Received and installed the new 8 driver PCB board today. Solved the problem with the stuck on upper Gumball Flasher. Kudos to K's Arcade for very quick shipment of the replacement board.

Was very lucky to pick up this beauty last night,
Will get better pics soon but it's an undocumented HUO and it's really nice

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Is everyone watching development of this? I've always wanted someone to do this - nutrition and pinball in the one place!

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twilight-zone-finaly-gum-ball-hopper-and-for-any-pinball-machine#post-1752051

That looks fantastic, so far!

Thank you,

also printed your superb apron cards, They print a tad small for me, but they still look awesome,
Having fun cleaning this pin up and playing it so far!

Just for show,
After a very mild wipe down, haven't shopped it yet

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That game looks barely played. Great find!

Its also an early serial number too, I believe one of the first 300,
The operations manual is white with just "Twilight Zone" on the cover, Not red with all the logo's like the regular run,

It doesn't have the white clock face or the green lock insert but does have the "optional" bumper post holes in the pop bumpers that have a small plug over them,

Gonna have fun with this game

Ordered the new roms too,

It had L-3 roms and L-1 for the sound, Anyone know what the newer L-2 sound roms give?
I know what the 9.4H Roms do the game, Just not sure what the sound roms do?

Late to join but came home with mine last Saturday. Met a great guy who contacted me after hunting one down for a few months. The machine was restored a few years ago and still looks good. Very few mods and mostly original.
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Really like that backboard decal,

Thinking about getting that or something similar, Treasure cove make some nice side decals too to give the game a cool 3d look,

Trying to find a diverter magnet for the power ramp diverter, Bounce outs of the diverter are really annoying,
Plus my new 9.4H roms arrive today along with a Marco "care package" so I'm excited about that

http://pinballpro.net/shop/twilight-zone-diverter-magnet-tz-dm/

Twilight Zone owner for about 12 years now. I'd like to point out one thing about the "upgraded" replacement slot machine scoops. They are wider than the originals, at least, for my early production game. I have had nothing but trouble with my replacement scoop giving me inconsistent ball delivery compared to the old scoop. Right now it is about 1 of 20 balls SDTM, with the rest hitting the right flipper anywhere from the center to the tip.

I'm actually getting rid of that scoop and going back to a NOS original style, this time I'll reinforce the perimeter with JB Quik before I install it. My old scoop lasted more than 10 years with that fix, until I tried to "adjust it" and cracked the JB Quik.

No mods on my game aside from full LEDs with LED OCD and GI OCD. I like my games to look like new, as close to factory original as possible.

_{Post edited by neurokinetik: added obligatory pics}

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FWIW, I have an early sample game, and I recently replaced the original scoop with one of Kerry's upgraded scoops. The new scoop fits great, and it delivers the ball perfectly to the right flipper every time. The only modification I had to make was to saw off a little of the target support arm. It was extending a bit too far on my game.

I just got rid of my replacement scoop as well. No matter how I adjusted it, too many balls went down the middle.
I have a cousin that has a welding shop. He welded my old scoop back together and now every ball is straight to the center of the right flipper.
Life is good.

I just finished a big cleanup of my TZ and was left with an extra part :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/avdlusqp8eswxba/2014-07-04%2023.53.54.jpg

It looks like a ramp protector or something similar, but I can't pinpoint where it belongs.
Any clues ?

That is the bottom guide to the rocket kicker. It needs to go on top of the two rubber posts to aim the kicker into the hitchhiker lane.

I had to grind that part down too. It stuck out well past the greed targets, and also was too far forward to fit properly with my reinforced slot greed target. I'll take measurements when I get my replacement (because I don't feel like taking the game apart twice right now) but the width of the scoop is probably 1/16" wider on the replacement than the original.

Same problem here as well.
Had to grind the little support arm way down both in length and depth.
But even after getting that just right, I could never get the ball aim like my original scoop.
Thank God my original scoop was so easy to fix.

Did the diverter magnet mod last night,
That should have been factory, Such a difference,

Really want a set of inner side decals for this machine, They suit it so well, Gonna look at getting a set of those and a backboard decal,

I'd expect it to have a green "lock" insert and a white clock face if it was early in the initial run--but someone with more TZ insight might know better.

Yeah looking further into it I'm not too sure?
The only thing out of the ordinary are the pop bumper plugs, Which are factory,
But no green lock, or white clockface, But the white operating manual threw me for a loop

Serial number is 53320 110361

Made 5/28/93

I thought it was the last 3 digits but I don't think they were built in order like that, I don't believe the next one after mine would be xxx362

That's not all that early. Mine was built more than two months before yours ...

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I have read that they put the extra posts in with tz when they sent it out to the operator. They let them decide if they wanted to put them in or not .so maybe they were put in and then taken out when put into home use and plugged .

Yeah looks like I have a mid cycle game then, Not the last runs where the bumper holes in the jet bumpers wasn't even there, and the last runs had the playfield interlock switch, Mine doesn't, The whole game is still alive with the coin door open much to my dismay, Going to look into retrofitting a interlock switch,
I only got the 300 number from the guy I got it from, He was positive this is how they were numbered, I wasn't so sure because I know a lot about how TAFG's were serialized compared to their actual game number,
i.e my Addams gold is #0964, I know #0965 doesn't share all but one digit on the serial number, Only the game numbers were built in order and the serials were all random and share no significance with game numbers,

It looks like Twilight Zone games were built March 1993 to Sept 1993 with a few differences along the way,
I seriously doubt that from March to almost the end of May they only made 300 games lol,

Mine also has the china marker written number "96" under the apron,
Again from what I understand that means that day (5/28/93) mine was the 96th game produced,

Ok so been reading alot of this thread and looking at pic and will be joining the club Wednesday morning and am very excited. I had a question about the cabinet sides and the differences in how far the color extends .in a few pics above I see that the redish pink goes to the siderails and then others where it only goes half that? So why is this ? Im assuming one is wrong and were bad replacements?

