Certainly fewer mechs can mean less maintenance, and if you are newer to pinball and nervous about repair by yourself, and if there is no one in your area that can help you in servicing the machine, if needed... this game is amazing in all versions, and you would not be disappointed at all with the Pro!
Sure, the mechs on the premium / LE are neat, no doubt, but the Pro is an amazing game and would keep you very happy... Not to mention for all versions, the code will continue to increase and make each of these models even better over time.

That is awesome!!!
What did you do / use to get that effect!?

I know for me, once I get my bridge mod installed and I see what room/spacing I'm working with, I'm going to utilize those hex nuts on the left plastics, in between the Godzilla figure and the left wireform, to put Comet posts and spotlights (may double up on the spotlights back there). There is a nice split between two plastics there on the left in that area that will allow the matrix wire to run through and then I'll hook to GI underneath the playfield.

Matter of fact, I just completed that lighting edition just now. I did 2 lights on one post (frosted warm white underneath and comet fire bulb above) both facing up at the Godzilla. I used the larger piggy bank one that I painted, and this extra lighting looks very good I think.

I also added two spotlights on one post behind the scoop sign, one facing at mechagodzilla, the other cross-play field aimed towards the Drake building. I opted to use the fire bulb below facing at mechagodzilla and the warm white bulb facing the Drake building.

I liked the idea that one Pinsider had with the comet fire bulb underneath the playfield situated by the stand ups in front of the Drake building. I had some fire star post lights that I used for now, but I think I will be ultimately using bulb style, as you can see the small LEDs themselves flickering in that playfield hole, which is not my preference, but it does look pretty cool.

I also went through the game and exchanged all of the stern stock cool white lights for warm white, which is my personal preference. Fortunately, I had a warm white wedge base for the 8 SMD there at the left stock spotlight, but I need to get some bayoneted warm white's for the three lights on the backboard.

While there is nothing I can do about the lights at the outlanes underneath the jets, I will be exchanging the apron lights for warm white and adding a warm white trough light.

All that said, I will probably be adding more spotlights as time goes on, next spot will be to the left of the left spinner hovering over the wireform (just past and to the left of the stock spotlight) where I will probably double if not triple up some spotlights and spread some additional light across the center playfield, and then probably spotlights at the slings.

I'm excited to show pictures, but I am going to wait till a couple more lights come in and I get them installed, along with a couple other ideas that I been having... and then I'll post some pictures so I can show the full ensemble

Since you have the hex post there, you could add one of the Comet spotlights there ( secured with small standard machines screw) and use one of their wedge fire bulbs. Looks like there's plenty of room there and that would look clean.
Cool idea for aiming that fire bulb at the building.

I have since changed to that larger version piggy bank, but originally I had gotten that model. You'll find that the slit in the plastic that previously held the stand up plastic is enough to accommodate a zip tie. Zip tying around the edges - slit and across both feet (2 separate zip ties) will work and hold him solidly. You can make the bulk part of the zip tie underneath the plastic and you'll never see it. There are certainly other methods, but that's what I had done/used and it worked quite well.

I've been playing at 7.1° and feels okay to me. When I first set it up, prior to tinkering with some leveling, I noticed I was at 7.2°, which also felt fine, just not level at that time.
At 7.1° it doesn't feel too fast to me, and on my game, I don't feel like I get any cheap drains. Still a tough game when the ball starts whizzing around, for sure... Interestingly, when I look at my leg levelers, for whatever reason they're not as jacked up as some of my other Stern games, which measure out at 7.0°. That's been a real head scratcher for me, haha.
Much like above, I also don't care for a floaty game and usually prefer my games somewhat steep. Maybe at some point though I may bring the levelers down and try 6.8° and just see how it plays...

Just wanted to share some progress I've been making on my GDZ Pro.

-Changed all stock cool white GI bulbs for 2 SMD warm whites (along with the stock left spotlight and 3 backboard lights).
-Added 2 towered spots at left sling, doubled up the spots at the stock left spotlight, added an additional spot just beyond that (hooked to the red-yellow GI to give some additional light during the "red light" GI modes, as it can get a bit dark during those times).
-Added 2 towered spots at the far left in front of Godzilla (1 Comet fire bulb, 1 warm white).
-Added 2 towered spots behind the scoop sign (1 fire bulb facing mechagodzilla, 1 warm white facing the far center pf).
-Removed the stock cool white apron lighting and changed to Comet 6SMD warm white lights, along with warm white trough light (pic below).

-Added the piggy bank Godzilla, painted it and was able to fit it in without shaving his arm (touches but not jammed on the side of Drake building, but about 2cm from the left sidewall...looks more like he's creeping around the corner which is cool, little additional perspective). Did of course have to shave an inch or so off of the bottom so that his head didn't hit the playfield glass.
-Added a Mechagodzilla figure (and after attaching the music wire, I added foam padding underneath, which sticks nicely to the underside of the toy. I added a pic of this because I frequently add toys/mods that sit on pf plastics that are hooked to local nuts, bolts, etc and I thought this was a nice way to protect the pf plastics it sits on and wanted to share that).
-Added a battle tank at the right outline.
-Added Tilt's right ramp decal.
-Added Lermods bridge with interactive green flasher (which is a nice additional lighting accent to Godzilla and goes nicely with the new ww and fire bulb spots).

-Added shaker from PBL (nicely integrated).
-Added the Flipper Fidelity LE Speaker kit (and also using the Pinnovators hook-up to 10" external sub) and the sound is kicking!

