Inspired by a fellow pinsider's mission to rid the world of the ugly ramp plastic on LOTR, I took it upon myself to do the same for Metallica's right habitrail just above the mystery scoop. The replacement wireform is made from 1/8" solid brass rod, painted gloss black and clearcoated to match the habitrail.

**EDITED 12/10**

I am selling these $15 shipped to anywhere in the U.S. and $25 International ($30 Australia). You will need a nut to affix the eliminated hex post screw to the mystery scoop plastic in order fill in the hole where the old hex post was.

LE/PREM: These fit LEs and Premiums as is since they attach to the spotlight hex post.

PROS: Pro owners need to purchase the spotlight hex spacer post. It is Stern part #254-5049-09, a 1-1/2" X 1/4" #6-32 M/F hex spacer post. The hex post is 1-1/2" long and has a male and female end. See item #43 on page 160 of the manual.

Thanks, Ryan

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Thank you for the inspiration!

I'll cook another couple up over the weekend. You will be my official product tester!

You are greedy. Maybe I'll swing by and install it since I know you won't be able to!

Just PM me - I've got a few folks who want one so I'll be making a batch over the weekend. $15 shipped. I'll be producing them in the order received. Payment via PayPal once your order is ready to go out.

The metal rod attached to the two posts is what I made out of 1/8" brass rod (which I spray painted gloss black and clear coated). The new metal rod replaces the two-piece plastic that prevents airballs off the ramp. Because airballs can only occur at the top, there is no need for the lower plastic piece and lower post. Without the lower post there is no need for any plastic to prevent ball hangups as any balls bouncing onto the mystery scoop plastic roll right off. This gives the area a much cleaner look.

Your MDM display can stay where it is on the lowest hex post that I eliminated. You will need to relocate your coffin though I suspect there might be a way to still keep it there though without one in hand I can't say how.

Lastly, when removing the lowest hex post, you will want to use that hex post screw to fill the post hole in the plastic. I will include the spare nut to affix that screw from underneath.

When I originally made this I threw it together one night with no intention of making another. Since there has been greater than expected interest and because I am now offering these for sale, I've been working on revising the original design to bring the end down so that the slope matches better than it does in the original. I'll post pics of the new revised version tomorrow once I finalize the design.

Thanks for your interest and support!

I think you are right on here -- though it may be possible to send a scorcher up the ramp that could jump, it's probably very unlikely.

With that being said and with some pre-production feedback (thanks Jeff!), I revised the design a little so that the slope of the rail guard matches the habitrail a bit better. A couple pics below. Please note that these rail guards are spray painted black with spray clear applied to protect the black finish as best as possible. These are not professionally powder coated and baked and will not be impervious to chips and and scratches as your factory ramps are. So please take extra care when installing so you don't chip or scrape the guards at the attachment holes.

The first batch is ready to go out so I will be responding to PMs and providing PayPal info. For those that didn't make it into this first batch, I will be doing another this week/weekend as time permits -- I have a newborn so finding free time can be a challenge, but I'll do my best to get the next batch out by next week.

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Thanks for the gratuitous bump Yo! You should know that these guards are fully compatible with the new 1.63 code!

Yes - 1.63. Some minor changes to lighting and scoring from what I can tell. There are a few threads on it.

Unfortunately I can't. Something like that is way beyond my abilities.

Jeff, there shouldn't be much tension between the two hex posts as the rail should comfortably sit on top of both posts. The post certainly shouldn't be bending as it is in the photo. I haven't seen this issue on the other machines I've fitted this to.

I would check to make sure that the spotlight post is not loose. I noticed when testing these mods that unscrewing the spotlight screw would sometime loosen the post. If that is the case, tighten it up and try refitting.

If both posts are tight and the rail still seems to be "short" you can lengthen the rail slightly by bending the rail outwards at the point where it bends towards the bottom post, i.e., "open up" the last bend in the rail.

Let me know if this works.

Thanks Jay. Please let me know how it holds up!

I made another batch of these and have a handful left. Please PM me if you would like to buy one.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the replacement rail. Thanks for the positive feedback. I still have several left from the latest batch if anyone else is interested.

I received several PM's from people wanting to order. I'm currently out of stock but I have ordered new materials to make a new batch which I should have available in a week or so. I'll post back here once I'm fully stocked.

Feel free to PM if you're interested and I'll let you know when yours is ready to go out at which time I'll ask for payment.