pimping Gollum

[cooldan]

background

i'd wanted a LOTR for ages but nobody was selling, so when i saw one a while back from the Italian warehouse company while the £-Euro was at a good exchange rate, i took the plunge. since the shipping was 220 euro per pallet, and two games fit on one pallet, this meant i needed to buy at least two machines ..... and since the lorry was going to be driving all that way, it seemed only reasonable to get two palletfuls. the more i spent, the more i saved, right? gawd it's an affliction.

these are from the original sales pics - seemed to be filthy but all present and correct, and no UK 'skill posts', which was an unexpected bonus as i'd assumed i'd be stuck with those.



anyway so it arrived intact, it booted up and the first thing i noticed was a locked on coil ..... but i went to town on it, taking it all apart and cleaning it and putting it all back together:

these pics were just among the many i took to help me put it back together after dismantling it, it was my biggest venture to date, with all new pop bumpers, slingshots, flippers, post sleeves, coil sleeves, rubbers, bulbs, as well as a bunch of switches, coils, transistors, springs, fuses .......

the makeover


which led me to the starting point - a nice clean fully working Lord of The Rings

so now i was ready to start improving it

the pimping of Gollum, part 1 - the simple

ok so first off i did some simple stuff

invisiglass - expensive but delicious


a keyless lock - easy for home use, easily reversed if needed


some custom cards - i just print out a properly-sized image on my printer at high quality settings, and put through my £10 laminator. these two cards are currently on there ...


.....and these two may be given a try at some point. sorry about the rotated image.


a Cliffy to the Gimli hole - this is great, looks nice, hides wear, prevents future wear, no ball hangups


a Cliffy to the Orthanc scoop - this wasn't so great. it wasn't really needed anyway tbh, i just bought it to be pimp-ass, maybe i coulda tweaked it more to reduce the lip, but in the end i just took it off, as it's not exactly a high wear area, and the little edge was causing a few slower balls to carrom away from entering the scoop. it looked ok, just not an improvement. what you see here is mid-removal, so any bends in the metal you can see were probably caused by me


remote batteries - a lifesaver, everyone should do this to prevent board damage from leaking batteries. actually i'm gonna go one step further very soon, am awaiting a delivery of some very cheap NVRAMs that i will install plug-and-play in lots of my games to remove any future need for batteries. it goes right in there where the only chip in the picture is, that chip comes out and this chip goes in, and that's job done in 30 seconds.





that'll do for now, this thread is already full up with pictures and i've not finished sorting it all out yet.

to follow - the pimping of Gollum, part 2 - the intermediate

 

[Cmor111]

Nice work.

You said 4 machines does that includes 2x TAF plus 1 not shown? Did you get 4 or phoned a friend for the others?

 

[JT.]

Looks like some nasty corrosion on some of the metal work Dan, did you manage to get that to come up clean in the end?

 

[astyy]

Nice work, that yukky machine looks like it was previously sited in an Orks cave in Mordor.

When you stripped the upper playfield how did you record which fastener, bolt, post, washer etc went where? It's that part of a complete strip-down that is putting me off even with gazilliions of photos. I respect that you've dived in so appreciate your advice.

 

[cooldan]

You said 4 machines does that includes 2x TAF plus 1 not shown? Did you get 4 or phoned a friend for the others?

actually it was LOTR, 2 x TFTC (one to sell and one to keep), and Space Jam

Looks like some nasty corrosion on some of the metal work Dan, did you manage to get that to come up clean in the end?

not really, metalwork is my nemesis as i don't have a vice, a buffing wheel, or any patience. i used some Nev-R-Dull wadding, and sandpaper, and i replaced some of the metalwork that bothered me, but it's never gonna be that shiny.

