I bought my Doctor Who in 1997 for $450.00. After about three years of owning it, I found an unfaded cabinet and did a cabinet swap on it. I asked a friend to make my Dalek wobble and he gave me the mod for my birthday (then we sold them as the original "Wobble-Head Kit"). Last year, Pinball Inc. used my game to make new ramps for Doctor Who and I did a nice shop job and put the new ramps on. I also put an alternate translite on it. It's been a great machine over the years and I always enjoy playing it!

As for Doctor Who, My girlfriend and I had our first "Away Date" at a Doctor Who convention in Chicago in 1983 (we lived in NJ). We've enjoyed the show for years and I wore a 20 ft. scarf to our wedding reception. Weird, right?

I don't agree because Eccleston is a Russel T Davies fan, not a Doctor Who fan. He worked with Davies on other projects prior to Doctor Who and if you watch the early interviews with him, he says that exactly. I think he was good in the part but Tennant (who had also worked previously with Davies) is a genuine fan of the show and has been for a long time. I really think that showed.

I gots dis:

DW-pinball-1.jpg

I knew that these wouldn't last and it would get shut down by someone (WMS, BBC, Etc.) and bought it as soon as I found out about it. I also bought an alternate Getaway for the same reason.

Glad I did!

It also matched my Gold Dalek better. I painted and Antiqued my Dalek to resemble the one in the New Series episode Dalek but didn't plan on it being so far away from the overall color scheme of the game (Blue). The Translite made it all better by adding green.

The kick-out thing is mechanical. There was an add-on page to the manual to tell how to adjust it. Also, just do a factory reset and don't set it to 5-ball. 5-ball plays different.

I took my game to an Atlanta tournament (in the City, in a bar). At the end of the night, people at the Bar it was held in were taking pictures of it while I rolled it out. Somewhat surreal. I asked one of them if he was a Doctor Who fan and he said he was. Shame he couldn't see it on the other side of the ropes when it was set up.

Mine came last week and they are really nice! Since I painted my Dalek gold, it really helps it come together.

Thanks!

I'd bet it's an original. This isn't something that Gene ever made, but probably had NOS of lost in his warehouse. Trust me, this is a highly educated guess here.

If enough people would want these modded, I could do them. I'd have to figure cost with parts, but I'm thinking $45.00 with shipping in the US. You'd have to ship me your board. Anybody with a soldering iron could reverse it so it wouldn't be permanent (unless you want it to be). PM me for details. Only problem would be that the first batch would be done after 8/25 when I return from my business trip. I'd need 10-15 people to want it done for me to order parts and set up to do it. You don't have to do the ColorDMD right away, this can be done prior to the install of the ColorDMD and have it ready for when it's purchased.

I would be using the warm white LEDs IF I do them (so far only 1 taker). I'll get them from Pinballlife.com though. I've ordered enough parts to do two boards, mine and one other. I can order parts for the big run if enough people sign up. I'll post pics of mine when I finish it.

Thanks,

-Al-

I'm going to try these - they eliminate one major step:

abl_flex_1-smd-led_wedge.jpg

I'm going to be getting a LOT of use out of my Hakko 808 Desoldering gun. That should really streamline at least that part of the conversion. I'm just waiting on parts. As for destroying your board, the only potential for that is really in the desoldering the connector and lifting the traces. If you heat them and pull the through from the other side, it should go really well. You ruin the pins but save the board - that's what you want. Also, it should be pretty quick. When I used this method, I put some forceps on the pin and just heated and pulled them out one at a time. Never had a problem.

I haven't taken mine apart yet, but I did get the LEDs and they look like they will work perfectly. I unbent the wires on the bottom and pulled the LED up and the two resistors came with it. I was worried that the glue would hold it, but it only held the protective sleeves.

My machine has been on it's back since the Atlanta Gameroom Show so I have to get it moved and set up. I'll probably try the mod this weekend. Still have to save up for a ColorDMD. Lots of other non-pinball related expenses preventing it right now.

