Can't someone come up with a playfield that glows in the dark??....Oh, wait!

are those illuminated inside panels and backboard an LE option?
I have a SE with these panels.
I also have the large screen in the backbox and the LE topper

They were not exclusively an LE option. Nearly everyone has the large screen in the backbox.

What is the LE topper, the beacons?

EL Blades and back panel - option for SE/ Included on LE

Beacons - not sure if they were an option for SE, but have seen upfits/ Included in LE

Backpanel LCD - option for everyone, though that's how most of them were made....SE and LE

Shaker - option on SE/ Included on LE

LE artwork - well, self explanatory

Here's an application note regarding the soldering of the headers.

Warning - these PCBs are thinner than you are used to. They are 1mm, not the usual 1.6mm.

Don't be using your nice chisel tip. The heat will go straight through the board and melt the plastic on the header. Ask me how I know..

Use a conical sharp, or better yet, micro fine and target the pin and the plating on the hole. Everything is great if you use the right tip.

Sling contacts is greaaaat ... now we need the clear 3D target on the list

I am still working on the whole plasticset in unbreakable VIVAK and not Plexi like original.
Printing on Vivak and lasering is tricky but possible. We have good files but even here we have to work on every single plastic and work on the edges, printer settings and laser. But ... it will go on ...

Picture: First test ....

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Didn't know about Vivak, thanks for mentioning this stuff.

Probably won't use it right away, but it is nice to know that there are alternatives to Plexiglas.

VIVAK is a description for synthtic material PET-G and it's the same material playfield protectors are made of.
Plexi might often break, VIVAK won't break.

Called petg here

I thing PETG is the same stuff milk jugs are made from.

I'm also working with Pinbits here in the states to get a plastic protector set made. There is still enough thread for the nuts to grab, but they don't quite make it to the nylon locking portion. I ordered some thinner lock nuts that should work fine.

Petg is the material. Vivak is a trade name.

This is the last list of diffrence i got from Heighway pinball , maybe it helps someone

difference between editions (resized).jpg

EL BLADES they are standard on all games, it is their backlight that is an option on the SE

I have never seen an alien without the big screen

Thanks for the tip - I never use a chisel tip, and always use my Weller temp controlled iron - been doing this for over 10 years now. I'll turn down the temp a bit and see what works best.

Here's a link to the post where I detail my homebrew EL blades: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/heighway-pinball-support-full-throttle-and-alien/page/12#post-4469391

Here's a link to the inverter: https://elpanelandtape.co.uk/products/dedicated-inverters/7000cm2-to-10000cm2-dedicated-el-inverter-2/
And I'd get at least 4 of these: https://elpanelandtape.co.uk/products/eltape/5cm-x-1m-el-tape/

And for those that asked, here is a couple pictures of where I wired the inverter to the power. It's the two black wires on top of the blue and brown.

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Thank you so much sunking. I’m thinking of taking the plunge as well.

Finally got my Xenomorph tongue working but the jaw is just stuck in the open position and won't move. During test it's unresponsive. Any tips greatly appreciated!

Has it ever worked?

Does it make any noise during power on or calibrate in the menu? This would indicate that power is getting to it but it's mechanically seized.

Verify that the three wire connector on the back of the jaw board is plugged in, (usually a lighter green, has a large AMTEL chip on it, and doesn't have the stepper motor daughter board). In my example it's the one on the right. Also, the servo motor wiring is sometimes backwards.. verify top to bottom it's red, brown orange..

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New batch of LEDs is here. I will fill backorders tonight and get more volume up in the store sometime during the week.

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Make sure the jaw isn't physically stuck on the backs of the center standup targets.

Today I recieved the first plastic made of Vivak from my buddy.

It looks perfect and it fits perfect.
As the original we did not print WHITE on the backside like on other pinballs plastics.
The Vivak is a little thinner than the original plexiglas plastics.
End of the week we will print a plastic with more colors to check out the colormanagement.
This plastics will not be sold commercial, only to ALIEN owners.
We plan to make a full set and a smaller set without the rampplastics. Cleart plastics will be included.

So see this as a first little succesfull test !

Pic1
Original and Repro front
Pic2
Original and Repro back
Pic3
Compare thickness Plexi vs. Vivak
Piv4 and 5
Repro build in

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This is great news!! With the thinner plastics maybe a protector can be made in vulnerable spots.

I'm in for at least a set!!

Thanks for the great work!!