*Looking forward to receiving @tditty 's Tesla Strike Towers and bamboo plane mods.
*Have side blades and apron decal coming from Wizard Mods, which Im excited to get.
*Looking forward to receiving the pop bumper UFO mod as well...that'll be cool.
*Do have some of Mezel's building facades on the way for the Drake building as well as for the noodle shop on the right end Subway building on the left. I think that those will give a nice upgraded look.
*Did order an equivalent size Mothra figure to the backboard plastic, which I plan to hover in front of that plastic like its flying. I plan to hook up a hidden spotlight to that figure from underneath, tied into the Mothra backboard light. I think that'll look cool, and somewhat interactive lighting, as that light isn't always on.

Still playing around with game pitch. Was pretty happy at 7-7.2 degrees, but am going to try 6.8-ish degrees this weekend based on the plethora of recommendations of that slope. Who knows what'll feel best... May also play with the flipper coil strength power. This is the first time in a while, if I'm not mistaken, that Stern flipper coils aren't already at its max amount on factory settings to begin with.

This is such a great game...hard to believe the code is just gonna keep developing and getting better and better...its already pretty damn awesome.
1 (resized).jpg2 (resized).jpg3 (resized).jpg4 (resized).jpg5 (resized).jpg

Okay, okay... I'm a believer.

Just played some games at 6.8° pitch and man oh man it was like a totally different game!!! It was not floaty at all...was fast and fun and compared to my previous settings, seemed to have smoother ball flow. Also took the above recommendation from PinMonk and raised the power on the left upper flipper to 180, and went up by about five points or so on the lower flippers.

Previously I was at 7.1- 7.2° with some earlier recommendations of slightly leaning to the left, and don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed playing with these settings, however, when I made the above adjustment to 6.8°(and made everything perfectly level to start out with), it was perfect and the ball travel felt intuitive and arguably flowed so much more smoothly.

6.8° and perfectly level it is!

Made a topper today.

Got the figure from eBay https://www.mymoviemonsters.com/store.php/mymoviemonsters/pd9818852/diamond_select_godzilla_gallery_diorama_1991_godzilla_vs._king_ghidorah_statue?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzrn3ssOO9QIVD21vBB2-ZAtzEAsYAiABEgIILPD_BwE

Put it at a forward slope so you can see more of the details when at the machine, hooked 2 LED strips underneath the figure facing up through the transparent water (blue and warm white), a third LED strip in front facing forward (warm white), and a hid a Comet fire post light by the front strip facing forward to bring the flames. All hooked to GI.
Figure and lighting all attached solidly onto a piece of plexiglass and then velcro stripped to the top of the backbox.

2 (resized).jpg

4 (resized).jpg

5 (resized).jpg

Thanks!!
For the mechagodzilla, I used the 1983 Bandai Kaiju Toho movie figure.

For example, here is an eBay link to one of these toys:

ebay.com link: itm

These toys are made of a somewhat soft vinyl and are hollow, however, they seem to hold their shape/structure quite well. The fact that they are hollow also makes it easier to tie in lights from the inside of these figures, if one were so inclined. It is very easy to pop the torso from the lower body and use the upper half as the mod.

In addition to EaglePin s suggestions above, you may also want to go ahead and just change out the coil stops on your lower flippers (can get them from Marco, PBL, etc). Those stock stern coil stops are notoriously of poor quality, unfortunately.
Most critical maneuver I've made since owning my GDZ was lowering the pitch to 6.8°. It didn't feel any slower, but the loops, ramps, and just about everything else just seemed to flow so much smoother compared to the higher pitches.

Wanted to share some progress on my GDZ modding adventure.

Decided to remove the larger piggybank Godzilla and instead go for a 1964 version, which I think really matches well with the whole perspective. Added a burnt, crushed traincar segment into the clutches of his right hand and then added some various size/color model trees for additional perspective. Nice thing with the trees is that it hides the wires I have coming down behind the left ramp/bridge (for two spotlights and the LED flasher mod which is connected to the back of the bridge). Also, the trees mask the transition of the ramp to the bridge nicely, so looks a bit more seamless.

Now I wait for the building facades from Mezels and the side blades and apron decal from Wizard Mods...

111 (resized).jpg

3333 (resized).jpg

4444 (resized).jpg

66666 (resized).jpg

All this talk of that back orbit got me curious. So I checked mine (game was November 30, 2021 build).
For additional comment/reference:
On my game, behind the Drake building, there is a notch cut out between the right and left back orbit walls but it is tight/flush between these orbit guides. There is no gap/overlap noted. Mine looks identical to the picture that was just posted by JWE ^^

Question for the group (and mind you, my back orbit walls are flush, no issues on my game), while the larger outer orbit is never blazing fast, I have noticed that sometimes the outer loop shot is not registered.
Not sure if it is the rollover switch there on the far right that might not be fully getting activated when a ball comes by, or if it's the opto. Both check perfectly fine in switch test, and this occurs only 15% of the time (which considering that the loop is never blazing fast, it should catch 100% of the time, I would think).
This is a bummer when this happens, especially during Destruction Jackpot!

I did remove the plastics to examine the sending and receiving optos, and they appear to be positioned appropriately, and during test, a ball anywhere along that lane registers (as long as it's rolling flush with the playfield). Makes me think that due to the drop off of the right side orbit onto the back wall orbit, maybe there's occasionally a little bounce (and it briefly rides above the opto path)?
Has anyone else noticed this lack of 100% registering of the larger loop?

By the way, more consistently making it to Tier 2 battles and this game just gets better and better! Loving it!

EDIT:
Found the issue.
Somehow, I had a wire underneath the playfield coursing over and engaging the right loop roll over switch (so it was getting it hung up/snagged intermittently). Corrected now and all is right with the world. Love this game!!!!

I was just making comment for reference.
At least for me, I think my orbit guides are good to go on my machine.

