Bally Twilight Zone Pinball Restorations 1

Evaluating and teardown of a Twilight Zone project while we have a little down time on the current Rocky project.

[@geoffreyblackmer]

Awesome! Love to watch this process.

[@iconoclast518]

Love your comment at 3:55, so true.

[@TheSfspanky]

I love the groan, right after you gutted the mannequin mod

[@willierants5880]

I wanted to see it fly!

[@rickwhitescarver8526]

Cant be bothered to get the right fucking bolt! Omg i laughed ao hard!

[@willierants5880]

This one had me thinking. I do like to put a little something custom on each machine I do, but it must compliment the machine and generally at a glance you may never notice it and they serve a purpose/have a functional use. They aren't there to just be screw on happy meal toys. Also it must be easy on easy off, that way if the owner doesn't want it they just remove it. That said I think even that is probably a bit much for Chris and that has me thinking. I do think there's a happy middle ground and that's what I try to shoot for. Still I do appreciate a game restored to it's original glory, but I'm not opposed to tasteful mods.

[@yncy]

Preach! I've vented that same rant dozens of times over the years. "They added all this crap but didn't even bother to get X working?" It's become a dollhouse hobby. Incidentally, TZ was the start of this whole mentality, back when Tom Wible pretty much singlehandedly created the cottage industry of modding games with happy meal toys and whatnot.

[@highendpins]

Dollhouse is a perfect description. It drives me crazy.

[@willierants5880]

Sorry for the multiple posts. Lots going on with this one. I wanted to see that wooden doll fly! 🤣

[@highendpins]

You are only minutes away from an honest evaluation of the mods 😱

[@LandrysPinball]

Chris - Great tip on the hand cleaner. Have you tried the original Gojo without pumice? I'm still jealous of your on-hand parts inventory... 🤩

[@willierants5880]

Who isn't a bit envious of that selection of on-hand parts and the wall of wire and the tools and space... However as Chris said, it's not any of the above it's the skill and experience. You would laugh at our parts bin. It's one, about to be two Plano parts boxes and another box for connectors another for electronic parts and another for screws so a current total of 4 Plano boxes. 😅

[@bobmonzo3137]

I agree way too many mods on this one. This is a great classic machine. It doesn’t need all these mods.

[@willierants5880]

I like mods, but I like them to be tasteful, that compliment the machine. I also like them to be easy on, easy off. I try to put a little something something on every machine I do even if you don't notice it.

[@gallimead]

I'm all for a little polish, and maybe a few warm whites in the GI. A mod or 2, hmmmn.. ok. But it's clutter at the end of the day. I get the feeling, the client had more money then sense. Charge them for every second.

[@JimmyPUnhinged]

Do you have the schematics for the wiring, or do you just know where to connect everything stored in your head?

[@highendpins]

Both. I get as far as the mind will take me then lean on my knowledge of how to decipher manuals or schematics to fill in the gaps.

[@JimmyPUnhinged]

@@highendpins That is really impressive. I like restorations like this.

[@gmontoy153a]

What's usually the end cost in doing these? I know it will vary from machine to machine but an average price being?

[@willierants5880]

Invisiglass, it's nice but I think it's a waste of money. People keep asking me if we use Invisiglass because they couldn't see it. I was like nope. It's just unscratched and clean glass. If you keep your glass clean and unscratched it can in many cases be just as nice as Invisiglass. What is more I can get a new glass for $50. Invisiglass is what ~$250 and once scratched it's trash? Nope, what a waste of money.