LOTR mods...upgrades...where to get?

vader1979

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Kinda jumping the gun here...but curious to know what mods and upgrades are available for a LOTR pin? Is there a complete list somewhere of what u can ad? What you recomend? I know about LED's...path of the dead...new shooter rod...figures... anything else?
 
shaker kit/sub woofer. back box led kit.

i have the flipper fidility led back box kit in mine and its awesome. it comes with a remote and has a ton of cool settings.
 
This is gonna sound dumb...but what exactly is a shaker motor? I have had a data east Star Wars pin before...so I am familiar somewhat with pins...but it didn't have a shaker motor. What does it do?
 
This is gonna sound dumb...but what exactly is a shaker motor? I have had a data east Star Wars pin before...so I am familiar somewhat with pins...but it didn't have a shaker motor. What does it do?

A shaker motor interacts with the game's software and literally makes the machine shake at different points. It's pretty sweet. I just added one to my Tron machine earlier this week. It adds another dimension to the gameplay and only takes a few minutes to install (Tron is pre-drilled and wired for a shaker). Not every game is shaker compatible, but LOTR is one of them (though I'm not sure if LOTR requires any modifications to hook one up).

I think pinballlife.com is currently sold out, but when they're in stock, they run about $160. Most other places run about $200.
 
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I recently put these speaker light kits in found here:

http://www.pinballtoppers.com/Speaker-Light-Kits.html

The LOTR plastics are a golden ring that look very cool. I'll try and snag a photo.

I've also done the following (or have parts and need to install):

1) POTD ramp to protect the plastics
2) POTD Pinbits Mounting plate for the green figures
3) decals for the targets (I ordered them from pinball life I think)
4) Eye backbox light mod (Make the eye light up during certain things)
5) More powerful flipper coils from Pinball Life
6) prolly some others I've forgotten.
 
right now my plan is to get an LED kit for the entire machine. Maybe the backbox light flasher kit for the eye. Also I want to get the POTD green figures, I like that speaker kit idea! And then anything else that I can find once I get the machine. Anyone recommend LEDs from anyone in particular? Is there a specific color scheme that looks better than the other? Where can I get the POTD figures? Thanks so far for all the help!






I recently put these speaker light kits in found here:

http://www.pinballtoppers.com/Speaker-Light-Kits.html

The LOTR plastics are a golden ring that look very cool. I'll try and snag a photo.

I've also done the following (or have parts and need to install):

1) POTD ramp to protect the plastics
2) POTD Pinbits Mounting plate for the green figures
3) decals for the targets (I ordered them from pinball life I think)
4) Eye backbox light mod (Make the eye light up during certain things)
5) More powerful flipper coils from Pinball Life
6) prolly some others I've forgotten.
 
I got my POTD figures on Amazon I think. There is also someone on Pinside that has some available with an LED mod to light them up. I believe these are them:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000NEAMNS

Make sure you like LEDs before you drop a couple hundred bucks on doing your whole machine. People either seem to love them or hate them. I'm kinda in between. I want to love them, but the RFM I got had mostly LEDs in them and I couldn't stand them as they seemed to flicker.
 
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I'd steer away from LED's in this particular machine. Not because I don't like LED's (which I do not) but because I was seriously considering the same thinng, and the concensus was that it looks like ass in this game.

If you want POTD figures, I can probably send you some. PM me your informationand I will check and see what I have when I get home today.

I responded to your PM as well.

Thanks,
Chris
 
I'm an LED fan- when done right. Too many people get out of control with the color matching, and either wind up washing out all of the artwork or making the playfield look very dark. I think LOTR looks good with LEDs, but if you're going to use LEDs for the GI lighting, use their "vintage bulbs" or frosted whites (but stick with superbrights for the spotlights). Both will give you a good amount of light while preserving the original look of the artwork.

I'm picking up a Simpsons Pinball Party in a couple of weeks and I'm going with all frosted bulbs for the GI for this very reason.

Once you put LEDs in one machine, you pretty much have to do it with any other machines you have or add to your lineup, or else the non-LED machine looks yellow sitting next to the machines with LEDs.
 
I seen a couiple youtube vids of people that installed LEDs into their LOTR and I think it looks good. I know that videos and pics are deceiving, but I had an entire LED kit in my DE star wars and it looked amazing. I like on LOTR when they used green for the GI by the flipper area, blue on the middle right side, and red up by the tower. I am sure these are the GI lights? Are these the ones you are talking about using the frosted leds? Are these colors the ones that come in an LED kit? Which kit would you recommend? Or do I need to buy my own separate leds? I would like to just buy an entire kit, but want the colored GI LEDs as well. Also, does the Balrog LED come in the kit? The palantir LED? I know there are separate kits just for these two items... Would like to know before I purchase a kit and it doesn't have everything.
 
I seen a couiple youtube vids of people that installed LEDs into their LOTR and I think it looks good. I know that videos and pics are deceiving, but I had an entire LED kit in my DE star wars and it looked amazing. I like on LOTR when they used green for the GI by the flipper area, blue on the middle right side, and red up by the tower. I am sure these are the GI lights? Are these the ones you are talking about using the frosted leds? Are these colors the ones that come in an LED kit? Which kit would you recommend? Or do I need to buy my own separate leds? I would like to just buy an entire kit, but want the colored GI LEDs as well. Also, does the Balrog LED come in the kit? The palantir LED? I know there are separate kits just for these two items... Would like to know before I purchase a kit and it doesn't have everything.

