I can't decide. I think the same as the lock down and coindoor would be best. It would be more cohesive from the front and still work well from the side.

Thanks Alex and I will let you know.

Dave, Yeah, it is nearly impossible to get an accurate shot. They look really nice, just a gut reaction that they clash with everything else from the front.

Alex,
I will buy another raw set and have them shipped to you. We can figure something out.

Exejet > Nothing wrong with having an opinion but learn how to have a little tact when sharing some constructive criticism please. Something like, " I really prefer the standard chrome to the powder you have chosen" would have sufficed.

well.... 6 weeks later and she is back together!

I had one inverted diode on the left sling but otherwise I somehow managed not to screw anything up

I have a short list of things left to do but she will be ready in time for MGC and that is the big thing...

I still need to:
1. do a few touchups on the exterior backbox
2. install a new DMD board >> old one is bad and I do not have time to troubleshoot it now so instead I ordered a Rottendog one from MAD amusements
3. LED it. My order from cointaker should be here this week...

I will post up more pics when I get her all LED.

here is a link to the DMD issue I had in case it helps anyone else >>>
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tech-fish-tales-dmd-issue-please-help-a-dummy#post-717177

Thanks Rob! Sincerely!

It has been a really fun project for sure! I honestly keep expecting the whole thing to blow up still It does feel really great to have done this. I only played one quick game so far as I do not want to really get at it till I have it 100% with the LEDs and new DMD board installed. I figure it will get a huge workout at MGC and hopefully if it goes down there will be some experts to assist in getting it back up and going.

I have learned a ton but have also realized that I just scratched the surface with this project. I am already looking forward to the next one.

thanks guys.

Things are all fallin in place.

LEDs have been installed. No pics yet as I have a few more LEDs on order.

It is worth mention that I was VERY unhappy with some of the choices in cointakers current FT super kit. I know people recommended against the kit, but honestly I went about compiling an entire 'kit' on my own and realized I had compiled something that was nearly $60 more than the cointaker kit, so I said screw it an ordered the kit.

I had previously done the CT kit for MM when I owned it and I thought it was really well put together. I took a chance on the FT kit and paid for my lesson. Lesson learned.

I did learn quite a bit by going through and installing their kit and realizing what I do and do not like. Big disappointments were that I would have expected the super kit to appropriately have no ghost LEDs where needed, but it does not. They do not include 5 flashers for the backbox that are needed >> they did not forget them from the package, they are just not even on the list. Pretty sure my FT is nothing special, the kit just did not account for the 5 additional flashers. They also used LOTS of cool white where warm white is needed and they did not color match for the key big fish inserts that are in the smack center of the pf. CRAPtastic. The most important area of the whole game and it was blindingly bright cool whites right in your face >> bleech...

Last thing is that there are a few lights that shine directly at the player (shell lights on topper for example) and they did not even use frosteds for those.

I ordered new bulbs and actually sent them a nice email outlining the things I did not like in the kit. I got no reply and they did not even acknowledge the 5 missing flashers from the kit. I had also offered to provide them with my feedback after I experiment with the additional $100 in bulbs I bought in order to learn and fine tune what works best (i.e. much better than the provided kit), but still no reply.

I am not complaining, just pointing things out so others can hopefully learn from my experience.

I have also been working to fix the backbox dings.

Things are looking pretty good. A few shots showing the progress.
There were some chips out of the back box, so I filled with a 2 part wood filler, sanded, and then painted, and top coated with a nice artistic polymer intended for this sort of thing (thanks RanHorton for the rec). P3112308.JPG P3112310.JPG

more progress

P3142313.JPG P3142316.JPG

I know it is not perfect, but it is at least much better

New Rottendog DMD board came in yesterday. Installed and looking good.

I will post some pics later today.

Aside from waiting on a few more LEDs to arrive and I need to print up some nice custom cards, the project is done. I am supper stoked. Put about 20 games on it thus far and it is playing fast and furious.

I am thinking I will use it for part of Clock Chaos at MGC...

A short video.

A few pics.

P3162316.JPG P3162317.JPG P3162321.JPG

Thanks for the kind words.

I have had the pleasure of being able to use a new SIGMA ColorDMD since I am bringing the FT to MGC to share with everyone. I set it on a green color I liked and also currently have it set on the scan lines option (dots, scan lines, or solid).

I prefer the middle 'style' option which is basically an in between of dots and solid, so images are slightly smoothed, but still very sharp.

The display has 49 color options and 3 display styles. VERY cool IMHO! I also really love that there are NO grid lines in this product like some of the other single color displays I have seen out there.

It really brings the game together nicely!

Yeah, Alex has been super nice and has offered to change out the legs and powder a new set that matches the coin door and lockdown. I think that is what I will do, but unfortunately they will obviously not be ready by the time MGC rolls around.

I do want to take a minute and say a HUGE thanks to EVERYONE that made this whole project possible.

Alex in particular has been amazing! I won his free powder coat contest and in turn it really made me step up my desire to make the game nice enough to be worthy of his amazing powder coat work. It really POPs.

I also want to say thanks to everyone here on pinside. The knowledge you have shared and the kind words of encouragement have been instrumental in me have the ability to do this project and learn a ton along the way.

Now, an additional huge thanks to Randy for allowing me to be an early adapter for the SIGMA in order to show it off at MGC!

A sincere thanks to all you folks!!!!

Mark >> Yup, this is the same product as you have seen the current shots of TZ. I'd say this is much better than a standard old plasma. It looks great to me, but you can be the judge in person next Friday night

sunday bump, before the thread dies forever...

One more quick video to show a few animations with the SIGMA.

Hard to play while shooting video (and I suck at playing).

LED replacements arrived. A few final pics.

The only thing I am waiting on now is some green flipper rubbers.

P3182324.JPG P3182327.JPG P3182329.JPG

xenon325i > just shoot me a PM with your email and I will send the files off to you.

I am guessing the shaker could be done, but the skill level is beyod me currently. Also the tail flappin is already an extra sensory overload and I even softened it up a bit with some drop dead foam on the knocker of the fish tale coil.

Unfortunately what I have installed is the cointaker 'kit' plus ~$100 of other LEDs needed to fix the misses in the kit plus a bunch of stuff that was not color matched like you would expect when buying a super kit.

I tried to contact coin taker 2 times to let them know about
1. the missed LEDs from the kit
2. my suggestions on improvements to the kit
Unfortunately, they never even replied to me.

I HIGHLY SUGGEST against using their kit. I was told not to use it, I did, and it ended up costing me an additional $100 to do the job correctly.

I have a list somewhere of all the things that needed to be changed and the missing or incorrect bulbs from the kit if anyone needs it.