Bought my first EM

Celebrating Independence Day with Space Mission. This is the 4 player version of Space Odyssey from Williams, made in 1976. A few months back, I posted that I was looking for an EM to try a re-theme for about $300. I almost picked up a Darling with no backglass, but the schedule didn't work out. Then, I found a Space Mission in Hammond, Indiana in a Facebook ad for $300. I drove out last Friday and picked it up.

The previous owner had it for between 22 and 26 years. The electronics were in working order. Since I don't really know how to fix that, it is a huge plus. It's also a cool theme, so I won't retheme it. It's cool as is. I like space related items.

But, first. It's an old machine, and it was sitting in a smokey area, which is common for a pinball machine. So, a friend lent me his Sharper Image Ionic Breeze to get some ozone on it to absorb the smell. It wasn't working fast enough, so I picked up a stronger unit, and after about 5 hours, it smelled a lot better. I put the unit above and below the playfield under a plastic tarp to keep the ozone in there. before you complain in the comments section, it wasn't long enough to damage the electronics.

The work I need to do is pretty straightforward. The rubber hasn't been replaced for at least the 20+ years it was in that house. The playfield needs a good cleaning. About half of the bulbs are out, so I'll replace them all. It has some broken plastics. It has some broken ball guides.

I visited Titan Pinball for a rubber ring kit (which I entered today) that has white rings and some blue ones to try out. I placed a larger order at Marco Specialties for the lane guides, ball guides, new post caps, instruction card, and a ton of incandescent bulbs. Nobody had the Smooth Red posts in stock. There are 47 1/16" posts on the machine. I probably don't need to replace them. Since nobody had them, I also didn't buy replacement pop bumper caps. All in all I ordered about $65 in parts today to get it looking nice and playing great.

If you know me well, you are guessing that I'll overinvest in this thing and keep it for a long time. I want to replace the home made wooden backbox access panel with a correct one. I would like to get some new plastics. I would love to patch up and repaint the cabinet exterior. But, that's probably $300-$400 bucks more.

#NoGlass #Williams #Oldgames #InHomeGames #TechandParts #Maintenance #Repair