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Has anyone put Gold mirror blades on a Congo? Love to see what they look like.
(Topic ID: 50221)
Linked Games
Congo
Williams, 1995
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8 months later
Quoted from Whysnow:I was told congo is getting closer along w 20 other titles all being worked on...
it HAS to happen. The WPC95 goodness of Congo deserves colourisation.
2 months later
I didn't do the Volcano repair myself, but the previous owner did a great job and recorded his progress here:
http://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/congo-restoration.16964/page-2#post-93948
Quoted from Wickerman2:Thanks! Those pictures are much more clear. So that is you machine now? Looks great. Question--do you have a spotlight on the side of your volcano? I didn't see one in those pics. The one I am restoring had a couple wires hanging there where I have seen a spotlight on others. Wondering if there was a reason yours didn't have it as well. Thanks
No worries. Yes that's my game now, but sadly it's been on its arse in storage since i bought it so i couldn't tell you if it has the volcano spotlight - no room to set it up until March next year when we finish the garden games room / architecture office (yes, an odd combination). From the restore log photos and my very hazy memory i don't think it does, so i might install one myself using a GI feed nearby.
Edit: also have a shaker ready to install, and the GI blackout for backbox.
3 months later
3 months later
There's a mod for that!
http://www.pinballbulbs.com/products/congo-pinball-color-changing-volcano-mod
1 month later
Quoted from bigbadmiker:Has anyone tried installing a ColorDMD or SmartDMD into Congo?
Funnily enough I tried installing a Dr Pinball LCD in my game earlier today, but failed through a lack of appropriate spacers when fixing it to the speaker panel. It worked technically, just couldn't keep it screwed in, and I had little patience remaining after upgrading all the roms and spending hours working out why they didn't work...
Quoted from bigbadmiker:Exactly what I was getting at as I have a Dr. Pinball lcd setup also. I have heard of spacers needed. What are these spacers?
Not sure - Mine came out of a SM when it got ColorDMD'd. I have the correct power cable now, but no idea how to fit it. I emailed Dr Pinball himself on Friday and awaiting a response.
I'm tempted to use old post rubbers and some longer screws!
Noob question:
Should the gray gorilla head flasher flash each time the flippers and slings solenoids fire? I put a purple flasher in there and that's the behaviour I'm seeing.
Quoted from bigd1979:It sld not but seems some led flashers let enough current bleed threw that they light when not supposed to. Try different ones and if none work go back to incandescent one
Thought as much, thanks.
I'll give it another try on a coil test another day and report back.
Quoted from monkeyboypaul:Not sure - Mine came out of a SM when it got ColorDMD'd. I have the correct power cable now, but no idea how to fit it. I emailed Dr Pinball himself on Friday and awaiting a response.
I'm tempted to use old post rubbers and some longer screws!
He's currently on holiday and hoping to respond properly at the end of the week.
Quoted from Mitch:Mine does this too
are you using an LED flasher?
I'm using a directable purple 906 from Comet:
http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/8smdflexflash.htm
I might try some other flasher types, and also my original incandescent flasher too.
also, my "top loop post", which stops the ball up in the top left of the playfield near Amy, makes a very loud buzzing when it's active. Anyone got any tips for that?
All my LED flashers seemed to flash in the grey gorilla flasher socket when other solenoids fired, replaced with an incandescent and fixed
Now I'm getting a few balls falling off the little metal bridge between the volcano and the plastic ramps on the right hand side! I have repro ramps. Is there a bodge or mod to fix this?
Quoted from bigd1979:I Made a metal guide bc fast hit balls wld fly off there
Can you show me some photos of this please?
Quoted from bigd1979:It was a random ramp protector i had laying around but was perfect for this job
I probably have an old AFM one sat about somewhere - it seems to only go off on that top side after flying nearly 270degrees round the volcano.
Quoted from monkeyboypaul:He's currently on holiday and hoping to respond properly at the end of the week.
Unfortunately he hasn't got an answer on this. So I'm going to press ahead and find some longer screws and some plastic tubes or standoffs to push the screen back about 2-3cm so it doesn't hit the speaker panel.