Nice work, that yukky machine looks like it was previously sited in an Orks cave in Mordor. When you stripped the upper playfield how did you record which fastener, bolt, post, washer etc went where? It's that part of a complete strip-down that is putting me off even with gazilliions of photos. I respect that you've dived in so appreciate your advice.

when i did first ever one, i used a million bags, each for a part and its associated screws, nuts and bolts, plus i took loads of pics. some people put each nut/bolt back in the part they just removed. these days i rely on the photos, and all the hardware just goes in a bucket. this is because often it wasn't the optimum part (maybe it got replaced before) or needs to be replaced (nuts and screws are only a few pence). maybe one day if i have a tumbler then they will all need to go in together anyway.

 

[cooldan]

ok, part 2 of the pimpathon

this plastic thing stops the ball from falling off the path of the dead and cracking the Arwen plastic


these are some nice stickers (sorry, 'decals') on the previously-plain white targets at the Palantir, top of the Shire, elbow of the sword ramp, and Spot Ring. oh, and for good measure, one on the bash tab of the balrog


here is another sticker on the Shire itself, and one on the sword tip that looks frankly a bit pants i reckon


one colour DMD - nothing more to say, this is clearly a thing of wonder and beauty


next, two Orthanc lighting mods - firstly a colour-changing bulb that sits in the scoop below it and moodily changes colour to green and purple and blue and red. this is from @Judge Dreads



and a second Orthanc light mod, this time red representing the fires at its base where they cooked up orcs out of mud and magic. this one is cleverly activated by an EOS switch on the diverter plunger/pawl thingy - you can see my finger moving the diverter manually - and you can see the wiring in the underside photo. obviously it doesn't look completely sheeite like in the pic, that's the result of an LED being captured by a digital camera.


right, what's next? oh yes, here's some apron cards i printed out to improve on the hideous pictures of Arwen and Eowyn (the brunette and the blonde) - i think these are quite nifty



and then i hooked up a flasher in the backbox, mounted to sit behind the giant eye, top centre, that sits on top of Barad Dur. it's on a post screwed into the top of the backbox, and it's hooked up to J6 pin 2 and 10 (earth and power, respectively) so that it flashes whenever the central ring flasher at the top of the playfield flashes - so every central ramp shot that hits the spinner, flashes not only the ring, but also the eye in the backglass. i'm quite pleased with this. look, there it is just behind the dangling key.




nearly done now guys, thanks for bearing with me thus far. the good bit (finally!) is below:

ok, so the most important and recommended mod for a standard LOTR is a shaker motor, so that's what i did next. now for this, you need several things. first, you need to update your ROMs to version 10 (display) and 10.02 (CPU). this is important as apparently CPU v10 is for Whitestar, but 10.02 is for SAM, and that's needed for some reason.


second, you also need to replace the little chip to the left of the ROM in the CPU with a special replacement one that you have to buy (i'm holding the original, the replacement is in the board in this picture above). i suppose you could burn one if you had the necessary hardware and software, but i bought mine for about 6-7 euros.

third, you have to update the operating system 'bootflash' (don't ask me) to v8. when you first turn the game on, count the number of flashes by the top central red LED on the CPU board after the machine initially is turned on and boots up. That's probably why it's called a bootflash I expect. mine originally had 3 flashes so i was running version 3. after i did this step, i had 8 flashes so i was running version 8. v8 also adds some other clever stuff to the menus in diagnostics and adjustments, like flipper pulse timing control. check the attached service bulletin 157 on how to update the software using a bag of chips and some jumpers for goalposts.


and fourth, of course you need a shaker motor - not a fancy one, no board needed, just a shaker motor with a red and a black wire. i got mine from Phil Dixon @Sven Normansson. the red wire is power, it hooks into 12V inside the coin door on the right (also the 12V source for the colour DMD). the black wire is the trigger, that is controlled by transistor Q12 in the backbox, pin5 on J9. you also need to connect an earth (the black wire next to the 12V source is an earth) to one of the mounting screws for the shaker motor. there are more instructions in the second attached pdf.

it works like a charm.





and there's a bit more to come - a homemade backbox lighting setup i'm quite proud of but it's too late to post, plus i have an expensive but delightful fancy Palantir mod on its way over from the US, and i'm currently making a balrog EL-wire whip mod i could use input for. oh and then i'm gonna make a staff for Gandalf with a lit up end. and i'd like some opinions on the green lit-up POTD figures you sometimes see ...... this is fun.

