OP

Quoted from liorillusion:

About eight months ago, my friend Bill told me that I must get the Hobbit pinball machine. I pondered that idea for a bit and thought to myself I’m not sure. After watching tons of videos, I decided to buy it. Now it’s my number one go to game in my collection. I said if I love it so much why not make a one of a kind topper, exclusively to my favorite machine. After watching the movies and seeing the movie poster, I got my inspiration. In the game, you need to defeat Smaug. Who is the person that kills Smaug? Bowman!
I decided to make the pinball player as Bowman and to make all this creation like you are inside the movie and fighting with smaug. I made tons of sketches, sculpts and prototypes, finally achieving the design that I am happy with. I was so excited to start the long tedious process and make this happen. I watched the last Hobbit movie maybe five times and was looking for some Smaug photos and inspiration . I needed photos of Lake Town to match with my design while thinking of some more ideas. After making the sculpt I made a mold and I start to cast it (THIS IS NOT 3D PRINTED) and then painted. The painting process was really challenging with Smaug and the details of Lake Town, but in the end, I got really great results. During the process of the sculpting, designing and painting, I was able to listen to the hobbit sound track to immerse myself more into the movie. So now I got the full sculpt with all the details and paints but I decided to take it to the next level. I made my own system board. I can say that this board is 100% synced with the game. I started to add led pixels and ended with 244 pixels on the topper. Programming each led took forever, but the results are fantastic.
I made four attract modes and other various modes which are in synch with the game. Each lock has its own light show. Multiball has a very special light show when the player achieves this goal. When bumpers are activated the player is introduced to water splash effects displayed by the LEDS. When the player achieves a high score, you are entertained with a special light show. When you get an extra ball, the player is entertained with another special light show. But its not over yet!
I decided to take all of my skills and blend them all together. Earlier in my career during my show business work, I made a very small but powerful smoke machine. It was always a project that magicians and show directors ask me to make. With those requests, I decided to make it into a topper which you are seeing as of today. There is minor maintenance filling the smoke fluid for the machine each 500 triggers. I can control the flow of the smoke that omits from the machine. I can control the flow of air and also the timing of the smoke. I can also control Smaug to omit smoke puffs and smoke rings! The smoke can be activated with almost all the features of the game when needed. I can do everything that I want with this topper. If that’s not enough I constructed the wings with big plastic brackets which has flexibility. The wings move during the game! The topper weight right now is around 12kg. The houses are fully solid cast all around its not just front. Everything is all custom made by my very own hands!
After six months of hard work, I’m very excited to share with you my awesome creation! I’m sorry to say this topper is a ONE OF A KIND. After a lot of thinking, I decided that the topper IS NOT FOR SALE. The topper is too complicated to create and the cost is extremely high. Please do not message me asking to make you one or about the cost. Please respect my wishes since I will not be taking any offers. I want it to be my own creation and this is not for sale. Sorry…. At the moment I’m working on a topper for another machine that will also be awesome when completed. I will be very happy to share details of the topper with you when its ready.
As you know the topper looks much better in person. Video editing is not my forte so It’s really hard for me to edit the video well enough to get all the lighting effects in the video.
English is not my first language so I’m very sorry for some spelling mistakes
Thanks to all of the people who support me and have helped me during this project
AGAIN, THIS TOPPER IS NOT FOR SALE!
More photos of the topper
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156867125@N07/albums/72157716002875562
video (watch in HD)
click on the photos to get better resolution
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here is the movie poster
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You are welcome to check my new mods for hobbit
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-the-hobbit-sculpted-pinball-mods-by-the-art-of-pinball
My Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lior_theartofpinball/