Almost finished my rebuild. I put a Kruzman-cleared NOS playfield in.

Wow! That looks fantastic!

Here's my silver ball target solution. It's so crazy it might just work.
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Big chunk of super high density foam inside.
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Way to think outside the box! Does it actually work well with the spoon being hollow?

The switch operates perfectly and all seems ok. Early days though. It’s not spring steel so I expect fatigue problems at some point and possible snapping at the neck. See how we go.

That’s awesome!

I like it... Very cool indeed!

Bought the Tommy Propeller Mod from TheDudeMods / BigLebowski for my friends Tommy, and it is looking great! Installation was easy with the added instruction manual with photo's. Think it cost me 5/10 minutes or so.

Added a 4 smd spotlight in the center also.

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Recommend swapping the propellers for the solid 3D type - makes a big difference as you can really see them spinning !

Any suggestions on what might look good as a decal around the speaker panel? Post any pictures if you have some suggestions. That area really needs a decal. Thanks.

Great recommendation! Unfortunately the game is not mine, otherwise I would've put some neat propellers in

That plane mod looks great.

Do you know where I can get both (lit up engines and 3-D props)?

I'll try to lookup / find "TheDudeMods"

Thanks
Kerry

Any thoughts on a mirror that only works intermittently? Some games it goes up and down fine, as expected. Some games it never moves. Once in a while it gets stuck about half way. So far, at least, it has come good eventually. Leads me to wonder if it is getting stuck on something?

Might it need cleaning or lubricating? How (and with what)? Does anyone have pictures or videos on working on the mirror?

If it stops halfway, that could be a loose microswitch for the “fully down” or “fully up” position causing it to either prematurely trigger or not trigger at all.

I’ll edit this post in a minute with a link to a post earlier in this thread, I think I posted a video of it working at some point. My money would be on your switches not working as expected.

Here’s the link to the previous post, hope that helps!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-whos-tommy-club-can-you-hear-me-members-only/page/40#post-6424238

As a first step I would reseat any connectors associated with the mirror.

On Data East, all motors are actuated by a relay. Look for a relay mounted under the playfield near the mirror motor. Often these relays get a cracked solder joint on the bottom. There will be 6 or 8 solder pads on the bottom. Try re-flowing the solder on all those pads.

Picked this up last month - so, I'm on my Mod Journey... But I have done the full LED, and the full Cliffy kit all new Plastics (pretty much every plastic was in ROUGH shape... ) But the cabinet and playfield were in absolutely fantastic shape... Was terribly filthy, however... Just - all-over...

The game appeared to be bone stock, when I got it.
Though I think it has a custom Translite (which I don't really like).

The Cliffy's make the game a tad more difficult, but this game really needs that in my opinion (It's pretty easy to take this one all the way to "Pinball Wizard"). The Cliffys just LOOK great on this game too... Just very aesthetically pleasing...

In a collection, this is just a great game for fun / easily approachable / etc... Really like it...

Next month - Pinsound
Month after - Color DMD
Finally - Sit back & enjoy!

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Looks like you are on the right path. Looks good. A Pinsound will amaze you. If you can, I sure do recommend their speakers. Helps a lot. You order from France, good people. Leaving color dmd for last is smart. Icing on the cake. I did the same. If you want to shop translights, retrorefurbs in UK has one I put on mine. They have quite a bit.

Oddly you actually have the original prototype translite. I picked one up ( I kind of like it) but the bottom couple of inches were cut off. Probably someone putting it in a frame. Sadly that prohibits me from installing the thing.

So, unless it’s a knock off, you have an oddity. Someone has been trying to sell one forever on eBay for $175, so I don’t know that it’s really an expensive thing, just cool if you happen to like it.

Tommy is a great game. I did the pinsound and pinwoofer combo and love it. Added a shaker too. One of my favorites.

If you prefer this translite, PM and I can tell you where to get it in the US.

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There is also this one:
https://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/the-whos-tommy-union-jack-pinball-translite/

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I bought that one from Retrorefurbs here in the UK. I wasn’t happy with the quality of it - the colours were way more muted than the website images, some of the artwork was iffy , areas of white weren’t consistent.

I stuck with the Prototype design in the end which I think overall is the best of what’s available .

That's too bad. I was very happy with the one I had made. With the LEDs it actually looks 3D in some parts. Jim

I'm looking to shop out my Tommy over the holidays. Does anyone know where to get the auto-ball launcher? The one listed on Marco's says that it doesn't work in Tommy. I'm trying to take advantage of the last day of Marco's free shipping today.

