That one is super common. I've seen it all over the place. My favorite alternate tranalite.

Just type in doctor who translite alternate, you'll stumble upon it super quick.

Thanks! The alternate translite was purchased on eBay. I think there are a few different designs available but I liked this one the best.

I read that the first 100 DW pins featured a rotating topper, but was quickly scrapped due to costs (per Wiki). How can you tell if the moving topper is original vs aftermarket? Here is mine…

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A few have made kits over the years, but even before opening up I would take a look at your serial number to see when your machine came off the line.

Looks great! Can I ask what make/brand you used to repaint the body? Cheers.

Thanks. The black paint was just a rattle can of Rustoleum; semi-gloss. The decals are from classicarcades on eBay. The decals turned out fine. Possibly the only thing I wish were different involved the two decals that go on the sides of the head. They don't go all the way to the edges; kinda wish they did but really not a problem. The black paint is there anyway. I sanded down the head sides, fixed some damaged wood and repainted black. The decals cover a lot of the black so it didn't matter too much. As for the cabinet, I lightly sanded the old artwork but did not sand it all off. I just got it smooth, painted corners and the back, then put the decals on. It went fine and saved a lot of work overly sanding and prepping the cabinet.

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I’m doing mine the same way. I filled some nicks and sanded the cab. Gonna paint black and apply new decals. I believe I bought the same set you did. I replaced any cracked plastics and the yellowed plastic airball guards with clear. Steve at Pinball Refinery is doing the powder on mine. It’s a bold 2-step color with clear, but should turn awesome! New coin door, and maybe some lit flipper buttons. Should be nice!

Interested to see the powder coat legs and coindoor. I have the lit flipper buttons (blue pf course). I painted my coindoor blue as well.

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Clever coin door!

Ok guys… im getting some weird movements on my time expander during game play. Then I started to get a “no CCW movement” error upon boot up with the usual credit for.

I took a video for reference. If you listen closely, you can hear the mini PF struggle to go “up”. Eventually it works itself out and finds the home position, but something is definitely off here. I looked through the thread and before I start tearing the MPF out and deep diving into solutions, does anyone have any ideas for a quick fix here? Dealt with this issue before?

Video link:

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Hearing the motor spin 3/4 of way through vid and not seeing the MPF move, seems to me to be a stripped gear box or the allen keys that hold the cam onto the motor are loose. Either way, it means pulling the MPF out. I am thinking that the big gear is missing teeth, and when the motor gear finally gets to good teeth, the MPF goes up or down. The only way to see that is to drill out the 4 corner rivets to open the gear box. I have seen it done on various posts here going back a few years. Mine jammed up with a ball getting stuck when the MPF was coming down. I will look for a blown gear box picture for reference. The good news, is that Marcos still sells Motor/gear box assemblies.

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Where can you get the custom one made? I also have this translite but it always could be improved

Time to download Faz's guide and take a look at what is going on. Lot of slop movement going with that MPF. I agree with @tophervette, many times the gearbox can be an issue, gears are worn, obolonged due to the torque and lack of routine mainteneance and bad design. Ya just have to break it down and show us what you are working with. We are here to help.

If you have artwork there are places online that can print them made specifically for backlighting. I used printmoz.com to get a custom one made for my Genesis. Very happy with the quality of it.

Cool thanks eyeamred2u and Tophervette for the feedback on the time expander. I’ll download the guide and dive into it. Will post pics and progress along the way.

Get a new gearbox and motor while you can...

Yup, picked up one of these from Marco:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/14-7970

Anything else recommended to replace while I have the MPF out?

Not knowing the originality of your MPF and related working parts, there are a few recommendations that a several here have shared with me over time.

There is a shapeways Opto holder that isolated the Optos lights and fixes the original warped leaky light one.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/XLTKWJTQW/doctor-who-mushroom-target-channel-upgraded?optionId=127913620&li=marketplace

There is the long waitlist (6+ months) for the improved Ulf smooth Lifter system. There is a post for it here on pinside and in the older threads here. Pictures included.

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get this in black :

https://www.shapeways.com/product/XLTKWJTQW/doctor-who-mushroom-target-channel-upgraded

Get it in the black versitile for a few dollars more.

Get new opto boards from pinsider DumbAss they are amazing!

You will see people rave about pindorabox.com opto boards but they are sold out for months now.

read my post on it.

I recognize my beautiful hand in the picture! You are welcome to it, royalty free lol!

Thank you both. Parts have been ordered and I requested to get on the waitlist for the upgraded Ulf lifter kit. Once I get started I’ll post my progress here in hopes to help others as well.

Here’s a video I threw together as an overview of some of the resto/mods I did for the game. There’s tons of LED flicker in the video of the playfield lights but it’s not near as bad in person. I wanted to add a LEDOCD board to the playfield lights but they’ve been out of stock for a long time, and it’s not really all that bad in person. Anyway, just wanted to share…

On this game, LEDOCD and GIOCD are a must in my opinion.

Sounds like the gears are grinding for sure.

Yep, need a new motor. They must be getting harder and harder to find?

No, they’re actually still pretty easy to find! Marco pinball has them for $140 and a seller on eBay has them for $100.

That's terrific news to hear.

Great looking Resto-mod! Was really interested in how you changed the back box lighting, as I have the same translight. Thanks for sharing.

