TAF Lighting Mods & Decals (*Warning* Lots & Lots O PICS)

[Charles4400]

So after finally fixing up my TAF (which there were ALOT of fixes involved but that's a whole other thread <though I did learn tons about pins while doing this thanks you guys and the members of rgp>) I got the mods I wanted on there and added some lighting mods of my own.

Just decided to take a bunch of pictures and see what you all think!

Here's a wideshot in dark lighting of the whole playfield...It's actually really bright and colorful when your standing in front of it.


Cool ball point of view shot:


I'll start from the bottom of the playfield and work my up.

The mansion on the playfield was pretty torn up so I decided to put a complete mansion overlay over it. I got one off ebay from a random seller which didn't fit that well . Removed it and ordered one from mr. pinball over in Aus. and that fit much better. The pictures actually show alot more detail than when you are looking at it in person (i.e. you can't tell its an overlay in person unless you look very very closely.)


I also put on an overlay for the magnet burns the playfield had:


Of course I had to add an Unlce Fester (Lester) as the chair definately seems like it was meant for him. The bulb in his mouth blinks yellow as the light on the chair does:


I also added the scoop lights under Lester/Fester and love them. They blink yellow or red accordingly. I highly recommend these mods.

I added an LED under the right rope plasctic and think it evens out the playfield (liek the lit side on the left). With the wonders of alligator clips and finally being able to solder, ALOT can be done and perhaps I went a little wild with the leds (as you'll see more of below!)


I added the target decals and as with all other PinballDecal.com decals they are a must!


Bookcase Decals & Thing box decals are also a must in my opinion. Why they originally had just a blue bookcase and red thing box is beyond me. The game looks MUCH , MUCH more complete with these decals on. Another highly recommended mod.


Thing box decal was from Pinballdecals.com and  from Treasure cove I got the the backboard decal (I also got the magnet burn overlay from them)

I added a spotlight to lighten up the bookcase and bear and it turned out really nice (alligator clips are a wonderful thing!) . It looks alot better than having it so dark before. (I put a blue LED in for a cool blue effect):


(I'll talk about the bear a little further below)

I added the swamp light and swamp scoop kit and this really brightens things up and make the game much more fun to look at and actually see the swamp. The scoop light is on and blinks whenever the yellow light on festers chair is on and blinks. The swamp light stays on all the time with the GI lights.

I also forgot to mention that I added a light under the shooter rod area so I could see that while playing with lights off. A nice blue led !


I added the vertical standing bear on the bear ramp. yeah yeah I know you have all seen the horizontal bear on the bear kick ramp , but this bear is WAY cooler. It's mouth glows red when the ball passes over th ramp switch. It is timed so that the mouth glows red when you hear the "Roar" on the dmd as the ball goes up the ramp. I really like this addition!

(I couldn't take a pic of the red glow since it was just me solo taking these pics and didn;t have a spare hand to activate the switch while photoing)

I also added a light to the back right of the pin. Though it wouldn;t be practical to have the light shine directly on the thing hand (since the bulb would also be shining in the player's eyes) the light certainly helps lighten up that back area and helps light the thing hand and is better than no light there imo . It also helps shows the backboard decal which I like too!


I added a light behind the bear kick sign, this is the only light I added which was not an led. Its a regular 555, but without i you cannot see the sign in the dark. This is a helpful addition.


I added two leds under the vault hole. These blink in accordance with the lights up top, blinking red and green with them. They actually look like a refelction of the light up top and I like this addition as well. These lgihts are shining through the scoop crack under the PF.


I've had problems with the ball going up the ramps and flying off them or the ball flying into a corner or other weird ball flying phenomena, so I made a ramp cover for thet u turn area on the red staircase and at the back of the blue staircase. It's not really noticable and have not had ball flyin problems since.:



I also added a blue led topper kit. This kit is great and has different levels of intesnisty to it. The power is froma separate power adapter which I plugged into a smart strip for seamless light up:


I also replaced the topper lights with 906 Leds which do make the flash brighter. I also added 3 additional 906 led lights in the topper for a total of 6! I am waiting for BCS pinball 360 degree flashers to arrive to see how brigt I can really get the flash.