So I play in a very dark game room, which is my preference.
The light show on this game is amazing, but I will say that when the GI goes off to show all of the insert razzle dazzle for a start or completion of a mode, for example, it sure does get dark sometimes on the playfield!! Especially after Destruction Jackpot is hit, man, for a couple seconds the game gets dark dark dark!

I've noticed this at other times as well, I can't now recall what other kind of modes, or conclusion of modes, brings about a lot of darkness (with lightshow play between GI going off/on and all the insert lights dancing/shining), but part of me kind of hopes that they recognize this to some degree and do some additional GI lighting code during some parts of these light shows. It just gets so dark at times....sometimes I can't even see where the ball is for a second or two. It's cool and all, but is anyone else noticing this as well??

Thank you guys for your reply.
Sometimes I do wonder if things that I notice on a game others notice as well, or if I'm all alone, haha... so it's always good to know that's just the way it is!!
Don't get me wrong, the game is amazing but I do hope that they address some of the light show on future code updates.
So much more code to come, I can't imagine what this game will become moving forward and I'm loving it now!!

You know I was kind of thinking about that.

As time has gone on, I have sort of moved away from the stadium lights and have preferred adding spotlights if a little bit more light is what I'm looking for...but in this game, I might not mind it so much if there were some subtle stadium lights that could always be on.

Only problem that I can think of is that the Pinstadium lights hook up to GI, and it's the GI that's going out during these insert light shows (making the playfield overall quite dark while your ball is out there somewhere, haha), and I would imagine the stadium lights would go off as well during those times, right? Or are they always on? I do know you can adjust the brightness of the pinstadium lighting so that it doesn't have to be brutally bright if you don't want it to. Anyone can clarify on that?

EDIT: I had a set of Pinstadiums laying around from a previous game and went ahead and installed them just to see what the effect would be on this game. I did not hook up the UV flasher, just the GI and set the brightness to about 15%. Let me say that this really helped out a lot with seeing the ball during some of the darkest parts of the light shows (again, for me, I play in a very dark game room) and I have to admit that overall it really did help visualization of the playfield and ballplay in general, but also it really accented the light show quite a fair and surprising amount and the electricity/powerline/Tesla strikes actually came across even more electric, even without the UV flasher. Might be interesting to somehow tie that UV flasher into those powerline/Tesla strikes now that I'm thinking about it...

This is a good $35 spent at Pinnovators. Very small little board they make that connects into the Spike to board in the back box.
Comes with the cables needed to run down through the bottom of the cabinet and power a sub. They recommend, and I have had good success with the Polk 10-in sub. Awesome effect.

https://pinnovators.myshopify.com/products/pinsub-multi-system-kit

Sure, there's various ways to do sub hookup, but I've been using these for the last couple years on several machines, and I've been extremely happy every time. You're going to love it. Adding the sub to this game is an excellent upgrade! Once you see how easy and effective this hookup is, you're going to end up doing it to all of your games

I have been loving my pro.
Nice thing about all of these Keith Elwin games in pro version is that all the shots are there and all the ramps are metal.
I have had the opportunity to play the LE, and while the extra features are cool, no doubt, just didn't seem to do it for me at the price points these days.
I'm glad I went pro for the house. I used the extra cash to get all the mods, bells and whistles I wanted and still have cash left over for other stuff.

This sounds cool, I'm going to try this setting out

There are several options, but for myself and for many others, the shaker motors by Pinball Life designed for Spike/Spike 2 systems work very nicely, are easy to install and have a good feel.

Finally got my side blades installed, the building facades from Mezel's as well as the Tesla strike towers from Tom (man, those things are awesome!).

PXL_20220107_000700778~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220107_000734036~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220107_000652032~2 (resized).jpg

So, i've thought about it for a while, and kind of always wanted to do this....and ultimately I decided to do it on this game...
...to re-think the Pinstadiums.

So I had a set of Pinstadium Neo's from a prior game.
Over the years, I've been less inclined to have those strips on the sides.
Sure, Scott makes a great product (and his customer service is top notch), but my tastes have just changed (and I have been using more spotlights instead of stadium lighting and enjoying the subtle shadows the game gives with just a touch more light where I want it...also, I have been tiring of taking down those strips, putting back up, taking down again to put back up, take down again, etc etc, etc every single time I need to pull the playfield...ugh...I digress...).

So, this morning I decided to take the Pinstadium strips off of their ong L-shaped plastic bases (and in this maneuver I opted to exclude/cut the white dimmable strip, and then I trimmed the color changing strips as well as the UV strips on both sides).

I then saved the diffuser that came with the Neo's and cut them to spec for the 2 strips I would have at the back of the pf (out of view, but gives the color coming from the strip a nice softer glow).

Since there's no backboard bulbs on this game, for one side of the Pinstadiums (2 strips; color + UV) I decided to place the long color-changing strip with diffuser high on the backboard (above the subway and noodle buildings; and completely out of view when playfield is in position), and a long UV strip (also with diffuser) underneath the back glass channel facing down.
...and with the other side of the Pinstadium (2 strips; color and UV), I trimmed the color-changing one under the pf to highlight the scoop (which is nice as its color jives with the color coming from the backboard), and placed the UV strip (trimmed to just 2 lights) behind the bridge facing Godzilla.

I opted on a warm yellow-orange'ish red (if that's a color, haha) for the color changers, which hook to GI as usual, and tied the UV into the spinner flasher.
Cool thing about the UV hook-up (which photographs a little bit more intense than it is in reality, or so it seems) is now when I rip the spinner, not only do tdiddy 's Tesla towers flash (along with Mezel's building fire hook-up), but a wild UV electric glow pulsates the back 1/3 of the playfield, catching all kinds of cool angles. Truly looks electric!!!
ps 1 (resized).jpgps 2 (resized).jpgps 3 (resized).jpgps 4 (resized).jpgps 5 (resized).jpgps 6 (resized).jpgps 7 (resized).jpg

As above ^^ sounds like it isn't fastened down solidly. I'd make sure each of the 4 screws are screwed down tight...and make sure one of the fasteners on the underside of the cabinet didn't accidentally fall out to keep one of the screws from adequately tightening.

