it's a matter of... timing. It's like the time window for the shot is very tiny. Either im early or late.
There is enough flipper power and the flipper alignment is like you have described.

ABE_FLIPS : I now have 2 Dr Who's side by side. Both have new coils and new ramps. One has a 30 year old PF and the other has a NOS Cleared PF that is like glass. The older version is just like yours, with that side ramp hard to get, even though I put a higher rated (stronger) coil. I have to hit that ball as soon as it gets to the bat. And most times I hit the transmat button instead of the ramp. The new game I just built, with a standard flipper coil, is really easy to do loop after loop and get the multiplier up and extra ball/Sonic Boom. Both Flippers are backed up to wall in the "at rest position". I can't see a difference in them, but there must be.

The kickout from the MPF is also different. The original machine shoots SDTM. The new MPF shoots them to the right flipper and I am happy about that.

Read about the adjustments in the manual.

Problem seems to be fixed!
Sensor was being blocked by a gear.

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Glad to help!

Thank you so much!

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Is there anyone in this club that is building a Doctor Who from scratch, or knows anyone that is building one from scratch? If so, please have them DM me, I may have some useful stuff

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Tophervette is still working on his I think.

thanks for taking the time!

I have a bunch of left over parts from my scratch build Doctor Who. Is there a market for them? I have seen the same listings for parts on Ebay for over a year now. I managed to buy part lots from about 4 different scrapped pinball machines. If anyone needs something, let me know and I will search my box-o-parts. No Daleks available.

I was watching multiple Youtube videos of the 2023 Texas Pinball Festival (including the Twippys). I saw there were at least 2 Doctor Who pinballs in the Freeplay area. One was with faded sides and an orange DMD and the other had new cabinet sides and a color DMD. Anyone here want to claim them or let me know what the prices were on them (If they were also for sale).

No surprise that Stern took many of the Twippy awards for Rush and Topper award for Mando. I got some ideas from some of the vendor interviews. Like the Comet 10 string LED for the area behind the flippers. Pinside won best webpage!

I had the DW with the color display, new side art, wobble head, etc. There were 3 others on the floor. 2 of them were unrestored for $4500. The 3rd I don't think had a price on it. No idea if any sold.

Had mine at $6k but didn't really want to sell it. Had trade offers.

Thanks for the news on Texas!

Today its simple math:

$3500 for a broken game

$6500 to restore it.

$10,000 for a better than new, better than NIB factory game.

I could not sell my DW for less than $9500, and I would lose money on it.

The math is the same for pretty much all games.

Do you have a Dalek?

I have a bottom half of a Dalek that I thought maybe I would make into a Supreme Dalek with a white ball for a head, a Gold color or brass belt, a Blue triangle single eye and 2 yellow cylinders plastics and maybe some LEDs with Diodes connected to two red wires that are near the top of the Head unit.

Sounds like a fun project!

I'm restoring a DW. I saw yours at TPF. It looks great! Where did you get your new cabinet art? Did you mod the topper yourself?

Thanks. I think the side art came from Australia... Not sure. Been several years ago. Yes, I did the topper mod. New ramps, etc.

Just a fun pic of Silvester McCoy and I playing at TPF a few years ago. Funny guy.

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bbaker2824 This is where I got 2 sets of cabinet art from:

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

They were the right size. You had to trim off the excess. I found it easier to apply with the cabinet on its side. Then tape it into position. Peel about a foot of backing off. Cut that off and lower the sticky onto cabinet. Then untape the rest of it. Fold the decal over the taped down portion. I used a rubber squeegee (for applying bondo) to smooth out the decal as I pulled the rest of the decal off. There were still some small air bubbles. I used a safety pin to release the air and smoothed it out with my finger. For the front coin door, I did not cut out for the buttons or coin door till after I had it applied. You can almost align the right-side middle stripes with the side stripes. But forget about the left side, they do not match even on an original machine. With an Xacto knife, trim the holes for all the buttons and bolts and coin door. This is also an excellent time to add leg supports. Larger ones on the inside and smaller ones on the outside. The metal outside ones keep the legs from digging into your new decals and sandwiches the wood corners better. Later I come back with a permanent Black magic marker on the white edges. That is how I did it. You will most likely need new metal side rails too.

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What do you do if you have the bottom half of a Dalek Topper that the top half of that half is melted and sloping down on the right side? I tried heating it in the oven and putting it in hot water and pushing with a block of wood underneath it. It would just not return to original shape.

Then I got creative with it. I got busy with a zona saw, lots of paints, a glue gun, an Xacto knife, some LEDs, some wiring, 3 plastic inserts, that cheap servo wobble kit and a lot of retired free time.

