Yeah, learning experience for me today. New to the hobby and dont have any relationships with distributors so attempted the Stern early access approach. Its decently doable, but I should have prepared more and at the very least called my bank(s) to allow the transactions to go through. I had issues finding my wallet at drop, then tried a couple of cards that were all declined due to fraud alerts. For future drops, should be able to hit MSRP if I take the proper procedures to not screw myself over. Did end up landing with a local dealer a bit later at a markup, but since they're new with their partnership with Stern, kinda dont mind paying that much of a hike in price to support a local business.

Dealer I bought it from also charged shipping, but he said they bought it from another dealer? So guess they're getting it shipped from them... No clue

I'm glad its a USB dongle for the wifi. It makes it a much easier "fix" replacing it when antennas or the chip goes bad instead of having to get a whole new board. And its easier to upgrade if the technology changes for whatever reason. I've had to add dongles to Pis for that reason. I feel like they're more prone to wear.

Thought all LE's normally get made first before brining premiums on the line, or do they split some production (since they might be running short on parts)?

Just got an update from mine here in central Texas to hopefully expect it on Tuesday *crosses fingers

Sigh...expected delivery to the dealer for me to pick up my LE was supposed to be yesterday....still waiting. I did kinda scratch the itch playing their Pro they just set up yesterday for a little bit before being abruptly called to go back to the office because people couldnt figure out their freaking password (grumble). The game was a lot faster than I expected it to be. And so many shots and nuances on getting around the playfield. I did experience that shot to the left of the building looping around into the building and shooting back down straight dead center. A little annoying but tried to avoid it afterwards.

The one shot I wasnt sure of that I did not really enjoy was the Magna Grab into the...what was it called...Tail Whip? Its the shot similar to Hawkeye Challenge in AIQ. Every time it set up that shot for the challenge, it dropped the ball at the top part of the bat and either bounced to the left mini lane/loop or to the right far enough away where I could not even hit it with the upper flipper to get the challenge shot. I wonder if maybe there was left tilt on the pin?

Also the two forum threads need to merge soon or something. I need to free up browser tab space =P

Pretty sweet looking. And at about half an inch taller than the original one, the sizing seems to look better as well.

*me by my phone ever since the expected arrival date of 10/26

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Mine looks like it took the long way throughout the state for almost 10 days. Finally made it in town today, so hopefully soon.

Wow this freight company. The pin has been at the warehouse about 3 days so far still waiting on it being dropped off to the dealer. Here's hoping by Friday.

wooo! #839 nice and safe. No room for a good while during remodeling, so will be sitting at work for a year or so. There was a vinyl figure that I loved how close its design matched the artwork, unfortunately was about an inch too tall. Did get it scanned so I can scale it down to print and seems to be a perfect fit. Just need to get my buddy to paint it (I suck at brush work).

I am working on a Xilien ship mod though, and now that I can mess with lighting size fitting, should have something up in a day or two. ATM, just sucks I have to wait till after hours or weekend to play...people in their offices would not be too happy.

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Heh, thanks. Since its a scan from an official source, I'll make them occasionally for anyone interested and not make them in large qty. Gotta see how well my buddy can paint it. Asked him to have it match the color scheme of ZY godzilla

Buddy gave me his test paint run with the colors he had on hand. We went with a more "natural" skin/scale color (that was also the shade of base color he had available). I might try to get him a brighter color green and see how that turns out. Watcha guys think?

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Yeah, I took an existing vinyl figure that's 7.5" tall and had it scanned into a 3d model so I can scale and print. This one's at 160mm / 6.3 inches

The original figure this was scanned from was based on and distributed as '84 Godzilla. It just has a slight artist liberty on it I guess. Had looked up "Return of Godzilla" and can see the reference points.

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Sorry, meant "original" as far as what this print is scanned from, not the one in the game. Was just pointing out that its not 2000's.