Picked up an iridescent shooter rod from Modfather for the Godzilla.
I really think it goes well!!

PXL_20220108_215627169~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220108_215637485~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220108_215805041~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220108_215818489~2 (resized).jpg

PXL_20220109_022235288~2 (resized).jpg

PXL_20220109_022242105~2 (resized).jpg

I absolutely love ModFather shooter rods. I think I have/have had them on every single one of my modern games over the last few years.
They feel great to the hand. The rod itself is the stock size, so no real difference there. But feel wise, yeah, they're great! I can't say enough about them, and Chuck is an amazing artist.

They typically come in three sizes: small, medium and large. I usually prefer the medium size, which is similar to what you see in the above pics. Actually, this one is somewhere in between medium and large, I would say. There is a touch of randomness as these are made to order individually.

I got it from the Space Coast Pinball group here on the Pinside marketplace (same group designing/making that -TOHO Scope- magnet for the back box).
They designed this sticker to cover over the area at the center of the apron....I decided that I preferred it on the coin door

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1312-space-coast-pinball/05554-godzilla-dress-up-magnet-art-and-decal-art

So I've had to do it on every single modern stern in the last few years, so it's no surprise...

But, I've been having such a good time playing the Godzilla that even though Ive noticed some weakness of the flipper strength despite bringing the power of the coil up a couple notches , I haven't done much else knowing that the next move is to change out the coil stops.

I happened to have some extra stern coil stops from pinball life and went ahead and installed them (along with some fresh coil sleeves) this morning and played a game.
Man, it's like having brand new flippers! Woohoo!! Strong as hell, and I can probably even come down on the coil settings back to factory, haha...but everything flowed so good, I think I'll just leave it as it is for now.

But just wanted to post another vote for changing out your coil stops!

I will say this, and mind you, I was talking with Scott from Pinstadium about this very thing just last week.

The connection into the shaker motor is not absolutely guaranteed to work if you have an aftermarket shaker. Meaning, you'll experience it briefly (and yes, it is a very cool effect), but it may not be a durable result. Meaning, by the second ball or so, you'll notice that both the UV Pinstadium flashers and the shaker cease to function. In those cases, power down, disconnect the Pinstadium connection from the shaker, reboot the machine and the shaker works back to normal.

In talking with Scott about this, he has noticed that for all games that come with a stern shaker already installed from the factory, they seem to work reliably, nearly 100% of the time. However, aftermarket shaker motors, while they work great as a shaker motor itself in the game, for whatever reason (a good portion of time) have a difficult time uniformly working with this particular Pinstadium hookup. He says it has been somewhat random as to who's aftermarket shakers work and don't work with this hookup, sometimes +/- from the very same company (PBL, Cointaker, Game Room Guys, etc, etc).

So, if you currently have a game that has a shaker motor installed from the factory, it'll probably work great. You can check the Pinstadium thread here on Pinside and do a forum/topic search for "Godzilla" and you will see a nice post on how it hooks up to the shaker motor via the provided splicer wires.

For me, I have aftermarket shaker, and it did not work reliably with the Pinstadium hookup. I opted to use the splicer wires to tie the UV flasher into the center spinner flasher, and I think the effect is really great, especially with the Tesla strike towers from tdiddy . When you rip that spinner, it really looks electric back there!

Hope this helps.

**

Yeah, and others might chime in as well, but starting about 3 or so years ago, for whatever reason, the Stern stock coil stops are real crap.

There are some folks who luck into some good ones I suppose, but an overwhelming amount of people have noticed that these coil stops that stern uses are not great, which is usually noted by a feeling of weaker flippers. That's why the first recommendation you'll see these days across the board for any new modern stern is to change out your coil stops.

In my case, I was starting to notice some weakness at the flippers at about 250 games. After changing out the coil stops (and coil sleeves while I was at it) it gave a brand new breath of fresh power! This is a typical story though these days.

You know it hasn't been mentioned much, but I think it's worth mentioning. It's something I find myself really loving about this game...it's one thing that is really tough, but keeps you trying and trying and coming back and putting in all of your quarters, per se...

...It's the fact that that scoop is no gimme shot.

I mean, how awesome of a feeling is it to hit the right ramp, and then the left ramp and then right off the bat letting the ball roll towards the tip of the left flipper and then jamming in the scoop. You're like, YES!! Awesome!!!! Haha.

Because if that ball doesn't go right in the scoop, you find yourself just trying and trying and trying again...and sometimes you have some random 4-bounce of the ball that ultimately lands in the scoop and you're like, YES! Awesome!!! Hahaha.

Other times you're just doing subtle little tap passes and finessing the pathway of the ball and maybe just trying to hit that left ramp again just to give it one more shot to see if you can't slam it in the scoop on the fly... Hilarious, but such a good time and such a smart move on Keith Elwin's part, because ya gotta get in that scoop to progress the battles, but it's no gimme, and I love that.

Your video above ^^ looks awesome!!!!
Yeah, this game is a blast, and I too have really been enjoying both the gameplay as well as the mods!!

For those out there with artistic 3D printing capabilities...

I think it would be really cool if someone were to create and sell a low-profile building facade for that flat, lame sticker building picture on the backboard (to the right of the subway building). It would be light enough that it could be attached by double sided tape. Heck, a dimensional two building creation could be made as well to add even further dimension to that area.

