Announcing my new homebrew pinball machine - Motorhead!
This machine will be at Texas Pinball Festival March 15-17th for you to check out!
(Topic ID: 352982)
Linked Games
Motörhead
Rotordave, 2024
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Some of you will remember the Led Zeppelin Pinball I made a few years ago:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1976-bally-led-zeppelin-retheme
While that machine was a retheme of an old broken EM, Motorhead is entirely new, made entirely from scratch by me in my garage.
Like the LZ machine, I had a few design criterias for this one.
- Retro layout that I think Lemmy would approve of - but with 2024 modern rules and features
- Play fast and mean, just like Motorhead music
So with those in mind, I came up with a super fast single level layout, with a comprehensive ruleset.
Joining me again in this project is Texan Brad Albright, who handled all the artwork and animations. He even did some 3D modelling!
And joining the team on codework is NZ's own Matt Kemp, who has worked wonders on Halloween and UM code for Spooky Pinball since taking it over mid production.
rd
Motorhead USA pin (2).jpg
Adairsville, GA
Gameplay video? Is this completely custom or retheme as well? I am assuming completely custom
**Nevermind - Reading is not my strong point lol. Can't wait to play!
Mississauga, ON
Looking forward to playing it and meeting y'all at TPF! Can't wait to meet Brad Albright, he seems like a nice guy!
For the playfield, I had to imagine, what would Lemmy like?
While we will never really know, my guess was ... retro, super fast, with shit you can hit! So that's the way I went.
I call this "retro hybrid" ... mixing a retro 80s style layout with modern elements (such as bash toys and kick backs) and modern rules.
Truly the best of both worlds. The fun and speed of a flowy single level with a bunch of spinner action, with 4 different multiballs and 6 pages of mode rules lol
The overall theme for the pin is BOMBER - the iconic album from 1979 - so the cabinet looks like a Bomber fuselage, and the playfield also picks up that theme.
Here's the playfield.
- the return of scissor flippers!
- Snaggletooth Bash Toy moves when you hit him
- Iron Fist punches you when you hit that
- 3 super lubed up spinners for some hot triple spinner action that the Slam Tilt Podcast would approve of
- unique mode start hole that can be hit by all 4 flippers (yep, it can!)
- when it was designed 24 mths ago, the worlds first under the flipper 3 ball physical lock.
- worlds first SAVE ZONE on the left outlane ... tiltbob is disabled for some seconds while you try and shake your ball back from a fiery death
- MOTOR and HEAD standups hit with the adjacent pop bumper to give fast scoring and 2x playfield
- shatz target on the left inlane for 2x the next shot (for massive collects if you can pull it off) - again, this was unique for a modern pin 24 mths back when i made my first flipping whitewood, now its shown up in a couple of new games..
- 2 Magnets - one for hot Snaggletooth action, and one on the right orbit to stage the top loop on "special occasions"
- 3D planes on the back board with mode specific illumination
- THE HAMMER captive ball
- 4 SKULL standups, tied into add-a-ball, mode progression and also their own Skull Multiball
- dead sling on the right side
- S A V E inlanes - complete for a 10 second ball save
- magnificent Brad Albright original art!
Whew, think thats it .. lots of stuff!
Quoted from stubborngamer:It's a dark day when the homebrews tease as well.
We gotta have our fun 
rd
ooo, homebrews are easier to guilt into more info, very cool looking.
Shame I may never get a chance to play it, just need the pinball show in northern Ontario to actually become a lot bigger.
I personally think real games could use another stab at scissor flippers and a flipper cradle that can lead to an out lane drain.
Just went back in my photos to check on the timeline …
Here was the start. 6th February 2022.
So two years from timber to TPF.
In saying that, the TPF machine is a totally new one, made from scratch over three weeks over Xmas and early January 2024.
There are a couple of prototypes, including the one at Matt Kemps house that he is coding on.
I was kinda wondering why we hadn't seen Dave out here for a few years and we just thought he was being cheap.
So, this is how you've been spending your time?
Quoted from o-din:I was kinda wondering why we hadn't seen Dave out here for a few years and we just thought he was being cheap.
So, this is how you've been spending your time?
Well, yeah …
Plus a complete ground up restoration of an abandoned 3 level 1919 timber house .. mostly single handed …. Enough to keep a man busy.
I started this about 1 week after I was last at your house in January 2020. It took 13 months, 7 days a week to get it to a stage when we could move in there. I had a labourer to give me a hand for 6 months which was awesome. Hard to mount 10ft sheets of sheet rock solo.
Before:
Now:
rd
Didn't you recently finish building yourself another house?
I guess if I ever get tired of the sunshine and rules around here, I could move to NZ for their sunshine and see if they have the same bogus rules there.
Duisburg
Quoted from rotordave:Some of you will remember the Led Zeppelin Pinball I made a few years ago:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1976-bally-led-zeppelin-retheme
While that machine was a retheme of an old broken EM, Motorhead is entirely new, made entirely from scratch by me in my garage.