They should only go half way up,
Take a look through the thread or just google twilight zone pinball and you will see,

Good point Starscream. I wish whoever did the decals on mine got the right ones (was the first thing I noticed wrong when I looked at it), but it's nicer than any others I looked at and for me not worth changing them. I guess over the years there's been all sorts of bad versions of cabinet art, plastics, etc. Note that the seller wasn't the one who did the cabinet work.

Yours look way better than faded original ones

Every cloud has a silver lining and all

So yours are not correct? That machine is so nice ?

Generally, with TZ, the following is (somewhat) the rule ...

Early/Mid March -> the 12 prototypes (lab games, production samples, shipping testing, etc)
Late March, Early April -> the 200 samples (white clock, green lock, 3rd magnet core, no magnet)
Late April onwards for the next six months or so -> Normal production games.

Note that any parts leftover from the sample runs were used up in the early production games.

That's how you end up with some white clocks on production games, and stuff like that.

It's pretty hard to tell a prototype from a sample, esp. if the cost reduced parts are re-installed.

There are some artwork differences, and the custom PCBs under the playfield will be red.

Far as I know, no production game was made with the 3rd spiral magnet drilled.

has anyone got a how to of how to mod the t birds headlights?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twilight-zone-street-lamp-mod-best-price#post-1762218

street lamp mod. best price!

Nope but it's ok. I was looking for one with a nice PF so I was able to find what I was looking for. Just a shame that someone spent the money on new art and it's not right. I'm ok with it.

Yea that suxbut whatever still a sweet machine

What do you think about this for a flasher light cover. I was going to be a bit more clever with it and get it to do it's click on click off thing with static sound but got pissed off and just used it as a flasher cover.

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It's not bad; different!

My wife got me some TZ love for my 40th birthday (TZ was an early present to myself a few weeks ago). I never got into audio much especially not for pinball. She got me the kit from PL from FF. Really like the way it sounds now. You can actually feel the bass like when you defeat The Power and the knocking. Very cool!
Upper speakers
Sub/lower cabinet speaker

I added the FF speakers to mine a few weeks ago. Definitely an improvement. I am a lifelong audiophile with a critical ear, so I can't say that the sound quality is wonderful, but it is better. There is only so much you can do with a mediocre signal and a tiny amplifier.

Little resto thread for everyone,
I'm 3 days in now on a total play field strip, tear down and rebuild with lots of new parts,
Here's some pics
Fully rebuilt the ball trough, lightly buffed the playfield but I'm going to really compound it later today,
Rebuilt the pop bumpers, new everything, caps, wafers, bodies and rods,
New magnet cores, cleaned and protected the shooter lane (I use a self laminating sheet I buy from staples as a shooter lane Mylar, it holds up perfect to home use and you just peel it off when it's dirty and build another,)
Underside has had a total clean and rebuild, subways all polished, every single coil taken off then cleaned and new sleeves,
Re-grained all steel, but I see I missed one ball guide by the magnets I'll get that today,
Still have so much more to go but I for one love seeing pics like this so I thought I'd share with pinside!

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Well seeing as it doesn't take long I decided to polish the playfield now and regrain that ball guide,
Also pictured is a freshly rebuilt clock going in, I rebuilt the gumball too, should get pics of that really

But here's some more, freshly waxed

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And here she is all back together finally!
Never thought I'd get it all back in one piece!

Game plays very tight and fresh feeling
Hope you enjoy!

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Buy a Yat Ming 1:43 1955 Thunderbird off eBay or wherever. The car comes apart pretty easily by removing a few screws from the bottom, if I remember correctly. Drill out the headlights, and insert two super bright 3mm LEDs. Solder a 150-ohm resistor in series with each LED. I was able to fit these inside the car body. Connect to the Dead End lamp socket (or wherever you want) using either alligator clips, or by soldering directly to the socket (and then splice in some insulated disconnects maybe). If the LEDs seem dim, then it's probably wired up backward at the socket. Oh, and I mounted the car using a simple flat metal bracket with a screw hole at each end.

The trough picture (and that's a nice looking game, btw) should be set aside as a reference photo.

Too many people forget about the ball gate in there.

Which one specifically?

I would assume the one way gate that *ahem* you can install the wrong way around causing utter chaos in the ball trough,

You only make that mistake once

There is only one ball gate in a standard trough design.

pre order open for the tz gumball mod and video!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-collest-mod-for-tz-and-for-any-pinball-machine-gumball-dispenser#post-1776884

thank you

Got my replacement slot scoop today, and took some measurements:

NOS old style slot scoop: 1.08"
NOS new style slot scoop (Mantis?): 1.19"

Pic shows the new style scoop with the caliper still set at the measurement from the old scoop. There is almost 1/8" side-to-side for the ball in the new scoop, compared to around 1/16" in the original style.

Also noticeable is the way they are constructed. The new style scoop has the sides sitting outside of the center section, where on the old scoop, those sides are made to overlap the center a bit. This seems to be where the big width discrepancy is coming from.

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anyone getting the gumball mod? not cheap, but looks well made - I'm going to grab ver 3 for the Dollar Bill Acceptor slot. My kids will be bugging me to play the game even more than I do now!

I am glad that Mantis scoops are available for people who need them. But if you can get your old scoop repaired that is certainly the way to go.
My game plays so much better with the original back in place.