Restoring a Slugfest that I’ll eventually be selling. This will be the restoration that will be linked to the FS ad.

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I like Slugfest because it’s modular, so you pull out sections and work on it totally separate from the rest of the machine. I’ll start with the Control Panel. Reach into the coin door and there 2 locking clips. Release those, lift it up, disconnect the 2 connectors and it’s out.

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The front of the control panel overlay is completely gone and most of the buttons have seen better days.

The metal “lockdown bar” that holds in the playfield glass unscrews and comes off, and the brackets come off each with 2 screws and 2 nuts. The light sockets with switches either pull out or rotate out of the buttons.

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Now the interesting part. Once you unscrew the buttons, there is a metal plate underneath that separates from the wood panel.

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I used a heat gun and scraper to take off the old control panel overlay, then used Goof Off to take off the old glue.

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So now I had to decide on paint color. The Krylon matches the faded top of the machine, but the Rustolem matches the unfaded parts of the machine better, like the part of the control panel under the metal plate.

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So into the “paint booth.” Control panel wood was sanded both sides including the edges. I gotta say, the color match of the Rustoleum Ink Blue satin is pretty darn good. That’s the painted control panel wood next to two unpainted playfield supports that have never before seen the light of day. By the way, the paint overspray goes EVERYWHERE.

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Yes. I did the head decals yesterday and the cabinet is stripped with new decals ready to go and T-molding for both.

I got the decals, I’m embarrassed to say, in 2013 from a fellow Pinsider. Really nice quality. I do see Planetary Pinball has them.
Like all things, price is higher than it used to be. Listed at $300

Next I took the cleaned and “de glued” metal plate and put it back onto the wooden part of the control panel. There was a slight gap between the metal plate and the bullnose (black part) of the wooden panel. This is where the control panel overlay fails over time. Plus, it wasn’t laying flat in the middle. To get this to lay flat and fill the gap, I put some clear epoxy just behind the bullnose, put the metal plate back on, and tightened it down with the bracket screws. Then I clamped it. Don’t forget the ground wires. When dry, it was perfectly flat with no gap. Ready to apply the control panel overlay.

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Hats off to jcpin22 for giving me a kick in the pants to continue this restoration thread. I did run into a few problems that I thought may make the restoration impossible, but more on that later.
Where were we…?

Now that I have the control panel all prepped, I have to use a NOS control panel overlay, no?

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I used Rapid Tac to wet mount the overlay, making sure the holes line up perfectly. Then I bent the top part of the overlay and stapled it down. I then curled the bottom part around and stapled it. It is a bit stiff, so I used a hair dryer to increase the flexibility. Truth be told, it bugs me that the staples aren’t perfectly lined up even though that part is hidden.

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The buttons come off with a screw and then can be taken apart even further for cleaning or lens replacement. I had a whole box of buttons, now all new, so I replaced them all. Bulbs all replaced with LEDS. Cleaned the harness with Krud Cutter.

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Note: the single and 2 player buttons HAVE to be mounted horizontally or else the control panel won’t fit.
Control Panel done.

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Oh, I did polish up the lockdown bar before screwing it back on.

And now onto the Target Board assembly.

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The Target board assembly has a plug for the target switches, a plug for the lamps, and a plug for the optos. There is a metal ball deflector, the opto bracket, the lamp boards and and the switches and the targets. All that can come off.

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Painted the board with white Rustoleum, cleaned the harness, cleaned and polished all the metal parts, and put it back together.

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This is the Home Run Deck that slides in the cabinet above the Target Board assembly. The bleacher plastic screws onto the front. No switches. A piece of metal with decals. This one cleaned up nicely and I replaced the bleacher plastic.

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I definitely hear what you’re saying and you are absolutely correct. I’m not sure if you machined those parts or if someone else did, but they are fantastic. I’ll go over the batting mechanism in detail when I go over the playfield tear down (which is already done).

Alright, on to the head. There is a key to the lock on the panel at the top. Opening that gives access to the 2 securing bolts. Undo those, disconnect the lamp and speaker cables, remove the wing nut for the ground and it lifts of.

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Basically in the head is a lamp panel, a speaker panel and a vent grill that are accessible after taking the top lid/panel off. The speaker panel slides out the top, the lamp panel is secured with 3 screws, and the vent panel is secured with screws in the back. In the name of All Good Things Holy, if you want to destinkify your Slugfest, take off the grill and give it a thorough cleaning. As always, I’d recommend Krud Kutter.

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I took the decals off and put it in the “paint booth.” I find it interesting that the image of the decal remained on the wood after decal removal which definitely helped with lining up the new decal. Oh, if you think you’re gonna spray paint and not have the overspray go EVERYWHERE, well beyond the area you have protected from this happening, please stop reading now. I can’t help you anymore.

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Top panel painted and lamp panel painted with LEDs installed. Vent screen so clean I ate my lunch off of it. Pardon the spaghetti and meatballs stain.

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Cabinet head all put together. I did the dry method with the head decals. Lined them all up and hope for the best. I put a pot of water as a weight as I got the decal started. Make sure you line up the back correctly. All areas of the decal for the head have some leeway EXCEPT the back.

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I replaced the t-molding. Just gently pull it out of the groove. I spent an enormous amount of time researching how to cut t-molding to get a straight cut. In the end, I used a single edge razor blade. I found that if you extend the molding a little bit beyond the cabinet, then run the blade flat against the cabinet, it gives a nice, clean cut. For sharp corners, remove some of the vertical part of the T to help with the bend. Make sure the channel is clear of wood splinters, and push down.

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On to the Slugfest playfield. The playfield pivots up on 2 brackets that hinge on 2 posts in the cabinet. Follow the playfield harness to the boards in the back of the cabinet and disconnect all the connectors. The playfield then lifts straight up and out. Much easier and lighter than a regular pin playfield.

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I decided to strip everything off the playfield. This is all you need.

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Just unscrewed stuff and took it off the backside.

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Some Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean up the wood.

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The ol’ washy washy.

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I undid the carriage bolts to the front and back, then took a flat scraper and layed it against the cabinet and hit up under the siderail to free up the double-sided tape.

Alright, here’s the batting mechanism. On the left is is batting mechanic in the game and the right is the start of the rebuild.

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The problem is the drive arm assembly gets worn and blown out by the roller stud so there is a lot of slop in the bat.

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Here’s a brand new drive arm assembly. The only problem is the hole was made too small. Fortunately I had a NOS one.

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New bat frame sub-assembly and driven arm assembly that the bat ultimately gets screwed onto

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Here’s the rest of the bat assembly:

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Complete batting assembly installed.

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Here’s the pitching mechanism. There is a connector for the motor and a connector for the optos. Over time, the pitcher arm can get worn and affect the pitch trajectory.

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The pitching mechanism comes apart nicely for cleaning and polishing. NOS pitching arm installed.

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Here is the ramp assembly and the ramp motor assembly.

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Putting the backside of the playfield back together.

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