Great machine for showing these! Nitro is one of my all time favorites as far as art goes! Gameplay not so much!

A few things to consider here: First off I know Wayne's idea was to do something with a bunch of old dead displays he & other people have sitting around and that is great. We are all hoarders when it comes to dead stuff from machines and this will let something that is just trash otherwise be used again.

Second - most of us that love these classic old Bally & Stern machines have several around so even a $4 or $5 savings per display times 5 displays in a machine times 5 or 6 machines amounts to a fair amount of savings.

Third - as I understand things - Wayne's displays will use a good bit less power than most others on the market and will also be available with a bunch of color choices. Personally I love the blue but it is nice to have lots of choices.

And lastly - it is nice to see something close to original back in a machine instead of different mounting system (or what ever). I say the more people doing this stuff the better. It will keep cost down because of competition and also offer choices. Keep up the good work!

Years ago (when I was a kid) Heathkit offered stereo amps & tuners for sale as kit or pre built. They too a ton of time to build and there was only 10% difference in price between the price of the kit and the price of pre built (about $10 at that time). But the kit form still outsold the pre built. Some people just like doing it themselves instead of buying something that is done already.

The "average guy" that likes to buy machines plug & play is not likely to be the guy interested in these. These will appeal to the guy that spends 50 hours to 100 hours bring a "junk" machine back from the dead. Those guys (me included) don't mind spending some time to save a little money and also enjoy the satisfaction of bringing something to life.

Personally I can't wait to make my old "junk" displays into something usable again. My plan is to buy as many cheap junk displays as I can find over the next few months and then once the final version of this kit is released buy a bunch of kits - make nice new displays for my machines - then sell my old working displays to get my money back. Doing things that way I'll basically have new LED displays in all my Bally machines for free. Working Bally displays seem to bring around $30 to $40 each pretty constantly. These kits look like they should cost around $20 per display and junk displays typically sell for about $5 each. So when I am done I could have LED's in my dozen or so Bally machines for free and might even have some cash left over. Pretty neat trade off for using some time I would likely just be wasting otherwise!

Mike,

I am just curious about your question to Wayne for one reason - do Gottlieb displays ever really go bad? Or are you asking more because of the LED?

Williams might makes sense since I have had bad ones from Williams machines (more System 9 & 11 than the earlier displays -- since we don't do much with System 3 to 7 stuff) but I don't ever remember have a bad glass on a earlier Gottlieb and was just curious. In fact a few years back I bought a set of new display glass to have "just in case" and I have never used one.

Mike,

I was just wondering because I thought maybe I was super lucky for once never having a bad Gottlieb display. Typically my luck isn't that good!

I love the look and color choices with Wayne's displays and Williams & Gottlieb would both be a great idea if possible? Poor Wayne - another project added to the list!

If you are not blown away by the pictures and how good these make old Bally machines look you should see them in person. Personally I love the blue (or white in a few machines) but matching colors to machine or backglass looks great also. By the end of the year all of our Bally machines will have LED displays in them. Once you have them in one machine you will not be able to stop yourself!

But the best part of using these is they don't cost you anything but time. It seems like everyone has dead displays around from these Bally machines. So by taking something out of your junk boxes and investing a few dollars and a little time you can have nice modern displays. Then if you sell off the good displays you pulled from your machines these things are basically free (or maybe even cheaper). That is hard to beat compared to paying around $300 to upgrade buying complete displays from one of the other sources. But if that isn't enough to make these something special you also are getting those old dead displays out of your way.

Making trash into something over the top nice just seems like a great idea all the way around!

The thing with color is - what looks great one day might be different than what looks great later down the road partly because of your mood. That is the nice thing about using the filters instead of color digits. If sometime down the road you decide you want something different you can just change the filter if you start out with white digits.

Personally I have always loved blue so I tend to have a lot of blue in my life. But sometimes I burn out on blue and what something totally different. For years I always had blue cars but in the past 15 or 20 years I don't remember owning a blue car. Now that I am thinking about it I need another blue car!

Anyway - my plan is to make up some extra sets of displays - once I have a set in each machine - and then I'll be able to just change them out if I decide it is time for something different. I think it will be fun to change the look of some machines from time to time but overall so far blue is my favorite in most machines.

One thing for sure is I have seen enough of the original displays over the years that I doubt I'll use any that try to match the original displays. It is time to modernize some of my great old Bally machines!

Just like when CPR makes playfield and backglass for a machine. A small change it "what is" can make a big change in demand. One thing people don't seem to understand in a free market economy is demand sets the price. Regardless of what a seller is asking for something price is actually set by what a buyer is willing to pay. Now that "junk" displays are no longer junk price will go up for sure. But don't worry too much -- I am sure there are plenty of dead displays around -- from my experience likely about 20% of this style display are dead and that doesn't account for the ones sitting in "junk boxes".

I had thought about getting a bigger stock pile of "junk displays" before Wayne released these kits but it just never happened. Thankfully I am sure I have plenty of dead ones in project machines I have sitting for what I will need. But this is yet another reminder to think ahead when you know something is about to change. Buy when demand is lower and save yourselves some cash!

The only down side I see to these displays is just that. Once you have them in one machine you will want them in all your machines! I have been hooked since I saw Wayne's first sample display in person.

What a great way to modernize these great old Bally machines. Some of my favorite pinball art is on Bally machines from this era. Now if there was only a way to modernize the sound on them!

Unless I am missing something it doesn't look like "pinsound" works for these earlier machines. Regardless it is hard to consider spending over $300 to improve sound on a $600 pinball machine. That is the nice thing about these display kits - for about $100 & a little time you can accomplish something that would otherwise cost you almost 3 times as much.

Anyway - maybe sometime down the road someone will come up with a cheaper sound board for these machines - until then I'll just keep loving the art and enjoying the pure & simple game play of these early Bally machines. But Nugent without music is one I will never own again! Love the backglass art but a music theme pin without music just doesn't cut it!

What happened here? I have been watching this topic as well as a few others on Pinside and things have gotten very quiet. Too close to Christams - too much other stuff going on to build displays - where has everyone gone? I am waiting to see more pictures of different color filters in different machines to get some ideas.

That should be helpful to a good many people. Speaking from experience I know most of us are fairly lazy so having an easy way to find this information will be a huge help. One suggestion to anyone that has any other display revisions that are not listed on Pinitech's site. Let him now about them so he can add them to the list of revisions that exist. It is crazy how many time some of these companies made changes over the years!

It is very nice of you to be doing this! There is nothing like giving a little something back to your loyal customers. When I get a package with a little something extra in it I always remember the seller but typically it isn't anything more than a piece of candy, a pen, or something similar. Giving away $20 a month to one winner is much better than that piece of candy or a pen! (I sell online a lot so I realize not only are you giving away the prize you are also giving away the shipping cost).

Keep doing good things and it will keep paying dividends!