Finally had some time to work on the acid burn holes and the weapon ready light.
Please see current status attached.

Not finished yet, but I want to share the progress at least.
I tried yellow/orange and red inserts for the Weapon Ready (flashes with the extra ball button).

Note that this is not the final black finish, this is my own proto apron.
96E76CD5-20A3-4199-8CC0-AD6432552076 (resized).JPG
IMG_5541 (resized).jpg

Update on the production:
-As Vimtoman posted, all lighting is finished+ wiring harnesses here. Vimtoman will give a full update on all lighting features at the end (some are shown in the videos already)
-Production run of the steel aprons is on the way, takes maybe 10 days. Then need to powdercoat and then acidburns. I'm the slowest here in the process .
Don't expect anything shipping out within 5-6 weeks; I'm doing this in my spare time and don't have much of it due to work & family life at the moment.

-I've added the Nostromo nametag as an option. Will come back to that.

-I tried some different powdercoatings on the proto, will show the results soon.
-Scorecard artwork still unfinished.

picture installed

B2652994-CD57-4D0F-BEBF-343F90E86F23 (resized).jpeg

Well the artwork is still missing here, and I have a black top which doesnt help (most LE's have green).
Personally I like a little minimalistic style with not too much stuff.

Tried a matt and gloss powdercoating on an apron.
I choose to have the powderedcoat with this 'structure', just like the coating that is on the side armor & top of the game.

I like the matt finish the most so far

ba327240-fd81-4b40-9670-9c4d826add7a (resized).JPGbe15c2d5-7d31-44bd-a072-1e2025649e3c (resized).JPG

Final design for the metal and the apron installed at my friend Maurice who has a green LE.

We moved all acidburns to the right for a more balanced look.

The apron will be matt, I think everyone likes this best.

024FB7A3-BE17-44CE-9327-0FFD59328089 (resized).jpeg063F08E0-2F1D-4877-A1F7-B913DCB4D3A0 (resized).jpeg3B55C7BF-B0C8-4CEC-BBD6-9FA3BBC7502F (resized).jpeg

Some extra info on the strobes:
The strobes are 24 leds on the apron itself.
It is very bright and the effects reflect nicely back via plastics and the screen because the leds are built in horizontally.
It doesn’t show that well on the video, but in the dark I find it perfectly tuned.

With the leds focussed around the flipper area it is the strongest there where you look the most.

Its almost the same size, but symmetric. It looks much larger because it now takes the full width of the game. The plastic apron doesnt cover the shooter lane.

To be extra clear: It’s the smallest size possible keeping it symmetric and without taking out the entire ball guide system.

I didnt like the off-center apron. If you look closely you will see that the plastic one did’nt really fit and that Heighway cut the ball drain hole larger to make it fit. Its actually a full throttle apron that is in the game, which wouldn’t be a problem if the bottom area would have stayed the same.
3EAC10F8-ADCB-4AD6-9C97-32F962AE576C (resized).jpeg

How we solved it: The right side drain the apron is folded back, so the ball disappears after the revive lights:

BFB07B6E-6DD1-4A96-9B5A-8AB4419136F5 (resized).jpeg

So the extra space can be filled with artwork: all shown aprons up to now have no artwork yet, keep that in mind

Ideas and feedback welcome.
9CD1199D-C177-4C14-98C4-702126E012F7 (resized).jpeg

Actually I experimented with adding a UV led in one of the holes (havent tried fluorescent paint yet).
The led didnt give a nice diffuse light and I ordered some other leds to try.
It just gave a purple spot actually

Some very dim lighting may be nice in the acid hole because it is about 4-5 cm deep and you don’t see much of it in the dark.

To answer your question: yes you can remove it and repaint it.

I’ll be posting new progress soon.
Thanks for all the feedback!

I have some different flavors of the apron in production now:
-With Ltd edition/without
-Acidburns on one side
-Without acid burns at all
-Without the 2 holes in the apron, but with the hole on the side where the ball kicks out

This is it, there are no more new versions of the metal being made for now, but if there is enough demand for something else I can always see if I can make something else. Metalwork takes 7-10 days to make, then I need to powdercoat. So the making is the easiest, the drawing/prototyping took the longest (and testing if it fits), which is all done.

I have started prefabricating the acid burn holes. I can make 2-3 a week about at the current pace.
I'm super slow, sorry.
Untitled (resized).pngno holes (resized).PNG

Update: All aprons arriving 28th (November). Then needs powdercoat and finish. Almost there!!

In the mean time I'm experimenting with lighting of the acid holes, but I'm not promising anything

all aprons are in

I’ll be contacting soon everybody that ordered one.

46016593-A806-4C21-95F7-CA82E724E04D (resized).jpeg

Everything is powdercoated. Picking up tomorrow. Almost there!

5B836AAA-ECD1-44A4-9871-DD4F02DBC9B1 (resized).jpeg

Picked up all aprons, will start assembling soon... almost there

9ABB14E6-4F5E-47FD-B2C2-988CA975D1FB (resized).jpeg

First aprons are ready, see below.
Fun fact; the acid burn hole sits exactly above a round hole in the playfield, so you look straight down in the cabinet.

