I’ve just made a Palantir Eye of Sauron Crystal Sphere mod available for sale here on Pinside. The ad can be found here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1227-williamson-pinball-mods/02988-palantir-eye-of-sauron-crystal-sphere-mod-for-stern-lotr

As a background, back in the Summer of 2017 I picked up a LOTR for my collection. Unshopped and unmodded, over time I was able to bring it up to its present condition, fully modded and playing 100% perfect. In the Fall of 2017 I was lucky enough to pick up one of Jay’s Palantir mods, as it now turns out from the last group that Jay made available on his website.

Fast forward to the Fall of 2018. A friend of mine picked up a nice unmodded LOTR. As I was looking his LOTR over with him I told him about Jay’s Palantir mod, which he was then interested in getting. As we then discovered Jay had apparently quit making the mod, having not made any more available for sale since the batch I bought mine from in late 2017. I told him that I would look and see what I could find figure out. Shortly thereafter Jay’s website was removed, leaving even further doubt about future availability.

So since the Christmas holidays I've been working off and on in recreating this mod for my friend, using my Palantir and the info posted here on Pinside as a basis. Once I figured out that I was able to make a good working test version, I ordered some more spheres. This past weekend I was able to fully finish them up, I have 6 of them made, 5 of which are available for sale.

They are made out of extremely durable 50mm K9 Crystal spheres. K9 is a Optical Borosilicate Crown Crystal (Optically Clear) with low inclusions and imperfections ideal for use in lenses and prisms, optics and decorative crystal lighting. It has good physical properties and can be polished similar to lead crystal, weighing approximately 15 percent less than full leaded crystal having a lead content of only 10 percent. It is also rather durable, as I advertently found out by dropping one from my 3 foot high counter onto the concrete garage floor. I was pleasantly surprised that it did not shatter, leaving just the slightest of marks on the surface. The spheres are mounted on PinballLife LOTR Palantir Brackets. Comet LEDs are used for the lighting source, with diode rectification to prevent ghosting, and Molex connectors to plug into the factory wiring harness.

Installation is extremely straightforward, and I will include illustrated instructions as well as attach a PDF here. The mod is also fully reversible if you ever decide to return your LOTR to factory stock condition.
l (resized).jpg6 Mod (resized).jpg

Palantir Installation Instructions.pdf

Update: 4 have sold, one is pending payment. Looks like there is demand to make some more, so I've set those wheels in motion ordering more parts. I already have a few who indicated they wanted to be on a waiting list, so I will start one once I receive the payment for the 5th mod.

More info to come later.......Thanks!!

Wow, what a response! All 5 have been sold with payment received in just over 4 hours!! Looks like I need to make more!

As promised, I will start a waiting list here in this thread. I'll be making 10 in the next run, which once I receive all the parts should take 4-6 weeks to make. If you are interested please copy the list into your post, adding yourself to the bottom. I've made the list a little longer in case someone has to back out. Once I've got the next run completed I'll post in this thread and contact y'all in order....

Price will stay at $190 shipped CONUS, other US territories and Canada will be slightly higher due to higher shipping cost.

Thanks again for the fantastic response and I hope the mods meet your expectations! Please let me know if you run into any issues. Also note that the installation instructions can be found as an PDF attachment in the first post of this thread.

NOTE: NO MORE ADDITIONS TO THE WAITING LIST AT THIS TIME, please see post #36 below!

Waiting List for next run of 10 Palantir Mods:
1) pipes
2) FalconDriver
3) bane
4) jho159
5) fossmin
6) Wiggy76
7) Phatchit
8) Fastfred
9) Yokimato
10) fosaisu
11) Dr_Smith
12)
13)
14)
15)

Waiting List for next run of 10 Palantir Mods:
1) pipes
2) FalconDriver
3) bane
4) jho159
5) fossmin
6) Wiggy76
7) Phatchit
8) Fastfred
9) Yokimato
10) fosaisu
11) Dr_Smith
12) Mistwalker
13)
14)
15)

Waiting List for next run of 10 Palantir Mods:
1) pipes
2) FalconDriver
3) bane
4) jho159
5) fossmin
6) Wiggy76
7) Phatchit
8) Fastfred
9) Yokimato
10) fosaisu
11) Dr_Smith
12) Mistwalker
13) bladerunner
14) klubhouse
15)

Waiting List for next run of 10 Palantir Mods:
1) pipes
2) FalconDriver
3) bane
4) jho159
5) fossmin
6) Wiggy76
7) Phatchit
8) Fastfred
9) Yokimato
10) fosaisu
11) Dr_Smith
12) Mistwalker
13) bladerunner
14) klubhouse
15) mordroc
16) KubaOSW

Sorry about that, the Pinside listing got archived. $190 shipped CONUS.

Waiting List for next run of 10 Palantir Mods:
1) pipes
2) FalconDriver
3) bane
4) jho159
5) fossmin
6) Wiggy76
7) Phatchit
8) Fastfred
9) Yokimato
10) fosaisu
11) Dr_Smith
12) Mistwalker
13) bladerunner
14) klubhouse
15) mordroc
16) KubaOSW
17) hollywood

Wow.....double wow!! Unbelievable response!! Ok, I think at this time I'd like to cap this list at 20 at this time.

The initial 5 shipped this morning, they should arrive Saturday/Monday. Looking forward to hearing impressions of them once they arrive.

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be making 10 in the next run, which once I receive all the parts should take 4-6 weeks to make. It takes quite a bit of time to make these due to adhesive curing times at various stages, plus I have a regular daytime job and family that also need my time. I'm shooting for early May time frame.

The other thing that worries me long term besides lead time is the availability of parts, in particular the metal mounting bracket. I've got the 10 on order with PinballLife, and will be checking with Terry/Margaret to check longer term availability once they fill the existing order. I may have to think about a trade in program of existing brackets if availability becomes as problem. As for the spheres I think availability is not an issue, however shipping time from suppliers in the far east is a definite slow down as well. My hope & plan is that everyone on the list as of now will be able to get one, if parts availability doesn't become an issue.

Once I've got the next run completed I'll post in this thread and contact y'all in order of the list, giving you 48 hours to purchase before it moves further down the list.

Thanks again y'all.....hope to see some of you at TPF!

-------

Waiting List for next run of 10 Palantir Mods:
1) pipes
2) FalconDriver
3) bane
4) jho159
5) fossmin
6) Wiggy76
7) Phatchit
8) Fastfred
9) Yokimato
10) fosaisu
11) Dr_Smith
12) Mistwalker
13) bladerunner
14) klubhouse
15) mordroc
16) KubaOSW
17) hollywood
18) ktownhero
19) oderus
20) ccbigsoo7

Update: I have all the parts on hand now for the first 10 on the waiting list, with more parts on the way for 10 more. I have started the wiring and assembly of the first 10. My hope is to have the first 10 completed by end of April, if not before then. As for availability after these 20, we'll have to see......

However, first things first, sitting here in Frisco TX ready to attend my first TPF! I’ll be in the Wizards tournament contributing to someone else’s winnings and will also be at the meet & greet at the Wild Pitch!! See y’all there!!!