Just joined the club! Technically, anyway - I wont have it for another week or so.

I got a beater re-import but this is my grail pin - been wanting one ever since I knew it even existed. I am a huge monster movie fan, and rock n' roll musician... so it was a natural. Will go great next to our TZ and Creature...

I've always wondered why they never followed through with a 1930s Dracula or Frankenstein pin. And The Wolfman (my 2nd fav of the group!) never got any pin love whatsoever. There's not even a toy of him on the MB playfield!

Anyway, very excited to get to rocking those monsters..

I hear ya- I wanted to do a full playfield swap one day, and I've got a budget laid out already. we will play the game as-is for a few months but then I'll do theteardown next year. I want to learn more about refurb so this project has a dual purpose. Like my TZ I don't ever expect to sell this one

Ha! Ok he's obscured on my pinball arcade version I guess

Still no wolfman pin though!!

Hey folks

Just received my MB delivery. I converted it to 110v no problem, but as I lifted the play field to do so, I found this thing plugged into the power supply

Anybody know why this thing would be in there? It's plugged into the power supply on one end, and to (I think) T101 the 5v node on the power board. The other wire is to ground.

So... what the hell is this for ? It doesn't seem to be part of the original game, but I don't see any mods or anything that it would be powering. What gives?

It says "mickey/mouse games" on it, and some dude's name on it.

Also.. I found what I think is an original goodie bag. It is stapled to the cabinet separator, and has a couple of screws, a MB keychain tag, and what is I think a plastic washer. Is there any reason to keep this intact and not open it?

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Ok I think I understand. Definitely wish I'd known this was a thing. I'll post some later on or tomorrow; got work to do right now - couple of other minor issues with this machine (basic stuff - stripped leg bolt plates, missing the translite lift channel, and cabinet is scratched a bit, mostly at edges) but the boards seem to be in pretty good shape.

Ok here's the driver board, nothing caught my eye except the red wire connected from the extra power thing. I haven't had a second to inspect for broken traces but it generally seems ok. Not sure if the isolators on the speaker wires are normal, but that seems like a good idea in general.

Also there's an extra molex connector at the bottom of the wire bundle (see last pic) not sure if that's just extra or what... seems weird it's just sitting there, but I haven't found a partner to it underneath

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Thanks for the help, folks - this is my first WPC95 pin, my others are WPC89 so somewhat of a learning curve. I'm reading up on pinwiki though.

So I've got a replacement PF on the way and I'm reading about how the Creature lagoon plastic doesn't fit on replacement playfields - so does the Mirco play field have the lagoon cut to fit the original plastic? until my PF shows up I won't be able to try it. Really hoping I don't have to find one of those unobtanium pinbits ones.

Taking the leap tonight.. hopefully no issues, or if there are, I'll try rob Kahr's daughter board ...

1) Sillyoldelf and 2) Modfather. You mail him your figures and he will paint them for (I think?) $99

That reminds me i need to order those blades. I'm sending my figures to a buddy I went to school with who does basically "horror art" and is a magician. Can't wait to see what he comes up with!

So I haven't worked on the game for a couple weeks - finally got a chance today and removed that switching power supply, and cleaned up the power board. I have a string of lights on the BB that won't light (purple / white). Replaced the fuse (which was visibly broken) and still nothing works. Checked for bad caps- this game is newer so has the 0 ohm resistors. No problem there. No burns or scorches on power board. Checked the molex and reseated the pins, and switched the J105 and 106 plugs and SAME problem. Weird, but at least I think that means it's not the board. Any suggestions other than rewiring the bb? The molex cube seems (visually) ok.

Oh... and I removed the switching PS... played 5 or 6 fairly lengthy games... apparently there's no problem! Must have been low line voltage as was suggested.. woo!

Where'd you find that? That is killer!

Where does one find the black line Cliffy? Last I checked it was out of stock everywhere

Thanks - I could have sworn I read on his site they were out, but Cliffy doesn't really do that, I must have been looking at Marco. Thanks BigD!

How's it sound?!

It's always bugged me that the wolfman isn't represented in the game (despite the doctor and igor being on there, who aren't even in the band!)

