Tonight I finished soldering in the Fuse holder for the Solenoids and began installing the Posts. I wanted to do something a little different for the upper PF... matching the Posts to the Art where possible. As a result I decided to put Blue transparent Lane guides instead of the red Bally opaque lane guides. Since guides and the posts were blue; I figured I'd need some blue LEDs to accent the guides from a GI perspective.
Here's a Day/Flash shot showing the installation:
I worked with Art @
CometPinball.com to get a sampling of his LEDs. I went thru several iterations focusing on the blue variety to see what lit the area the best. I wasn't very scientific about the installation; kinda moving them somewhat systematically to see what popped.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649112605/
Yeap; Even tried white LEDs. Didn't like that I could see the white bulb thru the lane guides.
And finally settling on the 1st & 2nd blue LEDs I liked (no ambient light, no flash):
If I were to grade the Blue Comet LEDs for this application (according to my minds-eye):
1) 2 SMD 6.3V AC/DC SUPREME BRIGHTNESS with FACETED LENS
2) Optix Maximus Blue
3) 4+1 SMD Tower Blue
I really like the pattern the Faceted Lens puts out; especially the Warm White. If I were an LED designer; I might try combining the Optix Maximus lens with a facetted ring; so as to combine the "flood" in the vertical direction and the pattern spread in the horiztonal direction.
The PopBumpers contain Comet's 6 crystal FAN LEDs; which I think fits the pop bumpers perfectly.
Phase 2 of the LED tests will comprise of the White versions of Comet Pinball's against the Star Trek: Mirror Universe plastics... but I need to get them printed first.
