Race Time
This is my first wood rail. A friend of mine picked it up along with a Sweet Sioux in a package deal along with about 18 other pinball machines (some of which were completely trashed though). He decided to keep the Sweet Sioux (which he later traded), and offered me the Race Time. I got this home, and the back glass was in worse shape then expected. Much of the paint still there was already flaked and a little more fell off every time the glass was moved. Anyway, the glass is out and clear coated to protect from any other damage. Not as bad as the Wildlife was, so maybe the wife can correct this one too. Really looking forward to adding this to the collection for the diversity it will bring -- wood rails, manual ball ejector, gobble holes and just a whole different look. Still need to find a machine from the 40's and 60's now... Of course I have no clue where I would put them (ugh).
I have started cleaning this one up and working on it (as the photos show). Needed a really good cleaning and lots of adjustments. Every time it seems I have the machine working and move it back into place I find something else wrong. Still need to fix the sling shot plastics which are horribly warped.
Everything has been working for some time now. I flattened the slingshots a little, but they need some more flattening. However, one of them started losing some paint, so I got concerned.
This machine has become Andrew's favorite machine to play -- possibly since he can turn it on just by pressing the credit button. I have started teaching him how to turn it off, but not sure I want him hitting the bottom of my pinball machines.
March 2007: 100 point first player score reel has started to stick. I took the score reel apart and replaced the coil sleeve. Scoring great now. In the process I must have done something to the second player score reel (I had taken that one apart too) since at first the "0" position switch was not properly registering. I got that adjusted, but now when you score the first 100 points it lights the 1000 point light. That will have to wait for another day... at least the machine is playable, and fully functional in 1 player mode.
Click for a larger view of the machines!
IPDB info for Race Time