Oh yeah, no worries. I like opinions/criticism/input. I know everyone has their preference. I was just adding context of how this one was distributed as. I have now 3 color variants (the latest one I'm getting hopefully in a couple of weeks and will have all them on top of pin till a topper is released...maybe), and all of them were signed off by Toho as '84 as what its based off of. Finding the right model or toy is tough, since getting a movie poster accurate figure for the 70s godzilla is not really out there, at least not that I've seen.

Theres this one also I tried at first which is more directly 80s, but matches less the "watermelon" texture....meh, I've been having a blast with the printer and by the end of the year I'm going to have my whole work station cluttered with godzilla figures, lol.

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Where did it stop you? After I entered the data on the game menu and it directed me to the website, I navigated there, clicked on my account profile and then machines submenu. After authorizing it took a minute or so for the pin to be fully online.

For sure! Started playing my first few games just now and it was dark enough where it really didn't stand out much at all. Kinda just blended into the shadows

Just the box, right? my box was beat up a little but machine unscathed. yeah .80 is current

Don't know how many different freight companies are used, but the one mine came in, the box looked like it was starting to wear down at the base starting to sink in... And looking a little grimey. I think one more exchange of "hands" or something and the box might have been pushed passed it's limits.

Its too far to get a good shot? Since its a "hanging" from magnet, the side-to-side leveling would play a big role. I played the Pro at first a few weeks ago and the ball always dropped on top of the bat. Would either bounce to the left, or too far to the right to even hit. My game that I think I leveled properly a few days ago drops perfectly for a solid shot as long as the ball is not swiveling when the magnet releases.

Where is it hanging in the magnet when it drops? I forgot to bring my digital level up check mine, but just did a quick game and during the magna grab video as you're waiting for it to drop, it hangs sightly to the left and at release goes straight to flipper. You could maybe try raising the right side sightly.

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I also tried the app Pinball Leveler and always to the left. Set it at 0 degrees and tried multiple floors, tables, etc, and all the same result. Going to end up sticking with the Klein digital leveler till I find a good 360 degree bubble level that I can print a slanted enclosure for to use on the PF (i'm also paranoid that if the floor is slightly off, the calibration for the klein will be offset as well)

I'll get a proper measurement on where mine is set up as, but stock all the MB from the building have been dropping to the left flipper. Downside if it drops down the center is you lose some of that ball save you could be scoring on. The scatterness with that triangle diverter is really cool though.

Thanks! Doing 1-2 more different paint variants to see what works best and I'll follow up with folks that would be interested.

Was it Pro or Prem?

Maybe traffic picked up later throughout the day and their servers been getting hammered. I turned on the machine at 11, and the update was ready 30-45 minutes later when I came back to the office. I just turned it on and didn't do anything else. left it alone while I did some work elsewhere.

Not sure how long it took, honestly...mostly that I turned it the machine on and it was ready when I actually check shortly after.

I will say this about the update though, not sure if referenced before, but when it reboots for the update and for the final restart, the speakers let out a loud screech type noise. Not sure if thats normal or avoidable.

Alright, "sounds"..."normal" hah

Yeah it happened in the first update from 79 to 80, and now today. If it's common, guess not enough to be concerned about

Not on by default, but it's there. I turned that on with my GZ

50th general Godzilla anniversary of 1954. Dvd collection came out in 2004 I think, with multiple movies.

I'm having similar feelings when I play. I'm not a good player, but its having me choose my shots very conservatively...which is fine. I'll take the riskier shots that I've seen drain more easily when I absolutely need it. There's been times though that I've had 2-3 autoplunge balls in a single game immediately drain w/o a chance to try to save them...and its in those games that I've had to walk away from a bit of frustration. I'll probably adjust that power settings and maybe the outposts slightly to help out.

Think the 1954 poster is at 6 not 8 inches. The figure I'm using in mine is 6.3 and it's creeping close to the glass (standing on top of the base plastic that's there). I might have half an inch left in clearance.