Last time I remember seeing someone do that, it really looked awesome and added a lot
( Medisinyl created that backboard attachment for the vampire tower on the Alice Cooper ).

I recently added a spotlight back there, behind the Drake building (in my case, facing to the right to highlight a mothra figure that I extended with music wire from the mothra plastic).
It was quite easy to thred up a comet matrix wire to that location as there as there is a rather large hole in the playfield with both a white and red light. The wire ends up coming up behind the Drake building in between two pieces of playfield plastic. From there, you can attach the spotlight to that one post that holds the right side of the left wireform ramp.

He does pop in half though.
On the premium/ LE model as well as on some uses of mechagodzillas that have been shown thus far on the Pros, is pretty much the torso up.

Is this a brand new game, or did this just start happening? If it had been playing well and this just started happening out of the blue, that's really weird.
I've had some games in the past that I had picked up NIB where crossing over wireforms needed a little bit of push/shove right off the bat to allow adequate ball travel. Certainly it is not an ideal situation, but there's probably not a whole lot of other good options outside of gentle deliberate brute force.
Looks like you have all the spacers at the posts on appropriately.
As above, looks like it may just need a little bit of gentle brute force at that loop to the under passing wireform (to ever so gently, but deliberately, bend those two wireforms apart from each other).
Unless someone else has a different idea.

When sorting out a loop switch problem a couple weeks ago (finally realizing it was just some wiring underneath the pf preventing that far right loop switch from fully depressing, now corrected), I also explored this opto.

This opto does purposefully sit at a bit of an askew angle across that orbit. I believe its function is to assist in registering the destruction jackpot once the ball is hit across the right loop switch and then across that opto.

If you're concern is whether or not that opto is working...just go into switch test and roll a ball back and forth across the pathway of that opto to ensure that it is registering. Whether the back orbit guide is flush or not, any ball passing through that opto path should trigger it, regardless of its angle.

As above, if you're having a problem registering the loop in general, explore under the playfield and do make sure that you do not have any wiring interfering with that far right loop switch.

Those are from Wizard Mods

https://wizardmod.com/collections/wizbats-flipper-decals/products/godzilla-stern-pinball-wizbats

Those look awesome! A flame look is a great idea. Let us know when you put them on your site.

id like to share some progress Ive made on my GDZ.

The stars aligned and I lucked into scoring some Xiliens...
Fashioned a plastic base which I attached to the post at the top of the outlane (secured the Martian feet by zip ties) and placed a spotlight at the top of the outlane plastic facing them at an upward angle (via longer screw with some black spacers). Hid the wiring to the underside of the outline plastic and ran it down the pf hole (along with the rocket PCB wires) and attached to the red-yellow GI. Just loving them there.

Added a Mothra figure via music wire to a screw holing the Mothra plastic. Added 2 spotlights behind the Drake building (out of view) with one of them facing up to the Mothra figure (alligator clipped to the Mothra flasher) and the other using Comet Fire bulb facing a custom 3d-printed center building facade along the backboard (to the right of the Subway building).

Overall, Im really pleased with the end result.

11 (resized).jpg

14 (resized).jpg

2 (resized).jpg

24 (resized).jpg

31 (resized).jpg

32 (resized).jpg

Haha, fair enough.
Reason I didn't hide the bulk ends of the cable ties underneath was to ensure plenty of room for ball travel under the plastic, which there is plenty enough room...maybe I just go ahead and put them underneath. But good eye, I could have cut that one on the left much more flush! ...suppose I was just excited to get them mounted and installed.

EDIT:
Went ahead and re-cable tied the characters with the bulk end of the zip tie fashioned tightly *underneath* the plastic this time.
Actually, got a better grab all together and the ties themselves actually sit more flush than before (and all ends/edges cut flush )
Good eye northerndude , I appreciate you noticing that, it does look much cleaner.

Congrats, that's a nice lineup!
Compared to mine, your spinner faces a little bit further forward, and your mock green line is a bit overcorrected posteriorly (at least as it relates to mine).
My spinner appears to be just about even with the post that sits in front of the flipper (maybe directed just past midline of that post posteriorly by one degree). The little spinner arm on my game is close to, but sits just above and just misses the machine screw (so there's no unwanted rubbing/binding on that post and/or screw). Mine came like this from the factory and has worked quite well since it's arrival without issues.
Hope this helps. Congrats on the game!
PXL_20220125_072834008 (resized).jpg

I would certainly imagine so. If not, a USB drive and 20 or so minutes and the newest code is uploaded. Guaranteed the code is going to change/update/improve several more times from here. So happy for the new code! Can't wait to try it out!

Wow, those look great!

Finally got my shipment in from Wizard Mods. Utilized the apron decal, but have already committed to other side blades and flipper toppers...so I'm going to put the side blades and flipper toppers up on the marketplace.

On their Wizard Mods site, they are $90 plus tax and international shipping, and 18 bucks plus tax and international shipping, respectively.

I'm going to sell them at a bit of a discount from that, so if anyone is interested, please feel free to reach out via PM or respond to the ad, if desired.
Thanks!

EDIT: side blades and flipper toppers -Sold
PXL_20220206_144214348~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220206_144323617~2 (resized).jpg

Got a delayed shipment in today of 10 little fighter planes/jets. They are plastic construction but feel solid and look pretty dope. They are essentially the same size as the Hogan Wings planes that I installed on my playfield.

Seems that the rounder nosed planes mimic the pictures on the playfield plastics a bit more, while the sharper nosed planes mimic the jets seen on the movie clips a bit more.

Since i've already installed planes on my playfield, these are now extra, so I will let them go for sale if anyone were interested in any of these for their pf, just give me a PM.

