C'mon Aurich. It's what all the cool kids are doing!

Seriously, one of the greatest games IMHO.

I'll keep an eye out for SoCal deals. I'd like to get a Metallica Prem too, see if my last two slots in my garage end up music pins ...

Helen in Hell looks great!

I really ought to do this myself. I have the stickers, plus I've cracked a plastic, so need to take out the lower playfield anyway at some point to fix it.

I am thinking about sending Helen to hell as well. I have waxed the low playfield. Should I remove the wax and with what should I do it prior to installing the decal? Can/should I wax on top of the decal once in place?

Greetings from Finland

Helen.jpg

So the Helen project is closed now. I have a couple translites left, and some apron decals, and that's it. No more big face decals to experiment with, sorry.

But ... I have picked up an ACDC Premium recently. So I may mess with an actual dedicated facelift idea for the lower playfield at some point.

So on the difficulty scale - how hard is it/pain in the ass to remove the lower pf, strip down and to align/apply helen? Any advice on how to do it quickly and easily? Thanks!

I've got some new flipper bats for my mini playfield, so I'll strip it all and scan it for future reference as long as I'm shopping it out.

About the process: I used the Windex-method for placing the decal and with a flashlight lighted the playfield from underneath as I did not want the target holes remove her eyes

About using protection with Helen: I was looking into getting a mini-playfield protector and putting in on top of Helen, but could not find one, apparently the playfield protector is only for the actual big playfield. If I would have had a sheet of mylar, I might have applied it just in case. I waxed Helen though.

I think if I were to ever try this "officially" in some way I'd go with a laminated decal. For the playfield one my main concern was staying as thin as possible, so there wasn't a lip to mess with the ball. The lower playfield doesn't have that concern.

Are you sure you meant if and not when?

image.jpg

It has begun!

I look forward to what is coming. My Prem will be waiting.

Won't be able to spend a lot of time on it right now, Alien needs to take priority, but I needed to shop out the lower playfield anyways, so I got motivated last night to strip it completely and scan it. I'll test fit some templates before I put it back together and reinstall it, see where things go from there.

I love that Helen in hell so much I think I am going to pick up a premium just to add that.

Looks great! Can tell you have skill and patience! Gj!

Without getting too deep into the "why" for stopping the other thread, aurich, are you able to use Helen's image/face/etc on a potential overlay/decal for the lower playfield? I would hope so, since that is your own design. I dont have an acdc, but your work is outstanding!

I'm guessing that Hellen is his own creation...I think the AC\DC font is what brought the attention. Even though it seems there's much worse 'infringement' that gets looked past by Stern

It's not really a secret that Stern asked me to stop, I just didn't see the need to stir up drama when I asked to have my thread closed. I'm not mad at them or anything, so it goes. There's no bad blood between me and Stern.

It's purely about the ACDC branding. Technically I wasn't using their logo, and you can't copyright a typeface (well, you can copyright the software font, but not the actual face itself), but let's be honest, it was a dodge, and I wasn't going to fight it.

I'll probably retire Helen, at least the design I used before. It was a piece of stock art that I customized, I never really planned to let that project go as far as it did. The decal was never meant for the lower playfield, and while I think it's really cool that someone did it, I'll probably ponder something different that works with the inserts and layout etc.

Anyways, I'm just messing around right now. I really don't need another project, but the idea intrigues me, so I'll play with it as I can. Here's a shot at test fitting a first paper template:

image.jpg

The Hellen stuff looks soooo much better than the original stuff..and easily trumps Luci too. Luci reminds me of something a 13 year old drew in art class when the teacher wasn't looking...and just does nothing to match the theme.

Looking forward to seeing this

Thanks for the explanation. I was assuming that you would work hellen into the design. Maybe a couple full body miniatures on the inserts or something. Just to keep the hellen theme going. Cause hellen is completely separate from acdc etc.

Whatever you decide im sure it will be great and fit in with the acdc pins fire hell theme/colors etc whether the pin has other Helen mods or not.

Good luck!

I honestly don't have any real plans at the moment. Generally speaking I do these mods because I enjoy exploring ideas, it's a creative outlet for me. So whatever I do I'll try and make it different and interesting compared to what I had before. I don't want to just repeat something. Right now I'm thinking about materials and methods, more than the actual graphics. I'll work on that part later, once I have an idea for what would be cool to try out in terms of techniques. Definitely want to push beyond just a simple decal.

We'll see! I have a Metallica mod that's been sitting unfinished for a while now too. But I think that it will match up with ACDC in terms of finding the right printer for what I'd like to try.

As a Helen ACDC owner, I can't wait to see what you can do with Metallica. I'm lucky enough to own both.

NOOOOOO! I'm seriously on the hunt for a premium AC/DC because of Helen.

Well Helen is pretty much dead, I think I have literally one last translite still in stock. And that's it, won't be printing more. So the retirement is pretty much here already.

The only question is whether or not I would bring her back for some new art. We'll see I guess. It made sense before to replace an ugly old man with a hot chick, I'm not really sure putting her in Hell is really something that fits, just as far as the layout goes. But like I said, I haven't even explored the art, just decided to work up a template so I could tinker with ideas.

Aurich has not yet let us down when left to his own creative designs. I suggest we let him come up with whatever he thinks would look awesome for this lower playfield and not worry about trying to squeeze in a Helen where she may not belong.

Whatever it is you design Aurich, please put be down for one.

-Jay

Thanks man. It's all for the fun of it, both for me, and for other people to enjoy. That's really the whole point.

Agreed

Made some modifications to the design after some more test fitting of parts. I'm thinking about not even making it a decal, but an overlay. I have a couple secret reasons for it that I'm not ready to reveal yet, but there are some other obvious benefits.

1) It would be easy to line up and install. The arc of the loop will hold it down nice and flat, plus some other spots at the bottom. That's one thing I modified, gave it more anchor points. Get it just how you want, no sticky decals, no air bubbles, and then tighten down the playfield parts over it to keep it anchored in place.

2) I could reverse print it on mylar, and then the printed surface would be totally protected from the ball. You can wax the mylar before you put the playfield back together, and it will play crazy fast.

I like the overlay idea. To keep it rigid enough though could you reverse print it on a thin polycrabonate sheet like they use for the playfield protectors? I've purchased thin Makrolon in large sheets but smaller sheets of .030 are available from amazon. That would make them last forever and keep the surface smooth...?

-Jay

Yeah, playfield protector style. Is that what they use? I haven't done any real research yet. But exactly what I was thinking, something thin but rigid.