2 weeks later
Quoted from AlexSMendes:So... how do you guys keep the "gray gorilla clear plastic" leveled with the playfield in a way that the ball EVER change it's direction when passing through its edges? Is there any magic formula or (just like me), is just trying and trying again (and apparently never get it right)?
Makrolon sheet over it
2 weeks later
Seems like my prayers to the Color God have finally been answered...
7 months later
Quoted from ufiti:Do you have gold mirror blades in a Congo? Any chance you'd be willing to post photos?
Hi, yes - but it's very subtle.
Have black in TWD, blue in Tron and Gold in IMVE. They're all really very subtle colour to be honest. Red in AFM was the most obvious, but even that wasn't very striking.
Quoted from ninjabones:Are the mirror blades significantly different in shape/size on the modern stern cabs vs. the Williams cabs like congo? I have a set that I took off Metallica (after installing the lightning blades); wondering if they'd fit in congo?
They're different enough not to fit, if that help 
Quoted from ufiti:Thanks, that really helps! Had been wondering if they were worth the extra $125 or whatever.
Is that +$125 extra for the coloured blades vs. standard chrome? In my opinion: no. Stick with Chrome.
If that's $125 for blades (of any colour) rather than having no blades at all, then in my opinion: it's worth the money.
9 months later
Quoted from Itty:Hey guys, picked up a Congo this past weekend as my first pin, and it plays great. However, the grey gorilla bearing bracket was broken on one side, which allowed the return and actuator arms to fall off of the return stop. It's still playable, but Grey kinda flops around in the lower playfield.
Does anyone have any extra bearing brackets (PN 04-10330.1)? Or is there a source to buy parts? The only place I could find was pinballcenter, which no longer does shipping to the US.
Is this what you need?
https://mantispinball.com/product/congo-square-drive-plate/
5 months later
Quoted from mollyspub:Has anyone ever installed a shaker in a Congo? Think it would be great to have a shaker going when locking balls and on volcano shots!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/congo-shaker-motor-turorial
4 weeks later
Quoted from Yesh23:I just picked up a Congo and the lower playfield had yellow led's in it. I did the rest of the game in Comet day lights. Curious what other folks have done? The yellow gives it a semi erie feeling but am I missing artwork without the day lights? Any other cool schemes that people have done? Please show
i also lit the lower playfield GI with Comet frosted yellow/ambers and a purple each side at the rear (nearest the gorilla).
Also use GI OCD because Congo has some excessive GI dimming!
Quoted from Yesh23:Do the purple add much by the gorilla? What does the GI OCD board actually do? I have Comet Daylight 2 way frosted in all the GI's
Congo's GI dims quite a lot, as designed for incandescent bulbs, unless it's disabled in the settings.
LEDs will flicker instead of dimming. GI OCD adapts your machine's dimming circuitry to allow LEDs to dim correctly, behaving like bulbs. The cheapest way to restore 'as factory' dimming is to use incandescent bulbs again as GI OCD is not cheap, but works well if you want to us Leds in the GI AND have the dimming effects.
See 5mins & 7mins for 2 quick examples of a Congo dimming with incandescents.
Quoted from Yesh23:One last question. When you lock the balls in the volcano and you start multi-ball does everyone's balls hit the top of the glass? Mine seem to hit the glass fairly hard and I didn't know if my coil was firing too hard or if that was common
Your VUK is knackered! Specifically the top lip that slows & diverts the ball. Get the reinforced Mantis version.
Quoted from jawjaw:One thing weird about my game is I had to put an incandescent flasher behind the guerrilla. A led flasher would flash when I hit the flippers for some reason. Same for one flasher in the backbox.
Snap! Must be a design flaw somewhere.