Found the perfectly sized wolfman toy - just have to figure out how to secure him better

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I found it by looking at - I swear - every single wolfman action figure on the internet. I finally found that one on Etsy (by the way, that place blows away Ebay for stuff like this). That was literally the only one that was roughly the right size and actually looked reasonably like the guy on the playfield. Most of the other possibilties were those Re-Action figures (too small IMO, bad sculpt) or these huge ones that wouldn't fit... or were $150 NIB.

I just looked again; mine was loose, but this one looks new: https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Studios-Monsters-Wolfman-Figure/dp/B0000VMAWA

Yep, that's it - it's made by Jakks Pacific, and is apparently about 10 years old. I just read that it originally came with an alternate set of hands and feet so you could make him Larry Talbot too, which is pretty cool! Does not come with drumsticks

another one for sale, basically same price: https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Monsters-2-Figure-Wolfman/dp/B0001GT2JI

That's great! Did you make the Tesla coils (the bulb things at either end of the amps) or buy them somewhere?

Mine were both off the globe when I got the game - you have to remove the entire globe structure from the play field by removing the plastic at the base, then take the nuts off the 3 looooong screws. The metal disc is usually trapped between the top and middle plastics. It's kind of a pain, so put led flashers in there while you've got it out

I've been following that too, and every time I see it, I think "man that looks SO much better than the original!"

Put some FF speakers in mine not that long ago. I'm considering a pinsound in there just so I can throw Monster mash into the mix!

My DW sounds so much better in stereo too...

Holy crap, there's 2 now?! Did you do that yourself?

The Mirco replacement playfields are pretty good - but really none are as good as the originals. The price will end up being about the same if you do an import vs just buy a good restored one. I'm in for about $7500 on a similar import (needed a new playfield) and took me a month to get it in fully working shape. It still needs a cabinet overhaul, playfield swap, etc.

I think the question comes down to whether you want to do the work yourself. If you don't enjoy it, buy the restore one. You're really not saving much money, and you'll end up with an original, preferable, playfield. (Just make sure it was CC'd when it was restored)

I know BigD will chime in on this and I know he thinks the restored is the better option

Decals aren't hard to find (but costly) and I believe mostly the parts that are hard to find are the PF toys. I've seen most of the other mechs available online. The boards are an important thing to have in very good shape too- mine needed some minor board work which I was not expecting to have to do.

Seriously! How did you get that thing so darn clean - unbelievable!! I am really excited about getting my new CC PF from Kruzman soon.... another month or so and I can install it.

The daughter board couldn't hurt as a stop-gap, but it sounds like you should have your board serviced. Frank multi ball does use a lot of power between the flashers, 2 motors, lots of DMD action... so it may just be a voltage issue but you may also have a weird short. Try Rob's board first but be prepared to send that driver board to coin-op cauldron or one of the other pros.

You can test this by re-seating that ribbon cable. Get a new one from Marco, they do go bad - but for the time being, you can pull it off carefully and reinsert it.

I've also had issues with my game where the ASIC chip is shorting out and I have to gently wiggle or pull it to align it properly. Scary as hell when that first happened.

Hey man-

There's a very short ribbon cable between the leftmost board ((cpu board) and the a/v board. The cable is about 4 or 5 inches long and it just connects from the right hand side of the cpu board to the left hand side of the a/v board.

I can't find a picture of the exact spot but here's roughly what the cable looks like

http://www.ministryofpinball.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/small_image/155x115/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/r/i/ribbon_5795-12653-03_mop.png

Completely remove and replace it. Be real careful that you align it exactly on the pins - it's hard to see well in there, and it's easy to put the connector on there misaligned; I've done it at least once.

You may want to try a couple times - the connectors do just wear out and not make good connections or the pins get tarnished, so when you remove and reseat it sort of cleans em up. Be gentle but you can do it a couple of tjmes

That's great!!! Thank bigd, he's the one who called it as a ribbon cable problem.