The one experience I had with a dead drop from the magnet to the top part of the bat, the machine was leaning to the left enough. Small adjustment to the right on the legs did it for me.

Yeah, that one at 7.5" its a tad tall. about .75 too much to clear the glass. Which one is that, Imperial variant? I really want the Umi colorway, but it being sold at DCon making it rough to have many pop up on ebay.

I cant tell how accurate the calibration with my Klein digital leveler, but I'm at about 0.1 lean to the left and my MB drops from the building along with the magnet drop to the upper flipper right about perfect. So its either that thats helping the drops, or the building itself is better mounted onto the playfield.

Yeah, as Hoaky mentioned, the extra plastic protector is just going to make it tighter. So It should reduce the drop height and not have as much of an impact, but it might still reverberate and the bridge probably wont open as much. Not sure if losing some of that gap will prevent the ball from dropping off the bridge during those collapse features and end up with a stuck ball.

Part of the flatness I think is from the super bright lights those photos are under . The original paint scheme we were working on had a lot more shadows in the scales but my friend whos painting them for me gave it a little broader coat on the somewhat metallic green. I like how it stands out more in the game in that corner, so we've been using that. Just my opinion/preference though.

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Yup! a few a week since we get them done on our free time, but can shoot me a DM whenever.

Also...Rev 4 on UFO bumper. I had tried a move replica version at first but the light transition didnt work out so well. Then tried just cutting it straight in half and making it just top half UFO, still looked like it was lacking...along with a couple of other ideas. I did want to make something float more above the bumper, but afraid when air balls are more frequent and hitting the model, so just went with the 99% mounted ufo approach (w/o feet) and exploded some of the proportions to have more light come through. Last fiddling I'll do is with the clear material type for more of the RGB light to shine through and very minor proportion tweaks to give it more depth.

Last part I wasnt sure of is going with the movie/asset clip plastic white approach vs the playfield (or more traditional) silver metal disc look. I'll make a couple more and see what works out. Unfortunately my tank film tore a couple of days ago and waiting on replacement to make a few more test prints.

Excuse the video quality..and game quality...holding the phone to record video while trying to aim for the bumper is hard.

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It does seem to be VERY hit or miss with folks. So my wife and I had only gotten into pinball (in a dedicated fashion) early this year and we played several games from a couple of arcades. My wife LOVES JP as a franchise, but when we played both AIQ and JP back to back at this one place, we both loved AIQ several times more than JP. The approach as newer players seemed more user friendly on objectives...it just made more sense. Sure the assets are...questionable...but we adore AIQ. Gameplay, without assets, we still like AIQ over GZ, and GZ over JP. I do have more immersion as a game with GZ, but still enjoy shooting AIQ more.

Double luck on this...the part that ripped was where the supports were curing, so it self patched it...other part that I got lucky was that the LCD screen had a protective screen so it cured over that. Sure I have to replace that film as well, but at least it as easy to peal and clean up.

Oooo, is that chameleon type?

Yeah, bet its gonna look pretty sweet. Looking forward to photos once installed!

You message him directly and he'll invoice you.

http://www.passionforpinball.com/wip.htm

So is it static or sounds like a speaker crackle? I've experienced this is other games with adjusted settings and with headphones. People have mentioned it and it seems to be the case that the audio processing on the software is not that great. I added an amp to the direct output of my AIQ and it made the random crackles stand out more. Rest of the audio sounded phenomenally better, but it made those distortions considerably more noticeable. Up until getting GZ, I thought i was jus twith AIQ but from day one on this one I'm having identical experiences.

I've heard this as well from other posts...that every year the thickness of the coat is changing..like to find that happy balance between wood protection and dimpling reduction. I hope its that and not that the factory making them has random settings and will always be a roll of the dice on what you'll get.

