So I got this nice HUO LOTR from a pinball friend. After spending nearly 3 years restoring a TZ, parts everywhere in the house, multiple stop-and-go's, months without doing anything, I swore I would never do anything like that again. But once you get used to a mint condition machine and a clear coated playfield, it's hard to go back to playing a game that hasn't been at least shopped. Being a LOTR on top of it, I couldn't resist.

Since there hasn't been a LOTR cleanup documented, I thought I would share a few pictures of what I have been up to.

Game is in a nice shape but needs a bit of cleaning in the wooden areas. Also, the center insert has a tiny hairline crack all around. There was a bunch of touch ups around inserts, I think from the factory, probably before the clear was applied.

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Some example of a very light almost unnoticeable ghosting on an insert, with on the right some (factory?) touch up.
The playfield is a little dull and has some dimpling all over it. Hopefully the clear will take care of that.

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I am not surprised. When I first saw this, I thought the first owner had taken a sharpie over the clear. After trying to remove it with some alcohol and magic eraser, I realized it was factory. The Orc inserts are a bit worse but are also further away from the player.

Here is a closer pic of the Orc inserts.

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The playfied was completely disassembled. Not much to report except that this time around I did not pull it out and set on the rotisserie and instead did more or less everything in place. With the help of a double pulley to pull it out.

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The very first time I lifted up the playfield all the way after getting the game, I noticed that the bottom end of the playfield was resting not on the flat metal bars with a curved end that are screwed under the playfield (the edge slides), but on the woodrails. Somehow the bars are not long enough. The mini playfield also ends up hitting the metal rails that are attached to the cabinet, and the very bottom left plastic that sits in the angle got broken as a result. In the first pic below, you can see the metal sliding bracket not resting on the rail.

I considered doing something to avoid this, but I'm not sure it wouldn't create some other problem.

I would be interested in hearing if anyone else noticed the same problem.

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Inside cabinet on its way to being cleaned.

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Preparing for blades and a light respray.
This time around I just wanted to clean up the top of the inside without redoing the whole thing and in particular redoing the ground braid.

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I am working on turning down the OCD for the stuff that's not visible. What's under the playfield is getting cleaned in the small ultra sonic cleaner I have, but does not get polished. Of course, I could sand the inside of the cabinet, fill every single small gauge, etc... But then it won't be long before I scratch it lifting the playfield. So this time I am focusing on the playfield.

I sent the playfield to HSA for some minor touch up and a clear coat. I debated whether or not to attempt the clear coat but I just don't have enough space to set up a spray booth. And I would not even come close result wise.

The habitrails, the sword, and the ramps I sent to Mike Chesnut the Sunday before he passed away. Really sad to die so tragically. It reminded me of Coluche, one of France's most famous stand up comedian. He was an avid rider. He actually beat the world speed record in 1985. The following year, he hit truck that had not seen him on his bike.

The left side of the the center ramp entrance got hit pretty bad. The metal had mushroomed. I grinded the whole thing and drilled two holes. Once the ramp comes back from plating I might add some rubber protector.

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The front of the coin door had a small chip. I was hoping to figure out a way to recreate the texture where the chip was and respray the door. I couldn't. If someone has some tip on how to recreate the texture I would be interested in hearing about it.

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Lockbar after some Mothers TLC.

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POTD before and after Treasure Cove polish kit treatment.

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These are the super band 3/8" - http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3358.
I was surprised the POTD polished that well. It might end up being the highlight of the thread.

So tonight started slowly but safely. Cabinet speaker and shooter rod experiment.

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Then it turned into basically total amateur hour. Second coat of paint on the speaker panel that's way too hot and melts the previous one. It happened to me before on a Monopoly but some things I don't seem to learn. I'll be sanding this weekend that's for sure.

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Speaker panel sanded and painted with rust oleum semi gloss spray enamel. I got a satin glossy-ish by spraying from high up and letting the droplets land gently on the surface.

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Back to the shooter experiment.

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That's good to know. I was debating whether or not to use this as an excuse to finally play with 2PAC. Now there is no turning back.

I did a light flame polishing but it did not do much and I was worried being too aggressive would lead to some irreversible damage.

