My wife called me up ecstatic! She had bought me a “real pinball” from Goodwill for $50

Well, bless her kind heart, she had bought me a pinball, kind of!

She had brought home a 1977 Star Explorer Pinball by Rapid Pinball. A home use-only pinball that was sold in Sears and Radio Shack for $399.

And it was badly in need of restoration:

As you can see she needed a bit of work. So what’s the plan.

1: New laminate on the entire thing
2: New plexiglass
3: Replace the backglass with a better one
4: Paint the legs
5: Make edge protecting rails for the bottom of the cab
6: Buff chrome rails.
7: Replace all rubber.

And here’s how all that turned out: