the whole machine looks stellar and of very high quality. the clear on the PFs also looked incredibly well done in previous pics/videos.

Because it's a nylon-filled hole that the entire flipper fits through. The reason for this is it keeps the flipper bat, mechanism and plate as one modular easy-to-remove piece. The bat doesn't slip so easily since there is no normal need to take it off; the plate is designed for compact space and dual function (the same plate fits both left and right flippers in a small space than either Williams or Stern flippers do), and to take it out for maintenace, just unscrew the plate from the embedded nuts under the playfield and the whole unit simply lifts out without needing to take it apart.

Very interesting, thanks for the explanation, I'm looking forward to seeing this assembly in person.

flipper mech drops out including the flipper bats so you can swap out bats on the bench and not in the game - quicker for servicing for sited games. That white section is probably a white acetal type plastic.

edit - replied without going to the next page - sorry

ok, than is this case, why white ? couldnt it be (tainted) black ?
for the eyes, would be more integrated in the PF...

I think it's already been discussed and Andrew is looking into it.

black bats and green rubber? : )

Would any rubbers work (like Titan), or do you need the Heighway ones?

okidoo
only have to sell my GB to than grab an ALIEN...

HeighwayPinball - Andrew

Now you've finalized the concept of using a third lcd screen at queen's chamber, is it SAFE to assume kits will start shipping by end of Feb and LE's will start flowing by April?

Usually I am not one to get excited about an announced movie sequels, but something about Alien that has me jazzed (probably because of all the Alien talk here and the idea of receiving my very own Alien/Aliens pin). Maybe the movie will be out by next Christmas. Story below:

Alien 5 Will Be Worth The Wait, According To Sigourney Weaver
BY MATT WOOD - 8 MONTHS AGO15 COMMENTS
------
Alien 5 is definitely happening at some point in the future. At least that’s what everyone involved with it keeps saying as it gets delayed further and further. To be written and directed by Neil Blomkamp, the film is supposed to be a return to form for the Alien franchise and will focus once again on Sigourney Weaver’s infamous Ripley. While the film was supposed to arrive in 2017, it got delayed so that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant would go first. We haven’t heard many details on the progress of the movie in a while, but Sigourney Weaver says that, slowly but surely, it’s still coming.

Talking with Indiewire, Sigourney Weaver was able to divulge some information on the film. Asked about the progress on the film and if it were still in development, Weaver had this to say:
Well, I think it is. Ridley asked Neill not to make our Alien 'til after Prometheus 2. [Ridley] wanted his movie to shoot and be released first. But it’s an amazing script, and Neill and I are really excited about doing it. We’re doing other things until we can get going on that. I’d be really surprised if we didn't do it, because it’s such a great script, and we love working together. So, it’s just going to take a little bit longer to get out to you, but it’ll be worth the wait.

The take away from this is that, yes, it’s coming, and it’ll be better than Alien: Resurrection. It was previously rumored that Alien 5 would be more of a direct sequel to Aliens, while mostly ignoring the other sequels (kind of like what Jurassic World did). While an actor claming that a movie they’re in will be good isn’t exactly a promise of quality, I’m ready for a new Alien film. It seems only right with Predator getting a new film, that the other big alien monster from the eighties should get a comeback as well.

It’s still unclear exactly what Alien: Covenant is about, but it seems that there will be a connection to Neil Blomkamp's Alien 5, with the Prometheus sequel serving as a sort of lead-in. While most likely no one is more excited to see a Prometheus sequel before an actual Alien movie, the title indicates that it will try to provide less giant blue people and more face huggers.

alien21 (resized).jpg

Great timing for me Andrew!!!....so excited to see the LE artwork, hardware options....this thing will be off the charts!!!!

All right - 2016 is done. Let's see this game get shipped in 2017. I, for one, will place my order when this game is in people's homes, people rave about how fun it is, Bowen's doing a tutorial on it, it's appearing at shows as a "production game" and not a prototype - I'm ready as I'm sure others here are. Let's see this game start getting made!

If the LEs production starts this month when do we get to see the artwork? Is it the same as SEs?

Doesn't really matter at this point as long as games ship

Im Ready to be Ready!

got room in there to fit another pin Art ? : P id struggle to find room for 25 pins here, id have to build a bigass extension.

Do you still have your Shadow? Man I love that pin, easily a top 10.

Yeah, too many. Sold 1 bought 2...doesnt work well.

Scattered everywhere! Shadow Rocks!!!

Henry Ford also said "customers can have the Model T in any color - as long as it's black."

Ford eventually lost ground to competitors who offered different colors, failing to address what customers wanted.

He arrogantly thought he didn't need to listen to customers, and had to play catch up.

Or we could compare it to how MicroSoft failed to recognize the importance of the internet for several years and never really caught back up. It's hard to have a clear vision of the forest when you are busy chopping trees.

Understanding the failures of business in hindsight, shows great wisdom.

Unfortunately, with the times being different, while its important to "Hear" your customers,
trying to accomplish it all is a human nightmare.

Look at the games for sale thread fiasco, the Op "listened" to many posts, and the noise on both sides created a mess.

A simple Purple Bulb took almost a year, several thousands at cost, and hundreds of customers to listen too.

Im not negating your view, Im so glad to see Ford quoted and a great read, only sharing the insanity that the internet today brings in the amount of great ideas and suggestions brought forth.

