my inexperience shows

It is important to remember that things I thought were a problem weren't actually that problem.

Spring for Break Shot not holding the up-post?  Actually a bent bar.
Slingshot misalignment for Break Shot?  Actually broken clip on the slingshot.
Cold soldering on R+B power board?  Actually just a single loose wire in a connector.
Dead switch on R+B?  Just a bad connector.
Dead switch on Break shot?  misaligned lane switch.
Dirty rails on the SF2 cab?  a huge issue was the bent metal at the back of the playfield!





My old Breakshot is now back how with its loving new/old owner, and he was kind enough to email me an update about it.  He filed the switch inside the cabinet and now the upper flipper plays brilliantly, able to return a Super Cue shot from the left back to the right!  It never did that for me, and I assumed dirty coil.  But nope, he fixed parts I hadn't considered, and it's better than ever now.

So to remember:  Stop and take a pause when I THINK I know what the issue is.  Or worse, consider an alternative if I think something is NOT an issue...

Kind of sad I got rid of Break Shot, but Flintstones is certainly worth it.  Mind you, the question is should I have gotten rid of Rocky + Bullwinkle instead?  But, the guy was lined up, ready to pick up, so it was certainly the most manageable thing to do, to sell Break Shot.

A quick digression, where I wanted to talk about how amazing the guy who bought my Break Shot is.
HE MADE A TRIPLE-HEADED PINBALL MACHINE!  Check game play here. 
And here is a vid on how it works:

(he also shows off his amazing Rat Race!)


I took some time tonight to take out the coils for R+B and give it all a good cleaning.  Put it back and WOW, yep, a noticeable difference.  I was thinking I had the slope too high on the game, but now that the flippers were cleaned and filed, the game plays that much better and that right ramp isn't prohibitive.  I did file the metal rods in the flipper coil a touch.  They weren't super mushroomed or anything at the end, but every little bit helps I imagine.

I think my goal for the time being will try and "dial in" Rocky + Bullwinkle as much as possible to see if I can get it notched above Street Fighter 2 in my fave column.
Heck, Rocky + Bullwinkle would be better than SF2 if I could run a trace on the ROM and find the variable countdown timer for ball-save and put it to something sane like every other game.


I would like to end by pointing out the fabulous progress on the Skit-B Pinball Predator game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-Pop41otk
So excited for all of those of you that are getting one!