Evening everyone,

I'm starting my BK install and have both play fields sanded and the jewels polished to 2500 ive seen several post and or videos saying that i should paint black around all the jewels so there is no white wood showing through places that done align correctly my question is should i put a few coats of clear down and then after its cured paint the black and then clear again or just paint and then clear ?

Thanks
Bruce

FWIW, I've done two hardtops now (Mata Hari and Eight Ball Deluxe) and neither had ANY alignment issues with inserts resulting in bare wood showing. I did put black outlines around some inserts on the first Mata Hari I did and ran into all sorts of bleeding issues...I'm sure it was my inexperience and a lot of people have had success with it, but in the end I sanded all that off, didn't do the outlines, and the inserts still lined up and came out perfect. Same for EBD...I didn't even attempt at putting down black outlines on that one (just did it yesterday!).

I had other alignment issues with holes that didn't line up with the playfield (in fact a lot are way off and in some cases missing altogether) but that's expected and fairly easily correctable provided you can keep your heart rate down while taking a Dremel to your brand new $300 hardtop.

Jungle Lord?

Thanks for the feedback I'll have to layout the hardtop and see how it looks it would be great to not have to pain black around the jewels .

Bruce

I can't wait to see the next round of games that will be done once Grand Lizard is finished. I hope Bad Cats makes that list, even if it is another year before it is released.

Putting the finishing touches on playfield reassembly after installing an EBD hardtop - moving on to cabinet refresh and coin door rebuild next week.

Does anyone know what these holes in the hardtop are for?? I don't have corresponding holes in my playfield, and they're right in the ball path of both in-lanes.

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The hardtop's black outline is slightly smaller than the jewels on the playfield - which gives it some allowance for mis-alignment with your playfield. I played with the alignment on my BK, and between aligning all of the holes and jewels , and did have a couple of inserts that barely showed wood when viewed at an angle (walk around yours). Ultimately, I used a black sharpie in those areas for a localized touchup, although they will likely fade with time (UV).

6hrs on the road and I destroyed my car making it fit but I'm home now and plotting my next move......

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How fast were you driving?

In the picture? Zero lol
Oic what you did there, High Speed

There was a siren in my rearview the whole way home

Thanks for the information. ran out of clear so waiting on more to arrive, once i clear and it is set i will check alignment and then decide weather to put black outline on or not .

Bruce

I'm sure this has been asked before regarding the hard tops, but does having the hardtop over the existing playfield effect how to work on plastics, bumpers, etc or change how they operate in gameplay?

I just learned about these hard tops and they are pretty amazing!

Eight Ball Deluxe hardtop owners....do you have these two holes in your hardtop and playfield? These holes are not in my playfield, wondering if this is a hardtop mistake or if my playfield (1984 "Classic" edition) is different than the 1981 original that was used to make the prototype hardtop.

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Not sure why they are there but there is nothing that you can do at this point. At least the ball won't hit them. If they really bother you, fill them in with something black to hide them a little. On the hardtops website, you can just barely see indents in these two spots, but they are still filled. Maybe they popped out and are still in the shipping packaging and you could pop them back in?

That was a good idea to check the hardtop bag to see if the chads popped out in there, but unfortunately I came up empty. I do plan on filling in those spots with something dark at some point, but I'm hoping to hear from Outside Edge first before I make any mods there. On the plus side, it's not visible from a playing position....only comes into view if you lean forward.

Bally Capt. Fantastic?

For anyone considering installing a hardtop or looking for tips on installation, I put together a three part tutorial going over my process. Parts one and two are prep work and part three is the installation and adjustments to the hardtop. I hope this helps.

F-14 next?

I know it's not a super popular title, but I'd give the suggestion of Embryon. As far as I know there's never been any playfield reproductions for it and none of the playfield shops are interested. However, Buthamburg is doing an F-14 playfield.

-Hans

World's biggest coincidence that today is trending as Blackout Tuesday? Unintentional I would hope.

Very nice job on the videos - great production value as well as content! I've done two hardtop installs so far and I picked up a few tips from your videos that I'll be using on my third install later this summer.

Will 100% do my F14 when it gets announced. F this bubbling mylar.

Hey KSU, how'd the EBD turn out?

Diner would be a good candidate for a hardtop. The inserts on that playfield are not always even and do push the ball all over the place. Maybe a good thing for some people but I would rather have the speed of a hardtop surface for the ball.

Still at my friend's house lol. He's fighting the shooter lane bwahahaha

Damn shooter Lanes, when will we ever learn to just say," f*** it, it's good enough for who it's for" and move on.

Obviously you havent seen my Black Knight. 40yrs worth a black crap has become one with the machine. It's going to take a jack hammer to clean mine out

Just finishing up my pinbot made a few errors but still pretty nice just need a new plastic set.

Looking forward to doing my blackout, should be a much easier teardown than pinbot

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For as nice as the lane looked in the BEFORE I'm surprised it's fighting him like this. My high speed looked much worse and I somehow fumbled my way to a decent result. Now it's an ego challenge for him.. oops lol

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Man, that's some beautiful stuff. Kinda makes me feel bad for not going the extra mile and polishing every last thing when I did high speed. But I finished it, so whatever. I'm honestly a bit surprised I was able to even do that if we're being completely honest.

...and the next title is...

http://www.outsideedgeproducts.com/
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Looks like Grand Lizard.

Horizontal Godzilla!

Who is this?
I have two F-14's waiting for this hardtop!!

Nevermind, I researched it. I will wait for a beautiful hardtop. Neither, I or my buddy can afford that price.

If I had an F-14 for myself, I'd probably do the same as well.

-Hans

Agreed. My F14 cab is rough, only a hardtop would make sense from a price perspective. Although my playfield isn't really all that bad..but I haven't pulled up the mylar yet.... Heh

The price is insane for an F14. This game needs a hardtop. There were a zillion made. Mine needs one. I even have a whole bag of new arrow inserts in the closet for when it happens.

100% agree. Guess I should buy some arrows, also.

I would imagine the goal is probably going to be to do most system 11 games and MAYBE the WPC 89 games. After that the pins were clear coated and have much fewer wear issues.

I still think Cyclone could benefit from one of these...

I heard back from the pinsider who was testing the hardtop with the extended buttons and he is very happy with the play / testing.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/CWVRYK2NF/extended-c-587-6-bally-pinball-rollover-button
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Just to keep it semi relevant a vote for FIREPOWER 2
even if I knew it was coming at some point

Sent payment for 3 Hardtops.
Blackout, Black Knight and High Speed.
Now I just need to find a Blackout to replace my old one.
My future votes go to EM games unless Whirldwind becomes available but I was already told by Outside Edge that they do not have the rights to it

I have been asked by a friend to cast my vote for a Black Hole Hardtop. It's his only game and the Mirco playfield costs a first born child. (Also he'd likely have me do the work and I dont want to do a playfield swap lol)

Can we get a next batch update soon? This batch will be all cleared up once Grand Lizard is ready. Maybe we will see some surprises that arent in the poll?