Who changed it to Williams? I put the earlier bally pawls in which is what the original question was as well.

I did the same years ago. Think I like the flipper play maybe a bit more, but probably all in my head. Didn’t notice a major difference, maybe just a bit looser??? In the end it was just easier to work with, fewer parts that wear out and cheaper. Hated those plastic guides and it seemed like I was replacing some flipper part every month.
On the Hardtop, I went that route and also went full Yopsicle. Love it. Play is better than ever. Still like FG more than any other pin - even more than my Pro Godzilla, which is yet another great game! Once done with your hardtop conversion, I predict you’ll be a happy camper.

First, thank you to Quench , barakandl and slochar for helping me get my FG running. I did the weebly lamp board for running the LED's. Now that it is up and running I wanted to share some of the mods I added.

First, I ordered a micro display from Sparky which they updated for FG video and added that to where Ming is displayed on the view screen. May need to make some more black poster board to shield it from the LED's under that area. Plays on a loop. Hope the video works, if not I put some screenshots in. I ran the wire and zip tied onto existing looms. The red and black wires go up to the backbox and tie into the solenoid board. I just added some alligator type clips and used the 5v test points for it. If the video is not allowed can remove it (admins)

https://www.facebook.com/100001288658496/videos/334526476154065/

Second, bluebomber has a great wood beast mod. I added some Comet matrix lighting. Not sure I will keep the red, may try orange to match extra ball light it is tied to or green. Cut and bent a homemade "cliffy" bracket to hold the matrix light and used an existing screw to mount it.

Lastly, another homemade cut and bent "cliffy" that uses existing screw holes to hold a bracket (did not want to 3m tape to the wood rail). This was to add lighting to the rest of the woodbeast plastic, show off Baron, and light the shooter lane into the rollovers. More Comet matrix bulbs using an adjacent socket. I just did cool white to match the other LEDs but could try some colors.

More to come on this one, needs a cabinet repaint, I have a hardtop for it, new backglass, and topper. Will likely get the geetoh board next. I am one happy pathetic earthling!

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Anybody ever see this? It's a little metal bulb shield...factory??? Was the only bulb that had it.

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Normal for that location but suppose to be facing away from Ming.

I use a Comet flex lamp here, which is basically the same idea.

YES!!! It is Factory! It is a very rare part.

I figured it was factory, neat little touch, thanks for the info guys

The EM Flip Flop has them as well.

Getting closer to showtime!

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Traded Flash Gordon away toward an Ultraman. I'll miss Flash, absolutely the hardest pinball machine I've ever played. I only did the 5x Bonus collect w/ 2/3x running twice in the 10 months I owned it. Shortest ball times of any Solid State ever, the bottom playfield was designed by Satan himself. 2nd to only Centaur for the best pinball of the 80s imo.

Hats of to you. Super nice work.

I’m getting ready to populate a new CPR playfield, and I noticed that I could feel the edges of the inserts. I looked around and noticed others having this and it needs to be clear coated again. Has anyone had to do this with their CPR playfield? I’m looking for some advice.

While we're on the subject of CPR playfields, has anyone had issues swapping the white star buttons in to the rollover inserts? On mine all the stars seem to sit slightly high, not totally flush with the pf. I'm planning on buying all new stars and I'm wondering if there's a slight size difference between the originals and later versions? Or is it just that the clear has dripped in and is causing the star to sit high? Also, the original rollovers were red but CPR used orange which is annoying, but nothing can be done about that.

You have to clean out the extra clear coat that made the hole smaller. This was the process I used

Took only a few minutes per hole but super easy. I tried using just small files but it took forever and started to lift the clear on mine and left some nasty finishes. Get small files and a Dremel with the right attachments is the way to go.

used
Dremel diamond point 7134
Dremel 5/32 Chainsaw sharpening stone 453
Dremel nylon brush wheel
Precision Needle files (just search amazon)

Wow, I initially cringed when I saw you start up that dremel and plunge it into the star rollover insert. Although it seems to have worked well, the process you show in the video. Would have been good to see you pop the star in place in the playfield and exercise it up and down to prove your work.

not video expert but I assure you it worked great, try doing one by hand..no fun. I just remembered I had to dig deep and used a process someone else showed but didn't list the bits used so I found my own and made this video and listed the items I used.

You did a great job, thanks for taking time to do it and share your work.

absolutely, and trust me I was shocked and horrified when I realized I had to do this to a new playfield.

If you are going to be at Pintastic in April you will be able to play this along with Seawitch from Scratch.

