I too would fill it & paint it black

Congrats on a $3400 LOTR sir!

If someone offered me $1600 to scratch my PF odds are I'd let em lol

yes, it can be fixed. Won't be cheap to fix tho. And a ton of work, because you have to strip the playfield and send it to one of us restorers. On the plus side, you will have extra clear on your field that should last forever from wear.

looks like a broken, bad or forgotten bushing for the balrog caused that.

Looks like a nice game! Too bad about the scratch.
From the picts I can't tell exactly how deep the scratch is. Maybe, because the surrounding area is dark, the light wood really stands out. If I were in your shoes I would consider using paint to fix it. Use an enamel, oil-based paint. Paint the gouge with black. Use light coats and give it a day to dry in between coats. Gradually you can build it up to be level with the playfield. No need for clear. You can try your hand at mixing some gray and other colors to "blend" into the surrounding areas. Might not be perfect but it will be cheap and you can do it yourself.

If it really is deep than I'd be worried that wood filler. Might not adhere well enough to put up with abuse from air balls.

Good luck!

Matt

You may not want to attempt that Chris.I'll come over and take it off your hands for that price.

he has to clear his touchups or don't even bother because the ball will wear them back off in no time.

Because he also owns LoTR and didn't realize until seeing this thread that the same thing might happen to his game some day.

Saw the title of this thread and thought it meant you paid waaaay too much for your game.

Correct. Otherwise it will be a constant repair job. Seal the wood with clear in a syringe to lock in the loose wood fibers, waterslide or touch-up on top, then clear over again. Some sanding would be involved and buffing, and it would be a bit tricky as a spot repair, but nothing compared to the amount of work involved with a full tear-down.

You shall not UNSCREW

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It's good to have all sorts of friends with different skills. Post a pic when fixed.

make sure you seal it or all that work will be for nothing.

There was a guy who posted pics of lotr cabinet he hand painted. It blew me away...peeps have mad skill and patience.

there's a thread here about it. Looked fantastic. better than the original art by far.

How hard is it to take this chap off? Seems like quite the undertaking just eyballing it.

Piece of cake. Disconnect the wiring harness underneath and pull the cotter pin on the top. It slides right off.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/restoring-a-lord-of-the-rings-cabinet-lotr

This thread still scares the crap out of me; I THINK mine are lock-tited already... I remember trying to disassemble this area to replace the rubbers and gave up as the hex posts seemed stuck...

This was years ago and my understanding of the mech was limited to me futzing around and not getting much done.

At the end of the day, putting white rubbers on did not seem worth the hassle for this part of the game.

You had me at lock tit.

I saw a LOTR pin in the city of saint Louis with a scratch like that at a coin operated laundry mat about a year ago. The guy wanted 4500 for the machine.