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In Progress The Shadow

SpiderPin

SpiderPin

Site Supporter
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
593
Location
London
Hi all, welcome to my first shop log, The Shadow.
I'm setting this up here as a placeholder until I can start work on the machine...

So we purchased the Shadow that was listed on here with no backbox boards, which appeared to be the only large missing parts along with a diverter, the phurba daggers, Mongol figures and some of the rings. I've managed to source the following:
- Entire backbox worth of boards + ribbon cables (Sprung for a Pinsound here!)
- New rubbers set
- Aurich translite (Very thankful for sourcing one of these!)
- Diverter + 2 new decals
- Replacement battlefield kicker + decals
- Phurba daggers
- Wall target
- New plastics set
- Custom coloured flasher caps

I believe that this should be everything to get TS functional - if that's the case, I'm moving on to the making it beautiful stage. I want to powder coat it (I'm thinking candy purple), get one of Stumblors wonderful XL colour DMD's and fully LED it. I've also seen the T2 restoration and am incredibly jealous of the chroming - I'm considering getting the ramps and wire forms re-polished / chromed / nickel plated but that's a bridge to cross once the machine plays.

Now, the cosmetic issues - there is some chipping on the cabinet. As far as this goes, the majority is in the black section of the artwork, so I think I may just follow the brilliant Elvira cabinet restores footsteps and use an airbrush to paint it after filling and sanding as opposed to re-decalling. As with all Shadow's, the Sanctum is pretty beat up, so I'm going to use an epoxy pen, sand and use a decal that Sven sent to me (Thank you!). Finally - it's missing the pistol shooter. These are unobtanium, so I'm looking at getting a custom plastic made to cover the area and make it a little more interesting while adding a button for the ball serve like Indy 500.

I've attached a photo of the state it's in currently. I can't wait to get started - if anyone has any tips, let me know!

PHOTO-2022-02-16-11-55-48.jpg
 
Yes, that's quite a project!

What price did you pay if that's not too much detail?

Can't be 100% sure but I remember looking at this machine some time ago and the gun handle and missing ramps is what made me walk away (actually I was talked out of it by someone far more level headed than my pinball brain allows).

The gun alone was $250 iirc but that must have been 18 months ago, so you're right they're a tough find.

In the end I picked up a much nicer example, so if you need my gun to form a mould.. lmk.

Really glad it's being saved. It'd be an easy choice to part out for a few quid and you're +1'ing the population of Shadows in the world - at your cost. Huge respect.

Tim
 
strobey said:
Yes, that's quite a project!

What price did you pay if that's not too much detail?

Can't be 100% sure but I remember looking at this machine some time ago and the gun handle and missing ramps is what made me walk away (actually I was talked out of it by someone far more level headed than my pinball brain allows).

The gun alone was $250 iirc but that must have been 18 months ago, so you're right they're a tough find.

In the end I picked up a much nicer example, so if you need my gun to form a mould.. lmk.

Really glad it's being saved. It'd be an easy choice to part out for a few quid and you're +1'ing the population of Shadows in the world - at your cost. Huge respect.

Tim
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I paid £1500 - its no problem asking it was the public listing price! No ramps missing but one was loose if that's what you're thinking of?
As far as the pistol goes I'm going to see how it looks without and then decide whether it's worth the extra cash to get one - I suspect it may more be an issue of sourcing one as opposed to cost.
With the price I've paid and the cost of parts so far it should still be a little cheaper (more likely the same price!) than purchasing a machine of similar condition and I've wanted a project for a very long time so I'm happy!
 
Does the LAH last action hero share the same gun? (Edit LAH has a button so not the same) Would and IJ Indiana jones one look too out of place? They do come up now and again or they used to?
 
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As far as LAH goes my thoughts are as follows: Even after the button is covered (which I suspect wouldn't be particularly difficult), I'm not entirely sure how it would connect to function as a launch ball button - as it's DE it uses a different board-set so it's not plug and play...
I also wonder if the button with plastic would just look better...

IJ and DH guns come up quite often but they're revolver style so I guess I have to decide how much that matters to me!
 
