Kingpin
Capcom, 1996You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider TomDK.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Thank you for your inspiration !
Encouraged by this thread I started my own KingPin project and will give a sneak preview soon.
As vegemite_nick´project, my project is also in no connection to other projects. Just a rebuild for my own ....
You want it ... you got it ...
First there was an idea, inspired by Nick.
All we had was ap picture of a KP playfield. For a first reference this was printed out.
Starting from the scratch would be not possible at all, trust my, I have experience.
So I bought a Breakshot as a good start. Bad thing : It has other pcb´s but I have all needet boards in stock.
Bad surprise afterwards, after renovating the cabinett I figured out: It will not fit due BS has no ramps, etc tha cabinett is "too flat".
IMG_9594 (resized).jpgIMG_9593 (resized).jpgIMG_9700 (resized).jpgIMG_0084 (resized).JPEG
next surprise:
The BS has a general illumination directly powered by the transformer and less coils as other capcoms. therefor several pwers were missing. Too bad also 2 x 50 Volt were missing so I added a second transformer for 2 x 50 Volt. Problem solved.
So for the beginning I had a cabinett, the modified ROMs to fit 4 x 512Kbyte , power on and ..... KP alive.
As DMD I use a Pin2DMD due it works with just 12 Volts instead the high power of normal DMD.
Now it was time for my friend C. from Austria. He is a talented and hard working hobby-artist with AI. He spend over 300 hours to bring the pictures of the playfield to a file that is usable for: Milling all needet levels, drilling and printing.
Meanwhile I got familiar with the schematics and all available sources about KP.
... to be continued ...
Next big step was the playfield ....
So we had a picture of the playfield, my friend from Austria made a AI version. Good to have. So I bought from a "source" original wood as used in pinball machines. Looked all over the world for inserts and got them nearly all. 2 Inserts were made out of opak plexiglas: the powermeter and the big guys head.
Meanwhile we made several proto prints from the playfield on PET-G to have an overview. This short story, told in some sentences was work for some month.
The result is a CNC milled proto white plastic (easier to drill) , several printouts and a CNC milled playfield wood.
Inserts were glued in and a print was done. printed 1 layer white for all areas and a colored layer on top.
IMG_1241 (resized).JPEG
IMG_1557 (resized).JPEG
IMG_1221 (resized).JPEG
As this is the first try we had a little difference in the 2 print layers, we call it "Blitzer". However .. it looks great ! So professional clearcoat was brought on.
Meanwhile I worked on the metal rails and some pcb´s with help of some great german pinheads. First try for the powermeter was a pcb with LED´s , but ... you can guess ... Capcom without a OCD-board do not like any LEDs . So a second version was designed with regular bulbs. A pcb for the 7 lamps on the way to the HotelLex was designed and also some simple 2-lamp-pcbs due KP needs several of them. At least more than I had in stock.
Remember, everything was made out of pictures !
IMG_9890 (resized).JPEG
First sketches from the ramp.
6767e087-b8c4-4e06-946f-d4db0c91ab04 (resized).jpg
wireforms measured on the playfield printout and from pictures
IMG_0262 (resized).JPEG
First try LEDs .. does not work ...
IMG_1190 (resized).JPEG
Second try with bulbs .. works fantastics and fits
Enough for the moment ...
I was informed about the pcb´s and had the missing in my stock, but with the cabinett I had a bad surprise. Renovated the BS cabinett completely to figure out ... it is not high enough. But this is a hobby project so I do not worry. Same for the transformer.
It is always sad to use a pinball for a conversion. If NBA for a MM , AB for a BBB or a BS for a KP ... but, trust me, to have success you need a basic. There are people out trying to build from the scratch. This will become more complicated and expensive due buying all parts (used or new). Try to get Capcom parts ... not easy.
If I remember right, Nick used his AB cabinett to run the KP.
Just a small info on my rebuild. It is at leat to 90% playable.
90% means that the spinners are little too high so that the ball will not contact them. Will work after my vacations on this.
On the left ramp exit the switch is not connected yet so it will not be counted.
last bigger issue: I am still working on the gun mechanic. have already cut off a brand new balltrough but need the extensions to get the ball on the playfield.
