Black Knight lamps

[chiLLbiLLy]

Ok, I just picked up a Black Knight machine over the weekend and I'm looking to improve a few things, if possible.  Let me first qualify things by stating that I'm still pretty much a novice in regards to pinball owning & servicing, despite the fact that I've actually owned a Cyclone machine for the last year and a half, but hey, that machine has been very kind to me, so far <knocking on wood>.

Anyway...first up is the lights.  This being a 30 year old machine, the playfield inserts have lost quite a bit of their original color...especially the blues and greens (the blues are close to being clear).  In doing some searching online, it looks like I might have 3 different options and bear in mind, all I've ever done before is swap out a couple of burned out lamps in my Cyclone:

1) colored lamps - I saw reference to these and am guessing they are just the same exact lamps, only painted with colored paint, like C7 and C9 Christmas bulbs

2) colored lamp covers - didn't know they made these, but evidently they are some sort of heat resistant, colored plastic that slips over the lamps for color...also read something about them being good for blackglass applications, wherein you've got a glass with some missing paint spots, etc.

3) led replacement bulbs - not sure these will work properly without additional modification, plus I'm really not sure if I'm a fan of using leds in a machine this old...just doesn't quite look right to me


So, my questions are:

1) Will any of these options work, as a simple swap-out-a-single-bulb type replacement?

2) And if so, how do they compare color-wise, both as a color boost application to playfield inserts and as a white light glare cutting application behind a less-than-stellar backglass?
 
Oh and btw, anyone happen to know offhand, which lamps Black Knight uses?  I think it's mostly #44 lamps, but I think there's some #47 in there, too...

[chiLLbiLLy]

Thanks for all the good info, including clarification on the #47 bulbs.

Now are the majority of those playfield lamps on your Seawitch, just colored lamps?  That blue is so vibrant, it almost looks like they're led's.

Either way, I'll take your suggestion and try some colored bulbs.  As washed out as my blue inserts are, surely there will be some improvement.  And thanks for those links, as well.  It's certainly not a major investment to try these things out...perhaps I'll pick up a few covers for comparison.

Now, if I could only find a Black Knight pop bumper cap...

[chiLLbiLLy]

Now, that's a great idea for the pop bumper cap.  Yours looks fantastic!  Are pop bumper caps pretty universal in size or do I need to make sure it's designated for a Williams pin of that particular era?

[HHaase]

Pop bumpers are basically generic in size.  MarcoSpecialties has a generic opaque red one for $4 I think,  which I'll be ordering for my own Black Knight.
I'll be making up some waterslides of both the center eagle as well as the outer scrollwork, and can send you a set if you want.  I'm also going to try a translucent red one as well, to see how it looks.

I would definitely use the #47's in place of the #44's on that machine.  The GI connector on the power supply board is way over-taxed, and could use all the help it can get.  LED's will technically work without modification, but not very well since it's an AC power circuit, so they will have that flicker problem as well as reduced brightness to them.  I'm working on a fix for it,  but since I don't actually pick up my machine for 2 days, I won't be able to do anything other than draw recitifer circuits on a napkin for a while.  Once I get a working design, I may just have some boards made up..... totally undecided on that though, as I'm not sure there is that much of a market.

And another solution to work with on the faded inserts is to use some of the clear paints out there, I've used them a number of times on automotive lenses that have faded out, as well as lexan RC car bodies.  Createx makes some good stuff, available at most art supply stores in the airbrush section (also sold as Pactra I think).  Or, if you have a hobby shop around, Tamiya makes some very good clears as well.  I would suggest painting from the bottom of the playfield instead of the topside, it will look better that way.

-Hans

[Q*Bert_OP]

BTW, The Pinball Resource sells hot stamped reproduction Black Knight bumper caps.

[HHaase]

yeah, but they're missing all the scrolling on the outer ring,  you need to add that somehow as well.

-Hans

[chiLLbiLLy]

Well, I went ahead and went with the #44 colored bulbs for the playfield inserts and the thing now looks fantastic, compared to how washed out it looked before.  Probably should have gone with the #47 colored bulbs, but I didn't realize the 47's came in colored as well, until after I'd already ordered and installed the 44's.  But, I at least went back and replaced all the backbox lamps with 47's, so perhaps that will help with any over-taxing issues...

As for the pop bumper cap, I originally ordered the generic red one from Marco and have that available, but then discovered the hot-stamped one from Pinball Resource and ordered that one as well.  You are correct, though, that the scroll work is missing on the Pinball Resource one and with that part of the cap being curved, I don't know how easy it will be, or how well it will look, to try and print off labels and attach them to something that isn't quite flat.  Definitely interested in any artwork you guys come up with, though (particularly the scrollwork, as the one site I found with Black Knight pop bumper cap artwork, only features the eagle).

[HHaase]

Well, not too bad for a first attempt, eh?

Just a generic red, and a two piece clear waterslide decal.  Snugged down with some Micro-Sol decal solution, and sealed with Future floor wax.
Now I want to try with a transparent red pop bumper cap too.

[HHaase]

I fit about 12 of these when I printed out a sheet, but I'm almost out of toner, which means I only have four or five of them.  If anybody wants the leftovers, let me know and I can send them a couple.  Just be warned, they aren't easy to apply without the setting solution and something to seal them down.

-Hans

[chiLLbiLLy]

That does look very impressive, HHaase!  If I knew anything about working with or applying waterslide decals, I'd take one of your leftover scrollwork rings and apply it to my hot-stamped repro cap from Pinball Resource.  Theirs certainly looks pretty good and is better than a blank cap, but it's just not the same without the scrolling...

[JODY]

HHaase, can you send me the file to use for printing the pop bumper cap the correct size?  We're probably not supposed to post artwork directly here.  I could use new stickers for mine but haven't tried to scan and resize for proper printing.  Printing the correct size without a properly sized full page or a pdf appears to be a real pain on my printer.  If interested, in trade I can send an image to print replacement drop targets.  Just redid all mine.  Used Papilio inkjet white waterproof vinyl (sticky back) then cut out and topped with Mylar.  Also did a drop target sticker for my T2 the same way.  Only had 3 stickers left on the Black Knight and they were so faded and icky.

Picture is worth a thousand words...so picture of new stickers attached.  Haven't done much cleaning yet.  Working on mechanical issues except put in one new rubber on the right and the drop target stickers.

[HHaase]

I have some replacement drop target stickers for mine already, just haven't gotten around to cleaning off the targets yet and applying the new one.

-Hans