Nothing wrong with the ideas....just easier to share, and hard to implement, and/or which "ones" to listen to.

The advice I received from others in the industry were, as Ford...simply ignore, or get ready to lose sleep at night
not only trying to do the right thing, but not knowing out of all the ideas and suggestions, "whats best".

With so many pages ...
Can someone please list the least expensive option to bring this machine to my gameroom? I would want the one with the lcd screen in the backbox. Thanks.

http://www.heighwaypinball.com/store-2/

Just finished watching Alien, Aliens & Alien 3 to start the new year in preparation of an Alien pin landing in my game room this year

Anyone else holding off sending in the next payment. I pre ordered a LE from the start but would love to see a finished LE. Any reason besides moving up the list in terms of receiving the game sooner than later. Any thoughts on early games produced having issues with later games being more solid. Looking forward to having this beast in my game room this year!!!

I wouldnt worry about that. I believe the first batch is Standard Aliens, so any issues would show up on those before the LE's get rolling. If you have any concerns, reach out to Andrew, A phone call can help

So excited to get my LE !!!

Looks like $6.5k plus shipping.

Plus $550usd for the 27" screen

Andrew will you definitely be at the EAG with Aliens machines?

If so I will come along to have a test play, as very interested in getting an LE.

Cheers

Heighway are on Stand 313 according to the Expo web site. Andrew has stated on The UK Pinballinfo forum that there will be 4 Aliens and also Full Throttle's available to play.

I would be hesitant being too close to the front of any new production run. Just about any game released these days you end up seeing the early adopters having to retrofit fixes that the later machines come with. I'm not keeping up with the Stern releases, but this happened with both JJP games, Spooky, and it certainly will happen with Heighway as well. It's the price for being one of the first to get one.

I don't know how decals would hold up on the flipper hole nylon inserts, but I'm happy to use the CAD files to extract that portion of the art to try, it exists in my file, might be an easy aftermarket thing to mess with. Not sure they would hold up well enough to be an 'official' supported mod, but for home use I'd think they'd be fine.

So no promises, but if it bugs you to not have art there we can try and mess with it. I don't have a game to physically test that kind of stuff on, so give me some time.

Andrew said the inserts will be black in the production game, that should be good enough I'd think.

This really needs addressing, so many of us are in for LE's and really haven't seen what we will be getting (not completely, anyways).

Does it really matter, honestly? I'm not getting an LE, but the reason why is that it's just not that much different from SE (other than features you can add). If you are getting the large LCD screen, there is virtually no room for artwork to be much different. Side art could be different, but if games are in a row it never matters much there either.

Not saying overall package won't be better, but the artwork differential between models will be small at best.

Agreed, I think he's just trying to create intrigue so we can see what the LE looks like, I don't think anyone thinks it's a deal breaker. I'm sure the standard art will be available for LE owners anyway.

Not only is standard art available to LE buyers... It's actually included.

While it's not a deal breaker for the game as a whole for me, it is one of the main deciding factors about whether I'll ask them to downgrade my LE order to a standard. The other being whether any good-looking alternative powder coat options will be offered.

I was apparently one of the very few still potentially interested in a small backbox screen option, however, so perhaps I'm just in the minority here too.

Definitely looking forward to seeing one of these out in the wild, I haven't gotten to play one at all yet. The art, playfield & toys all look pretty decent to me.

Gloss black is what I am doing for my powder coat, something as close to the Alien skin/colour as possible

I think I remember Andrew (Heighway) mentioning the small backbox screen is no longer an option, its either full translite or the 27" lcd

EDIT: thanks to nephasth below for confirming

No, it doesn't really matter, I'm in on my LE regardless of what it turns out like...but with all the talk over the past year of "LE's will have different artwork" and we still have not gotten a conclusive answer as to what that means. Will the plastics have different art? Will the outside of the cabinet? Will the inner walls of the cab have different "art"? Backglass? Playfield? As far as I know, we don't have an answer to any of those questions, and as an LE buyer, that's just weird to me when they say they are making these games in a month. Why no answer? Are we still waiting for approval?

For many of those, we can deduce an answer, such as the playfield. Pretty sure that will be exactly the same, there is no way they would still have those awaiting fox approval and be confident they were making these games in a month. On the site, the cabs are both all black, and the backglass artwork is the same, as well as the side panel art. Are those still meant to be stand-ins for the real games to give us an idea, or do those represent final products? So if the answer to those is "yep, they are as shown", what does that leave? Plastics?

I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, I'm as excited about this game as anyone else here is, this is my dream theme and it's looking amazing to me....but at this point there should be no mystery left about what these games are going to look like, and the fact that there is, that concerns me in terms of production timelines. I think these are fair questions to ask at this point in the games design and production phase.

EDIT: I am now remembering (thanks to the post a few above me) that Andrew mentioned LE buyers will also get standard artwork, which leads me to believe that the LE artwork would be side panels and maybe the backbox (not sure how heighway backbox art will work on these games).

Very true.

So ... uhm ... we ordered an Alien SE and it's going straight on location

It would be nice to know what us LE buyers are getting, at this point all aspects except maybe final mounting of the new lcd you'd think should be compleated.

Im sure some guys may want to swap their order to a standard if they dont feel the LE package is worth the extra cash.

Pictures and a final feature matrix would be great.