Shopping Creature From The Black Lagoon, Part 3: Mods
Note: It has been quite some time since I have been able to post. Hopefully I can turn that around from this point forward. For now, we're off to learn more about my Creature shop job...
Aftermarket modifications to a pinball machine, or "mods" for short, can be very polarizing. When done tastefully, they can look like they were meant to be part of the game, enhancing it and sometimes interacting with the machine in ingenious ways. On the other hand, some mods don't fit well, aren't well thought out, don't require knowledge of the inner workings of the game, or amount to no more than gluing down action figures throughout the game. Purists tend to shun mods at all costs. Mods also tend to be costly, adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of ownership. I'm firmly in the camp that believes pinball machines are perfect for modifications due to the fact that a lot of times during the design of a game, costs force a design change or requires features to be taken out. Therefore, if cost is not an object to an owner, there's certainly room to add things to a game. A mod should fit seamlessly in a game, and if it is not cosmetic, it should interact with that game in some way.
The first mod I bought for my Creature From The Black Lagoon was Jeff Thompson's lighted speaker panel mod back in 2013 (which I briefly posted about here). But the first mod I installed was the PinballMikeD video screen/hologram replacement. That same year, my friend Jady, or "Swinks" (as he is well known by on Pinside) came up with an ingenious mod that replaced the Snackbar plastic with a three dimensional, 1950's retro structure that appeared to glow and simulated neon lights, but actually used electro-luminescent (EL) wire (which I briefly posted about here).
What these three mods have in common is that they beautify the game and look like they could have come from the factory, although only the PinballMikeD is what I refer to as an "interactive mod". The lighted speaker panel and Swinks mod I describe as a "passive mod". An interactive mod is connected to the game and triggered by game play, while a passive mod is also connected to the game but playing the game doesn't trigger any features. There is a third category that I call a "cosmetic mod". This is usually the result of sculpting and painting a three dimensional object (such as the "Missing Mountain" in White Water), or repainting a game feature to enhance the color palette or highlight detail. A commercial action figure or toy that is glued to a spot above the playfield is, in my opinion, not a mod, although I can somewhat understand what makes that appealing to someone.
So as I was setting out to perform the playfield swap on Creature, I wanted to look for and acquire mods for the game, and whether they were interactive, passive, or cosmetic didn't matter. What I've done is listed below all the mods on the machine that I have installed or plan to install.
Jeff Thompson lighted speaker panel
As I mentioned above, I purchased the Jeff Thompson lighted speaker panel mod back in 2013; however, I hadn't installed it yet. Since I didn't have the special speaker panel with the light mask when I purchased the mod, I had originally bought the separate light mask that would need to be installed on my current speaker panel after removing the factory masking. It can be done but is a bit of a pain. However, Classic Playfield Reproductions recently reproduced the special masked speaker panels, and better yet it is the mirrored version, in which the car bumpers all appear to be "chromed". I was very happy to see this because it meant my lighted speaker panel would be as close to plug and play as it gets! I'll let the old light mask go to someone who wants a more inexpensive alternative. The CPR mirrored speaker panel has now been installed in my game. It was pretty easy except that I had to re-mount a speaker adapter because it was too close to the panel's power connector. If you are looking for the mirrored speaker panel from CPR, you can find it here (while supplies last!).
PinballMikeD Hologram Video Replacement
My PinballMikeD Video mod has been in place since I first obtained it in 2014, long before the playfield swap and shop job. This post over at Pinball Revolution does a really good job at capturing the installation process. I had the v1.0 release, and not long after I purchased it, v2.0 came out. This new version added 3 videos (screen saver, multiball intro, and one surprise video), video looping, a faster boot time (30 seconds), and a custom video utility that allows the user to add their own videos to the mod. I had always intended to get v2.0 but never followed up until last year, when I reached out to Mike and he hooked me up for a small upcharge. I'm currently running Mike's standard videos but will soon be adding my own!
ColorDMD
ColorDMD turns your orange monochrome dot matrix display into a LCD or LED screen in which every frame of video has been painstakingly colored. The results are incredible. It also helps reduce power (standard dot matrix displays are power-hungry), and eliminates nasty humming noises (due to the removal of the DMD display). Some people like LCD versions due to software that can simulate the dots in a DMD, while others prefer the brightness and low power draw of an LED screen (I'm in the latter camp). This is now installed and is running in my game, and it's spectacular. I will include video of this when I show off the new mirrored speaker panel.
Swinks Snackbar
This was mod v1.0, and Swinks would go on to create 4 more versions that improved each time. I was fortunate to get an upgrade kit that let me use the marquee "Snack Bar" lighted lettering that attached to the v1.0 sign. My version of the mod uses electroluminescent (EL) wire.
Stumblor "Move Your Snackbar"
Pinside user Stumblor came up with an ingenious way to animate the lighting of the snackbar letters, similar to the way "Starlight" is animated in Jeff Thompson's lighted speaker panel. This will be the next mod I install. It allows the letters in the snackbar sign to be "turned on" in a sequence that simulates neon sign chasing effects popular in 1950's drive-in theaters.
Magnetic Reed Switch (MRS)
This unassuming mod replaces the lackluster mechanical switch inside the Whirlpool bowl. The MRS senses the passing of the ball around the whirlpool and scores each revolution, where the original switch would stop scoring after only a few revolutions. This mod is already installed on my machine.
Movie Marquee with chasing lights (Miller Engineering)
This mod is not designed for Creature From the Black Lagoon pinball specifically; in fact it's not designed for pinball at all. It was originally intended for model trains - Miller Engineering makes many advertising signs for model railroad hobbyists. However, the sign is ideal for Creature because it is an old drive-in movie style marquee, and allows you to place actual letters for the name of the film in the marquee. Combine that with multiple chase light sequences and 12v power and you've got a really nice mod. I've seen these placed in the upper right corner of the game, where the ball leaves the shooter lane and before it enters the PAID lanes. My first one came with a defective cable; Miller Engineering has great customer support and replaced the defective part. It now works spectacularly!
These are essentially toys, purchased from a seller in the UK, and they get attached above the playfield. Normally I'd be reluctant to place toys on the playfield; however, these cars tie into the light matrix, illuminating the headlights as well as making the interior glow as if lit by the dashboard lights. And it's just cool to look at these and imagine the drive-ins of years past full of cars from the 1950s. I originally purchased only the Crown Victoria, but later added the Cadillac and Buick because I liked the Crown Vic so much, there's plenty of space in the game to place them, and I realized at some point that these won't be available anymore.
And that's it for my Creature mods, with one exception. In my next post about shopping the Creature, I'll dive into the sound system upgrades...
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