I'm almost done finishing my light board. The LEDs I mentioned work perfectly. They evenly light up each of the doctors. They are easy to remove from the sockets, you simply unfold the wires at the bottom and pull the LED out. There are two resistors inside the cloth insulator that have VERY long leads on them. The only problem is that the leads might be a little long. I've cut the insulator off and I've used it to prevent the leads from shorting and it works VERY well. I'll get a good picture tonight when I finish it (I only have 1 in). Also, it's a lot of work to do this. It's not difficult, just tedious.

Finished the light board last night.

Haven't tested since I only had one LED in there, but it looks good.

The LEDs were easy to use. You simply unfold the wire, pull out of the insulator. Cut off the insulator and replace on the wire to prevent shorting. Bend the wire into shape.
image.jpg

Close up of the LED in place.
image-520.jpg

Completed board.
image-948.jpg

They are now:

http://www.pingraffix.com/#!doctor-who/cd3s (cut and paste it all).

Cool! I did the documentation on it. Anyway, take your time with the head adjustment and I'd recommend using a Dremel to flatten the lip on the top of the body. You can get the head closer to the body that way. It takes a little while to install but it looks and works like the original (with a smaller gap between the head and body than the original).

Looks like he has to give up his seat in the club (it's sold).

Did I mention that I paid $400 for mine in 1996? It's had a few upgrades since then (like a different lower cabinet), but it's been with me all these years.

I think this was a good idea, but I really don't think the hack permanently damages the board. I know that I could easily reverse it. See Page 7 of this thread for my detailed implementation.

It is a pain to do though. I still haven't bought the ColorDMD yet though.

-Al-

We did "Complete a Who Loop" (spell W-H-O). That seemed to be challenging enough.

Thanks for the compliments brother! If anyone wants an "Original Wobblehead Kit", PM me. A few get made from time to time and I'll alert you.

-Al-

Which one? Servo or motor based?

This is a good deal folks! Because of materials/parts increases the price for devices built later is higher. We have always supported anyone that might need help with our product. We have never had one fail in over 13 years of production (we were one of the first Mods ever).

A status update on my Doctor Who. I bought it in 1996 for $400. It was considered "Undesirable" back then. 3 years later, a friend had a nice machine with a bad Time Expander. I had another friend that imported a bunch of machines back from Europe. He had 2 Doctor Whos. I tried to shop one of the games so it could be sold to a co-worker of mine but there were really bad hacks done to the wiring harness so I stopped and sold the other. My friend purchased the defective game and we parted it out (I know, we were evil). She got the parts to get her game going, I got a cabinet with no fade, and it ended up being free after we sold the remaining parts. So that was the long story about how I got an unfaded cabinet (for free).

Another friend Mark asked me what I wanted for my birthday in about 2002 and I told him I wanted the Dalek on my Doctor Who to move. He went out and bought a game (still a $700-800 game then) and started engineering it. I talked to Pfutz about it and he thought it would be cool. I told Mark we should make them to sell and we became one of the first Mods ever (Pinball Lizard had us beat with TZ parts). We have sold Wobble Head kits for many years now as they are requested and Mark has time to make them. And as many of you know, an inferior kit was sold and our "Wobble Head" name was used on it and we almost stopped making them forever. I painted my Dalek Gold and changed him a bit to be unique. I also put a blue LED in his eye stalk and made a front lens for it.

Another friend, Brian, bought a game from guy local to me and we picked it up and fixed the Time Expander optos until 3 in the morning. He's a very creative guy and made a new ramp flap with the DW logo on it.

I bought one of the alternate translites and put it in. There were two, a green one and a blue one. The green one made my Gold Dalek look better so I went with that one.

I was friends with James of Pinball Inc. and he used my Doctor Who to make new ramps. There are pictures someplace on Pinside of that.