2 weeks later
Quoted from lpeters82:In a small collection, I think you eventually think about moving on from almost every machine. There is just something exciting about a new (to you) machine. Where I'll disagree, I feel like story based games get old much quicker. Once you've seen the "ending" there is less incentive to play. Sometimes the simple games are the ones I'm drawn to the most. If collecting 100 diamonds was a given, perhaps I'd change my mind, but it's still a good challenge for me. Same think like the Super Jackpot on Fish Tales. It's not super complex, but it's still a rush getting there. Having said that, I'm at the point where I'm debating about trading off either Congo or The Shadow. My fear with Congo is that they just don't come up for sale that often. Most trades you can't reverse, but I'm not sure that will be the case with Congo.
I agree with your comments entirely... had Congo 3-4yrs now, but most for that time I’ve been looking after my Son (now nearly 4) or working, so I just haven’t given it the time it deserves yet.
4 weeks later
Repaired a couple of dry solder joints under the playfield and put Congo back into action again this evening, after a few months of not being able to play it (and really wanting to try the new MET code instead of doing repairs). It really is a fun game! It gets less play than the newer machines, but i have more fun on this than TWD (possibly because i suck at that). The audio is SO good too.
Got those Pinball Centre inlanes too, they really tie the playfields together - recommended. PCenter can be a bit off with their plastics sometimes, but these are spot on.
Managed this today, and I’m very proud of myself too!
174748CA-582F-499C-8FE8-D98C9D71252D (resized).jpeg280635A3-0308-4581-A287-153D1B48AC68 (resized).jpeg 2 weeks later
Quoted from auntagnes:Joined the club over the weekend. A lot has been done: new ramps, new plastics, new Amy, new lower playfield window, Mantis volcano weldment, Mantis gorilla square drive plate, flippers rebuilt, vRAM, latest ROM, and LEDs throughout. Basically new, save for the Volcano ramp (unobtanium) and lower playfield gorilla which was fine. Super stoked to join the club. Have to figure out why the Volcano is throwing the balls on to the playfield most of the time overshooting the ramp. I thought the Mantis was supposed to prevent this issue. Thanks to mitch for the hookup and great work rebuilding everything.
[quoted image]
Good deal.
I bought something very similar a few years ago - most things had been replaced with new, and a little bit of the usual volcano damage had been repaired really well. Added gold mirror blades, a ColorDMD and comet LEDS with LED/GI OCD to finish it off - very happy now.
Check your Volcano opening, as suggested above, and see what coil is down there maybe - it might be overrated? should be an AE-23-800 (Yellow)
Posted elsewhere, in case you missed it: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-congo-restoration-by-mike-willett
4 months later
Quoted from whitey:I just bought my first Congo and paid
$5k , game has new playfield installed
Appears to have all new ramps etc
Plays great .I was already offered more then I paid for it ? Hard game to find
Good find if you like the game.
I paid £1800 ($2400) for a nicely refurbished machine, new ramps and a really well repaired volcano, all new plastics... but no new playfield (it looks good still) and had a playfield protector fitted. Since GI & LED OCD’d it, plus colour DMD. That was a few years ago now, so the current value is anyone’s guess. Not sure I’d want to sell it though. The temptation of new but massively overpriced Sterns keeps eating away at my zinj.
2 months later
Quoted from BobC:I'm not sure if I goofed up or not.
My Congo got LED'd with a kit from PinballBulbs.com awhile back.
Now I'm wondering if I should have gotten an OCD LED board and/or an OCD GI board.
The machine has been away from my house for a while (no space...how could that be?),
and with my bad memory I don't recall if there were dimming or flickering effects coded into Congo or not.
Thanks!
BobC
Congo does have a reasonable amount of fading in the GI.
Go incandescent, or LED + GI OCD. The middle ground isn’t great.
Quoted from Mitch:Or just go in the menu and turn off gi fading
Also a possibility.
Maybe unplug the DMD while you’re at it, prevent any temptation to buy a ColorDMD.
2 months later
Quoted from Axl:They probably made it. So beware. The stuff they produce is underwhelming to say the least. Some of it is pure garbage.
Agree with above.
2 months later
Yeah ColorDMD for the win, but for balance they’re a fair bit pricier over here in Europe when you factor in tax, shipping and reseller profit margins.
Still a great plug & play mod though.
4 months later
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