If you happen to have a ColorDMD in your machine, after every 4 video encounters, there is an interaction between a regular Dalek that is similar to the Topper. After the first 4 video encounters, the Supreme Dalek asks the regular Dalek "Where is the DOCTOR?". The response is "He escaped". Then the White Supreme Dalek shoots/explodes the Silver Dalek and then shoots the pink actual Brain Squid thing that lives in the metal Dalek shell. After the round second round of 4 videos, the Silver Dalek shoots the Supreme Dalek. I think around after round 12 a big cannon comes out and shoots the Silver Dalek.

I was thinking about using a cheap green or red Laser used on gun sights. But decided against that for now. Waiting for paint to dry before posting pictures. Teaser Post.

Im working on sorting out the audio on the video mode in the 13 doctors orchestration

Its not finished yet.

Also adding MORE Peter Capaldi.

Gotta make progress on my TAF resto 1st.

Your last effort is still working well on my Pinsound+ and Flipper Fidelity speakers! Look forward to newer tunes!

Your TAF goes up 1K each year, so don't hurry, it will be worth more.

As promised, my photos of the Supreme Dalek. In the Doctor Who TV series, Davros is actually inside it. My next move is to wire it up to the boards inside. The UK version uses the flashing bulb circuit as a trigger versus the actual software that the Mark Davidson version uses. Therefore, I need to make up a splice wire/connectors to the Dalek flashing bulb connector.

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any of you guys got the top half of a dalek?

Every time I play this, it is cemented in me that this will forever be my favorite machine ever. Just had a great time playing it, and I know that no other machine (and I've played a ton) will be better than this, in my mind. Absolutely pinball perfection. Love the shots, the strategy, the sounds, the music, the time expander, the best loop in all of pinball, love the video mode. For me, this absolutely won't ever be topped.

Doctor6 Agree totally!!!

With my second Dr Who build finished, I got an email from a guy in Texas that had bought a container with soggy Dr Who pinball inside. Probably a Katrina machine. He took it apart and sold me the metal parts recently. But not the wiring harness, as he is building an Indiana Jones and is going to repurpose many parts for his build. I just found a very used wiring harness in Germany. Now I need to find another cabinet, Playfield, decals, coils, switches, ramps, stantions, etc. The good news is that I already have the MPF complete, light boards, plastics, Dalek, Tardis and Pin rotisserie.

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I listened to a podcast recently with mike vinnecore (sp) and he said no machines should have lightning flippers and that was an add on by operators to make more money. I’m thinking about switching. What do others think?

They are listed in the manual as a part of the mech and the game came with them from the factory.

The lightning flippers match the "continued" insert on the playfield and dont overlap it.

I can make every single shot on the game with the factory lightning flippers.

The lightning flippers are more powerful and makes faster gameplay.

The upper left flipper has a standard bat, the lowers use the lightning flippers.

So, I think he has it backwards.

You should not switch out the lower flippers and they should be set to align with the alignment hole, not lined up with the lane guides.

Easy cradling of the ball is not part of the gameplay, however, fairly easy lane passes are.

They were designed for normal initially, but were asked to change to shorter ones to help with better profits (from a major overseas op, if i recall the lore correctly). So that's how they shipped. I feel the most accurate flippers to have would be lightning, as that's how they came from the factory. So I honor that and leave them as such.

I currently have two operational Dr. Who's side by side. The new one I recently built, I put regular size flippers. The one I rebuilt last year has the lightning shorter flippers. You can make all the shots with both types of flippers. However, the Lightning Flippers allow twice as many ball drains. That extra 1/8 inch on each side equal 1/4 inch narrower drain space. I typically get higher scores with the normal flippers.

For your guys with the wobble head kit... I finally got around to setting my machine up after the Texas show and noticed a yellow wire off the J208 connector but cannot identify which pin it belongs to. Could anyone take a look at their and see which pin it goes to? I believe it's the only wire to J208.

Thanks in advance.

Picking up Doctor Who tomorrow! To get any pin in my basement I have to take off the backbox to make it around a corner on the stairs. How difficult is it to remove the back box from this game, as far as the wiring goes? I assume I just need to unscrew a few bolts for the two hinges? Thanks!

Write on each connector where it goes with a sharpie if it hasnt been done already.

Pull the harnesses out of their nylon loops. Take a lot of pictures as you go. Cut any nylon ties that may give you trouble, replace them later.

Remove the 2 hinge nuts and bolts.

Its not too bad.

Thank you!!

Agree with Pinballinreno and add the following. I downloaded the manual from the https://www.ipdb.org/files/738/Bally_1992_Doctor_Who_Manual.pdf .

