Time For An Update

Wow, it's been almost 2 months since my last post! There's not a lot of significant news in pinball right now, although Cassandra Peterson did let slip in her "Fang Club" that Elvira 3 will be out this Halloween. Since I will be getting the premium model in all likelihood, it will probably be Spring of 2020 before I pick one up. That would make a lucky number 13th game in the collection! I'd like to get to 16 if possible by adding an Attack from Mars, Monster Bash and Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. It would go to 17 if Chicago Gaming gets the license to remake Indiana Jones. I'm trying to add machines without selling any, but only time will tell if that's possible.

The Barncade is coming along slowly. I've been installing insulation and outlets when I have time. Drywall is next. Kelly and I also adapted a Harbor Freight hydraulic lift into a pinball mover (as has been documented extensively on Pinside). It's great to be able to come in from the front of a game to move it out of the lineup when necessary.

Let's get into catching up on what's going on around here with my machines, game by game...

Bram Stoker's Dracula

I've pulled the stock Dracula ("Ron Jeremy") figure and replaced it with the evil bat-like creature mod created from a Todd McFarland piece by member "pinball_customs" on Pinside. This looks so damn cool! There's a couple of problems with the install, though. First, the light board has to be removed. This is easy enough, but part of the appeal of the mod is the red light that shines through from underneath. Now the figure will only be lit by flashers, so I'm working on a solution for replacing the light board with another alternative. Second, the plastic headstone no longer fits. The two posts that it screws into are still there, but the new Dracula sits right up against the posts and doesn't allow any space. This isn't a big deal, because I'm not really impressed with the cheap plastic look of the headstone, but it would be nice to mount *something* to those posts. My friend Kelly will, as a future project, work on designing a low profile headstone that would be sculpted out of resin and look amazing.

We went to this...

...from this

Speaking of Kelly, he was excited when I asked him to repaint the big plastic set pieces in the game. This includes the graveyard at the back left of the machine, the village houses along the left side, and Dracula's castle which sits on the right side under the ramps. To me, the original paint job on the graveyard and village are far too cartoonish, with an ugly orange and green color palette, while the castle is so dark it's practically invisible. I was very impressed by the paint job that member "Medisinyl" on Pinside had done. I wanted Kelly to do something similar, but to put his own artistic spin on it. If you think the new paint job turned out too colorful and garish, keep in mind that you're seeing the pieces at a straight on viewpoint, with a camera flash hitting them; in the game, you only see them at an angle, and in lighting that is much darker and mutes the colors quite a bit. It's hard to capture that look effectively in that dark environment with a camera. I think it turned out incredible...

The new graveyard paint job

The new village paint job

The new castle paint job

The original graveyard and village paint scheme

The original castle paint scheme

BSD will get a good cleaning while the glass is off, I'll install Pinsound and new speakers, and then the game will be put back into operation. I won't be adding a color DMD (I like the red DMD).

Creature from the Black Lagoon

With a new Mirco playfield in my eager hands, it's time to devote attention to our poor, neglected Creature. Work has started on a complete strip down/shop job on the game. I've got the top of the old playfield almost completely stripped down, and as soon as I get all the connectors pulled in the backbox and remove the old playfield, I'll start work on the underside, getting parts cleaned and transferred to the new playfield, or replaced where necessary. Interestingly enough I found a play counter under the playfield apron with over 84,000 plays recorded! No wonder this game looks so abused...not just the hologram, which was the subject of another post, but also the playfield damage and seriously worn parts. In a turn of good fortune, the ramps are in great shape, with the creature ramp practically brand new since the lift ramp was not operational. Not having to buy new ramps saves me a small fortune.

Over 84,000 plays. Unreal.

In addition to the new playfield and shop job, which will include new flippers, rubbers, posts and coils, I'll also be installing a color DMD, the lighted speaker panel mod, the Swinks snackbar mod, Pinsound, lighting the bumpers, upgrading the speakers, and possibly adding a few other things. I'd also like to figure out a way to get a 3 ball multiball working. A lot of people don't know that the game comes with three balls, but at the last minute they changed the multiball from 3 balls to 2, so I want to restore that original functionality and use the ball that's just sitting there. It seems like a good application for another Raspberry Pi (there's already one in the game thanks to the Pinball MikeD TV mod).

Stripping down the frontside

Munsters

The Munsters machine has settled in nicely. It seems to be solidly built (we've had no quality issues) and we are still having great fun with it. I've bought a lot of mods that need to be installed - it's incredible how many are being cranked out - but there are a lot of other games that need serious attention first.

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

We are having trouble with the flippers sticking, so I need to rebuild them, although that will have to wait until the Creature is done. I'm also going to add stronger flipper coils as the ones in the game don't seem to be capable of getting up any of the ramps.

Rocky & Bullwinkle

This machine is down indefinitely. One of the flippers broke and we noticed what looks like epoxy was holding it together. The playfield is still serviceable but will probably need to be replaced at some point. Also most of the bulbs are burned out so it will be a good time to add LEDs.

Scared Stiff

I need to install all of the mods I've bought over the years, but I'm also thinking about a new playfield as the old one is looking a bit dull. $$$...

White Water

White Water looks amazing now that the shop job is 98% complete. There are still a few nagging issues like bumper switches not working, the game isn't saving settings even with new batteries, and the upper flipper refuses to stay tightened down. These things are all minor, though, and I love playing this game! I got a high score (River Master) the only time I powered it up in the past month. I'm optimistic I can achieve Vacation Jackpot again and enjoy one of the greatest light shows in pinball...