Hopefully you will share how this was done so that us native citizens (non-aliens ha ha) can apply this to other platforms.

Good work!

Thank you! No, it never worked quite right although it used to make noise on power up and move sporadically but now it just sits open without noise.

This was my problem initially - you can potentially burn out the motor if this is the case. So I would recommend checking if it clears the targets asap.

This is just unbelievable! What a great community!

Thanks for the tip... checked the clearance and it seems to not be touching the targets.

The jaw is attached via a wire to a servo arm that swings back and forth. You can try to move the wire back by hand effectively closing the jaw and moving the servo arm back to see if this frees it up.

The servos that originally shipped with the game we’re plastic and sometimes become stripped. It would account for the intermittent behavior. There is a replacement metal servo, but it only comes in a 4 pack as far as I’ve found.

RioRand 4 x MG90S Metal Geared Micro Servo For Plane Helicopter Boat Car New https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8SR0ZK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_NenDdXe3aMpnP

On mine I had to enlarge the hole in the servo arm slightly, and flip the red and brown wires in the harness for it to work.

If your panel has failed LEDs they will be blacked out and extra boards will be included to make back up your 64 per panel.

For example..

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So I have been out of the loop on all the Alien stuff lately but are there any updates on replacement IO boards?

Two of mine are bad, I'd even send them out to get fixed if possible.

My game has been down since last September......

Yes I have some pm sent

PinBackpacker sold some weeks ago 2 boards to me for 225 Dollar each.

Plastics:
Second test was made today and will be shipped to me asap. If the colours do match we think about producing the first full set and put it in my machine.
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It seems that there will be space enough to make also some plasticprotectors for under the "most breakables". But this will follow after the plastics itself and depends on demand.

Has anyone installed a trough liner/magnetic jam protector in an Alien? The only one I know about is from PinBits, but I wasn't sure if it'd fit in an Alien.

One of these:
http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=449

Just curious as I've only played the game a dozen or so times (waiting on Cliffys scoop protector) and I had 3 balls get magnetized and cause jam-ups in the trough entrance. I may have just been unlucky and they were magnetized before I put them in, but it only seems to be an issue in the trough.

Looking good!

Will you be making the replacement "protectors" covering the pc boards in the bottom of the cabinet?

One of mine had a corner chip off when I lifted the play-field and a ball fell on it. (Am I the only one who had this happen?)

Are you using the balls provided by the factory? Those seem to become super magnetic for whatever reason. Swap 'em out...

Replacement LEDs back in stock..

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1023-redshiftled/01897-alien-replacement-mini-led-board-multi-pack-8-or-64

Happy I could help! FYI - those EL panels that have connections on both ends can be cut in half - both halves will still have a connector, and both will still work. That is what I used for the back panel.

Looking good oneangry!

No, I opened the package and didn't even bother with the factory ones. I'm using carbon steel ones from the Ball Barron. They have been sitting around for several months, so it's possible something happened to them before I added them. It may have been a fluke. Same thing happened on my LOTR: First day two balls magnetized and a month later I haven't had any issues.

Just to be fully honest about all of this, the answer is really neither, because when I did the playfield I didn't really have any clue what the final assembled game would even look like. There was no whitewood, no production-ish ramps, no test game with lights to see how the GI worked, or anything like that. There's art I could have skipped spending time on, because in the end it got covered up by plastics I didn't know would be there. Not gonna beat that horse anymore, but you see what I'm getting at.

The design is obviously intentionally dark, it's always just a question of balance.

If I had a chance to do things over knowing what I know now I'd brighten things up some (ha, if I knew what I know now back then a lot would change), but I think the real issues are the fact that so much of the GI is hidden behind metal and places where it can't shine, there probably ought to be a couple spots, and there are no flashers.

Flashers don't help with GI of course, but if for instance there were a couple of flashers strobing on the xeno as the tongue came out I think you could use an effect like that to justify the game being a little darker at times.

Personal preference is king, but I think modding in lights is perfectly reasonable. I'm not a fan of the Pinstadium effect, but if you dig it and it lets you see everything and enjoy it more, I say go for it.

+1 on all thoughts above!!!! Mike is definitely around some GI fixes, and a flasher effect for the xeno in action would be perfect!!!!

Been toying w some ideas, but will wait until I "replastic" the game first........

Ordered! (I missed the first batch)

Doesn't seem too hard, if I had kept my game I'd probably look at some kind of little Arduino/Teensy solution for doing it. Would make a nice kit for someone to sell.