Good call. War Paint Miniature Studios (Jason Lawson / [email protected]) was well recommended on the Warhammer forum dakkadakka.com, and he was game to paint pinball bits. I paid $10/figure plus shipping (so total cost of ~ $40 for the entire project), which is less than I would have spent for paints and equipment to do it myself, and with massively superior results. Also significantly cheaper than any painter of comprable quality I found after a fair bit of google research.

Here's a link to his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WarPaintMiniatureStudios#!/WarPaintMiniatureStudios/timeline

And here's a link to at least one of the forums where I read about his work (his username there is "J'santai Khan"):
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/150/248070.page#6278438

So if you're considering having your Mongol Warriors painted (or any other pinball-related figurines, structures or objects for that matter) I'd 100% recommend getting in touch with Jason.

_{Post edited by fosaisu: typos}

A great idea, the swords are oddly thick as designed! Fire it up and post some pics and maybe you'll inspire me to pull the Mongols off and take a second crack at them (just kidding, I think they'll be staying right where they are now that they're prettied up to my satisfaction, but I would love to see what you come up with in the sword dept.)

[EDIT: Sweet, just noticed I got the 1000th post in The Shadow Club!]

Recently acquired a Shadow. Been wanting to pimp one out for a while now. Anyways, playfield is clear coated. Going to do a little cabinet touch-up also (though it's nearly perfect) and then clear the cabinet as well. Starting on modding now. Here's the first one...

Thought the mini-playfield needed lighting help so added 6 SMD panels to the front hidden by the front playfield plastic and the lit the backside by mounting an amber strip directly overhead as well as purple over the right side of the rear of the playfield. I like how it came out. Power is supplied from the left front of the machine and made it plug and play.

Feedback is welcome

photo 1.JPG
photo 2.JPG
photo 3.JPG
photo 4.JPG
photo 5.JPG

I like the lighting, looks great. Are you talking about touching up the artwork? If so isnt it a decal? How do you plan to do it?

I'm Going to airbrush the spots it needs which is 2 small spots on the black portion of the Artwork. I'm planning to clear the cab as we'll once it's done.

Ahh I see, I would like to see pics when youre done.

Just FYI

I already sent messages to those who were looking for this part.

PPS you are my current hero.

In stock left diverter brackets

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-A-18956-2&Store_Code=PP

Thanks for the update!

Joined the club today. Paging Aurich for another run of the alt translite/speaker panel!

image-590.jpg

Having a shooter problem with my Shadow...every now and them I have to rap the gun handle to get the ball to the shooter lane...cannot see anything obvious and it is intermittent. Looking for suggestions...Thanks!

Probably divots in the ball trough.

OK, thanks! So the fix would be to remove the trough and file / sand down any rough areas, right....never done that before but will give it a try.

Oh yeah, I didn't think of that one when we talked, but I've had to do that with my Shadow. And yes, that's a possible solution for sure. It's easy, just have to unscrew the trough and smooth it out.

I'm doing a small run now, but it's just for the leftover speaker panels I had handy. It's not that hard to do small runs of the translite really, I can tack it on to other orders generally, but the speaker panels are cut from a large master sheet of PETG, and so it's hard to do small with those.

Some new diverters would be cool to!

Maybe this will help with the trough problem

http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=449

I opened the trough tonight and sure enough there was a jam protector already in there....so I clean it up with some Novus 2 and filed down two ridges that developed at the tips of the fork...a little Novus one to clean it all up and now the ball ejects with alot more force....in fact it slams the ball into the lane. I will be playing a bunch of games this weekend and we'll see if this is the fix. Thanks Aurich, Smiley and Benfica99 for the help!!

Where are you guys tying into for spotlights/lights on the Battlefield? I'm thinking about adding one of Comet pinball's LED strips to the metal flap on the back of it, just wondering where the best place is to solder it in.

My spots are up in the corners, pointing back towards the player, but up under the backbox base so you don't really see them. I have a yellow and a red frosted LED in each one, so they're not super bright, but provide more than enough light to play in total darkness.

You can see them in this post: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-shadow-club/page/6#post-993800

That's where I mounted mine as well, but I ended up removing the LED from the left spotlight. I didn't like how it reflected off the mini-playfield right into the player's eyes.

2014-06-08 21.20.15.jpg

I added a strip on the knurled screw that the rubber goes around. Not the most elegant spot but it does not look bad and you get no reflection of lights in your eyes. I like it a lot.

Makes me feel a little better about my efforts. My top score is near 1.5 and I have it set up very steep. GC score is close to 1.7 on my machine. From what I have seen there are not a whole lot of points to be gained during the Final Battle at 10 million a shot unless maybe you finish it, but I haven't seen that done yet. So it is probably better to get as much as you can before you get there because it seems to be a very taxing mode.

I like to clear the battlefield as many times as I can in a game and collect the extra balls when available. Having more balls to play is the best way to a high score on this one it seems. Also Khan multiball is easy to light so I am trying to take advantage of that too. As was stated before, getting those ramp shots in a rhythm can also pay big dividends. Getting as many point as you can out of each mode also seems like a good strategy. 30 mil from Mongel doesn't hurt either.

Have any of you ever completed every single mode in one game? I think the most I have ever completed was two of them. Some of them are very difficult.

Super Vengeance FTW. Definitely the sleeper for points.

