I've had people PM requesting the details of this mod since I posted about it in the Gotg Owners thread last year, so here's a dedicated topic post for all future Guardians owners that are interested...

Description:
This mod replaces your factory black drop target with a lit up frosted drop target that slowly fades all the colors of the infinity stones.
*You can leave the new drop target blank, put the extra stock drop decal on it from your goody bag, or there's a fellow pinsider who made some transparent Orb stickers for this mod.

This costs about $10 in parts plus shipping, and takes about a half hour if you’re familiar with the underside of this playfield and a little longer if not.

Tip:
Before installing the mod pay extra attention to your Orb drop target in all of your next games after reading this. Notice if you ever hit it and it doesn’t drop, or if it seems to drop easy sometimes, and if every once in a while you hit the shot and the drop target pops back up and then back down in the same second. All of these things are typical odd behavior of drop targets from machine to machine, so it’s good to recognize what is ’normal’ on your game. Any time you install a new drop target like this your eyes tend to pay way more attention to it than they did before, and if you ’start to notice things’ it’s a good chance it's the same behavior that has always been happening. If you think there’s any different behavior then you can make an adjustment to the spring if you feel necessary. But this drop target is designed to the same specs and plays just like the factory Stern drop target.

Parts:
(prices may fluctuate):

1. One Stern Frosted/clear factory drop target replacement from Pinball-Mods:
http://pinball-mods.com/oscom/game-specific-products-stern-star-trek-drop-target-stern-p-48.html ($6.13)
(You can see my Star Wars and Ghostbusters pics as examples on that page Same size/shape as factory and performs same, just frosty/transparent.

Below from Comet Pinball:
2. One 555 add on light socket: (you’ll need a small screw to install this)
https://www.cometpinball.com/products/add-on-light-sockets?variant=12493659635756 ($0.95)
3. One Flex 555 Color Changer Slow:
https://www.cometpinball.com/products/1smd-flex?_pos=1&_sid=e10e81808&_ss=r&variant=12386967748652 ($1.99)

4. If you’ve ever gotten any of Comet’s ‘matrix’ stuff before then you most likely have one of their spare alligator clip connectors, with every matrix led strip or other matrix kits they include an alligator and both style light bulb adapter connectors. But if you don’t have that laying around then you’ll need to grab an alligator connector from them too: https://www.cometpinball.com/products/standard-matrix-connectors ($0.39). *Or if you’re more familiar with wiring solutions you can solder the new light to the existing GI bulb.

Tools:

-Small/Short handle Phillips head
-Needle nose pliers, curved tip ones are easier
-Exacto knife
-Tiny bit of black paint (or any dark color)

INSTALLATION:
*Go ahead and do step 1 prior to install

1) Prep the drop target before install:
a) Take an exacto knife and cut off any raised material on the top/head of the drop target to make sure its flush. The injection molding can sometimes leave a little bit of material along that middle seam that goes across the head of the target, and since this is a roll-over target you just want to go ahead and make sure its flush. Just get the exacto blade and slowly shave off any buildup on that seam.
b) Apply the extra drop target decal from your goody bag inside the machine (or leave blank, or 3rd party decal etc..). Look at where the decal is placed on the black factory drop for reference, then put it on and press it firmly for 30secs then let it sit.
c) Take a small amount of black (or any dark paint and) paint both sides of the 'raised lip’ part of the drop target that sticks out and is used to trigger the Opto assembly on the hardware. The black Opto switch is basically like a U and this little part of the drop target passes inside the U to trigger the opto. I once read where somebody painted this because they had trouble with the see-through targets triggering the opto switch under certain lighting on a different game, so whether its an actual problem or not I just made it a habit to go ahead and paint this on all of these frosty/clear drop targets before any installs just so I wouldn’t take the chance of having to take everything back out again.
2) Power the game off, Glass off, Balls out, & Prop playfield up against backbox.
3) Locate the Drop Target Assembly and Pull the Opto board wire harness plug off the green Opto board of the drop target assembly
4) Bend down (or Remove/unscrew) the Orb insert light socket from the playfield (just under the drop assembly looking at it with the playfield up) to make room for a small screwdriver
5) Unscrew the 2 Opto Board screws to remove the board from the assembly
6) Take the spring off the assembly and off of the drop target (pay attention to how/where the spring was attached)
7) Use pliers and take out the E clips on the 2 shafts holding the drop target in place, be sure to catch the washers under the E clips and the spring under the E clip closest to the playfield, take note of where the E clips/washers/spring go for assembling back the same way.
8) Now you can remove the factory drop target by pulling it out from the assembly and angling it to pull it through the bottom of the playfield. Put the new drop target back in this same way from underneath the playfield, make sure the target decal side is facing the correct direction. Now you will reinstall steps 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3, and then move onto the final steps of installing the new light.
9) Put the flex color changer bulb into the 555 socket and place it on the right side (while looking at assembly with playfield up) of the drop target, start by placing the light of the flex bulb so that its just off of the drop target and close to the opening of the playfield, you want it as close as you can get without touching anything and this will ensure the brightest led affect and light up the whole head of the drop target when its popped up. When you have the round tip of the led light where you want it then mark where your screw hole will be at the other end of the 555 socket and screw it into the playfield. *!*!*Make sure you’re using a small enough screw that it won’t go through the playfield and do Not pre-drill a hole (:
10) a) Attach the alligator clip adapter to the 555 socket and then clamp it to the GI bulb that is directly to the lower right, attach the red or black to either side. b) *If there is a black heat shrink sleeve on one of the sides of the GI (like in the final example picture) then take your exacto knife and carefully cut the shrink wrap off by putting the tip of the blade into the end of the shrink wrap and pointing the tip of the blade away from you and away from the wires towards the playfield bottom, just slowly cut a tiny bit, then realign the tip of the blade and cut a tiny bit more, do this four or five times until you get enough split that you can pull the wrap off. Take your time and do this carefully so you don’t nick or cut the wires. Now it's exposed so that the alligator clip can attach/make contact on both sides. (Or if you are soldering you now have an exposed connection point)

Power the game on and make sure the new light comes on, if not adjust your alligator clips to make better contact. Check the placement of your flex bulb and adjust it closer if you want - but not touching the drop target, make sure the new 555 socket isn’t loose and is going to hold the bulb firm in place.

Congrats you’re Done!

I always forget to put the balls back in before putting the glass back on so don’t do that(:

Enjoy the new Orb shot!
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