Twilight Zone
Bally, 1993Quoted from High_End_Pins:Had lots of errands to run today.
Started out with court at 9 am for guardianship of our youngest son who is disabled and recently turned 18
Then supplies and finally a call from the platers that our latest batch of parts were ready for pick up.
Yaaa!
These are the remaining ones needed for final assembly of the TZ
It is a nice standard nickel finish nothing too flashy.
Nice.
Local shop or do you send them to someone like pinball plating?
Ready to build up the mini.
Old assembly. 4A301280-F2AB-4BC3-B409-48E13023BB04 (resized).jpeg
Torndown. image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpg
I like the street lamp but think I can make it fit in a bit better with what has been done with some tweaks.
Main thing I like is the laser cut script.
Dislikes are the pop rivets. 127A541E-BCF5-4196-9303-7D8FD7AFF2B0 (resized).jpeg6350FDBB-C42F-4B7E-AFD0-8ACC03010112 (resized).jpeg2792A2D5-7175-40C0-ADBA-60D1A7CF0FC8 (resized).jpeg3D404FB2-91D6-4730-9F7E-0F45ABB12D14 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from Arcade:Nice.
Local shop or do you send them to someone like pinball plating?
Local shop.
I really try to minimize transferring valuable parts around and down time so it works well.
If I need something really showy or Pinball specific then I absolutely use Chris at Hot Rod Arcade
Quoted from LTG:Curious on the nickle plated brackets and stuff. Down the road if a pop bumper ring, pop bumper coil bracket, or common item should break. Can one of your clients buy a new one from you to keep the HEP look ?
LTG : )
Won’t matter LTG as I already told my wife nobody is allowed to play the game! Lol. Ok maybe on our anniversary.
Quoted from LTG:Curious on the nickle plated brackets and stuff. Down the road if a pop bumper ring, pop bumper coil bracket, or common item should break. Can one of your clients buy a new one from you to keep the HEP look ?
LTG : )
Good question.
Anything generic like that I would just give them as long as I have it on hand.
If it gets into something real game specific or strange I would still help locate and have it plated again.
Luckily this has not come up but if so that is how I would handle it.
Quoted from Jvspin:Have you ordered these yet?
No.... but I will admit for the first time on any game I did order a full game cover. Lol. As this is taking a spot (wife approved) in our dinning room I envisioned guests setting drinks on it or god forbid Touching it! It Will however be open to fellow Pinside enthusiasts to play and enjoy!
Quoted from Yelobird:No.... but I will admit for the first time on any game I did order a full game cover. Lol. As this is taking a spot (wife approved) in our dinning room I envisioned guests setting drinks on it or god forbid Touching it! It Will however be open to fellow Pinside enthusiasts to play and enjoy!
Sounds a little high brow, and I like that. Don't forget to add overhead spotlights on the game. 
So you won't have a dining table in the dining room, right?
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:Sounds a little high brow, and I like that. Don't forget to add overhead spotlights on the game. So you won't have a table in the dining room, right?
Plenty of room for both. Easy wife sale actually when I asked her when was the last time we actually Sat at that table... no answer. Lol. After viewing this masterpiece of #HEP in the making each night she herself agrees this Picasso deserves a place of honor for All to see. My Precious!
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Had lots of errands to run today.
Started out with court at 9 am for guardianship of our youngest son who is disabled and recently turned 18
Then supplies and finally a call from the platers that our latest batch of parts were ready for pick up.
Yaaa!
These are the remaining ones needed for final assembly of the TZ
It is a nice standard nickel finish nothing too flashy.
Only Chris could show these beautiful gleaming sub assembly parts and say "nothing too flashy" !
Mini is rebuilt with a few subtle touches.
Small holes are drilled and the wiring passed through in the all too commonly smashed wire locations. B90FA04D-1F57-46E5-818C-D90E756DF99F (resized).jpeg0E409B0E-B1FE-4D81-AAAE-5837235BA985 (resized).jpeg
The street lamp is rebuilt using a sparkling decals for the letter cut outs.
38743109-9F2E-406D-A3A8-FF61165051B4 (resized).jpegE8B519EF-20D6-40BD-8CF2-C262D3A9DB0E (resized).jpegEBD58D9D-0470-4537-A1CC-21060326CF5D (resized).jpegD87F3653-16BF-45A9-833F-5B043193EB51 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from tonycip:Looking great as always. but I'm surprised your not using the Twilight Zone Mini-Playfield Switch Kit TZ-MPS-KIT.
to eliminate the ugly gray rubbers that stick up and spoil the view.
I have used that set up a few times as well but unless it is specifically requested I stick with the factory covers
I think the only source for that coverless kit is GLM and not sure if they are reliably filling orders.
Love what you did with the wiring on the upper playfield. Very clean. I also thought the lamp foil was suspect but didn't realize it would light up like that. The bottom of the lamp could use a diffuser of some sort. I tried using different bulbs but always get bad glare off the plastic below it.
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Mini is all set with no exposed wiring on the side.