The red you see in the picture is the cointaker shaker motor

For those who don’t like this it can be closed off.
72188E04-E108-40EE-880E-827422E60C5E (resized).jpeg89F07C02-E7DF-4772-8654-10F4E079265A (resized).jpegCAB8E130-31FE-4476-8B42-FF7AF5E77A2E (resized).jpeg

Update to everybody: I'm contacting everyone regarding balance payment and shipment. If you think I forgot you, write me a PM.

Finished the last batch of aprons...
Finally done.

Packing this weekend, shipping monday.

I’ve been slow on responding, I will answer all PMs soon.

09C9D002-53B7-486B-9094-0A8494342BE3 (resized).jpeg

2E191A20-391C-4B23-8EEA-5FFC9211BA3A (resized).jpeg

I will post here instructions this week on how to hook it up (very simple, just 2 plugs ).

See below the LE version with weapon ready and cycle weapon lights.

I have 1 left

279DCE26-04FD-42B9-9916-FEAC16F46C56 (resized).jpeg

Thanks to everybody for their patience, I've been slower than a snail in hibernation as we say in The Netherlands.
But it is a fun job to make them. Every acid burn is different.

Instructions for wiring:

Attention:
Some of the aprons did not survive the shipment in one piece, and the glue parts detached.
This is no problem; see below for example pictures of what goes where, and you can stick it back on.

Attention 2: check at Step 3 the pins of your game

Attention 3: Shut down game before step 1.

Attention 4: Some aprons need very light adjustment to fit, see STEP 8 before you start.

Step 1:
-Remove old apron (2 screws on the front side)

Step 2:
Remove the post from this picture:
8 (resized).jpg

Step 3: Take the wiring harness from the bag for the 2 PCBS. Put the playfield up and connect the power plug on the indicated position, and put the stepper motor connector aswell on the indicated spot (it says 'XENO MODES' next to this plug). Take the XENO connector off, and put the wiring harness in between.

VERY IMPORTANT: SOME EARLY MODELS HAVE PIN 1 AND 2 SWAPPED ON THE PINBALL. ONLY CONNECT WHEN YOU SEE '1' AT THE EXACT SAME SPOT AS THIS PHOTO. OTHERWISE CONTACT ME.
10 (resized).jpg15 (resized).jpg

STEP 4:

There are 2 wires already connected to the light under the apron. Wire them down through the indicated hole (together with the XENO wiring harness).
Wire them as you like completely down and connect them to either the LAUNCH BALL button or the EXTRA BALL.

I recommend hooking up 'WEAPON READY' to the launch ball button.
9 (resized).jpg

STEP 5:
Connect the lights of your WEAPON READY and optionally CYCLE WEAPONS (not all aprons).
There are 2 'forks' on the wire. They slide very easily in the existing connectors of the lights. Just take them off, put the fork in, slide it back on.
Small point of attention: put the fork on the side indicated with the orange arrow (the side that is not flat, the fork will slide in the M shape).

BROWN WIRE=BLACK
YELLOW WIRE=RED
12 (resized).jpg13 (resized).jpg14 (resized).jpg

STEP 6: Connect the wiring harness to the apron.
There is a small pink wire in the bag, bridge this between the 2 PCBs as indicated below.

Before I permanently installed the apron, this is where I tweaked the lighting. So you can put the apron upside down on top of the game and power it on.
Mood light should work straight away, Xeno strobes work only after booting the game (30+ seconds).
2 (resized).jpg16 (resized).jpg17 (resized).jpg

So you can play around with the settings with a small screwdriver. The Xeno logo effect changes only after the animation is done, so when changing the potmeter of this one, best press RESET to immediately reboot the animation

STEP 7:

Mounting the apron:

You can turn around the apron and mount it. The stainless steel part should fall through the hole where the post was removed.
There are 2 pins included to lock it at the bottom (OPTIONAL); it will stay in place without it.

As a third option, you can also screw the metal plate in place (see picture below).

This option is intended where the stainless steel plate is NOT permanently attached to the apron, so the apron sits basically on this thing.
For those who want this, remove the stainless steel plate from the apron (it is fixed with double sided tape and some hot glue; should come off with some effort).

You can also screw it AND leave it glued; this will give a very robust fixing.
6 (resized).jpg5 (resized).jpg

STEP 8:
Fixing the apron:

There are 2 ways to do it:
I included some 0.5 mm plates with self tapping screws; tighten them as indicated below.
These plates SHOULD BEND INTO AN U SHAPE. There is not so much room, so these plates are designed to bend around the metal bracket.

The fast way is to use 2 zips and connect them as indicated. The apron should line up in the middle between the 2 brackets, but yeah it is Heighway so I'm not sure if it is exactly the same.
1 (resized).jpg

STEP 9:
Check the ball clearance as indicated below. There should be a few mms of space. Because it is a tight fit, the seating is critical.
If the ball can't pass, do the following:

-Tighten very well in step 8 to pull the apron back
-take the apron out, and bend the front side slightly in (indicated with the arrow). It's 1.25mm steel and can be adjusted easily, and it won't break.

18 (resized).jpg