Those alligator clips definitely aren't stock. Which board is that? I don't have my MB open. Looks to me that the diode they are clipped to is bad, and whomever installed that didn't want to de-solder the diode. I've never seen that before; find out what that diode is for before you remove it

I'm having an artist friend of mine make a Frankenstein machinery topper, like a jacob's ladder (using EL wire)

https://images.pinside.com/b/a8/ba86aff3fcd24dc61339177e5b291601d9c38a89/resized/large/ba86aff3fcd24dc61339177e5b291601d9c38a89.jpg

There's also the Universal Monsters figures ...

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What.

Where did these come up for sale?

?!?!?!? Lol well congrats. Was the owner a former WMS employee or a private owner?

Just to clarify, this isn't the exact one; it's a similar idea

Why'd you do the swap? The old playfield doesn't look like it has very much wear? Just curious

Try retrorefurbs, I got some a while back that are outstanding quality. Full color and crisp imaging with good dithering, whatever the material is they print it on it out of this world. If I recall correctly, they print it onto the same stuff they make those ginormous decals that go on airliners. Also incredibly easy to smooth wrinkles

I think they mastered the art of recording and equalizing the audio samples on Monster Bash. I've never played a cactus canyon in person, but I've got to imagine it's similar. You have to find a "sweet spot" in terms of what frequencies are recorded (as in, how much high end, how much low) so that when it's put on a chip and played back, it sounds as you intend it, and intelligible, etc. Even though it is pretty spot on nowadays, back then it was still kind of an art. AFM is not too bad but it doesn't seem as good as MB.

I'll tell you what is atrocious though - Doctor Who! I can't tell what the hell they are saying in that game, and I'm a fan! That's not WPC95 but is a perfect example of what NOT to do...

Slow news day around here.. here are some pics of my Ron Kruzman cleared and repaired playfield, hot off the presses! I will be doing the swap in December, looks like.

Also, a question:
I need to get my frank off the game to clean him up properly. The previous owner had stripped one of the Allen bolts so he is now stuck to the table mech. Any suggestions on getting that off?

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I will try it! Poor frank...

That was my first thought too - but the bolt is inset in the frank body too far - I can't use the cutting wheel, it would dig into the figure

I was going to try the heat gun, on the chance that it would melt any gunk in there to make it easier to turn, but it seems too risky

Thanks guys - I am going to have to try something a little more dangerous I think - both great suggestions, unfortunately did not work. I am starting to wonder if I've got crappy tools here!

Right exactly - this one came to me like this - I only realised it when trying to get the figure off to clean and repaint him, and now I don't want to damage it

Wait, what!? that's great Miss my MB, getting it back sunday...

Anybody know of a good adjustment for the right ramp so the ball isn't flying off the wire when it comes around too fast?

I know it’s a common issue; I thought my game was missing a plastic or something for a long time.. but it’s just how the game is. A friend of mine suggested maybe the ramp can be adjusted, I am looking at it now

I’ll post a video - it is -rocketing- out of the wireform. Not every time, mind you

I’m not sure that this problem is unique to MB but I was literally today talking with someone about how to address the wrinkling.

Yes a hair dryer or heat gun on LOW will help relax the decals a bit - the adhesive will melt and the decal itself will begin to heat up so you can smooth it over. You have to be incredibly judicious with the heat- too much and you destroy the decal irreversibly. Put the Heat on for 1 or 2 seconds, then see if it has started to soften. Try another 1-2 seconds. Don’t do too much at once

After you get it heated up, smooth it down gently with your finger, and work in very small sections. You’ll have it laying down nicely soon enough.

Then put the newer style metal cab protectors
On and throw away those plastic ones!

I do it with a heat gun on setting I or II, on its lowest setting is probdbly comparable to a hair dryer.

You know: “go slow” isn’t exactly the right way to put it - you want to get the heat on there quick and as soon as you see the vinyl start to change shape, remove it quick and gently use your finger to move the decal back flat. Takes a couple of applications but if it gets too hot, you can’t go backwards and the decal is wrecked. You are better off applying it in small bursts.

Remember the heat will be cumulative so the more times you apply it in a short period the hotter it will Be overall.

Also be careful with moving the decal too much - you will need to press it down but don’t pull it other than to smooth it down, it will rip in a microsecond.