From that printed document I went to the pages that showed pictures of the individual Boards in the Back box. This allowed me to identify and label the connectors as I took them off. I also wrote down all the connector numbers on paper per board and put a check mark next to them as I pulled them off and put them back on. you will quickly find that there are more plugs on the boards than there are connectors. Most all of the connectors will only fit the right plugs. This is also a good time to check the connectors for burn/melted spots and signs of previous repairs. Particularly the GI connectors on the bottom of the power board. There are 4 Grey ribbon connectors that are usually in the way of unplugging. Note how there is a red stripe on each one, denoting that it hooks to Pin #1 on each plug on the board. Usually the left side or the bottom side (depending on the orientation of the connector).

You will also have to disconnect the braid ground wire that is connected to a screw post on the lower left side of the back box. This ground connects the head to the cabinet. Also there are 2 wires that go to a switch on the left side of the cabinet just below the glass. This switch tells you the glass is off and keep you hands away from the MPF. There is a 2 pin connector but you may not see it. I did not and it held me up from separating with a heavy box in my hand. If you do not see the connector, it is easier to undo the switch with 2 small screws and it will come out with the box.

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Thank you!

So I got it home, hooked it all back up, and now I get opto errors on boot, time expander doesn't work, CW error, no movement. It did work when I tested it before bringing it home. So I'm assuming when I unhooked the entire thing I missed something or broke something, ha. From what I read, I found the opto board(s?) on the bottom of the playfield. The red lights on either don't light up on them, should it when powered? J122 wires came loose while plugging things back in, I punched them back into the molex connector, still getting the errors and no red LEDs on the under the playfield two boards.

Start up error report, switches 31, 33, 71,72,73, no CW, no CCW movement.

Also checked connections at the time expander, all tight.

So excited to play this, bummed I goofed something up.

Thanks all!
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Start with the basics.

The top board in your photo is the motor driver board and the red LED should be lit when game is on. This tells you that you do not have power to that board from the Power Board in the back box. The motor driver board is powered at J1-4 Black and J1-5 Red/White (+20 volts) that comes from J107-6. That is the source of your CW/CCW no movement error. Assuming you have the coin door closed and the glass switch closed with a business card folded up in it. Additionally, if the Opto below the motor on the MPF is not working, you will also get a CW/CCW. Additionally again, if you hook the motor wires up backwards you will also get a CW/CCW error.

Switches: 71,72,73 (and 74, 75) are the optos behind the mushroom buttons on the MPF. Strange how only some are not registering. (J1 on the 10 Opto board).

Switches: 31 is to the Opto Popper (J6 on the 10 Opto board) and 33 is to the Enter Top Ramp Opto (J4 on the 10 Opto board).

The 10 Opto board is powered by J3-1 Black wire ground and J3-2 Gray/Yellow (+12 volts) from J118-2 on Power Board in back box. I would measure power at both at J3 and at J118-2.

Measure all those voltages and report back.

Just did a continuity check between the wire harness at J3-1/J118-3 (ground) and J3-2/J118-2, no continuity. Also checked the board at J118, confirmed +12v! So kind of seems like that is good news, should be cable related! Though it's interesting that neither cable had continuity. I'd expect maybe one of the two to break but not both going to the same thing.

Did you check all the fuses?

Tested all fuses in the backbox. Don't see any under the playfield. But again, I have 12v coming from the main board, but didn't have continuity. From gray/yellow on board molex to J3, or ground.

Working on tracing it end to end at the moment.

Turns out someone who worked on it switched connections J116 and J118. So I was testing continuity on the wrong plug. Swapped them so they are in the right locations, 12v is making it to J3 now, but continuity fails for ground. Tracing J118-3 ground goes up to a small board at the top of the backbox that the Dalek plugs into. So confused. Not sure where the J3-2 ground goes to, harness is too tight, looks like it goes straight to the backbox?

Pull the fuses when you check them …. You can get a false positive when they are in circuit

I will agree that corner of the power board is a hot mess. My wires in both machines are tight. Adding 12 volt accessories (like I have) only makes it worse. Here is a picture of my J118. You can see that I have several white Z connectors to tap power off this area.

Also added a picture of that small Resistor board above the fliptronics board you are referring to.

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Fixed!! Found the ground and put it on J118-3. The ground I found yesterday wasn't the correct one. It goes up to the resistor board. What's that for? Everything works without that ground punched down....at least everything I can tell so far, and no errors!

That is to light the bulb up in the Dalek Head I believe.

Close, turned out to be to the board with the LEDs that lights the topper box, not in the Dalek itself. Machine is in full working order now! ColorDMD LED on the way too! I have some bulbs to replace and a upper flipper issue to resolve, but overall minimum effort going forward to get it to 100%. I'm going back and forth on the ultimate lighted speaker panels.

ColorDMD LED installed, LOVE IT! Makes it a lot easier to make out and enjoy the animations and more. Lighted Speaker Panel is on its way, as well as the USB TARDIS. Looking at printing a whomobile and K-9 too to replace the generic Whomobile plastics. After that, side art and I think she's done!