I asked this before but don't think anyone ever answered. What does the ball trap kit cover? I haven't had many hangups lately, they're mostly intermittent and in different places. Am wondering what it fixes and if its worth ordering to have just in case?

Its a couple of plastics, some screws and a piece of foam. If you aren't having any ball traps, then you don't really need the kit I guess.

The two main pieces are a plastic that goes on top of the metal plate over the drops, and a small plastic piece with a post that goes between the wireform returns.

For me, I get these update kits just in case even if I don't have the issues. They make these changes on later runs, so it gets my machine to up to standards.

Got a few games in on the new code. Best was 765M with 61 Combos. Got Little Nellie and couldn't remember the ruleset. Kept smashing the drops to build the jackpot and when I remembered that I needed to shoot the right ramp, drained and blew it. Look forward to making it to the multiball. Fun mode. Made it most of the way to the attache on one ball but it would be cool if it saved your progress across balls instead of resetting to zero.

Both bonds in one place!

233D1FD2-529C-439D-A8AA-322A283B58D8 (resized).jpeg

Fun stuff, they look great together. GZ, Bond, FF will be my lineup once my FF LE arrives.

I commissioned Bill at Super Skill Shot Shooters to make this for my LE using a silver collector coin. It turned out so well.

https://superskillshot.com/products/007-thunderball-1-2-oz-silver-shooter?_pos=5&_sid=0a856e5a7&_ss=r

IMG_0325 (resized).jpeg

IMG_6019 (resized).jpeg

Looks awesome!

You are incredibly wrong.

The angle from the lockdown bar to the head is clearly different on bond 60. It is not as big.

If you tried to fit a bond pro playfield in a bond 60 you wouldn’t be able to install the glass as it would hit the control tower Plastic.

Use your eyes.

5C61E59D-D2A7-450D-BDE7-B334EEBE3007 (resized).jpeg

I just measured my Beatles cabinet in all dimensions and it matches all my other Sterns. The only difference is the back legs are mounted higher which drops the back of the cabinet and does visually make it appear less steep that way. However Bond 60 may be different. I don’t have one to measure.

Fine goddammit !!

Lol. Yeah it is hard to tell without measuring. The slide brackets in the cabinet are mounted up higher to raise the playfield closer to the glass to cover the gap since there are no ramps.

Does anyone know if the measurements of big bang bar and a Dolly Parton are the same?

We are only on .90, they keep doing .01 increments which the previous 2 were really nice changes for the game. This last one is kind of a dud being how they just tossed in the Q gadgets, but think they can be refined. But we still got at least 10 more updates at this rate for 1.0 None of the wizard modes in, no point multipliers yet, more modes, and whatever else they plan to do in these next updates. Feels like its gonna still evolve quite a bit if they keep going at this rate.... course it's going to be a long way to 1.0 at this rate

How did you adjust the rocket sensors? Did you tweak the sensors? It looks like there are 2 opto sensors (4 total sensor boards, but 2 opto sensors overall).? My opto 2 flips on with a slight hit but my opt 2 doesn’t. The rocket has to be in one exact spot to set it off.

Has everyone got a raffle ticket for a Bond LE from project pinball???

I’m not sure but would a Hercules playfield fit into a Rotation VIII?

Oh my!

I didn't adjust the sensors. There doesn't seem to be a way to do that. My post outlines what I did:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-official-owners-club/page/132#post-7541384

Just messed around, doing some trial and error. I have a support ticket in with Stern, will update if I hear back anything interesting on how this should be adjusted.

Ok guys, I got quite a few messages about this Bond Dragon tank mod. I’m not a “shove a bunch of toys into my pin” type of guy, but this one’s a no-brainer and it looks factory. Takes >5 mins to install and there no permanent modifications to your machine.

Total cost: $20

Link to Dragon Tank:

James Bond - Military vehicule Dragon Tank 007 Dr. No 1/43 (DY084) https://a.co/d/0YMlgwD

Quality is much better than I expected for $20. Installation is simple:
1. Remove tank from the base with a flathead screwdriver.
2. Take apart tank with the removal of 2 Phillips screws.
3. Wedge a black zip tie between the 2 pieces and re-tighten the 2 Phillips screwdrivers.
4. Tie the zip tie around the tank plastic nice and snug so there’s no play.

And that’s it! You can’t see the zip tie and it looks fantastic. Doesn’t block the dragon tank insert light either.