These are neat. 35mm wide or length? Was looking for something around the 35-40 wide so might be just what I'm looking for. Got the model for the M24 chaffee but that was going to take a long time to print

Gotcha. Yeah a little small i think. Maybe that 1:87 scale. Theres something I was planning on doing with it at that size on the wireform on top of the area of the tank spinner. I'll just print it and mess with it =)

On the drop from the magnet, it seems a .1-ish level to the left made the drop consistent for me. It's so minor that it hasn't affected any other gameplay. I'm using the Klein digital leveler and zero'd it with my floor.... So I'm hoping my floor is level too

Probably! The two variables that would affect that MB is that and leveling of the building itself. I havent touched the building, but at least on my game all balls feed to the left flipper from that MB . Well, the middle ball usually drains b/c on the way down it'll bump with the first one and drain...no biggie though on that one since 1st and 3rd balls dont.

Considering that unless you have an impeccable eye on the bubbles, digital levels will always be better even if you're off .1-.2 degrees. The bubble ones I feel is difficult to get that accurate of a ready by eyeing it. Could just be me. I did print a pinball leveler from thingiverse and I bought the bubble ones to place in there....not a fan...at least on the options for the bubbles. They have padded tape and I could not for the life of me get it perfect flat on the surface. Was a little frustrated trying different bubbles and ended up finding my Klein.

If anyone want a 3d file or even have me print the leveler, let me know. I'm making one that uses the higher calibrated, screw type, 360 bubble levelers as a side project to compare Kleins vs an accurate bubble

Outside of the height...even if you cut off from the bottom to get it to fit under the glass, it looks wide enough where it wont fit between the wireform and the side of the cabinet.

Its about 5 and 3/8ths ". I had made a quick measurement a few days ago and this was to the top of that head. Might squeeze in a bit more but it was already pretty close

That first one almost sounds like a washing machine. From the second video, seems like it happens when the bass hits in the audio. Stern warranty is pretty good, at least for me and several others that's reached out to them for issues. Show them those videos and they can provide further input and replacement parts if needed. I know that even on the LE with the upgraded speakers, I get some random crackles and few distortions here and there but probably from the audio processing on their board and not the speakers themselves. Your sounds like more speaker related than processing though.

I like collecting trinkets like keychains and pins, and got this adorable King Ghidorah keychain....also....when is this thread turning into a club thread? =)

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GZ license has been on fire the past couple of years across different hobbies. New poster dropping tomorrow

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Newsletter and blog entry:

https://mondoshop.com/blogs/news/godzilla-by-kim-jung-gi-on-sale-info

A little pricier than normal drops for its run size, but guessing artist related

Guess more detailed description of the changes...the building when its set to lock ball mode changes swaps the return path of the ramps to the flippers, and the mechagodzilla toy is a magnet catch from the ramp, in which also that spinner ramp will rotate into the barrier targets to continue qualifying for the MB

yes! felt i was forgetting something important, lol. still working on caffeination this mornig

Most I've played at a time is just shy of an hour (lunch breaks) and havent noticed fade in those few times. What I might do first if I start seeing a lack of power is replace coil stops. Not sure if the ones on this one is any different from the other Stern games. My aiq stops were shot at around 200 games. And think most of those games were short.

Yeah, the AIQ when the coil stops were starting to give, shots were still makeable early on in the gameplay, but more noticeable later on with light fade, i guess. I replaced the stops first, and it improved shots at around the timeframe I was starting to see bigger issues, then around at the 1hour mark I noticed the bigger fade issue (usually when the shots were getting a PITA i stopped playing so never really made it critical heat). The fans helped us get to pretty much non-stop playing afterwards.

Later when the pin gets to a nice spot at home, we'll be getting more gametime, so we'll see how it does 1-2 hours of gametime.

Yeah, if just approvals are needed, Toho shouldnt take long. Maybe extra time in designing something dynamic (heres hoping thats the case if they take long).