A few years ago a somewhat local guy named Mark J. started coding the ColorDMD for Doctor Who. I have finally ordered a ColorDMD for my game.

I had talked to Wobblehead Mark about an idea I had for a generic board to replace sounds in pinball machines with other sounds. This had to be 10 years ago or more. We never got to it. I just got a PinSound board in the mail that does that exactly (it looks to be really well made incidentally).

I still have a problem with my Cliffy protector on the miniplayfield being bowed because of some damage to the wood on the mini playfield. New protectors are ordered and I got a CPR mini playfield for it.

I'm working on an extensive cabinet replacement on my BOP 2.0 but when it's done, I'll put the latest mods in my game and redo the mini playfield. It should be ready in time for the SFGE show in Atlanta in June. Pictures when it happens.

I know the moving head kit is expensive but it is hand built and very time consuming to manufacture. There are pictures of how much work is involved on Mark's site: http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/drwho/MakingOf/index.html

You can't make THIS kit for $100 - there's more raw materials in it than that.

I'm going to put my new mini-playfield, ColorDMD, and Pinsound in my Doctor Who this weekend. I'll upload some pics. I have already LEDed the Doctor Selector board (I think it's earlier in this thread). Wish me luck!

How I spent my Weekend:

ColorDMD, PinSound, and a new MiniPlayfield:

image_(resized).jpeg
image_(resized).jpeg

A couple of comments on the PinSound Mixes for Doctor Who:

Meets Metal is a decent mix. A little abrupt during transitions.
Disco is well done but despite my growing up in the Disco Era doesn't really work with the theme for me.
Modern is very usable and brings in a good mix of current music.
Doctorin' the Tardis is my surprise mix. It actually works well in the transitions and has smart choices about what parts of the music to use.
2JC is unbalanced level wise and incomplete.

No matter which one you like, it definitely brings new life to the game. Recommended.

My DW will be at The Southern Fried Gameroom Expo (http://www.southernfriedgameroomexpo.com) next week. Come out and see the ColorDMD and PinSound in action!

So this year I was the only Doctor Who at the show. We were among the first to get in and I started setting it up by myself. I put the front legs on, then went to lift the back up and it just flipped onto it's side with a huge CRASH! Many people came running. The floor was carpet and the game didn't seem to be damaged. I had help getting it up on its back legs and finished setting it up all the way.

When I turned it on the ColorDMD was scrambled. The game seemed to start but we smelled something burning but wrote it off as there were some guys soldering a couple of games down.

The PinSound board was starting but not working.

The flippers weren't working and we saw that the fuses in the Fliptronics board were blown. Pressing on the flippers didn't actuate. The flipper coils were melted through. I was going to stay at the hotel but I went home to get supplies. I brought back another Fliptronics board and two coils. I also had ordered new coils from Marco (since they were at the show). The next day I put the coils and the fliptronics board in and when I pushed up on the coils, they stayed up. The hold coil was being held up. I swapped the flat grey cables and there was no change. I called my wife and asked her to bring my spare WPC-89 MPU board (from my BOP that was converted to 2.0). I swapped the ROM chip and put it in and it worked! Weird right?

The PinSound worked but was cutting out. I was told that it's best to supply additional power to the board so I just swapped back to the original board.

It ran great after that. People really seemed to enjoy it and it was busy for the rest of the show. I'll get stats when I get it set up again.

Does the Proto #2 have the older style cabinet or the production one? Just curious.

Congrats on getting one, but ICK on the LEDs and the lame Dalek kit. Sorry, it's personal to me on two levels.

A friend of mine created the original replacement that actually uses the software in the game to control it. It also uses a motor like the original. Unlike the original, the motor is adjustable so you can compensate for the proper gap between the head and the body. The person with the servo attaches to the light and the motion is jerky. So it is nothing like the original. And LEDs, to be even close to what is right, all GI should be white. Colors under inserts. The attack and decay of LEDs is still wrong so the light shows look bad. I have LEDs in my speaker panel so I could put in a ColorDMD. It's the upgrade I hate the most. I'm thinking of buying a new ColorDMD LED panel so I can go back to incandescent bulbs in there...

