What are you people using under your "skate or die" inserts? I am looking at mine and I thought they were clear, but they are not. Mine have a purple tint. Are mine faded? Where they original a deeper purple? Either way , I wonder if I should install purple leds under them.

Yep, not to derail a RADICAL forum into another game too much, but yes they have a PCB at each lens with about 250 LEDs each, so I'll need to pare down the total amount of LEDs being illuminated. I would like it to run silently while in attract mode and not have a constant chatter of relays clicking on and off. So I think the answer is to run inputs into an Arduino and have it drive some high power MOSFETs to switch on/off the lamps. This is a scalable solution and should be able to drive the lights on/off at a high refresh rate with no moving parts.

I think!

You guys mind if I use your skate-board topper idea?

Just show us how you do it.

I was thinking about using a real skate-board, something like this for sale local.. but without the ribs. What are skateboards made of now? Might need a vintage, made of thin plywood. And drilling holes and installing inserts.

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https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/radical-club-only-skaters-welcome/page/6#post-4113053
This was the most accurate I have seen.
I was looking at doing something similar. You can get whatever you want printed on the decks. I think I have the art file that was used by SkaterVet
https://www.boardpusher.com/custom/design-oldschool-skateboard

yellowghost I see that mine are a bit faded as well. A purple LED looks good there...as does a color changer!

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I think I would replicate the image from the skate-board on the playfield. It looks like it was intended to be the snake graphic.

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That would be cool. Mine is from the original Radical Flyer. John from John’s Arcade was kind enough to post in this thread.

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Could somebody take a measurement of this spacer? Above the right kicker.

Thanks.

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It is a 1" long standoff and it has female threads on either side.

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Sounds good! Thanks!

I have a nos ramp for sale if anyone is interested. Clearing out some old operator spares. It’s the lower rhs one I think. Had it for years as only recently identified it as radical

See here

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nos-radical-ramp-lower-rhs-side

Recently added some stadium lighting to the Radical! and I think it turned out pretty well. Totally removable with velcro and done without making any mods to the machine. The UV LEDs really bring out the fluorescent colors on the playfield...and gives a great effect for the player when the GI dims down during gameplay.

Another cool side effect is that the UV light illuminates the ramps where the light enters the edges of the plastic.

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Just finished mine. New cabinet decals, fully shopped, LEDed with comet 2SMDs, new balls, Titans, new pop caps, new drop targets and decals, went through all the boards. She plays great. I’ll try to get more pics, but here’s something for now.

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Looking good!

Looks good!

Looks like your machine is also missing the one-way swing gate at the shooter lane exit. I used Marco's part #12-6802. I can't understand why every Radical I see seems to be missing that gate.

Yep! This picture is a week or two old. I have since also replaced mine with the same part. I thought I had lost it somehow during the shop job. I knew it looked like one should be there, good to see I didn't misplace it but it is commonly missing. I much prefer it with the gate on!

Mine has fallen off before. I think they just get beat up and operators failed to replace them.

Its there. The one over the palm trees?

Finished touchups on Radical. Going to let this sit for a few months before I blocksand it for the last time. Also made a kicker plastic minus the half-tone dots . Just a experiment to see how it would look , but I think I will use it.

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Sending my play-field to CPR. I agreed because I wanted to let it cure for two months anyway. I think the idea is they are going to copy it for reproductions. I think it will a long time before it will be available if they do print them, but just a heads up.

Very cool! I just hope they use fluorescent paint

Is that even possible with the new "digital" process? Tempting to buy one and sell my original but will wait to see how they look first.

Looking for a beat Radical or Radical
PF for a project. Prefer working game with cosmetic issues, but flexible.....

Looks great @yellowghost! Can I ask which method you used to get the artwork onto the plastic?

I have some waterslide material that can be ran through a printer, then clear-coated over before using. I've used it to make insert decals on a Gottlieb, and thought of using it to make new plastics for another game. It this close to what you did here?

Eh? All done with acrylic paints and airbrush. I went over the backside with a piece of 600 grit wetsanding paper. drew the black design with a posca pen. Masked off the clear parts the plastic, then airbrushed the blue, then masked again and did the white. Then sprayed it with 2k clearcoat to protect it. Should look fine, once the ramps are installed around them.

Does anyone know if all Radicals have some kind of clearcoat on them or is it only the ones that are branded "Diamond Plate"? Also, how rare are the ones that are branded as Diamond Plate?

