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In Progress Stern Trident

ronsplooter

ronsplooter

Registered
10 Years
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
6,591
Location
Nottingham
The new project arrived today and based on a very quick initial look it should be a good one :thumbs: I've not opened it up yet but cosmetically from the outside, cab looks good, playfield is great with only one bit of wear that's in a solid colour and hidden behind the pops and the backglass is decent (bit of crazing in some areas but nothing horrendous).

I know the boards are probably toast but I've got replacements incoming for everything plus some new displays. The plan with this is to update it with the Dick Hammil rules re-write using the Bally/Stern OS and implement the trough and auto-launcher to make it multiball :D The video after the pics shows what I'm going for!

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Looks like a fun project, I have a back glass for Trident but I doubt it is any better than yours as it also has plenty of crazing. Looks a fun game too.
 
While I'm waiting on some waterslide decals for the Pyramid playfield I thought I'd start having a proper look at this. Took the playfield out and stripped the topside to see what I'm working with. It's obviously seen damp at some point as there's a bit of rust to deal with but the actual playfield is in great shape and will require minimal touch ups (the wear spot above the pops is the only real area of work outside of key lines etc) and compared to Pyramid this should be easy :thumbs: Not a great deal on the underside so it shouldn't take much more to have this fully stripped for cleaning.

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I should think you already realise, but the wear mark is most likely the landing point from the eject hole. I recall similar games like Wild Fyre having an adjustment screw incorporated into the end stop of the eject hole, though that may have been only for the yoked-together triple eject

A couple of things I hadn't realised;
  • It's designed by Mike Kubin - I'd have thought it would have his favoured display layout, down the l/h side of the backglass, like Lectronamo, Nugent and Seawitch
  • There are four slingshots and two bumpers, an unusual combination
 
Yeah, standard kickout hole wear but thankfully only blue to colour match :D I'd never heard of Mike Kubin before but looking him up on IPDB he did Seawitch and Andromeda (for Gameplan), both of which I really like and he also did Magic as recently acquired by @8bit-1up :thumbs:

Should get some good action off the 4 slings :eek:
 
All of the main bits now removed from the underside of the playfield :thumbs: Time to break out the ultrasonic and the tumbler again :D

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I take it this is the game listed here recently, with a solenoid circuit damaged; one of the bumper coils looks burnt. The lower one, it didn't show so much before dismantling it.
 
Yes mate, that's the one :thumbs: I've got a full set of working boards from @Nevin to swap in but it will nee a new bumper coil as the sleeve is welded to the inside of it :D Only board I don't have a replacement for is the sound board (which may be fine, who knows) but as I'll be replacing this as part of the Trident 2022 update it doesn't matter.
 
The SB 100 audio wasn't all that much even in 1979. Considering that Williams and Bally audio boards had their own processor, while this doesn't even have an audio amplifier; I lost one sound effect on my Wild Fyre, and found that its 'amp' section had a broken disconnected capacitor - pushing on it had led to one of the leads breaking off the pcb trace (the capacitors on the audio board didn't have their leads bent into 'knees', so it was easy to carelessly push a lead through the pcb and tear off the trace).
 
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First round of playfield cleaning done and it's looking really nice already. Still more to do but this will only need minimal touch up work which is nice after having spent so much time on Pyramid :thumbs:

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Spent time in the garden yesterday stripping out the backbox and sealing backglasses. As with most bits on this game, they're rusty and will need the white vinegar treatment. The backglass is very unstable so I had to be really careful when handling it and I think I'm going to give it a 2nd round of sealer today just to give it the best chance. The good news is most of the major paint loss is in the non-illuminated areas so should be easy enough to touch up. The crazing in the illuminated areas will need thinking about, maybe time to try the transparent glass paints on this one :thumbs:

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Jay Walker said:
A tip I've been meaning to pass on; the playfield prop of Stern machines tended to have a sharply pointed end, enough to eventually poke right through the socket recessed out of the playfield. Luckily, a 2 pence coin fits tightly in the recess.
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Now that you mention it Iam currently swapping out the pf in a nineball and only noticed this earlier, seems a design flaw and sure enough the shooter lane on the old pf has a hole where its prodded through, the prop is like a knife!
 
I suppose that when using a new playfield, you could put more thought into it; putting something on the end of the prop, rounding it off, or finding the right angle to file it off straight, so that it meets the recess flat-on with the playfield and prop at the relevant angles. As with your case, it finally poked its way through on my Wild Fyre.
 
Thanks @Jay Walker for the tip, 2p coin now fitted :thumbs: Not much progress recently what with being at NERG and then going on holiday but I have started the process of levelling the inserts and put some white primer down for the main playfield touch up.

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Been a long time since I've worked on this but managed to get the underside of the playfield put back together with everything cleaned, tumbled or replaced where required. I've also got the head all rebuilt with the serviced boards plus the new pinscore displays and the Trident 2020 kit should be shipping from the States this coming week.

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