So my Firepower’s playfield is, to use a technical term, fucking nasty. In addition to general dirt and grime there were these small white circles of what I assume are some kind of mold. Most people’s go-to cleaner for everyday polishing and removing fine or heavy scratches is Novus. But for just getting rid of grody shit on top of the wax, my friend recommended hitting the playfield and plastics with Fantastik to start. Any water-based cleaner is a big no-no if the playfield doesn’t have wax on it, as you don’t want the water to get into the wood or paint and start causing problems. I felt OK about it in this case for a few reasons. The playfield wasn’t in super great shape to begin with, so it’s not like I’m risking ruining something that could be very high quality. The playfield was cloudy and sticky, indicating there was some old wax on it already. So I just took the precaution of spraying the cleaner on the cloth, not the playfield, and wiping it up immediately with a dry cloth. For more than you ever want to know about cleaning a pinball playfield, check out Vid’s guide on Pinside.
Here’s some before pics- the playfield, a close up of a particularly dirty area, and the whole area around the pops. (Kind of hard to see a difference in the wider shots, but you can really see the mold and crap in the close up)
And some after pics – playfield, the same now-clean area, and the pops.
If you’re wondering why the machine is sitting on the ground instead of on legs, see my previous post!
It’s not perfect, but it’s already looking quite a lot better. Next step is adventures with naphtha to remove that cloudy sticky old wax!