But this will not effect the game, cause the programmer were pretty smart (like on BBB): I desoldered the ramp mechanism to lock the balls. So after the boot process the machine realizes that the ramp will not open. So the multiballs now start out of the regular balltrough and autoballauncher.
I had the same on my BBBr, if the aliens motor is not connected, the game will not divert any ball to the 2 Aliens and I could play the game ... now the aliens are also working finde.
Small things: I just found now a FF cabinett with transformer. So next step will be to bring the backbox and the playfield on the FF cabinet to see if it fits. Than the cabinet will get some KP decals and looks like a KP.
So while we wait on the official KP project , here is my version I build meanwhile:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhibZhjmIXa4-IRSRK86AdNCC9bVWUzXp
Enjoy !
Quoted from Pinballer73:Oh wow that's really nice! The rest of us can only dream, shame that the Pinball Circus group has gone quiet on the remakes of KP.
It is a big difference between a homebrew and a commercial final product.
Do not dream .. make your dream come true ! See what Nick made from the scratch ! So it is possible to do so. It is much work and many road bricks are to work with but , with some time, it is possible.
CMG has to deliver a highend product with warranty and parts which are available. Our homebrews are happy with an old set of pcbs. I prefer this due I do not like rgb leds in a pin from the 90th. But I see the need due the old CPU´s are no longer available.
It is not easy ... but hopefully someone will bring KP out. Would be also great for me and Nick to get perfect ramps and parts 
But I agree ... a team from 4 people should have reached more in 4, 5 Years ... Corona or not.
We will see. I am sure a KP will popup in the future !
A little preview ....
First I used the Breakshot Cabinett ... to figure out that it is too small for KP.
Exactly ... found this after renovation.
So I went with a BK2K cabinet a friend gave me.
Now I got a Flipper Football cab with transformer, wires, etc ..... looks much much better.
IMG_1157 (resized).JPEGIMG_2506 (resized).JPEGIMG_2561 (resized).JPEGIMG_5276 (resized).JPEGIMG_5277 (resized).JPEGNow the final version:
Everything is working expect the GUN mechanism under the playfield. I am still working on it.
Thanks again to the TS Nick, who showed that it is possible to remake this great machine.
The software has some glitches.
I am not sure if it is a bug or a feature that a running mode will continou on a ball drain and with the next ball. Points and bonus are counted, next ball is served but the mode is still running.
Also some modes are not timed .... f.eks. "Spin City" will run until the mission is acomplished. Same for the mode to get points in the bumpers.
I played several times "Spin City" but never saw "Double Spin City".EDIT: Played it now !!
Very nice is the fact that also a3 ball multiball is possible, altough there is no GUN mechanism. That makes the pin fully playable.
I cheeted with the buy-in button to get one time in the cellar to hunt the KingPin. Great idea, great look when only all the red lamps are on.
Present dots are , like always on Capcom, just great ! But I am sure in a final version there would be more to come. Sometimes the displays shows just the score on a very boring way. One reason to hope that CMG will release the game with complete software.
Today I will work on the wireramps and finally give them to galvanic in brass or gold. For any reason in germany it is easier to find a galvanic for gold than for brass.... strange.
IMG_6060 (resized).JPEGIMG_6066 (resized).JPEGIMG_6067 (resized).JPEGIMG_6073 (resized).JPEGIMG_6075 (resized).JPEGIMG_6078 (resized).JPEGIMG_6082 (resized).JPEG
Level 1 is the level before level 2 and 3 
Very cool !! I came with several buy-ins to the vault but no success !
Time to try again after the wireramps are back from plating .
"The gun" is a mechanism like a balltrough but longer in itself.
It has 1 opto switch and 2 mechanical switches. For a multiball it locks the balls and give them in the outer orbit through a metal flap as on Centaur.
So far I bought a ball trough with the needet switches. But now I am thinking about, how to make the way for the ball "longer" and in a correct angel.
The perfect solution would be a complete new unit: lasercutted, folded and welded.
What I have so far is some computerdrawings made out of a scan from this unit.
Pictures will follow !
IMG_3430 (resized).JPGYou're currently viewing posts by Pinsider TomDK.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/welcome-to-the-big-city-kid?tu=TomDK and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