Took mine apart recently to give it clean, seem to remember it was just a simple microswitch, but yeah, would need wiring spliced/changed.

There is a setting to use the flipper buttons as ball launch too.
 
If you cant find the original pistol.
Try to buy a metal toy gun or pistol lighter which is similar and make your own. Just need to install the switch where the trigher is.
 
The update you’ve all been waiting for! Fixed the GI issue on HRC so attention has been turned to Shadow this morning. Managed to install all of the backbox boards and it’s current state is:
image.jpg
Now begins the fun game of what cable goes where! If anyone has any pointers as to identify that it would be much appreciated - majority of the cables are unlabelled….
 
The manuals for Williams games of this age have connector information at the back, listing each board and connector pin by pin, with wire colours. The ones to watch out for are two cases along the lower edge of the driver board. A pair of connectors (J 128 and J 131) are 'keyed' the same, and another group of three (124, 128 & 132) are similar, i.e. keyed the same, though different from the pair.
 
Jay Walker said:
The manuals for Williams games of this age have connector information at the back, listing each board and connector pin by pin, with wire colours. The ones to watch out for are two cases along the lower edge of the driver board. A pair of connectors (J 128 and J 131) are 'keyed' the same, and another group of three (124, 128 & 132) are similar, i.e. keyed the same, though different from the pair.
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Thanks for the help! I think I have everything the right way round. Turned the game on and I get the initial flash of the GI and a couple solenoids going but nothing from the DMD. I suspect it’s busted but I’m not sure how / if I can test that.
It also doesn’t appear to go in to an attract mode - is that something it would do from default?
 
So I have 2 problems to solve now:
DMD not working
For some reason play field lights have stopped coming on on machine turn on

If anyone has any ideas on how I can solve it test either of those two your help is much appreciated!
 
SpiderPin said:
So I have 2 problems to solve now:
DMD not working
For some reason play field lights have stopped coming on on machine turn on

If anyone has any ideas on how I can solve it test either of those two your help is much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Fuses?
 
Hmmmm.
Had a look in the backbox and I may have found an issue - theres this connector with seemingly nowhere to plug in to and a loose wire + plug. Not entirely sure where these 2 go as I thought I’d plugged everything in…image.jpg
 
SpiderPin said:
That’s interesting - the manual I have lists J206 and J208 as not used but they appear to match yours. Only issue is J206 is the broken one - any idea on how to fix? Can I strip the wire and reclip it?
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Last time that happened to me I just stripped the end and pushed the wire back in with a small flathead screwdriver, seemed to do the job.
 
Doesn’t need stripping, it is an insulation displacement connector.You should really use the proper tool though as screwdrivers tend to damage the blades/cable. PH carries it.
Manual indeed showing J206 and J208 as empty, what are the wire colours? J207 should have eight cables, you seem to have seven. Those are the green ones. This is the switch matrix, so unrelated to your lamps. Friend of mine gets a Shadow next week, can compare then.
 
Seems I’ve made a few mistakes on that CPU wiring - I’ll have a look once I get back from the Pinball Office today. Genuinely thanks for all your help everyone, it’s great to have people who know so much helping out the village idiot of the hobby!
 
Just a little update on GI - tried it once again and it was flickering seeming like it was trying to come on if that narrows down the issue?
 
First thing to do is getting the DMD to work. Have you connected all the connectors from the grey harness? Also, power from the DMD to the DMD board? All fuses ok? GI is mostly controlled by Triacs on the driver board, easier to debug once you can get into tests.
 
Its strange how the manual shows both those additional connectors as unpopulated, if it helps I can get some closer pics of wiring colours.

I can't say 100% the additional connectors are supposed to be like that, but mine works fine, and the previous owner hadn't removed the backglass since it was brought refurbished from PH in the late 00s (hence the batteries)

Edit:

Just done some digging online, seems its normal for J206 and 208 to be populated with one wire each, apparently they are run separately to the others as they are for the left diverter switch, which is mounted inside the cab and not on the playfield like the rest of the switches.
 
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