GI (general illumination) lights are pretty much all the ones that go around the game, underneath the plastics. Insert lights are the ones that are under the playfield. When ordering kits, most of them use superbrights for almost everything. I had superbrights in my Tron GI lighting for awhile. It actually looked pretty damn good, but I wound up swapping them out with frosted LEDs.

If a kit is your preferred way to go, I'd highly recommend Cointaker. They cost a little more than some of the other sites, but they're fast, they're LEDs are great quality, and their customer service is great.

Here's their complete kit (GI, flashers, inserts and controlled lamps):
http://shop.cointaker.com/product.sc?productId=215&categoryId=34

You'll also want to add this guy for the Balrog, because I'm not certain it's included:
http://shop.cointaker.com/product.sc?productId=1468&categoryId=34

Lastly, I'd recommend adding this to your order:
http://shop.cointaker.com/product.sc?productId=1228&categoryId=34

It upgrades all of your LEDs to premiums. When you're shelling out $200+ for lights, you'll be glad you coughed up an extra $20 for the best stuff.

That should get you everything you need to get this badboy LED'd. If you go through Cointaker, enter the code PINSIDE in the coupon code section and you'll get 10% off.
 
Thanks! That's awesome! So does the super led complete kit have the different colored GI lights? For example, by the flipper area using green LEDs, by the upper right tower using red, using blue by the sword ramp...etc. or does the kit just have whites for the GI LEDs? Or should I just call them to ask? I really like the green, blue, red GI scheme...and don't want to buy LEDs that I won't use. Thanks so far for all the help! Also I have been looking at all the mods and upgrades, and I can't believe how many things I can ad to this machine! I am going to have so much fun adding upgrades!
 
Thanks! That's awesome! So does the super led complete kit have the different colored GI lights? For example, by the flipper area using green LEDs, by the upper right tower using red, using blue by the sword ramp...etc. or does the kit just have whites for the GI LEDs? Or should I just call them to ask? I really like the green, blue, red GI scheme...and don't want to buy LEDs that I won't use. Thanks so far for all the help! Also I have been looking at all the mods and upgrades, and I can't believe how many things I can ad to this machine! I am going to have so much fun adding upgrades!

I'd be willing to bet the GI in the complete kit has different colors, but I'd send them an email just to be sure. If they're not, I'm sure they'd work with you to get it just the way you want.
 
+1 on this..... LED's in lotr just doesnt look right. no matter how much of the "done tastefuly" is used on this pin it just doesnt fit the theme of the movies (imo).

I'd steer away from LED's in this particular machine. Not because I don't like LED's (which I do not) but because I was seriously considering the same thinng, and the concensus was that it looks like ass in this game.

If you want POTD figures, I can probably send you some. PM me your informationand I will check and see what I have when I get home today.

I responded to your PM as well.

Thanks,
Chris
 
Another few mods that really look nice (IMO), are the Army of the Dead mounting plastic as well as the Figure Set mounting kit from Pinbits. You can get rid of those tacky zip ties around the ankles of the characters. The original sword lock from Pinball Life, without the "shield", that makes the balls look so cool when lined up. And put a color changing LED (with the adjustable neck) behind the Palantir.

- Don

DSC_0055.jpg


DSC_0038.jpg
 
I plan on getting the POTD plastic base for the figures, but they are out of stock. they have the plastic, but says you need the posts and longer screws as well. they have a combo kit, but its out of stock. Where did you get the color changing led for the palantir at?
 
Cointaker for the best selection of LEDs. Pinball Life has great prices for GI LEDs, for specialty applications it's Cointaker.

- Don
 
here is a list of planned mods/upgrades that I have found and like:

machine already has POTD diverter plastic. goes straight to the rail...

From Pinballdecals.com...

-Gold mirrored flippers and flipper buttons
-polished brass/gold hinge bolt set, leg levelers, leg bolts, side rail screws, cab bolt
-mirror blade set...really think this will ad to the effects of the playfield. Reminds me of my EDOT!
-Target decal set
-custom hand cast Frodo sword shooter rod
-under/back cabinet color changing kit
-plastics protectors including the POTD figure base set, once they are back in stock...:/(pinbits.com for the base kit)
-black leg protectors
-maybe a pin zero DMD glare guard? Will see how bad the glare is when I get machine
-custom instruction cards..i don't like the plain black text white background.


From pinballtoppers.com

-speaker light base kit with the LOTR ring decal

From cointaker.com

- going to check out the look of the machine before I order, want to make sure I truly want LEDs first...but will order possibly the balrog led and the color changing palantir led.

--I also want to ad something to the backbox. But there are many options. The one I like the most is the color changing LED kit from flipperfidelity.com. But I also like the flashers, expecially on the eye. So have some thinking to do, as I am guessing I couldn't have both flasher kits and the led kits combined?

--also found out that the software version running on my machine is 6.0. need to find out exactly what I need to purchase to get it updated to the most current software.
 
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I'm a little late to the thread but I appreciate the positive notes on pinballtoppers.com That's been my project for almost a year now. The light kits have done extremely well and have been well liked. LOTR is the top seller and is very nice looking. Pics don't do them justice but here is a shot of one for ya.

Note, we are out of stock on these as well but will have more in this Saturday.

David
www.pinballtoppers.com

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