With the fans in AIQ, played up to two hours and things still felt pretty solid. Though right now my left flipper is randomly getting stuck and some power loss in shots.... Need to investigate. Either way, the fans have greatly helped with avengers for long play

Cool stops or tightening that part... Forgot the name, that holds the flipper bat in place. I can hear the coil disengage and re engage while it's stuck. Been so busy that the 5% of the shots where it's noticable I just let it slide...I should though fix it. Tomorrow.... Tomorrow...

As far as assemblies, you shouldnt need them for a good extra long while. I think the best things to replace early on with Stern machines and to have on hand are the coil stops and sleeves. They're the first to go, and the parts Stern use for those tend to wear out much faster than the ones you'd get from pinballlife/marco/etc. They're cheap also. I have a bundle of 10 for both my games in case I start noticing issues.

These have worked out pretty well:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/515-6308-01
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-7066-5

They reference the same part number, so it fits. Just overall better construction than the stock ones.

Stock ones are recommended to replace early on, at least from my experience and from what multiple people have noticed issues with the coil stop flaking quickly and losing strength. My AIQ needed replacing when I bought it and it only had 200 games at most. One of the stops had even broken off the bracket. I just jumped the gun with GZ and swapped them first chance I got.

After that guess it varies. 1k games? Might be more. I'm so new at home owning a game so haven't reached that point yet.

At least with .85 atm, that side of the building entry to the building exit drain is "safe" with the momentary ball save it triggers now. For my shots it varies on the speed that I get that exit. Seems about 40% it drains, rest it barely gets the edge of the flipper to bounce out of.

This is has been very rare for me. The shot has to be very exact in trajectory and speed to skip the bumpers and posts to go sdtm out of Capt America. I see it maybe one in 30+ hulk shots? Annoying when it happens though

The microsd card is already pre installed. If you plan on sing the IC and running the updates through that, you dont need anything extra to run updates.

Make sure theres no debris from posts or the blue rubbers in the area. Little bit of flakes can give it enough momentum to come off the playfield. also see if the targets are perpendicular to the field. If they're slightly bent at an angle either factory or from repetive hits, it can give it an upward trajectory on the return from the bounce

Maybe not stronger by default standards, but its been fairly common that Stern coil stops can degrade quicker for some people. Much sooner than your 400 games where you're at...even as soon as sub 100 games. Using some better quality ones stops and sleeves (as needed if the stock ones dirtied them up) can get the flipper strength up to par to where they're supposed to be. I replaced mine early just to be safe since they're fairly cheap and had spares lying around. My other game needed them very early in its life and was having issues at sub 200 games to hit several ramps and shots.

Mine was pretty tight as well. After about 10-ish removals and putting the glass back in as I was working on things on the playfield, it seemed to have softened up a bit and feels as I think it should.

If you just got on the list possibly. There's a few runs being made this year but lots of requests from first few months of release probably took all those spots

Not at this point. There was a couple of misunderstandings from a post that was worded weird, but there has been no official mention from any distributor of it being cancelled.

The material color makes it hard to take a photo of, but this is the mounting piece thats screwed onto the pop bumper. Underside of the UFO has a hole with corresponding lips that falls into those openings and twists in to place.

Other options were 3M tape or magnets to make the design screw-less from above, but felt this would be more secure in the small chances of airballs hitting it.

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This one was fun. Wanted to show his chest exposed when taking down his barrier, like the sticker on the other side of the spinner. Debating on changing a few more things. Also the paint is extremely picky on the coats and consistency. Need a little more practice to get it just right.

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Have you completed full game registration with your Insider account? Its the only way to get the wifi downloads. The registration takes several steps and need to make sure you complete it all the way through for it to work.

Wonder if it's less the wifi and more the card having issues writing and reading. It could be either, just adding other possibilities. I had a USB drive have issues installing an update and it ended up swapping to another USB and worked great.