My Radical had no clearcoat. The artwork was basically unprotected save a few pieces of mylar. Luckily this resulted in only a small amount of wear over the years.

With only 1,328-ish games made, DiamondPlate versions must have been a small percentage of those.

My serial number is 2015 I435 171. This seems to be #171 of the International export machines which seems like an early production model (but not DiamondPlate).

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I just joined the club, today, and could use a little help from you guys. About half of my shots (or more) to the left ramp go airborne and flying across the playfield. Is there any common fix for this?

Also, it looks like I have a prototype based on what I saw on ipdb.org, but it looks to have a higher serial number than the game above this post. Or am I misreading the S/N?

It has the VUK in the back and I’m assuming it wasn’t added on. What are the other differences between the prototypes and other production models? Does anyone know how many prototypes are out there?

Thank you and I’m pumped to finally be a member of the club.

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I get air-balls over the left ramp but the plastic cover is cracked. You'rs looks ok so I cannot give you a answer on that. I think the proto-type had the VUK and a hole behind the " snake-run" . I dont believe there were any other differences.

It was my understanding that the first batch of every run were diamond plate. Cant remember the number. I think the first 10 funhouses, bride of pinbot etc etc were diamond-plate. Maybe it was 100. Either way. Verry rare

430035 here, with one of the diamondplate playfields.

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Alamo_Pin ...Your machine was obviously also an exported version and must have been brought back to the US at some point. Like you said, your serial number seems to be 964 which would lead me to think yours was made later in the run. Based on Darkwing 's machine being serial #035 and a DiamondPlate version this seems to agree with the serial numbers being in ascending order.

Chances are that someone added the VUK later. There are options out there to use existing habitrails from other machines. Can we see a photo of the VUK installation from under the playfield?

Take a look at my photo with the red arrow. Is there a slingshot here or just some posts with a rubber? Does the wiring for this slingshot look original?

Also, what ROM version do you have? Does the EPROM look original with the sticker intact from Bally or was it burned by someone later?

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S
I agree. The ramp has no decals, which could mean its was one of free-play40's reproduction ramps. There looks to be other mods done to it as well.

Thanks, guys. Yeah, my game was modified to add the VUK. Now every time the ball hits the that upper rubber, I’m wishing it was shooting off a sling shot.

I’m still having a terrible time with the ball flying off the “vertical” ramp. It only stays on about one out of ten times. Very frustrating.

Is the ramp screwed down properly? If it isn't, the ball could be hopping up as its contacting the flap.

Are your flippers set to the correct neutral angle? If the flippers were set to droop a bit to make it easier to hit the vert ramp and snake run (to the left) then you will have too much power and the ball will go flying when it hits that ramp. Raise the flipper neutral so they are inline with the lane guide.

The flippers were too low when I first got the game, so I flattened them out, but the air balls persist. The screws are flush with the metal flap so I don’t think they are the problem.

But one notable difference with my flippers is that the carrot flippers were removed and regular flippers were installed. I plan on putting carrot flippers back on. But I don’t think that is what is causing my problems. I’m wondering if my ramp isn’t warped a bit at the entrance.

Do you have the correct stock flipper coils?

Here's the angle of my carrot flippers. I get airballs rarely. Maybe 1/50 trips up the ramp.

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Thanks a bunch for the feedback. The coils are good and the flipper angles are good. And it turns out the ramp and gate are good, too.

I took some slow motion video of the ball entering the ramp, and was able to see that it was catching a tiny bit of air before hitting the entrance to the ramp. There was a touch-up done at the bottom of the “A” insert, and there was a rough spot raised slightly above the playfield. I added a small square of adhesive vinyl over the spot, and now the ball is rolling smoothly up and through the ramp—so satisfying.

Just doesn’t look right without the carrot flippers, though, does it?

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Really agree. The carrot flippers just go with the style of the game and theme.

Really cool that you used slow motion video to see the exact issue!

Carrot flippers are also slightly longer, so the game is harder with regular flippers (and would be harder again with lightning flippers).

This is the one I'm about to pick up. Full disclosure, I'm crazy enough that I am buying this and selling off my pretty nice non Diamond Plate Radical...

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I know a few people looking for a Radical.

I'm thinking about taking it to Pinfest.

Am I correct in that there is no one remaking the ramp decals currently?

No. Your're best solution is to have somebody scan them and have a decal printed. Spaceship fantasy prints decals for the ramps he sells, but dont think he would make decals for ramps from the competition.

I'd be in on some ramp decals if anyone can get them made.

Are yours missing?