I am pretty sure you are spot on. It's just a matter of time before it starts wearing off. It will not take much to clear coat Gollum and not to have to worry about it. As long as I don't end up melting the paint that is.

Well, clear and metallic paint don't play well together. I used some Rust Oleum Crystal Clear Enamel in a spray can. It dulled the golden color, and in some areas, it actually thinned the plaint enough that the underlying plastic started showing up. More work needed.

New approach. OSH metallic gold with multiple very light coats of clear. Problem solved.

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I switched to the play field back panel. Quite a bit going on with the decal wrinkled.

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Cleaned up, sanded and with the back cleared with satin Varathane.

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I got a NOS decal from Marco, but it is not perfect. There is a very tiny area that's delaminated. Basically, due to shipping the decal folded. I am considering using it to create a vinyl decal. Since the NOS no longer seems available, this would be good to have a back up too.

A few pics showing what happened next. I painted the backboard semi-gloss black. I scanned the decal as a backup just in case.
The decal was applied wet with some Windex and a rubber roller. Applying wet makes it super easy to perfectly align the decal with the holes.

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In attempt to improve things a bit, I used a X-acto knife to cut the pieces of clear film that had delaminated and applied some 2PAC on top. Not perfect, but it makes the problem a bit less obvious.

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While I was distracted thinking about the wrinkling and delamination, I forgot there was a T-nut that had to be installed back BEFORE the decal. I wasn't a happy camper when I realized my screw up. More on this later.

I have been playing with leds. Speakers, the Ring, passage way....

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One outstanding question is whether the Ring's leds will interfere with the opto sensor. Even if connected with flashers, it could be a problem. I will run an experiment with some test led strips and another game and see.

I finally got one of these. One minute to install the GI and other lamps back with a bunch of other stuff in the way.

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Since the playfield is out at HSA, and I am pretty much done with the cab and cleaning parts, I had a bit of time on my hands to experiment with a homegrown mod. See for yourself with the pictures.

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The speaker leds and Gollum head will be wired to the flashers.

The head casting was made with Smooth-On

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004BNF3TK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00

and 2 part resine

http://www.tapplastics.com/product/mold_making_materials/casting_products/tap_clear_lite_casting_resin/75

In my first attempt, I tried to add the leds afterward by drilling. Big mistake. The way to go (I think) is to cast with the lights in place. I used some helping hands https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Z7GGJC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00 to keep the lights in place.

In terms of speaker lighting, a minor lesson learned is to glue the led strip inside the speaker. I thought the double sided tape was going to be strong enough, but it ended up giving up near the entry point, so the lighting was no longer round. I had to take the whole thing out and glue it properly, using some clothline clips to keep it in place.

Also, in the course of doing this whole thing, always test the leds before and after installation. I have some old 12V and 6V chargers that came from some old broken I don't know what and these are great for testing.

Thanks. I am away until mid August but the playfield clearcoat is done and the ramps are ready. I'll start working on the playfield as soon as I return.

Playfield is back from HSA. I'm very happy with the results, the turnaround time and the interaction with Brian at HSA. The clear is like glass.

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I re drilled the edge slides so they lift the playfield a bit higher and the wood rails don't touch the cabinet side rails. Hopefully the sliders won't bend once the playfield is fully populated and heavy.

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Rails done. Gloss black rustoleum rattle can, light sanding, Minwax gloss polyurethane in a can applied using a foam brush. Nice glossy finish.

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Thanks to ReeseRails for sending me some raw rails.

Playfield on the rotisserie. In the past I tried the playfield edge on the rotisserie and clamps approach and installing the parts near the edge was a pain. This time around I am using pieces of L-bars.

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Felt on the sides.

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Protectors where the rails are typically hit.

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I added some Mylar in a few places too.

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The X-Acto compass cutter is a must to cut circles. I put a small piece of rolled up tape under a large piece of tape in the center to avoid piercing the Mylar. Then I keep the cutter steady and move the Mylar around to get a perfect cut.

There is Mylar on the shooter lane as well.

The original drop areas. Looking at them I might need to make the protectors a bit bigger.

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Progress repopulating the playfield. It feels to me like the modern Sterns are a lot easier than the older games. Or maybe its because it's not my first resto.