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gdonovan what cabinet is your Flash Gordon in?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/seawitch-from-scratch-allentown-edition

My Universal Bally/Stern cabinet which was originally Data East Laser War.

I hope to have Seawitch, Flash Gordon and Fathom from scratch at Pintastic.

So far I have done Seawitch, Centaur, Quicksilver and Flash Gordon with Fathom being next and Star Trek after with a rules rewrite and custom sound.

Wow, yours were much worse than mine. On my inserts I used an x-acto knife to clean out a few slots that were tight, but for the most part the star insert moved freely. My problem is the star does not sit deep enough to be flush with the top of the pf, it's maybe 1/32" too high in the center. Guess I'll have to do some additional adjustments. Thanks for the video!

Anyone know if it's possible to purchase the ball guide (buffer) wires M-121-59 and M-121-53? Or maybe I can just purchase the rods and bend myself?

I had to make my own from wire stock. Marco sells some and bending jig. Just search "wire stock". double check the thickness needed though, I think I used 12-WS-090 (.094).

I used stainless welding rod from welding store, far cheaper than buying from Marco.

Looking for the 5 rollover wireforms used in Flash Gordon. I have a few wireforms from other games but they are too wide to fit in a Flash Gordon playfield. Attached is a picture of one that I pulled out of my FG earlier today. Any leads on where to buy them would be greatly appreciated.

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If anyone is interested there are some detailed notes in my build thread about making a harness for Flash Gordon and how some things work.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/seawitch-from-scratch-allentown-edition/page/35#post-7996377

I could use a couple of these for my Big Game as well.

I sacrificed a white plastic star piece to test fit the star rollover assemblies.
By cutting the stem off... if the star piece can move freely in the base, then for the
most part a new white star piece could be installed and the point switch
could be remounted and fine tune switch adjustments.

How do I tell which lamps are general illumination on the playfield?

In general, the controlled lamps with have one bare wire running from socket to socket, and one thinner wire that goes into the harness for the ground at the scr on the lamp driver board.

The GI lamps are usually just a parallel run of bare wire, with occasional areas of an insulated wire used.

You could also pop out either the GI fuse or the controlled lamps fuse to see the difference visually.

I have my playfield all disassembled and I replacing the non GI lamps with Yoppsicles. I took a lot of photos I'll look through those.

Pretty simple; use the Yoppsicles for for all the inserts and star-rollovers, everything else is GI.

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My issue with the star-rollovers (on the CPR pf) was that they did not sit flush due to extra clear coat dripping into the inserts. To solve this I ended up using a small grinding bit to remove some material from the bottom of each star's legs (tedious but worth the effort). The other options would have been to file down the top of each star (which makes them flat, see pic) or grind out the extra clear coat in the center of the inserts (way more scary if you screw up).

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Wow, what a difference!

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So funny how the launch roll-overs had the "WHEN LIT" completely worn off and painted over. Also wonder which were the correct original colors, did my original pf yellow and change color so drastically?

When you populated your CPR did pre-drill the dimples before installing the screws?

For the Yoppsicles and GI sockets I did not (just used an Awl to make a starting indentation). All other hardware I have been pre-drilling and will continue.

Hell no. Ditched linear's on my Xenon, FG and my 1981 EBD is next.

Incorrect. The star roll overs on the right are all controlled lamps.

Only the two on the top left are GI string.

Very well done and helpful. Thanks

You can still use the Yoppsicles for the two GI star-rollovers on the left. And my statement is correct.

Everything else is "GI" implies all the star roll overs are controlled is my point, they are not.

It's a vaguely misleading reply.

Look, I'm in no way trying to be misleading when helping out another member, and this is silly. I stated "use the Yoppsicles for all the inserts and star-rollovers, everything else is GI"; everything that is not an insert or a star-rollover is GI, is it not? But I get what you're staying - Enochsmoken asked how to identify which lamps on the PF are GI and my statement does not perfectly answer that question.

That's a very simple solution, thanks for posting that.

Wow great video! Thanks for sharing. I have a Bobby Orr Power Play playfield from CPR that has 10 roll overs and they are almost filled completely with clear. I have really been dreading having to cut all that clear out. I will give your method a try for sure!

I finally decided to get back on my FG project. I sanded and cleared my playfield this weekend in preparation for the HardTop. This playfield had rodents living on it at one time so I wanted it sealed before putting the HT on. I am hoping to get it installed this week. I will try to post updates as I go.

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I've been through that nightmare on CPRs Power Play cleaning out the buttons, not fun.

Strikes and Spares is another one! Yiiiikes!!!

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