 

[JMP]

Nice one Dan. These were from those guys advertising the warehouse of machines on Ebay?

Great to see a tired machine restored with bling.

 

[mission65]

Looking good Dan, lot of nice touches

 

[cooldan]

I can't recommend the addition of a shaker to this game enough. It's a revelation, massive improvement.

I think so John, I've never dealt with them via eBay, I get their monthly email with stock lists and photos. But it must be the same crew.

 

[ronsplooter]

Nice one Dan Think you're right about the decal on the sword tip though.....looks a bit shi*t compared to the rest. I'd be tempted to take it off

 

[cooldan]

final update with stuff that's complete - here's my backbox lighting mod

i hate the UV tubes in Sterns, they look ugly and they glare at you and reflect off the glass. i had my first attempt here and learned a few things. like i should get my 12V supply from somewhere else, and the lights need to be less bright, and further from the glass.

so i took some ideas from here and some others from here, and bought some of this stuff and cut it to 64 x 46cm.


then i screwed some posts in where the UV tube holders used to be, and poked some holes. i will use washers and wingnuts to secure it.
then i attached some flexible LED strip to it from here, choosing the 3528 lowest intensity ones. i had to remove the jelly-like coating (maybe it's waterproofing) and would get stuff without that next time, and tried joining them with connectors but found them to be ****ing ****, so i soldered wires to connect it all together, and checked continuity of the two lines (red for power, black for earth) with a multimeter.




i also used a 9v battery to check my progress




i also cut a hole for the eye flasher i'd just installed. finally i installed an inline fuse, just in case: this 3528 stuff is 4.8Watts per metre and i measured 3.9m, so my power consumption was 18.7W.

18.7W/12V = 1.6A so i figured a 2.5A fuse should do the trick. connectors hooked her up to the 12V and ground feed inside the coin door, and i was good to go:




the observant among you will have spotted that it's not a horizontal row of lights along the bottom - this is due to the colour DMD sticking out above the speaker panel, but luckily for LOTR, the area just above this is where the name of the game is displayed so it all worked out pretty well overall i thought, and you don't really notice the dark patch below it. if i was bothered, i could put an LED strip along the top edge of the colour DMD, and on some titles that may be necessary.

Here's the finished article - i'm pleased with it.



and that, my friends was that. i am very proud of my homemade backbox LED mod.

right, i will return when my Balrog el-wire whip mod is finished, and my lit Gandalf staff mod. i'm making both of these myself. the Palantir mod from Jay's pinball should be here soon too, so i will show the lot off all together in a couple of weeks with a bit of luck. i'm also toying with the idea of trying to install some kind of laser pointer from the top of barad Dur pointing towards the player that could turn on only when big events kick in (like Destroy The Ring) but it's probably too much faff and hassle so don't wait around expecting to ever hear about that again.

criticism, comments and questions all welcomed. of all the modifications i installed, the best by far is the shaker (i had never played a LOTR before with a shaker in it, it transforms the game and lifts it up another level in my opinion), closely followed by the colour DMD, then the eye flasher, the backglass lighting rig, the Gimli Cliffy, invisiglass, and finally everything else. I have high hopes for those three pending items i coloured in purple ^just above^

 

[replicas]

You're getting good Dan.
A while ago I would have not had you down for a guy that could have done what you are doing now.
Love the difference with the translight lighting, such a great improvement.
Keep up the good work buddy.

 

[BigIan]

Very impressed Dan.

A few years ago you struggled to change a fuse (OK slight exaggeration)
Now look at you...