2014-03-20 20.38.26.jpg

I finished super vengeance the other night and it was giving me 12 mil a shot and 50 mil when I finished it. I'll take it any time I can get it. Like I said, my game is very steep.....

you need to complete it with a combo and you get 100mil, and if you string them together the shot values continue to climb. Also even in normal vengeance if you finish with a combo you will get 100mil. I have had ball ones where I just start vengeance and keep hitting shots to end up with around 1b after ball 1. Just practice nailing those ramp shots consistently and your scores will increase. Then you will have a solid base to skyrocket your score with a Final Battle completion.

Sounds good! Back to the basics. Working the ramp shots was my original strategy on this game and I got some pretty high scores pretty quick. Then I started bouncing balls over the left sling and out on occasion so I went away from it. But now I am getting the rhythm back. Steepness be damned!

You get 1 billion for finishing Final Battle. I've been 4 shots away, but haven't done it yet!

I have been one shot away from getting to the Battle a couple of times but I have watched two others do battle. The first twenty shots seem very doable, but once it is down to five or so you can see the fatigue starting to set in.

Yeah, it's not a gimmie wizard mode at all. You can focus on the Battlefield first, while the ball saver is on, but then you use it up trying to get all those shots, very hard to nail them all and keep the rest of the balls alive.

I watched NP do it the other night and he was down to just a few shots on the ramps. Either he was getting tired or the flippers were or a combo of both. Because that's where it ended.

I make sure to hit the shadow loop first. I can usually get it right out of the first kick out. Then I shoot for ramps, then loops. While in ramp and loop mode I usually just get balls up in the battlefield and I don't pay any attention to them up there, I almost always clean the battlefield with no extra effort. Once ramps and loops are done I clean up whatever is left. That is the way I go into it. I have beat it 6 or 8 times. Such a good wizard mode. And when you beat it you get to try again with no ball saver.

What pitch do you have your machine at? I remember this game was a lot easier back in the arcade and the first one I had. I can't reduce the slope now. It would feel like cheating. If anything I will make it harder once I get the GC score. If I can make it any harder.

Edit- and if I can ever get that GC score.

I have since got a nicer shadow that is super steep and cleared.. I have 3b GC on that one. Not sure the exact pitch, but it's pretty much maxed out with outlanes all the way open. I like my machines brutal.

Question. I got some led blub and tried some in my shadow only 4 out of 15 worked to start with, so I took them out sanded the copper and tried again now all but 2 work however they will work with old bulbs. Any advice I have to say I feel a little stupid as I can explain.

Did you try reversing the bulbs? Turn them and put them in the other way.

Got the LED strip installed. You can see the LEDs reflected in the playfield so it's not perfect but not bad. Better than a totally dark battlefield!

image-320.jpg

It's a 3 SMD blue from Comet. Tried 6 DMD natural white at first but it was just too bright.

Just joined the club today! Iphone shot does not do it justice, it is beautiful with Aurich's work on it! Got some work to do on it, the Battlefield drops stopped working on my last game...will dig into that tomorrow. : )
image-319.jpg

Exactly the same here. 1 shot off completion, twice. Keeps me coming back for more!

One time it was just the Centre Stand-up target - an elementary shot... i went for it, 2nd to last ball came back SDTM, mode over.

Yes. I tried rotating. Spent an hour on 15 LED's

I've owned Shadow for 4 years, but haven't posted yet. IMO the hardest pinball machine ever.

Question for those that have brassed the main ramps, as I'm just about to send the wireforms out to Chestnut. I'm thinking of doing the main ones as well, as I have a set of repros ready to go, but for those that have done this, is there any wear happening years after?

Brass is a PITA thing to deal with in pinball and it seems you are on the clock no matter what you do with it, or how much it is touched.

I think there is a better change of beating TSPP.

I wouldn't be too sure of that. Still trying to break the 128 million GC score that my TSPP came with. Every time I think I'm getting close... Still can't get past 3 balls locked on Alien Invasion and still about 8 Cletus kids from Pretzel multiball.

I'm hoping to make The Shadow my next DMD and it will have to get Aurich's work somehow.

On mine, just about any shot that doesn't make the ramps, or a bad shot to the battlefield or Sanctum or that stand-up target you mentioned will come back SDTM. I like it though because you really have to keep the ball under control at all times. I can get it going real fast, but it has to be controlled.

I've learned to only go for the Battlefield drop target from the upper flipper, or from the lower flipper if the ball saver is on. Otherwise, it's just too risky of a shot.

The battlefield drop target I have no problem with from the lower flipper. A little nudge when it hits will bring it back down OK. When the drop is down and the ball doesn't make it into the hole is when I can always count on disaster.

So my Battlefield drops stopped working last night. I fire it up this afernoon and put about ten games on it with zero issues? Anyone else experience this before?

Gremlins.

Zdoor, like what you did with the mini playfield lighting, if possible can you show a picture of the power connection you made on the front left side of the cabinet? Would be very helpful

Sure. I'm out of town until Tuesday. Taking my daughter to college. Going to be a rough weekend.

I'll take some Weds when I get back. Working on a couple other lighting mods for Shadow as well. Might offer them on our site if there's interest. Nothing too extreme just some little "touches".

Almost done with the the cabinet. Airbrushing came out really nice and first coat of clear over the can art looks great. Going to do a light sanding and hit one more time than put her back together. The armor came out gorgeous, did a black metallic with a 2 color flake. The flake is blue and green metallic and is pretty spot on with the cab colors. Looking forward to getting it back together. Did this one to sell once it's finished but starting to have second thoughts...