I agree, I led'ed mine with warm white frosted and color matching inserts. Kept all flashers incondescent. Looks way better. I left the mini lights on the lagoon ramp and bowl incondescent as well.

well, I cheated and got those tiny leds for the ramps IMG_20131003_232006_429.jpg

If it needs a new DMD then upgrading to a ColorDMD is a no-brainer.

Well I have a project on my hands, but it should be fun. For you longtime Creature owners - anyone know why the left ramp might not be registering the combo? It'll do it once in a while but not every shot like on pinball arcade. The ramp switch seems to be working fine but I don't get the animation and combo award for multiple ramp shots.

Some times there is something else going on and you don't see any animation but you should get the score.

The reason I first wondered if something was off is that my millions score was not registering when it said to shoot the left ramp. Kind of odd.

I think when it tells you to shoot the left ramp you should get a call out. 3 million,6 million, and so on or what ever you are shooting it for.

I got a chance to meet John Trudeau at the Louisville Arcade Expo last month. Really nice and down to earth kinda guy.

He gladly signed my translite and apron.

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I set the factory defaults and it looks like mine is only giving 10,000 per ramp shot, and does not award millions during that mode. Are there 2 switches for that ramp?

edit: I see a the other switch now. Did not have time to check into it further this morning, but thats probably it.

I will check mine also. Cant do it now but will check tonight.

I'm thinking it's just a bad microswitch. I've got a bunch of parts on order and really looking forward to shopping this one out.

Here is a little mod I am working on for the fun of it - Drive In Speakers on a post. I think there are 2 good locations to install it - at the back on one of the lane guides or down the front lhs. To install just a post upgrade is needed and screws straight in place. I am going to tweak it a little by slimming the post down a little and add some detail to the centre housing that the speakers sit on just to make it a little more realistic.

P1050915.jpgP1050914.jpgP1050908.jpgP1050907.jpg

Cool speaker mod, all these great mods make me want to start adding more to mine!

A new microswitch solved my issues.

Can someone please check the back left corner to see if I am missing a piece? It seems like this large clear star post is just hanging off the ramp and I'm not sure why it's there unless I am missing something.

missing.JPG

dirty.JPG

I have checked it on mine and it is exactly the same. Star posts prevents the balls from falling in cabinet.

Yeah my creech has that post also. As rygar said its so the ball stays out of the cab.

Been a creature fan for years. Own a couple, a prototype machine that arrived half disassembled, destroyed playfield and cabinet, and a rough game that is mid restoration.

Both games got new cabinet artwork, playfields restored by Playfield Renovations, and new plastics and ramps. The prototype machine got NOS plastics and ramps, and I have aftermarket plastics and ramps for the regular game.

The differences on the prototype are interesting, the flippers are closer together, the playfield had no artwork under the ramps, the ramp wiring was slightly different, the KISS inserts were red, and there were a few other minor playfield changes.

I'm not real big on mods. Typically, I do things that were cut from production. I did do green *bulbs* in the bowl, but left the big ramp clear. Why? The big ramp is a film projector, and film projectors use *clear* light. The bowl is a swamp, and should be green colored.

Proto game upon arrival:

http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/cftbl_47203

Proto game, pics during restoration:

http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/proto_cftbl_progress

Proto game, after restoration:

http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/proto_cftbl_finished

creech.jpg

I may take a few more liberties with the production game. Thinking about a Color DMD, maybe a hologram mod of some sort.

I am in need of this ball guide as mine is broken. Does anyone have an extra or know another source to purchase one? Thanks
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/01-10773

Jimmy, that one is luckily straight and doesn't look like it'd be too difficult to fabricate.

just installed mirror blades...

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nice, I have a set of black mirrors stashed away for mine.....

hehe. so do I. restoration starts as soon as my playfield gets back from HSA and has time to cure

I just noticed that i don't have the wooden boarders by the shooter laneand also on the left side of the pf. My ones are metal like in this example :
http://christopherhutchins.com/gallery/album417/27_G?full=1

here you see the wooden ones:
http://christopherhutchins.com/albums/album412/cftblb_34.jpg

Does anybody know why they changed from wood to metal or the other way round?

if I recall correctly, metal rails were installed on playfields that were slightly warped or bowed.