I changed mine. I couldn’t find one to buy. I saw on Action Pinballs site a nice replacement you have to create. Modern Stern, like Iron Man. Go to their site, data east auto launch. Parts are listed and good instructions. Be sure and get a new style shooter switch. It works great, but, you gotta make it happen.

Thinking about doing a topside teardown of my Tommy to give it a good thorough clean/wax, replace all the rubbers, and finish installing the harder-to-get-to Cliffy protectors. I'd probably just do a partial teardown under normal circumstances, but I'm planning on listing it sometime in the next few months and want it to present as well as possible.

Anybody have any success/horror stories for this process on a Tommy? Any mechs or anything that are particularly challenging to remove/reattach?

Thanks!

Not really anything that comes to mind. I remember it being very simple and straight forward. Ramps weren’t any problem at all.

Not really, But for appearance, you might want to use some Matrix parts to light the wing span, Nose, and Bomber Props.

It's a straightforward one by 90s standards. Keep track of the numerous clear plastic ball guards - easy for these to be a head scratcher when you reassemble. There is a post somewhere in this thread where someone detailed where they all should go.

Take pictures of the spotlight assembly on the left. It can be tough.

The blinder on a friends Tommy really struggles to open and close. Any adjustments to open/close it with more power? The blinders are a 3D printed repro, guessing part of the problem lies there or the mechanism is missing a part or two.

Any advice? Thanks!

I don’t know about more power. The adjustments are really for positioning. There are lots of on line photos and videos. Start by making sure the mechanical aspects of the device are correct. There shouldn’t be any substantial resistance to opening and closing.

Hey, just wanna give a random appreciation post for your 5.0, been using it for almost 6 years now. Thanks a lot!

I remember the great excitement of testing new code on my favourite pinball machine. Still loving it Chad - amazing job

RIP Lyman Sheats. Thanks for Tommy and all the other games you worked on. Making the world a more fun place .

I could be wrong, but I believe Tommy was the first game Lyman worked on.

RIP Lyman! Definitely feels now like the big break & where it all started, it shows! Always felt Tommy was ahead of it’s time, like a modern day Stern, love this game.

Where did you get the 4 SMD spots from?

I am redoing my Tommy cabinet with the custom art from Retro Refurbs. This is my first cabinet artwork application.

What color should I paint the cabinet prior to applying the side art? The original cabinet was yellow, which I could match and redo. But this custom artwork only has a little of the original yellow in it. Since the cabinet paint will show on the edge of the wood, as well as where the artwork ends, I want everything to blend in.

https://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/the-whos-tommy-hand-drawn-pinball-translite/#single/0

Im Only seeing Non Ghosting right now....
https://www.cometpinball.com/products/4smd-non-ghosting

I didnt see regular, but you can email.

Heres a Bulb I created That I use a few on almost every game, depending on location.

4 Straight up for light, but a ring of 4, around the base for a Low 360 degree Light.
In some games, its be my best choice in GI for getting light On the playfield level, over above.

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This likely isn't the place for this, but I had to quit using the alternate 5 code a while back because, during tournaments, sometimes when people would get a multiball going and 4 or more balls were on the playfield, occasionally the game would just reset. It never happens with the original software and it seemed totally random. May put it back in just cause I liked the changes quite a bit.

Interesting. Never experienced that in years of using Chads code. Anyone else found this ?

No. Never had that happen.
And have ChadH )thanks again awesome code) code in for approx 5yrs also.
Brings out so many more elements and makes better use of blinders and multi balls.

Sand, fill all dings, sand again, and basically get it ready as if you are going to paint it. Primer it and paint it the same blue as the background of the cabinet decal/sticker/side art. I went with the original yellow and so painted a yellow base. Came out great.

Good question!
Think I took it out of a WMS Indiana Jones ledkit from led4pin (in the Netherlands) once but not 100% sure Leds were too bright for my liking in the game.
You can order 4smd leds everywhere, but if you live in the USA: I hear great things about Comet Pinball.

Great (sarcasm). I just got my shipment of translite and cabinet art from Retrorefurbs. Am in the process of fixing the cabinet now to get ready to apply the new cabinet art. I hope it looks good.

It turns out that their 2SMD bulbs are slightly brighter than the 4SMD bulbs, because the SMDs used in the 2SMD bulbs are bigger. Always the fine print....

But they don't have the 2SMD's in non-ghosting.