Picking my CFTBL up on Thursday. I'm very excited to be joining this club! CFTBL is such an amazing game. I've spent hours playing it on Pinball Arcade.

Oh, that's what I'm hoping for! Getting +200,000,000 way too often. But I appreciate the manner in which the virtual pinball allows you to familiarise yourself with a game.

I love CFTBL for the theme and for the insane modding potential. I've seen some amazing games, one that really made an impression was with near-glowing green siderails, lockdown bar, and legs. My first addition will be a billboard style topper printed out on acrylic with an LED backlight. Hyped!!!

Sound-wise, CFTBL is amazing. The only game better sound-wise IMO is TAF (thanks to Raul Julia's amazing contribution to the game). First thing I'm doing when I get the sucker is sticking LEDs in, as the colour on CFTBL is INSANE! It has such a beautiful colour scheme, particularly the translite, which allows for a really marvellous lighting solution.

Definitely. I flooded my TOTAN with purple frosted LEDs and it killed the colour. Replaced around 90% of them to standard white LEDs, leaving a few of the coloured ones in the places where they complimented the playfield's colouring. Same plan for CFTBL, sticking with normal whites, particularly on the bottom half of the playfield.

Might not be as bad if I use warm white. I'm getting rid of incandescents mostly due to the blackening and warping of plastics. They're expensive and rare, so it's really worth doing a conversion. Anyhow, I "backup" my pins before using them (scan of the playfield, scan of plastic artwork), most often when I'm doing the LED conversion since most pins come with incandescents. That way anything that breaks I can reproduce without having to spend a fortune on replacements. God bless 3D and screen printing.

Woop woop! On my way home, CFTBL in the back of the van. Officially a club member now.

Got around to fitting my Creech with LEDs. They bring out the colour much better. I might change the purple one deeper in the playfield to a normal white superbright (purple really kills the playfield and plastic colour, a lesson learned from my TOTAN).

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I decided to go wild with the Creech. I ordered the alternate NSFW translite, and as this game needs a little touching up, I'm planning a restoration in the summer. I'll get a playfield scan and print out a new playfield on plywood like I did for my EATPM cause that came out amazing. CPR playfields are a bit too pricey for me. I'll edit the playfield after scanning to do the NSFW conversion oh, well...

Pinblades are also a must for this game!!! I'm actually thinking of making custom ones with cars etc, not the swamp theme.

Definitely then! I'll get started with them this week. Will keep you posted with previews.

Same here... :/

Started working on the pinblades. It's a nightmare... Unfortunately, I won't be able to produce these for sale unless I strike some sort of deal with the artist who drew these beautiful cars. Personal use for now.

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He painted it by hand!? :O

I'm working on the NSFW playfield. I thought I should make a backup anyway, but then I might as well spice the game up a bit considering the fact that I've ordered the NSFW translite. Redoing playfields is a nightmare and it takes so long... I've done about 25% of the TAF playfield. Only started with CFTBL. Should be finished by the end of June. Mind you they do look very fresh once screenprinted on clearcoated plywood.

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http://www.ministryofpinball.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/f/cftlsite001.jpg

Should be good. The mini translites are of a stunning quality, so I expect the genuine one to be the same. I'll post pictures once it comes in (sometime this week, unless it doesn't arrive by Friday, in which case I'll post pictures in June as I'll be away).

This is most likely the longer way. Check for an identical wire in the backbox. My guess is that's it's some switch wire (switches go to the CPU board), so look there. Identify the connector, check in the manual, that'll tell you where to solder it.

Added an LED strip to the backbox. It gives the bottom of the translite a nice greeny glow.

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Oh please... have you seen the knockers on Elvira? Or as a matter of fact any other character in a Pinball game, such as Christine on the POTO playfield? These games were designed for teenage boys, something to bear in mind.

MightyGrave asked for a pinblade template. I figured I might as well post it here for anyone who wants to play around.

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I'm doing that when I get back home. Haven't decided whether I want it green or white.

On another note, HELP NEEDED!!!
I want to replace the #86 ramp bulbs. Does anyone know how many there are? The manual doesn't specify, I was hoping someone knows or would be willing to count them!

The alternate NSFW translite btw is of terrible quality. Bought it, put the original one back in (all blurred, not high-res).

Nice! I'm getting the metal parts on mine painted in a very bright lime green. Inspired by a picture of a sick CFTBL I saw somewhere on the web. Might need to bet custom decals for the cabinet though with a highly saturated pink.
I changed the LEDs in the bowl and main ramp and noticed that some of the sockets were worn out and wouldn't light the LEDs up. Slightly annoyed as I'm going to have to remove the ramp and bowl again to change them...
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Creech is getting a cabinet refurb and some new decals.

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Whaddy’all think? I think it’s coming along nicely, I’ll do the siderails in the evening and start prepping the insides tomorrow. Might need to scavenge more grounding braid from somewhere…

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The ones I bought are trash, and printed on gloss vinyl rather than matte… Don’t buy any of the “custom” stuff from Pinball.Center, I’ve already made the mistake twice. The normal stuff is fine, but the customised products are trash.

Have to put this on hold for a while. Will resume later on, but overall pleased with what I managed to get out of the way. 99% sure this game will go for sale, so I’m trying to get it both fully functional and presentable.

Translite glass broke months ago, will have to order a new one. Kind of goes hand in hand as my TAF playfield glass was shattered during shipping, so I’ll just order both a backbox and playfield glass and split it between the two.

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Pinball.center in my neck of the woods. I wasn’t even aware that Rick does the purple version (although that would make sense given that he holds the rights to produce all the B/W stuff). But I’m not pleased with the quality.

I’m afraid I can’t remember… The parts were powdercoated ages ago.

Have a look at the part list:

https://www.ipdb.org/files/588/Bally_1992_Creature_from_the_Black_Lagoon_Parts_List.txt

Lamp-wise -- 64 per the matrix (555s), GIs are 44s, not sure how many (I always get 20 and end up with spares), and obviously a couple of flashers.

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Unless I'm wrong, topside nuts are 6-32s.

Big brain hour.

Quite a few flashers up in the backbox from what I remember. Just curious -- why are you not buying LEDs? Aesthetics or...?

Homestretch on this one… Just need to sort the transformer out (and the coin door buttons etc). Took a while, but I didn’t have that much spare time. Will need a new playfield and backbox glass, it seems that I somehow misplaced them.

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