Rocky & Bullwinkle: documenting the issues

Let's get right in to R&B and see what we find!  There were a few things that were obvious from inspecting the pre-sale photos alone, and I made note of them all.  Some are fixable, some aren't.

cab wear

minor flaking at bottom center.  Pivot-point damage on Bullwinkle's nose.

missing a decal

wear on the cabinet

wear on the cabinet

So these are all rather minor things for me.  The back glass still looks fabulous and I don't really care about the side artwork.  I'm not the kind of person that would work to have those things fixed.
The big thing is the that Nell assembly is outright missing.  Reproductions are not available.  OK, the motor is available, a band is available, but the gear assembly is not, and everyone is looking for one.  Good riddance to pricey toys.  I'm focused on game play.


So things to add to the list:
1) replacing the SAVED decals.

you can see the minor wear on the lion's pivot point, as well the utter lack of padding remaining at the bottom.

There are some minor issues with the backglass hat trick animation.  There is a bit of wear on the lion, but it's destroyed like some other lions out there.  I found this thread and apparently the lion gets 50V while the other 2 pulls get 32 V, those resulting in the lion damage.  I am going to have to re-learn to solder to connect it to 32V instead.
The padding on the bottom is also decimated, and so needs to be replaced.  That thread links to some stuff I can get at Home Depot to replace it.
The Lion was JUST reproduced in a limited run, so I had to make an order to get one for eventual replacement.   This is a backup part that I probably will never have another opportunity to acquire.
So add to the todo list:
2) wire Lion to 32 V
3) replace the back box hat trick padding
4) replace plastic Lion in hat trick


The hum coming from the speakers seems suspiciously loud, so add that to the list:
5) try troubleshooting audio connections to eliminate hum, perhaps a ground missing?

This is the center drain with the cover removed.  When a ball drains, there is a sensor, and it gets kicked up the little hill and in to the ready spot to be ejected in to the shooter lane.
On the left you can see the metal of the first kicker is totally destroyed, causing it to require multiple attempts to hit the ball over the hill.
6) replace ball drain kicker

there is a crack here at the start of the WABAC ramp.  It doesn't affect game play, but it's something to keep an eye on.  The ramp seems to have been reproduced at one point, but is currently unavailable.  If it comes up again, I might consider buying one, despite the price tag.
7) find a replacement WABAC ramp.

The software display on bootup shows 1.1, and 1.3 is apparently the last relevant update.  The ROMs seem to be available, but I am unsure if I need all of those?   $10 x 5 = $50, but I'll investigate if I actually go buy all of them...
8) Update ROMs to 1.3

I'm not going to bother with this, but I wanted to show that, somehow there is inner cabinet wear.  HOWWWW?

During a game I had the ball just sit flat... in the pop bumpers.  How often does a ball get to rest in the pop bumpers?  I inspected and it was against the post and... that screw.  WHY IS THERE A SCREW THERE?

I checked images on pinside and IPDB, and from what I can see, these other machines don't havea  random screw in the playfield:

 

Anyone see a screen in those shots???  Nope, me neither.  A random screw like that will bash the pinball, and a bashed up pinball will potentially damage the rest of the playfield..
9) remove pop bumper screw.


And finally, for now, we have this diverter on the left orbit hat trick shot:

 When I was inspecting the game I verfied that the Vertical Upkicker worked, but didn't check the diverter.   Playing at home, when Hat Trick was lit the diverter was not going.  It is supposed to divert it in to the VUK, give the player time to watch the back glass animation, and the it gets kicked up and down the ramp.
The software is at least smart enough to award the Hat Trick on the orbit, but the ball is going far too fast to enjoy the animation.

I pulled out the switch diagram in the manual, went in to the switch test diagnostics mode, pulled off the glass, and tried the left orbit gate:

you can see the switch on the right

with the ball going through, you can see how the switch depresses

but alas nothing was registering

So the switch isn't working.  I went in to the solenoid test and the diverter does indeed work, so we have this problem isolated:
10) repair first left orbit switch so that the diverter can work and the back glass animation can be awesome once more.


Aside form all that there is still basic housekeeping to do:
11) level the legs

Oh and everything needs a solid cleaning.
12) CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.