Does anybody know what size the 2 screws that are used on Frank to screw him to the table? I just removed him and the screws are stripped so Iwant to replace them with new ones

Consider the Sillyoldelf blades - they are PERFECTLY matched to the game art. What Color do you plan for the pop bumper rings?

Were these ever remade? I’ve seen a number of threads about this in the past

It doesn’t suck, it’s just not perfect. It should just take 3 or 4 games to get working, but it needs a certain number of balls going down the inland and hitting a ramp successfully. If you have a couple crappy games it won’t work . But a couple WEEKS is quite a long time. You may have a bad eddy board; check your switches. There is an opto and a mag switch on both outlines. You need to use a ball and roll it down the inlane to the flipper to test the mag switch.

Also check your eddy boards both have LEDs indicating they are receiving power

All right, apparently the LED is not supposed to stay on, so it sounds like that is goood.

Do you have any credit dots? This brief thread might be worth a read:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wtb-pinbits-monster-bash-eddy-microcontroller

And there’s an improvement documented as well, as the Pinbits replacement boards are not always readily availAble.

The culprit might be the other switch on your inlanes; I can’t remember the name of it. I believe the eddy boards control the “flipper proximity switch” so it might be the other one

Yeah, you have to have enough rolls down the inlane AND make a whole bunch of shots (various shots) before it will start working. If your switches register correctlly, it may just take some time

... he's got a shop... RIGHT here on pinside. Or you can PM him

If you can get the apron off, you can see the manufacture date on thE PF. Also, if you look at the right side ball guide around the creature lagoon plastic, and look at the playfield where the ballguide screws in. If the area around the screw hole is fully blue/purple, it is an IPB repro. If it’s got a little cutout in the purple where you can see bare wood, it’s either an original or a Mirco repro. The Mircos are really good so you’d need to see the date

The pic below is from an original, see where you see a bit of blue and wood in that little spot under the ball guide. This is all blue in the IPB repros

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Those are
Comparing the IPB play field; there are newer Mirco repros which are much closer

Damn it I should have just ordered those from you ! Lol

Check little shop of games

Anyone have recommendations on what to use to clean the figures? Mine are super dirty and I don't want to damage the paint. The bride and the doctor are particularly noticeable, given that they're white. Any suggestions beyond just repainting them?

I've tried OxyClean, Simple Green, and regular liquid hand soap... not much luck. tried with toothbrush and soaking them. they're still dirty looking! lol

I agree, but I’m about to finish my restore and I was hoping to get something I could do myself. I’m not a great painter

Congratulations! Mirror blades will look really good.

Purple is definitely a good option. Try to get a purple with the blue from the artwork mixed in, then it will complement the game better. I’m going for a hard black/iron industrial look on mine. Like the Kenneth Strickfader equipment. Made a topper out of 2 plasma balls!

Can anybody help me out with a picture? I am trying to figure out what is underneath the Bride plastic. I am doing a PF swap and forgot to take a photo. Is it a long round metal post, or TWO of them? Or something else ?

Thanks!

Thank You so much! I see there are 4 holes under her plastic; I see the bulb, the post hole
And the neck shaft hole - but there appears to be a place for a second post. Is that just unused?

Fantastic! That solves the mystery. Looks like t is just there for support, and the bride only attached to the middle post. That has been confusing me for 2 weeks!

Great looking game! Consider yourself lucky to find one in such great shape!

Working on mine tomorrow..
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/first-restore-mb

I am literally assembling this exact thing with the plasma globes right now! Lol

Just waiting on a relay I found which has built-in USB ports. They run on 5v which I am powering separately. I may use Professor Pinball’s Pinduino to control it eventually, but the flashers work great via the relay.

In about 10 days when I get home from Florida!!

I think that would be cool - I may try this as well since I did not install the backboard from my set of new plastics - too many rivets!

DAMN. IT. Now I have to install a GIOCD in this game... arrgh!!

Never heard of
This seller nor bought from him,but:

http://www.caylegeorge.com/pinball/pin_sale/

Damn!!! Sorry about that...