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Teal pop bumper skirts. Easier to keep clean than white.

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Plated middle ramp from Ron Woodard. Third hand rivet tool does it again. I used nickel plated rivets and not zinc plated. And protected the rivet with a tiny piece of Mylar between the tool and the rivet head.

I also added a post to protect the left front side from ball damage.

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Four additional lights in the front. I'll see how it looks and if it helps with the lighting.

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New plastic going in. Tiny pieces of Mylar underneath to avoid damage where rubbing usually occurs.

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Same here this time on the top.

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Felt on the back to avoid touching the back playfield panel decal and messing it up.

The loop post clearance was affected as a result and required an adjustment that I could only get with two washers.

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I take this as a compliment. Nothing wrong with that!

Come to think of it, you might well be right. Red?

I hear you guys. Thanks for catching this. Let's see what red or yellow looks like.

Mylar protection on POTD where the ball gets ejected. Windex is my best friend for this sort of stuff. Really helps with the positioning. It's also interesting to see the slow evaporation of the tiny bit of Windex that remains under the Mylar. I applied the TZ clock decal with Windex too and it took about a full month for the residual to completely evaporate.

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Getting close.

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99% done

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Ramps, wireforms, sword, Palentir ball holder, Ballrog brackets, left tower chromed by Ron Woodard.

I'll post later daytime pictures that show the plating in all its glory.

Thanks for catching this. I missed it entirely. There are still a couple screws missing on the playfield too.

I'm good on the location since these are going on top of already installed posts. There is a nut missing below the left VUK. I took the nut off to install ryan1234's habitrail mod. The fit was a couple mm off so I had to take it out for now. I'm probably going to modify the area a tiny bit more anyway.

Also one missing on the green post on the right of the left ramp/wireform entrance.

Picture of the POTD lighting strip.

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It's simply a led strip attached to a brass bar. Notice the four holes that are drilled. They are used to attach the bar to the hex posts under the POTD with zome zip ties. I used some rubber post slightly shortened right under the bar to get the right height. High so its not see but not too close to the POTD. I added an IDC Z-connector to the strip and got the power from the same source as the flipper buttons. Gray/Red and Black near the power box.

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Ballrog has a super-bright red 24V double led strip inside that's connected to the standard flasher.

The right tower has a standard 12V led strip and a double blue 24V led strip that's connected to the coil.

More fine tuning…

The small cabinet hardware pieces that keep the playfield centered when lowered made it hard to have the playfield all the way down. I had to push and I first couldn’t figure out what was going on. I thought maybe I had a wire or cable stuck somewhere in the back. It turns out that with the extra felt on the side, the clearance is tight. I decided to turn these upside down. Problem solved.

Second, the rear wire harnesses. It always bugs me to have the back panel rub against the wiring, particularly with the LOTR, which has quite a bit going on in the back. I used some of these guys to make sure that the hardness are right against the cabinet back wall - https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Tie-B1PSSM100-Adhesive-100-Pack/dp/B005LTJ4PW/ref=sr_1_2

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Flipper area lighting. Brass bar with a small RGB led strip and some zip ties. I went for purple but can easily change the color. What do you guys think?

I added a couple of small pieces of Mylar to avoid damage to the ball through drop area. Hard to see with the purple lighting but it’s there.

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Next, I had to shave off the bottom of the additional lights I added above the return lanes. They were hitting the ball.

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That's good to know. Thanks for the heads-up.

Are there any options to get a reinforced Palantir target frame? Same as the slot machine target on TZ?

BTW, I made this change as much for cosmetic reason as to be able to replace the plastic more easily if it broke, or add a plastic protector. Rivets are good for ramps, not so much there.

You'll need to find machine screws with the smallest head you can find that fits to avoid having the screw heads interfere with the ball path.
I should have taken pictures. I had to try a few to get the right fit.

There were a few things I needed to finish.

Install left wire form protector and convert original protector. Install custom shooter rod.

Now it's done.

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Thanks! LOTR is a gorgeous game.

The figurines used in the game and how they are mounted on polycarbonate inspired me to add a few things to my POTC. It's borderline too much and I originally felt it I should take a few out but I eventually got used to them.

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