I have 5 white and blue (with more pointed nose) and 5 grey/silver and blue (with more snubbed/rounder nose).

UPDATE:
Grey/silver planes - all sold.
White/blue planes - all sold.

PXL_20220209_051819600 (resized).jpg
PXL_20220209_052403286 (resized).jpg

I added to add a few (or more, haha) spotlights and have been pleased with the results.

For general pf lighting, I doubled some spotlights at the left sling (hooked to white GI), added an additional spotlight at the post that has the single stock spot (hooked to white GI), and added another spot just to the left of that (hooked to the red-yellow GI, to offer a little bit more light during modes/times when the GI is predominantly red lit.

To accentuate different aspects about the periphery of the playfield (mods and corners and such), I did add some additional spotlights on top of that: a few stacked hidden behind the bridge facing Godzilla (couple of which are Comet fire bulbs), a couple stacked hidden behind the Drake building facing Mothra and the backboard (comet fire bulb to the backboard, white to Mothra), a couple stacked hidden behind the scoop sign (one white facing the playfield and comet fire bulb to Mechagodzilla), one at the right outlane facing some xiliens (white), and one at the left outlane facing a Maser cannon (white).

Sounds excessive, haha, but a fair amount of these lights are hidden from the eye and overall I think looks pretty seamless, and most importantly it offers enough extra light for my aging eyes that I'm happy.

That said, as you mentioned, during aspects of Tesla strike, or after hitting the destruction jackpot when the playfield lights go out (but the ball is still in play), and heaven forbid to add on top of that the end when totaling up a tank multiball, there is some seriously dark dark times in this game that despite the above, is still pitch black (GI out) with only the dance of insert lights and it is very difficult to see the ball during those times. I hear you (and I also play in a fairly dark game room).

Which brings up a question.
Watching a recent stream of a premium/ LE game (I believe a very recent stream when showing off planet X), it seems as though when that upper loop was hit for destruction jackpot some of the playfield GI remained on. It seemed that the white GI at the slings were on (at least, if not more). This is different than the pro, which offers predominantly red GI while waiting for the destruction jackpot countdown... and then once destruction jackpot is hit, the GI goes out and only a dance of some insert lights present for a brief period of time (as mentioned above).
So, does the premium/ LE have some additional GI lighting during these times? If so, that's lucky, cuz it gets dark dark dark during these times on the Pro. That said, these are only brief times and pound for pound, I'm so incredibly stoked with this game.

PXL_20220205_045430678~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20220205_045446526~2 (resized).jpg

You can catch a glimpse of the physical Comet "fire bulb" on that last post.
But essentially there are 4 LEDs on the face of the bulb. Three of which rotate on/off, and one that stays on. The one that stays on is white, the three that rotate on/off are a red, yellow, and an additional white LED.
Comet also makes a "blue fire" (actually both blue and ice blue variations, out of interest).

These are great bulbs for all types of applications. I will sometimes use them on modern games, and sometimes I will stick them at various spots on solid state games...good example would be on games that have fire/explosions, etc like on meteor or blackout. Comet offers them both in bayonet or wedge, so you can put them where you like.

https://www.cometpinball.com/products/fire-bulbs

Thanks!
I initially picked up a box of assorted trees from a model train site online, which were pretty cool, and would have been fine, but I ultimately ended up using some trees that came in a tree assortment bag from Hobby lobby (from their model train section). They come in a couple different sizes and a couple different colors. I did trim the bases a little bit to make them a little bit less wide and a little bit more appropriate for their installed locations.

For install, I ended up fashioning a little aluminum strip with two holes, one to drill up the base of the tree with a small, thin screw, the other to hook to a local hex nut. I covered the base of the tree (to include the thin aluminum present at the tree base) with thin single-sided sticker foam (to protect the plastics underneath).

With the playfield out and extended forward, and sitting on the service rails...If you start by threading up the matrix wire from underneath the playfield there at the Drake building area (where there are a few GI lights entering into a somewhat larger playfield hole), you will see that matrix wire come up in between the two plastics that sit behind the Drake building. With a little bit of manipulation of those two plastics, you can create a large enough gap to bring that matrix wire up, on top of the plastics.
When facing the Drake building, to the left and behind the Drake building, you will see the post that assists in holding the wireform that comes out of the subway station and into the back of the Drake building. It is on top of this post that you can place one or two or however many spotlights.

I have found that there are several options back there, from placing a fire bulb facing the backboard (to give a burning look to that building to the right of the subway), to having an additional light facing up at a Mothra figure (that extends from the mothra plastic, if you have something like that going on).
Additionally speaking, once that latter (Mothra intended) light is installed, you can alligator clip onto the Mothra flasher, such that that light turns on when the mothra flasher turns on.

Another thing to consider is attaching that fire bulb light (or any added light/bulb across the playfield) to either the white (white-yellow wire) or red GI (red-yellow wire), such that that light turns on at different times depending on whether the GI is on red or white (offering some additional variation to the different GI lit modes and overall lighting scheme).

The comet matrix lighting system is a very nice system to use. Once you do it once (spotlight/star-post/trough strip light, etc hooked to a GI bulb) you'll be able to do it again and again, just about wherever you like.

However, per the frustration you're having at those above mentioned to times...unfortunately, when the GI goes out (and only pf lights are on), at those times so does additional lighting tied in to that GI (unless using particular lighting systems that utilize light sensors, for example like that used on Mezel mods interactive scoop light).

I'll admit, in addition to the added lighting that I mentioned in the above post on my own game, I did use that interactive light sensor at a couple of locations on my own game to highlight certain peripheral additions that I placed about he pf, but I can't say that it offers any helpful amount of light during those very dark times of gameplay (i.e. after hitting destruction jackpot, for example). Fortunately, most of the time those moments of darkness are very short-lived, but there is no denying that those times are very dark, and during those times it can be very difficult to see/follow the ball, no doubt.