Does CGC sell individual parts like that? Only PPS has the license to make this stuff so it may be a while

CC had a MUCH smaller run though didn’t it? MB was 3500 units or something; I’m sure there is a minimum number of parts to produce to make something profitable - the CC parts available are probably NOS from games that never got built. I don’t think they sell repro parts for CC

Do you have a smartphone? You can tap on the screen where you want the picture to focus on and it will balance the light for you. Try taking it angled up closer to the ceiling so it minimizes how much of the translite is in the shot. Topper looks very cool from what I can tell!!

Thank my wife, she figures all this stuff out!

There we go!

To the right of the right ramp

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It's ALIIIIIIVE!!!
Finished this restore a few weeks ago but had the hardest time getting the pops to work.. Now just waiting on the special deep iron powdercoat legs/rails/lockbar

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assembling after my show on saturday night...

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Done!! We kicked ass Saturday night and I came home way late and finished:

Powdercoating by Robertstone0407

Awesome work. The color is an iron with hints of black - looks incredible, just like the original Kenneth Strickfaden Frankenstein props looked. Super deep in person, and the texture makes it pop

Speaker panel is also metal, full replacement.
New plastics, new playfield, figures repainted beautifully by modfather (who was gracious enough to make a couple of changes after I saw the first set)

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There are several in the market for $8500 or so. There is speculation it may be remade fairly soon, so the prices have lowered a bit (yes they were WAY higher before)

Thanks guys, it’s almost been 2 years! The rebuild took me 6 months for the playfield (cleared and fixed by Ron Kruzman) and the rebuild took me another 3 months, plus time for the powdercoat and the figures, at least a couple more weeks. And I’m happy to report the game is still fun as hell!!

Here are a couple more of the amazing looking PF. The clear is so thick (and super hard) it looks like glass.

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It’s powdercoated - special technique by Robertstone0407 who does all my machines

It’s not cut in exactly but is really thick so you can feel the texture between the different colors. The red is about 1/16” lower if they makes sense.

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When you test with the ball, are you using your hand to throw the ball around, or are you launching it with the flipper? It took me a while to learn you actually need to shoot the ball, not just throw it around

Has anybody tried a PinSound on MB? Or any WPC95 game for that matter? I’m thinking about going stereo

I have played the existing remakes and they are very well made, but nothing beats an original! Add the LEDOCD board and Pinbits
Blackout or GIOCD, Flipper Fidelity and you are off to the races!!

The best (only?) place to buy a colordmd is at colordmd.com

Yes it can do both the solid colours or dots, or big dots, etc. I prefer the look of the dmd in black & white but you can do the full colour thing too. Or choose blue/ red/ white/ etc.

I’m still shocked by this, but there just aren’t many mods for this game. I do highly recommend the Lermods trough light. Looks AMAZING. The blue colour LEDs look like w black light and light the bottom of the pf perfectly.

There is also a Wolfman action figure of the right scale that can be found on eBay.

I’ve been checking the Munsters mod thread as well, as there’s a lot of crossover there. The Frankenstein flasher covers in particular would look good..

Far less owners than most
Games - plus there somehow aren't a ton of mods. I second the trough light - blue looks great as well, kind of
Gives a black light effect on the green ink

1.06 here

Bumping this awesome game club with my (last time today I promise) pics of my topper in progress:

Paint and lights to come..

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Probably at least a week or two away on that. lots going on lately!

Holy crap! Not the post I expected to see!

He moves slowly initially when exiting the coffin, to match the DMD, but during actual play he should move faster. Test mode isn’t an exact demonstration of speed while in a game

What did you replace it with?

Not sure why you’re coming to this conclusion. I have the Mantis scoop and it works perfectly.

Absolutely not. I do have the Mantis protector also installed, but I do not believe that is a factor. It does seem that your scoop sits too high from the playfield. When I did my restore I seem to recall mine had 2 sets of washers underneath (4total) which forced it to sit a bit lower. Perhaps this is why

Something is off, Goz - there have never been any other reports of this. Monster Bash has several well-documented design flaws (Dracula's feet!) Have you measured compared to an original scoop?