Seriously great work chum

 

[cooldan]

ok i'm finally done here.

i bought and installed the fabulous Palantir mod previously shown and reviewed by Sam Cullis @Archyta5 - here it is in situ
and a little video of it here -

i made a staff for Gandalf that's hooked up to the Gandalf insert arrow, so it lights up whenever that does. it's not the best, but it will do for now.
....it's supposed to look like this, so it's a fail really isn't it


i made a staff for Saruman that went through several redesigns and instars and LED bulbs. this one lights when the diverter gate opens.


and i made a whip for the Balrog that's 12V powered (from inside coin door) and earthed by the same earth that controls the flasher inside Balrog. my first effort looked a bit awful as it was wrapped around itself and looked too neat and girly like a plaited ponytail - and i fried my first 'inverter' (the driver for it that basically turns DC into AC and ramps up the frequency i think? it's a mini transformer anyway) by powering it from that Balrog flash lamp power, forgetting that 22V into a 12V driver isn't good for long. you can get a 24V driver but it's not supposed to be used on less than 5m of wire or it can get too hot and is dangerous, and you can get a 6V one as well that could probably do a decent job from the GI, but i went with 12. the second version looks rougher and more frayed and i like it.

this was the look i was going for - this is available for sale via Pinside for $75
...... and here's mine:

this was my first attempt that i didn't like

and this is the latest one. it's noisy because the glass is off, and i'm trying to play one handed and am sh1t at pinball, but you get the idea i hope

that's all folks - here's a few of them all in one 2 min video

love this game. got my new high score yesterday of 200M with two destroyed rings, 2 finished multiballs, 4 gifts of the elves, and a visit to There and Back Again.

 

[Sam C]

ok i'm finally done here.

i bought and installed the fabulous Palantir mod previously shown and reviewed by Sam Cullis @Archyta5 - here it is in situ
View attachment 30768 and a little video of it here -

i made a staff for Gandalf that's hooked up to the Gandalf insert arrow, so it lights up whenever that does. it's not the best, but it will do for now.
View attachment 30767 ....it's supposed to look like this, so it's a fail really isn't it View attachment 30766 View attachment 30764


i made a staff for Saruman that went through several redesigns and instars and LED bulbs. this one lights when the diverter gate opens.
View attachment 30770 View attachment 30771 View attachment 30772 View attachment 30773 View attachment 30774 View attachment 30775 View attachment 30776 View attachment 30777

and i made a whip for the Balrog that's 12V powered (from inside coin door) and earthed by the same earth that controls the flasher inside Balrog. my first effort looked a bit awful as it was wrapped around itself and looked too neat and girly like a plaited ponytail - and i fried my first 'inverter' (the driver for it that basically turns DC into AC and ramps up the frequency i think? it's a mini transformer anyway) by powering it from that Balrog flash lamp power, forgetting that 22V into a 12V driver isn't good for long. you can get a 24V driver but it's not supposed to be used on less than 5m of wire or it can get too hot and is dangerous, and you can get a 6V one as well that could probably do a decent job from the GI, but i went with 12. the second version looks rougher and more frayed and i like it.

this was the look i was going for - this is available for sale via Pinside for $75
View attachment 30765 ...... and here's mine: View attachment 30780 View attachment 30779 View attachment 30778

this was my first attempt that i didn't like

and this is the latest one. it's noisy because the glass is off, and i'm trying to play one handed and am sh1t at pinball, but you get the idea i hope

that's all folks - here's a few of them all in one 2 min video

love this game. got my new high score yesterday of 200M with two destroyed rings, 2 finished multiballs, 4 gifts of the elves, and a visit to There and Back Again.

You won't regret Jay's Palantir globe man, falls under one of those mods like the piano mod for TZ that is just necessary as the factory one is awful - love your other mods as well! I give it a hearty...

 

[stoptap]

Great thread. If only I had seen it before I did my own flasher mod for the eye it would have saved me some time.

Where did you get that plastic that stops the balls hitting the Arwen plastic ?

 

[cooldan]

ebay, it's sold by Andy Dreads' missus i think. £11. search Arwen protector and it should pop up.
if you do one thing, you have to install a shaker motor. when Saruman is roaring 'To War!' and Gimli is shouting at you and the Balrog is flashing and the game is going nuts, it just sends you off into hyperspace. and i found a place that sells that little chip for only 7 euros.
can i see what you've done to yours?