I know of at least 10 new kits made available this past year. They happen kinda randomly. PM me if you're interested, they are on the expensive side.

Too much work to do what I've already done. ColorDMD is clearly the best Doctor Who upgrade, followed by PinSound, and then Original Wobble-Head.

This was how I did mine: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/doctor-who-owners-clubtime-lords-welcome/page/7#post-1894975 - If I did another one, it would be the same way. I'm just not a LED fan.

If anyone is interested in a Motor based Wobble Head kit as shown here: http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/drwho/MakingOf/index.html

There is probably one more coming available before the end of the year. They are hand built and not cheap. PM me for details.

Congrats! That is a very rare find indeed. Good that you got all of the parts. Unfortunate how expensive it was. Good going!

I found Time Expander cover decals at:

Little Shop of Games
Planetary Pinball
PinballDecals.com

Little Shop was the cheapest before shipping.

Marco and Bay Area (for some reason) was out.

My Time Expander Cover and decal arrived on Friday. I just got it installed and I have to say I'm extremely pleased! It fits perfectly despite being made from thicker plastic. I got an OEM sticker from Little Shop of Games and it fit as well as the original. I have owned my game since 1996 and the broken cover was always an annoyance to me. This is great!

IMG_0120 (resized).JPG

My boss has a Doctor Who as well and he bought it a year or two after me (for $700). Anyway, he just moved and the machine is at my house for some love. First off, it didn't boot. Pulled the driver board and found two bad bridge rectifiers that were blowing a fuse (F113) and giving no power to the MPU. Replaced them and it's alive. Start testing and one of the Dalek bumps isn't working and all but one of the Escape switches are out. The Escape was a broken wire. Resoldered and back in business (daisy chain diode link). The Bumps (Obscure Doctor Who reference to "Bumps") were also a broken wire (shown below) and then tested great. Probably going to do a full Cliffy on the Time Expander because the wood is a bit beat. Repairs nearly done. Maybe a switch or two left to replace or adjust then onto cosmetics.

IMG_0616 (resized).JPG

Broken Wire:
IMG_0617 (resized).JPG

Testing:
IMG_0618 (resized).JPG

I've been posting some tips on my group on Facebook with repair tips. I've been shopping my Boss's Doctor Who and passed a couple of tips while working on the game.

First was preventing cracked plastics from getting worse by putting Mylar on both sides.

The second was how to re-glue the stickers on the ramp with 3M transfer adhesive that Pinrestore.com sells. I clean off the old glue with goof off and then clean it good and apply the adhesive. Works well.

And I don't like UB LEDs on games. Sorry...

IMG_0728 (resized).JPG
IMG_0729 (resized).JPG
IMG_0730 (resized).JPG
IMG_0731 (resized).JPG
IMG_0732 (resized).JPG

This is another thing I never thought of:

IMG_0734 (resized).PNG

Contact him. He can probably make them to order.

Good people!

I've been working on a co-worker's Doctor Who and I was down to the five "Dalek Bumps". One wouldn't work some of the time. I found a wire off of the board and soldered it back. It worked and then it stopped. I had other problems with lights on the time expander that was due to bad previous repairs. I fixed them (even had to replace a shorted wire) and then the same bump (R1) stopped working consistently again. I took it apart again and added solder to every solder point on the opto boards. I was not the first person to be in there. This fixed it. The weird part is, I know the history of this game and he bought it in 1997. It had some pretty bad repairs in the short time he didn't own it. I found wires taped with electrical tape into connectors but not crimped or soldered. Operators really didn't care as long as it worked to some degree. I fixed everything back to factory. He's getting it back tomorrow!