Its rare, but bad I/O on a mounted partition can cause more freezes compared to just having sluggish internet. Unless the OS doesnt know how to handle wifi connection drops and causes the freeze there. I have a printer that froze halfway through multiple times b/c of a bad brand new USB drive as well...wasnt the file as i moved it over to a new one and worked just fine. Its just one of those things I always have on the list to troubleshoot. Some are rare occurrences but if I have spare parts laying around, it doesnt hurt to spend a couple of minutes to mark them off the list of possibilities if its a quick thing to test...compared to getting an antenna, moving a router, or running a cable. Could also be the wifi unit as well. Corrupt hardware could glitch out the OS.

And yeah, bandwidth should just be a luxury for the updates. I have GZ at work attached to a guest network thats super limited in ports and bandwidth. Downloads take maybe 45-60 minutes, but doesnt freeze.

Different color sky/background

Normally pulling that interlock will bypass and get full power into the machine. As far as the IC, you need to register the game to your account to fully vet it into Sterns systems. Start the prompts to register the game, and complete registration on the web browser by accepting to the machine into your account. Aftewards the updates can be set up for manual install, automatic installs, etc.

That white switch that the coin door presses in to let the game know its closed, you can grab it and pull out. It'll lock in that position till you close the door again.

Hey guys...so two things.

1. Taking care of our dog post surgery past month has prevented me from playing GZ while its sitting at work in my office. I let my coworkers play and they enjoy it. I do quick trips for fit tests of some mods and such so its a quick in and out. That being said I finally got a chance to stay there for a little over half an hour and holy crap! The past couple of updates were phenomenal. The extra audio bits, video, and more importantly the new light shows really got me immersed and hyped. cant wait to actually spend more time in the office next month.

Which follows up into 2:

Added my mecha shield spinner top mod to the shop for anyone interested. Expected shipping is early to mid March for that batch and I'll contact those that had messaged me last month to follow up on those requests first.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1363-cheko-s-shop/05858-mechagodzilla-shield-spinner-mod-for-prem-le

Pro version coming in the coming weeks as well.

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you can go up to 6.3in/160mm comfortably. the figure i printed is at that height and has good clearance. its the same clearance on either game.

Straight shooter vs experience. Can always pimp out a pro to looks super badass and its a slightly faster game with less mech interactions. I cant get over the added touches with the bridge collapse, building rocking up/down, and the shield...so you pay for that experience.

I'm here! I'm catching up on UFO requests at the moment so updates to the other projects might be sluggish here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/godzilla-mods

Varies by state laws. Some charge to any state they sell from my understanding.

Yeah, DM me. I am backed up about a month or so since I'm doing these on my free time and havent added it to the marketplace b/c of playing catchup.

It's the one I have the hardest with as well, but if I just put in a bit of hyper focus I'll make it eventually. Least once I make it one time, for most of the aspects of the game I can ignore it for a while.

It's not like IMDN where both the ramps are a pain to hit (more so than the left GZ), and you constantly have to hit them for the majority of the modes.

Wouldn't go between the screen and the monitor. Goes on the other side of the frame between the head of the screw and frame

How often does that happen to you? Curious if it's possible to readjust MG placement just a smidge by loosening the screws and wiggling it. My ricochet off that bash has been about 100% jumping straight left. Either over the wire form or landing on it, making it's way back down

^^^ pretty much all this. Really depends on the distributor and when they place the order. With so many new distributors partnering up with Stern, it seems like the numbers each one will get is getting thinner (doubling the amount of distributors but still having a fixed production line will be confusing on expectations of what each one will get).

Long story short, if the distributor is open about the info they get from Stern to the customer, they are the best source to ask for estimates. Cant go by others' experiences.

I just removed the building yesterday for the first time to get measurements, and I overcomplicated at first. But I think the easiest method is to remove the two small wireforms behind the building to create a little bit of clearance, then theres a small bracket on the underside you need to remove to gain clearance to put a socket wrench in the area. 8 nuts (two different sizes) is all you need to remove and the whole things comes off from the top side. just hold the building from the top side as you remove the last nut since you'lle have the playfield upright.