I had a Shapeways technical glitch with the Drive In Speaker Mod, when you upload a model it goes through a checking process and they tell you immediately if it will pass or fail. It passed but on this occasion was rejected for the specific material - alumide once I and a pinsider placed a order so I need to rework the design a fraction.

cleanup in progress

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wow, nice job removing those ball trails!

can the valued supporter who purchased one of the drive in speakers from shapeways please contact me via PM

- re-working the design a little and glad they fully refunded you for the time being, my apologies for any inconvenience.

Had one, sold it a few years ago and lately I really miss it. CFTBL may be the first pin I buy twice.

This is my second Creature....also did it with TZ

I see you're from Leesburg, which is in the neighborhood of where I bought my CFTBL. You didn't happen to sell your first one about 6 or 7 years ago did you?

I lived in Ashburn when I sold it. Around November/December of 2004. so about 9 years ago...

For all the Creature fans check this out. Amazing ball at 1h38min

http://www.twitch.tv/papatvpinball/b/514858453

Ok, then I guess that wasn't you I bought it from.

I was moving from a house near leesburg in Ashburn. Had a TZ, CFTBL, and a JP I had to sell. Had a large game room in the basement with a coin op air hockey, Paperboy, Puck bowler, Pole position and a slot machine. Was buying a home that was built in 1817 and wanted to put it on the National Registry so all the games had to be sold. Mission accomplished and now back into a traditional house so rebuilding a game room now.

Good luck. I know it's a labor of love, but I was relieved when I was finished building my game room.

The stress comes back when you're totally out of space in your game room and find another pin you just have to get.

Greetings. I went from owning zero pins a few months ago to owning 5. CFTBL is one of the five that gets played pretty much every night. My machine is very original. I was wondering about adding LEDs, but didn't enjoy that exercise very much with my ToM.

Nevertheless, I love me some Creech and am super impressed by what people have done to make their machines look incredible.

Move Your Car!!!!!

Nice lineup you have in just a few months! What did you not like about adding LEDs to TOM? Was it the process or the result? Dimming can be disabled from the menu and LED-patched game roms are available to help with ghosting.

I'm currently making the LED transition for my Creature and I really enjoy the process. I like looking at each bulb individually and tweaking it until it looks best.

I purchased the kit from Marco, and it is the coin taker kit.

I felt like it was labeled very poorly, though I'm brand new to the hobby. I don't believe I received the correct colors (not nearly all the red ones that should have been present). Now, I've got a blown fuse or some issue because many of the lights on the left side won't come on.

I will say that LED lights on ToM look amazing, when they're working.

Again, I'm incredibly green, but even I can swap a few bulbs if the directions are clear.

First game on Creature tonight, 285 million, a personal best. Love me some Creech.

Ready to let that Turtles go yet?

Not a chance

My game room now has the tri-fecta. Both TMNT arcades and the pin.

I know that the TMNT pin doesn't score very well, but I'm a huge fan and do enjoy both arcades and the pin.

Made a bit more progress this weekend and added lamps to the pop bumpers. I'm curious for those of you who are using LEDs, what did you do for the signs? Is there a particular style of bulb that works best in these with the silicone covers?

teal.JPG

Did you just tie your lamps to the GI?

Yes, I went with GI pops. Must say, I am having a blast cleaning this game up!

I used this post for help: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cftbl-condom-help#post-552562
Cointaker Premium frosted is what I used in the colors of your choosing or following ideas in post above. You won't need the condoms using colored LED's

Double post

This weekend I finally got the ultimate accessory for my Creature from the Black Lagoon: a Monster Bash!

Creature chilling in the hot tub and playing the saxophone are the coolest DMD animations I've ever seen!

don't forget the animation when you complete the creature's signpost in MB. definitely one of the highlights of beautiful animation for me