As able, that's my move as well.

In short, the answer is yes.
If GI is out, anything hooked to GI is out. That would also include pinstadium lighting, comet matrix system lighting, anything that is hooked to GI.
That leaves you with only external lighting to assist at those dark dark moments, which usually can only be achieved with lighting from other games or overhead lighting or a combination. The only other avenue would be crossing fingers for some attention to this in code development, which is most certainly possible, but unfortunately not supremely likely.

Yep. Even if you flee it counts towards progress towards Planet X.

Yes, the rev C is what I've gotten for the past years for my Sterns and have been very happy every time. Easy hookup as well, only takes a minute or two to install.

What exactly is this picture showing? I can see there's something going on at that switch, but I'm not sure what exactly...so now I'm curious. Could you elaborate?
I see a few recent posts here about the switches and hangups at the switches above the shooter lane. Fortunately, I have not yet to experience any of these hang-ups myself, but I assume folks are having issues with the switch right below the pop bumper??, or are individuals having issues both at that switch and the switch to the right of the pop bumper just above the shooter lane?
I'm curious as to what exactly this fix is that you are showing. Thanks!

Wow. That sounds amazing. Great innovation!! Can't believe I haven't heard of this till now.
I almost wish I did have a switch issue, cuz I'd love to try one of these. But great to know there's an innovative solution out there for this issue, for sure! Thanks for your response to my question.

True to the above post with the overall height clearance. Note that a lot of these Godzilla toys will fit. When you look online at their measurements, they speak in terms of 12-in Godzilla, but mind you the overwhelming amount of time there describing the length from head to tip of tail.
Not as sure on premium/LE, but on Pro, there is plenty of room for the tail to wrap around the back of that center Drake building a little bit and it doesn't interfere with anything notable back there.

Sounds like you're on an excellent track with some good stuff! All that you listed are excellent upgrades.
An upgraded Godzilla for that back left corner would be cool as opposed to the flat plastic..adds some nice dimension and can look really neat back there. You can see a lot of different examples of different Godzilla's here in the thread.
Some Comet spotlights here and there to highlight some stuff is also a cool idea for this game, per your individual preferences.
Mezel mods subway and noodle shop building facades add a very nice touch, as does their upgraded scoop sign. All nicely made. They also have a nice Drake building facade, but some other fellas are also making some really cool designs for that Drake building as well, as you can see here in the thread. All of these building fascades are certainly a nice upgrade to Sterns basic plastic buildings.
Such a simple idea, but also so very cool, I would also like to give a shout out to Space Coast Pinball for that very cool "toho scope" sticker that covers that rather distracting stern insider sticker on the back box. That is a really cool sticker and really adds to the fun of the toho theme.
They're also have become some very nice side blade options out there from Wizard mods, Tilt graphics and now Sterns official release. All of which look very cool.
There's also some nice comments in the thread here related to sound upgrades with different back box and cabinet speakers as well as external subwoofer.
All just food for thought

Noticing that it hasn't been mentioned here yet...
A well-deserved congratulations to tdiddy for being nominated for "best mod of the year" at the TPF Twipy awards this year for his Tesla towers.
Congrats man!

Really liking the way you assembled those fighter jets at the corner of your picture! That looks great! Would love to see a full pf view.

I know exactly the spot yet you're talking about, totally frustrating and I think it's a super common phenomena across all games and models... if the ball is not fast enough, the ball stops on that guide rail in the back and because it sits/rests so solidly back there on that metal guide, you really have to shake the machine to dislodge it and it's going to end up in a tilt.
I was thinking about some durable fixes for this a few weeks ago, but got distracted before I could try anything...I should probably revisit that issue. I too would love to hear if anyone has identified a durable fix for that problem.

On another note, it's now been a fairly long time waiting on my flaming speaker panels and the city cut out. I know that the maker of this item requested that we not reach out to check where we are in the queue, but it's now been several months (maybe more). Have others had to wait this long? Do you think I should try and reach out to him or should I continue to keep the faith that they will eventually arrive? Thanks

I usually pick up 0.047 music wire from Hobby lobby. Usually comes in ~12-in strands. At that strength the wire is malleable enough to make the loops at the ends of the wire with needle nose pliers (to connect to mods or posts), but strong enough told the mod without much if any wiggling once installed.

So behind the translite, I used/taped a plastic sheet running from the top of the back box (midway front-to-back) to the metal bar in between the translite and the speaker panel. I then attached a 20- SMD warm white strip running at an angle behind Godzilla's fire breath, and 2 Comet fire post lights at the bottom left (at that area of a burning explosion). I then hooked these lights (with Comet matrix system) to the Red portion of GI and received a very nice effect.
I made a small YouTube video of the effect for those interested.

When I get back to town tomorrow I will take a picture behind the translite and post the installation pic.

Thanks!!
Any red GI bulb will work. I have so many things connected to so many things on this particular game, haha, the two that were available were towards the rear of the playfield, but again, any red GI will work in this case.

Not sure about the size, but the majority of alligator clips that I have used come from Comet to utilize their matrix systems.

www.cometpinball.com

Thx for the shout out brother! Appreciate it!!
This game is as badass to mod out as it is to play. Love this game!

If you haven't checked it out already, don't forget to check out the Godzilla mod thread. There's some great ideas and pics from a lot of Pinsiders on there.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-mod-thread

This is a more recent picture of my GDZ with warm white in the GI and spotlights. For my preference and eyes, I always change out the stock Stern cool whites for Comet 2-Smd warm white lights.
I also remove the apron and change out the lights that are behind those apron holes facing the playfield. I usually use the 6- LED warm white pads from Comet (gives a little bit of additional light to the proximal playfield) connected via comet matrix system. In addition I'll add warm white trough lighting.