Other misc. mods are the magnet fuse set.

Well that's about all the pics I took , it was fun working on it and as I mentioned before gained tons of repair knowledge from working on it!

[Flake]

Looks pretty sweet dude.   

[JeepMonkey]

I really like the use of different color LEDs.  It almost has the feel of different rooms in a haunted house.  Nice work.

[Zero_Hour]

Definitely digging all the lighting upgrades.

[Charles4400]

Thanks all appreciate the replies!

I'm just glad things went as planned (since when do things go as planned!!??? <knock on wood> <knock on wood again!>) without a hitch. It wasn't too tough to do and I really liked how it turned out!

Just curious pinballjim what weren't you into? Not that I'm going to necessarily change it <heh!> but just wanted to know everyone's honest opinions ... more food for thought is always good!

[pinballwizard79]

He's just jealous

[Charles4400]

Ya the spotlight in the back was the only light which seemed a little out of place, I couldn't find a good mounting spot in the back but definately wanted the back area lit. The spotlight cover was necessary so the player wouldn't be blinded by an led just stickin out and the thing box lifting prevents it being positioned better.

I was thinking of mounting on the far back right 'shelf' but didn't have a short enough screwdriver to unscrew the screws.

Thanks! I like to hear what people think (sometimes staring at a project too long I start to get tunnel vision and getting other people's perspective helps!)

[slycrel]

You make me jealous.  I'm going to have to have one of those someday.  Better get to fixing up my TZ first though.  =)

I have to agree on the target decals, I'm not in love with them.  I'd also be concerned with them getting destroyed fairly quickly.

I really like the scoop lights and the "room" lights as was mentioned above as well.  Excellent job!

[Charles4400]

Thanks! I'd really like to have a TZ one day!!!

I personally like target decals, first set I got was for my STTNG and had a hard time looking at blank targets after that so had to get them for the TAF. As far as how long they last...who knows? I havent had them long enough to make that decision, but so far none are peeling off on either of my pins.

[Charles4400]

***UPDATE****

Just decided to post an update on some new mods and changes to existing ones I had.

First off noticed a few more ball launches out of the blue ramp with the existing cover...I think its mainly because the screws might have been tightened too much on the ramp covers causing a 'bump' in the middle of the ramp cover making the ball launch off the bump . Anyhow added a small strip of lexan near where I thought the ball is launching from and its made a huge difference. Because of that strip I cut down the length of the existing ramp cover.

OLD ramp Cover



New ramp cover strip and cutback of old ramp cover. The cutout on the strip is to allow the 'ball lever/gate' to pass through, yet get the strip close enough to the ramp flap to prevent ball launches:


I added the train pencil sharpener, but had to make it have lighting to allow it on te PF!
The cabin light is lit up green and the headlight is red. These are tied to the GI. I also added a green led under the train shining down which is attached to a jackpot light. This blinks whenever the train is hit and when in multiball. worked out pretty well I think.

Here's a sideview of the train where you can see the cabin light, headlight and under train light


Unfortunately from the players perspective you really don't get to see the cabin light as the angle of the player won't allow it. Angling the train to the side more didn't look good but at least the lights are there for your buddy standing along the siderails to see  Here's a players view of the train:


I also added the knight sharpener, but again needed interactive lighting on there so I have a red light which blinks and is tied into the circuit of the green light of the thing metal ramp so blinks when you can get a ball to thing to lock multiballs.:


I originally had a spotlight out in the open before the knight was placed but had to move it or it would cover the knight, so I moved this back behind the ramp, still illuminated the back right area and is out of the way from the players view (as discussed earlier in this thread) looks much better this way:

Old spotlight placement:


New spotlight placement with knight:



Here's a wideshot of everything updated:



Hope this helps out other modders out there!

[tomdotcom]

Thanks for the link from RGP charles I actually saw this thread before but never put 2 and 2 together hahah

[Jeff AMN]

Awesome stuff. I have a feeling that I'm going to be doing this same sort of stuff with my Twilight Zone. Here's hoping I can just control my urges to tinker long enough to play once in a while.