I didn’t fill the hole, just matched the paint and put a small bit of mylar over the area. I deep cleaned the playfield, buffed it, then waxed it 4 times. Then finally, i put it all back together!
It was a really fun project bringing this machine back to a good life. It’s pretty neat having a pinball machine that was born the same year I was. It is really fun to play and quite challenging.
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