I first started out today by firing up my new vibrator/tumbler from Harbor Freight to see how it could brighten up some of the dull metal pieces on Space Shuttle. It worked pretty well with the small metal post, which came out looking brand new after an hour’s tumble. More experiments will be necessary with the larger pieces, though.

As for the playfield swap, here’s today’s progress, ignoring the numerous small tasks: I installed the restored targets from last time around, assembled both ball-eject mechanisms, installed the two drop target assemblies, and transferred all four wood rails from the old playfield to the new one.

Another milestone reached today is no more loose solenoids! All the coils are now installed in their brackets. This means the playfield could go back up on the rotisserie, which was the last big job for today.

Although there’s still quite a bit of work left on my Space Shuttle restoration project, it’s really starting to come together now! I’m not super far away from moving on to the top side of the new playfield, which should be great fun.