A30B73C1-3063-43D9-B9D2-92B49371B2E6 (resized).jpeg

EB2A5732-3D7A-45AE-8C7C-0D2BABA1694F (resized).jpeg

FC471E1F-F51C-42C7-8BFA-5AA465F339EB (resized).jpeg

Yay, new code .... boo, new code items are terrible to get to.

I played about 8 games earlier, never once got to Little Nellie because, like many others here, my rocket doesn't trip the sensors without a perfectly direct hit. (This has been obvious to me since I hit the crap out of once super jackpot is lit during Bird 1, and only rarely get the award.) Looking forward to hearing if there's a fix for this besides the junkyard route described a few posts back.

Took me all of those games to get to Atache, and I hated every minute of it because I wasn't playing the game-- just chopping wood at one specific shot, which is also terribly risky because mine often rolls SDTM outta there if it doesn't make it up to the pops.

Fortunately once I finally got it lit and activated, I focused extra hard to try to beat it -- mostly because I didn't want to have to qualify it again -- and was successful. Hunted by Helicopter was fun while it lasted but that wasn't very long for me.

So yeah, six shots up the orbit is way too many, and I'd never actively seek out this mode. I like the suggestion earlier to make your Q gadget selectable, or maybe it ties to the gadget from the last movie villain/henchman you fought, but however it is, don't make us chop so much wood to get there, that was just awful. I feel like this update didn't move the needle much because we'll never get to play these modes in a normal game with the current settings.

What’s the best way to remove the clear stickers over the screws that adjust the ring around the rocket. I’m so sick of the ball hanging up there. I tried a couple times but I don’t want to damage anything and I’d like to re-use those stickers.

I had to remove the clear stickers early on and adjust the ring up a bit to keep the ball from hanging up. No chance of saving those. If you can find some clear or black vinyl using a hole punch to make new ones works great, and it only covers just the screw head so it makes it perfectly level so the ball doesn’t get hung up on the screws.

I like smashing the rocket. I do find one opto is harder to get on the rocket , but not impossible with a solid shot. Thing is one opto is blocked as the rocket moves back. The other needs the rocket to move forward quite a bit. That's not easy to do by hitting the front of the rocket.

I like shooting the spectre targets. It's fun and easy. Plus the spectre weapons give big points.

I like the timed multiballs. The draining and getting a new ball gives me a second to regain composure and focus on what's next after a furious few minutes of multiball.

I have gotten little nellie started. Had a blast, but didn't finish.

I have enjoyed this game from the beginning. I have appreciated all of the updates so far. I can't really find anything to complain about. I like seeing the progression.

That makes a lot of sense. I think I am struggling with the content being the same. Like in Elvira you have this story of her defending her house from bad movies. It feels much more cohesive to me.

Bond could easily feel cohesive if there was a plan for this code, which at present it doesn’t feel like there is at least a cohesive one, everything is very disjointed.

BM66 is a great example of taking a tonne of different content thats all pretty similar from a licensed theme and making each mode area distinctive and everything cohesive and part of a story that you’re playing through.

Move the tank forward over the flasher and now the tank teeth light up on a target hit.

I just got a prem and it’s a ton of fun! I was curious. On the jet pack multiball, bond kind of goes back and forth over the far left of the car. It doesn’t seem like he is ever directly over the target. Is he supposed to hover over it or do I need to time it right to hit target just as he pass goes over it on that first pass?

If it’s not correct, how do I adjust it?

Try tweezers to lift up one edge and then you can re-use them pretty easily.

Thanks for the info. I just picked up one myself and was trying to figure how to mount it. You're right, can't beat it for $20 because it looks very original. I also picked up a Little Nelly for $37. No, they don't have lights, but saving about $300 does to people on a budget.

mine is in the same position and held on with 2 3m pads on top of each other, teeth light fine where it is, no need for any mods.

Just got the ball trap kit in the post from my distributor.

And this one doesn't have the driver somehow magically shooting the flame throwers at the same time as he is up top with the machine gun in hand...

Played 7/8 games last night - didn’t see any difference at all in this code update.

Disappointing…

I'm just glad that a trident passes as a pitchfork so I can use that image again!

Have to time it right. Should be on the 2nd or 3rd jet pack mb from what I recall

Great game in the making. Have fun and have a little patience, or a lot depending on your perspective

Could you show me how that works? Is it just a foam pad on each side of the plastic holding it from moving left or right?

Weren’t there 2 people in the tank?