I ran all 2smd frosted sunlights and couldnt be happier!

But I have LEDOCD and GIOCD running, its really nice.

Who should I buy them from?
thanks

Comet appears to be the official seller now:

https://www.cometpinball.com/products/led-ocd-boards

not sure if herg is still involved, but he provides excellent support

I went 100% led including the flashers and dmd display.

5 led flasher towers for the 906 bulbs.

8 led for 89 bulbs generally.

7 led double sided bumper caps.
Translucent pop bumper bodies from Zitt.

ColorDMD led version.

The game is fantastic.

Comet should have everything you need.

thank you both
ordered the motor and rollors from marco with there 4th of july discount
I already have the tx rebuild kit.
Any suggestion's as to the best replacement decals?

This is where I have gotten both sets of decals directly:

https://classic-arcades.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fdiner-cabinet-decals-next-gen&page=7&sortOption=ascend_by_name

Made using proprietary NEXT GEN printing process that produces a Raised textured print similar to Screen Printing. UV Cured inks
for great durability. Vinyl brand proprietary and spec'd direct from Williams.

He also sells them on Fleabay. $250. They went on well and I am pleased with them. The only gripe and because it is a direct copy. The front corners, the sunburst stripes do not all line up. I can get one of the 3 to line up but not all. Also the head decal is smaller than the side. So you have to have a nice painted 1 inch border all the way around and center the decal. I measured and put blue tape on edges to line it up top, bottom and sides.

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Thanks,

I guess it looks better than a faded cabinet. Those stripes being misaligned would drive me crazy.

Looks great!! I had the same minor gripes about the misalignment of the stripes in the corners and "margin" on the head sides, but still overall happy with how it turned out. Yours looks well done.

The last note I saw on LED OCD's website before he started selling only through Comet was that the next batch of LEDOCD boards wouldn't be available until November 2022. And I missed out after waiting on the last batch in June. Definitely a bummer, but had to move on since the game I worked on was for a customer and didn't want to wait that long (maybe we'll add one later). They are great boards.

A shoutout to Ron Kruzman, who is showing pictures of my Dr. Who NOS PF being perfected before the PF swap begins.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/kruzman-monthly-playfield-thread/page/44#post-7014936.

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Dang. Chip shortage strike again

But aren’t the head decals consistent with the original artwork? The original artwork had a black border all around it too.

That is all correct according to my game.

Looks fantastic. I’m restoring my DW cab right now. I should have the head done today. I’ll share pics when it’s finished. Just finished sanding and painting. First full cab decal I’ve ever done. Going to try the wet method.

Finished the head today. I’m happy with the result, this being my first cab restoration with decals (I’ve done 4 pins with Radcals). My decals were the ones that were larger than the head, so they required the edge trim with a razor. Then I used a straight edge and cut them back about 1/8 from the edges. My angle was off on the first side, but the second one was pretty much right on. Cabinet will be finished on Monday.

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Front went well. Not perfect, but very nice. Sides should be done tomorrow. Ignore the ratty legs and rails, Steve at Pinball Refinery is powdering my armor.

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cover all the white edges with an oil based sharpie paint marker:

https://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Oil-Based-Paint-Marker-Medium/dp/B00WL2NM0K/ref=asc_df_B00WL2NM0K/

Have some naptha on a rag near by in case you slip and need to quickly remove a mark.

And get a plastic straightedge to run the marker down (or green tape)

Interesting episode today that I feel like sharing. I have started converting over the connections to Coils to Molex Connectors on my primary Dr Who pinball that I play every day. I had already done that on the second machine that I am preparing for a playfield swap. In my hurry after soldering on the leads to the Molex connectors and then connecting them, I forgot to connect the Vertical Up Kick coil. I lowered the playfield to see if the game was still working after my morning of hard work. The machine fired up and sound check went fine. I started a game. The ball ejected into the shooter lane. But when I hit launch button. Nothing happened. I had not changed over the shooter coil yet to a Molex connection, so was puzzled what I had done wrong.

Well, apparently the shooter coil gets its power from a daisy chain connection with the VUK. Once I raised the PF, I saw that I had not made the VUK connection. Once it was made, that game played beautiful. While the glass was off, I chose to clean the PF and the balls. They get so black dust dirty very quickly. I should put a layer of wax on it while I have the VOODOO glass off.

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Dazzling sunburst orange powder by Pinball Refinery should arrive next week…new cab decals will also be finished. Then I’ll decide if this beauty is a keeper or must be set free to a die-hard DW fan! I just wish I could keep them all.

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I'm not an owner, but I'm a lurker (I LOVE the game and the show).

I met an acquaintance through the arcade I work at, and she has a Doctor Who. Currently it won't put a ball in the trough.

Besides checking the switch/solenoid, is there anything that stands out to you guys that I should check?

Thanks!

Check it in solenoid test and look for a wire that has fallen off the coil.
See if the auto launcher moves freely, or hasnt fallen apart..

If nothing stands out, check the fuses.

Maybe F-105 on the power driver board, upper middle fuse bank, on the very right.

http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/Tech_Charts/Bally_Doctor_Who_Tech_Chart.pdf

Replaced the upper pf plastic, dome, decal. Looks nice!

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