Love the sparkle affect 
curious where u got the decals?
Quoted from PtownPin:Love the sparkle affect curious where u got the decals?
I Luv HEP club members are camouflaged by hiding in the shadows and once the decal's origins are revealed, ha ha .. phones will light up and orders may slow the internet for a few seconds. Must be patient and stay quiet, good news is coming. My precious little sparkling decal is almost ..... (drool) all mines.
Quoted from PtownPin:Love the sparkle affect curious where u got the decals?
Thanks. Got it out of this drawer. Went in to get some other color filter for it and thought why not that.
I think the larger sheet is Safecracker drop target decal stock which is not what I used.
Have no idea where I got that smaller sheet from which is what I did use.
Easy peels off and can be changed if it doesn’t work once in place on the game.
image (resized).jpgJust saw this thread and Chris did a Twilight Zone for me several years ago, completely blacked out (no stainless steel or chrome on the cabinet, powder coated black). He found the game for me and then made it better than new. The game, just like this one he is doing for the Mod Couple is a work of art and something that cannot be found anywhere at any price and is a true master piece. Anybody who has him do a game will not be sorry and will own something that is uniquely theirs. Congrats on your anniversary and your game.
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Ready to flip the playfield and start the wiring process.
Few random pictures of areas that were previously highlighted as beat or rusty.
Incredible job....what are the two rubbers above the yellow pop bumper? my TZ doesn't have those rubbers?
Quoted from PtownPin:Incredible job....what are the two rubbers above the yellow pop bumper? my TZ doesn't have those rubbers?
Production change on TZ...
Quoted from PtownPin:.what are the two rubbers above the yellow pop bumper? my TZ doesn't have those rubbers?
Early games had two posts and rubber rings there. About a month into production they were left out and nylon plugs put into the playfield holes. Eventually no holes there, just solid playfield with artwork.
LTG : )
Quoted from LTG:Early games had two posts and rubber rings there. About a month into production they were left out and nylon plugs put into the playfield holes. Eventually no holes there, just solid playfield with artwork.
LTG : )
Thanks....appreciate the clarification
http://gameroomblog.com/features/twilight-zone-pinball-prototype-vs-production
Here’s an article about the early production and protoype games.
Quoted from Lmjdad:http://gameroomblog.com/features/twilight-zone-pinball-prototype-vs-production
Here’s an article about the early production and protoype games.
Great article...thanks for sharing
Harness is roughed in place. image (resized).jpg
I will start at the end which is the jet bumper area the old rust parts will come out as the new ones go in image (resized).jpg
From there the harness will be soldered and secured as it flows towards the bottom end and exit of the playfield.
image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgThe quality of the soldering work is important for not only a solid connection but a nice appearance so that is a big focus during this stage of the rebuild.
New target soldered in. image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpg
Compared to old with the emphasis that they both could be made to look the same or similar up top but at this level it is just as important to have it be on par underneath. image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpg
Now I can address the jet bumper switches.
Like the sling switches they are a common cause of shorts due to the need to squeeze the diodes,wires and blades all together in a small space.
Pictured is what happens often less the wires.
That is the blades are easily touched together and or diode smashed against the switch stack and inadvertently touches blades together that should not be.
It takes very little for this to happen. image (resized).jpg
First the spoon will be swapped for a new one that is fully enclose on the end of the circle. It is also not as brittle as the aged original. 2ACCF628-EDA2-4644-90FD-E65F100150E8 (resized).jpeg
Now the wires are pulled and re threaded through the harness so all wires required for this switch are nice and even as well as exiting the harness in the same location not randomly or sloppy.
Here is an example of how they might exit in a less than ideal way. B139B0C8-96C8-4ACC-8F76-CC626776F944 (resized).jpeg
In order to clean that up the downstream wire is removed and will be replaced with a new color correct section that will give more real estate to neatly run. CFD7B8B5-060F-404E-A0BB-D6B2BF909F08 (resized).jpeg2A9C185A-FA67-4D43-B6F7-FC3C3417720E (resized).jpeg
Jet bumper switches are then polished
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The contacts are lightly cleaned. 8CEC9139-327A-4CB8-92CC-DC3C253A44BD (resized).jpeg
The blades are gapped for maximum sensitivity without false closures.
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3319C032-1BCD-429D-8712-43E86046DEDC (resized).jpeg
These are all set now.
image (resized).jpgSwitch harness and subways are in place along with several coils.
Built in this order to insure that wires clear moving parts or see how to best route them.
Color coded wire in place of generics where needed.
image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpg
The best way to go about this for me is to replace all the GI sockets instead of recycling the old ones. image (resized).jpg
I do not like to color wash the games so I offer two choices of lighting schemes.
Factory looking warm or futuristic looking cool.
The Mod Couple would like the futuristic look so that means the GI will be populated with cool frosted bulbs.
This process would not be possible without a huge amount of color correct wire of course but it is truly important to go that route if the work of replacing the sockets is needed anyway.
image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpgWanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
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Beaumont, TX