I had a thought just now, with the discussion of maybe making the Q gadget selectable -- it'd be cool if, once you completed a Q gadget, it gives you some sort of bonus or power up when fighting a henchman or villain from that particular movie. In other words, let's say I complete Atache Case, now I need fewer shots (or get more points) when I fight against Red Grant, since it was used against him in the film.

There'd be a little stretch for some (e.g., Q's ring never gets used on anything in DAF other than slot machines) but I think this would help a little bit with theme cohesion.

After the latest update I have noticed some shots not registering as completed after I hit them while in modes. I have never had this problem before. Anybody else notice anything weird with this update?

It would be nice if they would give us some kind of basic explanation of where this code is headed because this last update seems like a step backward to me after the last couple of updates made the game more fun. Hopefully this is just a stepping stone to something better.

You’ll need to slide the playfield forward on the rails so that you can get to the back. Loosen the 5/16 Bolt on the pivot point for the “ Bond on a wand”. This is located behind the wall at the back of the playfield. Adjust as needed a little bit left or right, then re-tighten bolt. I would recommend doing this while you are in the diagnostic test for jet pack. Run the jet pack test 1 and 2 to make sure all optos are functioning correctly after your adjustment. If Jetpack tests both pass you can start a game and see how your adjustment affected position over tank during Jetpack multiball. Repeat procedure if you need to readjust. You will get it where you need it doing this. Recommend small adjustments. If position is too far out Opto’s will not register during jet pack tests.

Honestly I think this was code that was in development and they needed something to release since they wanted to send out code for all Sterns. Don’t stress about it, I assume a manor release will happen between now and the end of May.

Yeah they wanted this mind-blowing 420 code dump so this thing was led out of the barn before it was ready to trot.

Or it's just a mess over there. Time will tell!

Off to spend 5 games bashing the rocket and see if I can ever start Nellie while scoring 30 million a game...

Thought I should probably add this to my previous post on adjusting “ Bond on a wand”. Keep in mind that adjustments all occur while wand is at the Home position. This is where bond is more or less centered over the ball stop on the right jet pack habitrail. There is some leeway at home position which will affect his position over the tank during play.

I've noticed that, after the first one or two jetpack MBs, there are occasions when the Jetpack multiball shows the video clip that it is ready, but then when I hit the left orbit and send the ball up past the top right corner, the screen says "one more shot to activate Jetpack multiball" or "two more shots blah blah blah." So clearly, there is something amiss.

yeah
great layout
cool theme
but... the game sux
based on the current trajectory this game i and code are not heading in the right direction

bummer

Bond is probably the most disappointing IP pin in the history of Stern. They better get on it fast because this ship is sinking and if they don’t do something soon it will be a lost cause. They’ve had 7 months to sort this out and the game isn’t even half finished. At this rate it will take another 7-10 months before it’s complete, not sure the attention span of owners will still be hanging on by then.

I really hope I’m wrong, this was my #1 dream IP, and it’s beyond sad what has transpired. I’m sure it’s a lot to do with licensing, but at this point I really wonder if that’s really the case. It seems like a disjointed mess.

You can say I’m pitchforking, ho for it, I don’t care what you think, just remember there is a reason the pitchforks are en masse in this pin, it’s because we were all excited and wanted to like it, but they let us down.

I’m taking the different mindset approach on this one because Bond too is a dream theme of mine.

The foundation is there to end up with a GREAT game.

The Gomez layout is fantastic. Much better than BM66 and that turned out great thanks to Lyman.

Been down the code road many times, TWD, BM66, GB, and STH.

Now waiting on CCr big code update.

IF they don’t come through in the end, which I highly doubt, then I’ll be leading the charges myself like William Wallace in Bravehart!

Keep in mind, Gomez wants to sell a Goldfinger LE edition later. That ain’t happening without some complete code

I think what's happening is that "Jetpack Ready" means that you've qualified Jetpack and need to make the required left shots to actually activate it.

I could be wrong, but that's what I recall from playing ours.

Agreed, I think in my heart of hearts I think it will get ironed out, I wish they had a bit of urgency around getting some of the basic functions like the button on the apron that does nothing, or the bond girls. I’ve never really seen a pin 7 months after launch not having basic functions ready.

I worry that if they don’t have a basic working machine soon the general public will lose interest. Bond should be one of the most iconic pinball machines of all time, but as it stands right now, it’s one of the biggest disappointments.

The only thing that gives me hope is watching the transformation on Deadpool, that game sucked but after a year it took hold and became a great game.