PXL_20220401_195838154 (resized).jpgPXL_20220401_195846307 (resized).jpg

Not sure on the number, but leaving the red GI alone, I changed out all of the white GI to 2-SMD bayonet Comet clear warm white (probably it's close to 30 bulbs), any of bulb flashers on recent Sterns are typically 5V, which I would have in 8-SMD warm white, and for the spotlights I use clear 2-SMD wedge warm whites.

Wow, I have the Pro and this new update is awesome!
The oxygen destroyer added is awesome. Was on my last ball when it was lit, and when I drained out the right outlane it gave me a ball back and center shot lit to destroy/diffuse the oxygen destroyer (which also lit destruction jackpot and the game continued!).
Then with Godzilla multiball, with the one ball attached to the magnet, two additional balls release/self eject, so that there are 3 balls hanging on the magnet during the Godzilla multiball intro...and then all 3 balls release at the same time (similar to the premium versions when three balls fall down at the same time). Just absolutely awesome!
I also feel like there are some new light shows in some of the modes. Just fantastic! Love this game and it just keeps getting better and better.

You will not regret it. Definitely a good move!

Pinball life is now selling this replacement plastic (interestingly, for both the premium/ LE and Pro)

Main GDZ page:
https://www.pinballlife.com/godzilla-stern.html

Premium/LE:
https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-godzilla-premiumle-magna-grab-plastic.html

Pro:
https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-godzilla-pro-magnet-plastic.html

Hahaha.... I was wondering when someone was going to notice that!
Kidding

When I examine the picture that Sleal16 gave compared to your picture there at the ball trough, the first obvious thing that I noticed is that the trough opto board that is facing you (on the *front side* of YOUR trough) is the board that's on the *backside* of HIS trough.
I wonder if your trough boards are reversed and somehow delivering confusing information? Meaning, I wonder if the board that is facing you shouldn't be on the back side and vice versa.

Compare these two pictures.
The first is yours, the second is Sleal16 's.
I will also check out my game as well.

63fbb0bab42a9a39e1739fc50b86d8fc2697de62 (resized).jpgab6a36f71f21ac1015faa30ee0b072303b782be1 (resized).jpg

And this is my board.

So, in comparing the picture below on my board with the pictures above, even though it appears as though I have more male molex prongs on my facing board, similar to you, what I notice is that the 2-prong molex attaches to the *opposite* side (like Sleal16 's picture). Whereas it appears that yours is attached on the facing side.

Another thing that I notice that is different between your picture and the two other pictures is that the red wire that is connected/shared with the multi-prong molex and the 2-prong molex is very short and the pic of this shared red wire between these two connectors can be clearly seen in the pics. However, it is interesting that the red wire coming out of *your* 2-prong molex seems to be longer and it's difficult to say by your picture if that red wire is connected/shared between these two molex connectors.

Needless to say, this definitely shows three different variations coming out of the factory...

PXL_20220722_102431414 (resized).jpg

Looks awesome!!!!
Both kind of have that "hazy" look and the pics would suggest the building/skyline and GDZ look similar in that haziness....I for one really like that effect, seems more elusive. I vote to leave it be, but wouldn't blame you getting a plastic, but it looks pretty dope as is.

I believe the fella that runs the ULEK store makes those. He can do them in various color combinations, so I'm sure if you reach out to him and let him know what you're looking for, he would be happy to work with you.

https://pinside.com/pinball/biz/directory/1032-ulekstore

Congratulations. What a great first NIB!
If this is your first NIB, my recommendation would be to go to YouTube and check out some unboxing videos, which will give you a few tricks about general setup.
Here's a good one:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DN437bDUkL0Q&ved=2ahUKEwjA0ZrSpcr5AhUAg4kEHS9lBegQwqsBegQIFRAE&usg=AOvVaw33BEx2U2T_k_6HnMmymoDw

While somewhat tedious but fun and educational, I would recommend reading through this thread (as you will encounter many do's and don'ts, trials and error, great ideas, etc etc etc...all of which you can learn from as it relates to this particular machine). There's also a separate "Godzilla Mod Thread" here on Pinside forums which has got some clever ideas by many pinsiders.

Also, as mentioned by many above, one nice addition that goes very well/well integrated into the game, would be a shaker motor. My recommendation would be the shaker provided by Pinball Life. There are holes in the cabinet that are ready for the installation of the shaker, and it's as simple as plugging in a single molex into the board in the cabinet on the left underneath the left flipper switch.
Here's the link:

https://www.pinballlife.com/shaker-motor-kit-rev-c-for-stern-spike-spike-2-system-games.html

Looks cool!
I like how the head and arms overlap a little bit.
I would suggest to just trim him at the waist so an equal amount is overlapping on all four sides and attach it to your apron with some kind of thin double-sided sticky tape at the side edges.
Post a pic once done!

Question for those who have installed Stumblor's (Davey's) scoop sign.
Got it installed and it looks amazing and everything works perfectly fine.
Question is: there's an additional wire that can be used to link into the GI such that when GI goes off, the sign also goes off (or dims?, not sure). Anyway, sounds like this is an additional feature that can be implemented on this mod and I'm wondering if anyone has done this yet and if they prefer it to the sign being on all the time (or vice versa).

Thx for your reply.

I agree. It's kind of fun on all the time (especially since it's different lighting sequences continues at all times), and especially since it's a "mock" neon sign... I mean, at night when the lights of businesses go out, you'll still see neon signs flickering about in the city, so there is a somewhat realistic benefit to having it on all the time.

Curious for additional votes/impressions out there on the subject.