The flex heads can be bent to fit precisely to the center of the insert. The single SMD frosted bulbs are bright enough in most cases as well to work fine at lesser cost than a flex.

I used the flex LEDs on mine for all those right angle 555 sockets. It seemed like the best option to me. They are not too tall. You can always bend them to point at whatever location/angle you like.

I used the Flex leds too, mind you, some of the leds are a right bugger to replace as a few are in hard to reach places. For instance, there are at least 3 that are behind the underneath subway ramp, and for the time being i've left the original bulbs in place cause i cant be bothered taking the subway off to get to them (Quite an undertaking)!!

Make sure to get non-ghosting flex

In STTNG I have flexes for these and they work great. That said, I put LEDs in a Williams IJ and it has a lot of 90 degree sockets as well. I didn't have any flexes so I just used frosted 1SMDs from Comet and frankly I don't notice that it's much different than the flexes in STTNG.

I disagree! I really like LED flashers. They are bright for sure, but you can color match the bulb to the dome and the flash ends up much richer in color. Think about it, normal flashers are a super bright yellow-white light behind the colored dome. If you match the color, they are a lot different. If it's too bright for you, that's another issue altogether.

Smart choice. I have this board in all me games that support it and it is awesome.

Did my LED conversion last year. I used the flex style LED in all right angled sockets. I think it is the only way to get the most light coverage. Even the kick back insert. Try a color changing fast blink in the WORM HOLE insert adds cool effect. Do to some ghosting issues in the mode inserts use a nonghosting LED for those for sure . Hope this helps.

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I got one of these bulbs as a free sample once. It faded between all the colors at half a second per color then just blinked red green and blue. You just plug it in like a normal bulb and the circuitry inside changes the colors for you.
Last time I tried to get some they were out of stock.

They have these:
http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/1ledrgb.htm
That just slowly fade through all the colors and that looks great.

It blinks very fast A couple colors per second. The one you showed a link to will work as well. I have never seen it . By the description. It is a mixture of (slow fade) and then (fast blink). The other link from

Is a slow fade color changer it is what I used in the Start mission insert. And really looks cool on back box . One behind the Enterprise ship. One behind the Borg ship. And one between those two where the image of the tractor beam is. If you want to know the exact Fast blink color changing LED I used for the WORM HOLE send me a private message. As far as putting in cliffy's there is a set . I like the look of the real wood and art work. So I do not use them as much. But that's me. True Mylar for the inlanes is overkill. It is to thick. Go to an office supply store and get 2-3 mil.8x10" Self Seal Laminating sheet. Much thinner than Mylar and will work best. Peace, Rob

Isn't this what you were asking about?

http://passionforpinball.com/sttng_scoop.htm

Steve

Link sent to Cliffy, hopefully he can answer your questions if he can break free.

Steve

Thanks for the heads up Steve. Man, I really need a STTNG playfield to work from. I have modified my single drop to work in the start mission scoop but it's rarely worn and even more rarely asked for. Still, would love to get all holes covered.

I also use a fast color-changer in my worm hole insert! Great minds think alike

Another cool addition is i put a slow color changer in the back box behind the tractor beam the Borg ship is firing at the Enterprise. It doesn't add a lot of color since it's behind basically blue translite, but it adds a slow pulse with a slight color shift, to add a little "animation" to the beam.

I also think LED flashers are way too bright for the shields and shoot again insert. You're looking right at them when they go off, they're not in your peripheral vision like a lot of other flashers.

One last thing -- if you get anti ghosting bulbs, they may interact strangely with LED OCD if you upgrade to that eventually. I'm a huge fan of LED OCD but I get your wife's position on the matter . The good news is bulbs are cheap, it's not a big deal to buy a few more if you have to.

Most of the bulbs on STTNG you can get to with a minimum of fuss.

I've never removed the subway at all, but there are a few 555 sockets that are mounted on PCBs that are infinitely easier to get to if you detach the PCB from the underside of the playfield. Much easier than removing the subway, I think.

The biggest pain if I remember is the left and right VUK. They have to be taken off . And the subway I think you have to get a few LED under it. But Maybe I loosened it for cleaning. I looks daunting . But If I can do it any one can. Note : I really Like the effect of adding BLUE LED FLASHERs in the BORG ship . Blue looks excellent .

I'm sure it does. my only objection, and this is only because i am a star trek super-nerd, is that it doesn't particularly fit the Borg theme. their colors on the show were generally green, black, and metallic grey. I associate blue more with the Federation. I think it works great for the Enterprise's shields, for example. Romulans - also green. Klingons: red and brown.

Yes you are a STAR TREK nerd. And there is nothing wrong with that. I only know my Borg ship had blue widows. That is how I based my LED color. All I know is it looks awesome. Blue is one of my favorite colors. As far as the Shield 555 sockets I used Cyan or Teal . I could not find a Teal flasher for I left the incandescent ones in.