I was a complete 1.5 Evangelist until 2.71SE came out. There is nothing that would make me go back to 1.5 now - 2.71SE can run anything 1.5 can, except you no longer need to use kxploited eboots, so no corrupted icons. It can run alll games up to 2.71 and most 2.8+ umds.
To answer your other question, the iron I was using was using wasnt good enough or a fine enough tip so I've kinds abandoned the project until I get a finer tip and a better heat controlled soldering iron - at which point I'll repair the tracks and fix the board.