Gottlieb Solved Sure Shot (Gottlieb, 1976) Noobie

[Ommief]

Hi All! My wife got me 1975 Gottlieb Sure Shot for my birthday. It's an EM wedgehead in good condition with 36K plays registered. I've done a cabinet/leg repair on the left rear leg, so I've been inside already. I've got all the schematics with it. As I said, everything is in good shape and the game plays well with all functions working. The center pop bumper is weak, the slingshot bumpers and flippers could probably use some rehab and the five-ball drain sometimes doesn't register. There are a number of bulbs that don't light. But I'm fairly confident that I can address those issues over the winter. What I'd like to do now is spruce up the playfield. It is very dirty and has two issues I'd like to address. First, the ball has worn an arc in the wood from the end of the chute to the rebound bumper. Second, the ball lights are slightly depressed so that even with the playfield at the correct angle, a slow-moving ball can get hung up in the numeral light. Will a good clean & wax take care of the depressed lights issue? Should I fill-in the arc at the top, sand down or both? Thanks in advance! Tom

 

[pinballdaveh]

hi and welcome to the site. the top arch wear issue is normal wear as long as its not too deep just clean and wax. sanding it down might help but would take off the finish and look odd, unless you can exact match the finish. the playfield light inserts can be removed with heat from a heat gun( i got mine from harbor freight on sale). un-screw and move bulb socket back out of the way. carefully heat the insert so it can be removed. i use a nutdriver because of its flat surface. sure shot inserts have ball numbers on them so they should not be sanded. hopefully they dont have cupped wear. use a drop of super glue around the side of the insert, align insert into hole and push it down with a level to install it flush with the playfield. re-install socket.

 

[Ommief]

Thanks for the informative reply! I'll pick up a heat gun and have at those inserts. I've done a preliminary clean and wax and wow, what a difference that made. Game plays nearly 50% faster! Ball is hanging up in that arch groove though so I may have to look into some light sanding. Thanks again! Tom