 

[ShootAgainChris]

Really good work with the strip led lighting for the back glass, looks amazing. I didn't notice the little bit at the bottom at first glance. Thanks for sharing

 

[Monkeyboypaul]

... and i found a place that sells that little chip for only 7 euros.

The GAL thingy? Please do tell! You said it was about 20 euros before. I'm not calling you a liar, but....

And where did you get your 10.2 rom? Ignore me, I'll actually read your thread properly and find it's good old Paul on here.

 

[cooldan]

http://thepinwitch.com/gx2/product_info.php?info=p3195_ic-u213-gal-for-lord-of-the-rings-le.html is the 7 euro GAL chip
the ROMs i got from @Paul for £6 a chip i think, very reasonable.
the third and final piece of the puzzle is to install v8 operating system (another chip, also from Paul).

then a shaker motor works in LOTR

 

[Monkeyboypaul]

http://thepinwitch.com/gx2/product_info.php?info=p3195_ic-u213-gal-for-lord-of-the-rings-le.html is the 7 euro GAL chip
the ROMs i got from @Paul for £6 a chip i think, very reasonable.
the third and final piece of the puzzle is to install v8 operating system (another chip, also from Paul).

then a shaker motor works in LOTR

Ta. I'll get right to it. So do you need that sound upgrade chip anymore, once you've done the upgrade?

 

[cooldan]

What sound upgrade chip? The v8 thing goes in the socket where one of the sound chips is, you put it in, move some jumpers, turn it on, watch it do something, then turn it off, replace the jumpers and replace the original sound chip.

You then keep the v8 chip to update other Sterns I guess.

 

[Monkeyboypaul]

What sound upgrade chip? The v8 thing goes in the socket where one of the sound chips is, you put it in, move some jumpers, turn it on, watch it do something, then turn it off, replace the jumpers and replace the original sound chip.

You then keep the v8 chip to update other Sterns I guess.

Ah yes, if you have other white star games Knocking about then I guess that makes sense. I'll ask Paul to do me some LOTR roms then.

 

[stoptap]

ebay, it's sold by Andy Dreads' missus i think. £11. search Arwen protector and it should pop up.
if you do one thing, you have to install a shaker motor. when Saruman is roaring 'To War!' and Gimli is shouting at you and the Balrog is flashing and the game is going nuts, it just sends you off into hyperspace. and i found a place that sells that little chip for only 7 euros.
can i see what you've done to yours?

Other than the flasher and a couple of coloured GI lights I haven't really done anything to it.
I am working on a plug for the skill post hole. I've made the hardware just need a good photo/scan of the area between the flippers so that I can sort out a decal.

 

[stoptap]

Added some green LED strip under the Path Of The Dead today.

 

[replicas]

Like it.

 

[stoptap]

Like it.

It has brightened up that dim corner of the game.

 

[Monkeyboypaul]

and fourth, of course you need a shaker motor - not a fancy one, no board needed, just a shaker motor with a red and a black wire. i got mine from Phil Dixon @Sven Normansson. the red wire is power, it hooks into 12V inside the coin door on the right (also the 12V source for the colour DMD). the black wire is the trigger, that is controlled by transistor Q12 in the backbox, pin5 on J9. you also need to connect an earth (the black wire next to the 12V source is an earth) to one of the mounting screws for the shaker motor. there are more instructions in the second attached pdf.

it works like a charm.

@cooldan

Just checking up on this as i'm about to install my Phil Dixon supplied Shaker in LOTR too...

Did you completely ignore the breakout shaker board and simply wired the 2 cables directly off the Shaker itself to the 2 sources you mention? Plus the earth of course.

Here's my shaker...



Sadly, i cannot take any credit for the amusing "Johnson" sticker.

 

[cooldan]

yep, board wasn't used at all. red to 12V source, black to the trigger in the backbox, earth to a mounting screw.
Phil was the one who said to try it out without the board.

 

[Tucks]

I presume the bowl of 'sick' in your early photos came free

Great photos. 5th picture in, the play field has white dots/marks which I'm guessing is through the paintwork and to the wood. Did you repair this? Can these marks be touched up easily?