I picked up a SST a couple months ago, and I'm really enjoying it! Lots of fun for the novice player and plenty of challenge for the skilled player. Just the kind of game I like to have in my gameroom.

Anyway, while I was fixing up the game, I decided to make a few enhancements as well. Some have been covered here and in other threads (like adding the the second speaker). One thing I hadn't seen done before that I thought would look cool was if the 7-segment LED digits on the playfield were the same color as their corresponding bug/target (instead of all red). Unfortunately, you can't get blue digits that use the same pinout as what the original board uses, so it takes a bit of work.... Here's what the proto looks like:

SST_4-color_LEDs.jpg

Please excuse the crappy cell-phone pic... it looks considerably better in person.
So I was considering having some 4-color display boards fabricated that would be a simple drop-in replacement for the original board. Any interest?

Sounds like you chose the wrong type of display.... There are no issues driving different color digits.

The new boards are already designed. It's just a matter of how many to run, that's why I wanted to get a feeler for demand. If nobody is interested in buying one, then I won't bother to make any (I'm perfectly happy with what I've got in my game right now).

Starship Troopers trilogy on Blu-ray for $13.50:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0018CWW96

Yes, I put a red filter on my DMD, and it looks great that way.
I don't get removing the ships and cannons... they're really not in the way....
Did you change the flasher domes, or did you get the game that way? You really need to get yellow and green ones back in there. Each bank should have blue, yellow, green and red, corresponding to the bug types.

But the colored flashers are coordinated with gameplay action as well.... For example, when it's announcing how many Warriors you need for the planet it is flashing the yellow domes.

Blue is correct. You can see it in the flyer.

Yes, the game sounds are all mono, so adding the other audio amp doesn't do much for you. You get pretty much the same effect just by adding the second speaker onto the existing single audio amp (which I do suggest you do). I replaced the single speaker with a pair of decent speakers that I could hook up in parallel. Sounds a lot better.

I don't recall what is in there, but here are some examples of how you would create the same load on the amp:
If the original speaker was 4 Ohm, use two 8 Ohm speakers in parallel.
If the original speaker was 8 Ohm, use two 4 Ohm speakers in series (or two 16 Ohm in parallel, but 16 Ohm speakers are far less common).

It is also safe to increase the impedance of the load, but at the expense of volume (which is usually not an issue). Decreasing the impedance of the load is where you can get into trouble and cook the amp.... You need to check the specs on the amplifier to see if it can handle it.

Yes, this is a Sega/Stern Whitestar system. The EOS switches are not required. They are only there to re-energize the flipper if it is knocked back down while being held up (which is not really needed for that mini flipper).

This project got delayed for quite a while, but it's back on track. A small run of replacement display boards with the four different colored LED digits has been made. I had a proto running in my game this weekend. Some component values need to be tweaked to get the intensities balanced, then they should be ready for assembly. These are not being made by me... I am just helping. I imagine he will post them for sale when they are ready. I will let him know the names of the people who expressed interest before so they can get first crack at buying one. The run is very limited, and I don't know if he will run them again.

I'm not sure what he is going to ask for them yet. But the original boards are $70 ( http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/520-5166-00 ), and these are better.

I don't have any pics of the new boards in action yet. Hopefully soon though.
There is a pic in this thread from a couple years ago of the one I made for myself.

I don't, but I will take some. Thanks again for making these. I think they look great.

Yes, mspaeth will be selling them. I gave him the list of people that inquired.

You were actually 9th... and I think he has just 9 to sell!

OK, here are some pics of the color LED bug counters. One showing what the new board looks like and another showing it installed in the game.

SST-colorLED_PCB_(resized).jpg

SST-colorLED_(resized).jpg

I took a short video of it in attract mode too:

The first image shows the PCB with the spacers from the original board on it, but you don't actually want to use those. The digits end up being too far away from the windows (so they look too fuzzy). I ended up using 3mm thick washers on both sides of the screws (both sides because you don't want the screws going too deep). That puts the LEDs right up to the windows so they look much sharper (the windows are deliberately a bit opaque to create some fuzziness).

Yikes! I think I'll go make a plastic protector for mine before that happens to me....
Good luck in your search. I've never seen a full or even partial set of SST plastics come up for sale. I do have an extra set of slingshot plastics if someone needs them.

The last target you hit for the planet has to be on the left side. If it's on the right side, the brain bug will not come up.

Those seem like a bad idea... SST targets are translucent colored plastic that are lit from behind. Why would one someone put light-blocking decals on them?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/do-you-want-to-know-more-sst-owners-club-past-present-and-future/page/11#post-3902490

IIRC, the bug is attached to the plate below it, which slides back and forth to register hits.

First steps should be to replace the coil sleeve and possibly the coil stop. Rarely is the coil the problem.

Every supplier should carry them. I like to order from Pinball Life: https://www.pinballlife.com/coil-sleeves.html

All white is a good suggestion. Colors didn’t look good to me on the BUG rollovers. You will want non-ghosting for the inserts on this game.

Yeah, I think I tried red and blue. Just wasn't able to see the letters well. Looked cleaner with white. Maybe you'll find something you like. When in doubt, I stick with the original color scheme of the game. Try not to color bomb. Be careful with purple... seen plenty of examples where people destroy the look of a game with those... freakin' Barney nightmare.

I played around with colored LEDs under the planets, just so they were a little more distinct and different from each other. Turned out pretty good. Sorry, I don't have a pic to share.

I take that back. You can kinda see them in this video:

Are you talking about the colored bug counters? More details on those in this post:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/do-you-want-to-know-more-sst-owners-club-past-present-and-future/page/9#post-3196656

A small run of those boards was made. I did not sell them, and I no longer have the game, so I can't supply any details. I do still have my original prototype, which was just a modified original board. So I could tell you what parts I used on that. The production boards used different parts.

IIRC, the sound samples are all mono, so that’s not really going to help. With the correct speaker config (proper impedance for the series or parallel wiring), you can drive both speakers safely off the one existing amp. Simple easy upgrade. Anything more is a waste of time.

Interesting. This was years ago, but I recall looking at the PCM data for the sounds and only finding mono samples. I'm sure I didn't look at all of them, so I suppose there could be some stereo in there.