Like the LZ machine, I had a few design criterias for this one.
- Retro layout that I think Lemmy would approve of - but with 2024 modern rules and features
- Play fast and mean, just like Motorhead music
So with those in mind, I came up with a super fast single level layout, with a comprehensive ruleset.
Joining me again in this project is Texan Brad Albright, who handled all the artwork and animations. He even did some 3D modelling!
And joining the team on codework is NZ's own Matt Kemp, who has worked wonders on Halloween and UM code for Spooky Pinball since taking it over mid production.
rd[quoted image]
Beautiful! Can you build me an ozzy pin? 
Well, since nobody else is going to ask the most important question, I will: Does Snaggletooth eat the ball?
Layout looks awesome! Pops low on the playfield, kickback aimed right at the scissor flippers, and 3 spinners. Couldn't ask for more. Great work on this.
Quoted from rotordave:Some of you will remember the Led Zeppelin Pinball I made a few years ago:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1976-bally-led-zeppelin-retheme
While that machine was a retheme of an old broken EM, Motorhead is entirely new, made entirely from scratch by me in my garage.
Like the LZ machine, I had a few design criterias for this one.
- Retro layout that I think Lemmy would approve of - but with 2024 modern rules and features
- Play fast and mean, just like Motorhead music
So with those in mind, I came up with a super fast single level layout, with a comprehensive ruleset.
Joining me again in this project is Texan Brad Albright, who handled all the artwork and animations. He even did some 3D modelling!
And joining the team on codework is NZ's own Matt Kemp, who has worked wonders on Halloween and UM code for Spooky Pinball since taking it over mid production.
rd[quoted image]
Phenomenal!!!! absolutely outstanding! An inspiration to the rest of us homebrewers for sure. My son is a metalhead and homebrewer and has made suggestions about a Motorhead or Judas Priest pin. Can’t wait to show him yours omg!!!
I literally have waited a lifetime for someone to create such a masterpiece so thank you Mr. Albright!
Lemmy would be so stoked to play this. I will play it for him, soon.
inbound4340705695795899671 (resized).jpginbound7172982683763263755 (resized).png
Added 50 days ago: And there are no words for the efforts, detail and delivering an absolute masterpiece, RD!!
Hey folks! Can't emphasize enough how cool it is to FINALLY be be able to talk about this. You guys are awesome and can't wait for us all to play it at TPF together. Living 20 minutes from Frisco, it'll be an absolute treat to debut it at my hometown show. So long as I'm posting this on my Facebook I'm just gonna leave this here...
Seriously, that is the nicest homebrew I have ever seen. Fantastic work!! Amazing that you built a pinball machine and basically a house at the same time!
Wow.
This looks better than what some of the manufacturers are putting out.
Well done sir. Well done. 
Canberra
Quoted from Enchantress:F'n impressive! No subtle ode to another one of Lemmy's favorite things jack/coke
Yep, lots of subtle nods to Lemmy.
Look along the bottom of the playfield by the outlanes … some of Lemmy’s favourite things ….
The level of hand drawn detail on the playfield is incredible. Lots of thought and discussions and messenger messages and wormhole files went into this whole project. Everyone had some input.
rd
IMG_1788 (resized).jpegQuoted from Hayfarmer:Beautiful! Can you build me an ozzy pin?
I'd like to build *everyone* an Ozzy/Sabbath/Dio pin.
Pinball companies, make it happen.
rd
Auckland
Quoted from stubborngamer:I personally think real games could use another stab at scissor flippers and a flipper cradle that can lead to an out lane drain.
I’ve been calling for it in the “Next Stern” thread. I’m just glad to see this was the first as it’s certainly deserving!
Quoted from spacies:I haven't logged in for 5 years, but I came here to say....AHEM!
Been a busy day, haven’t got to that bit yet horse! Lol
Being an old dog, I find learning new tricks to be extremely tedious. So I ask my buddies who are good at these things to help me out!
Malcolm 
spacies is the man who I ask to turn my woodwork into CAD. Unlike most people, I make the item organically in the garage with my pencil, a ruler and my hand tools .. I get all the flow the way I like it - and then CAD it last! Can’t get the feeling of steel balls on plywood on the computer screen!
Malcolm turned my finished whitewood into a CAD file, and tidied up all my hand routering (including hand routed inserts) for the CNC. He used his CNC to make the final playfields out of some nice Russian birch we scored. Because the rest of the world is metric, we had to mill 18mm timber down to 13mm (1/2”) to suit the pinball mechanics.
hamish_nz also helped out .. he made me a few CAD files for metal ball guides. I used a couple of different styles - the style with a gap below to allow GI light out, and I used a full 30mm rail for the centre loop. All of these are laser cut in 1.1mm stainless steel, the same as Bally Williams used back in the day. I had them made 1200mm long (4ft) and cut and shaped them by hand as required. Then they’re hand polished to a chrome finish on my buffer.
Both these guys and a number of other local guys like Jeremy, DGM, Lazza and Dazza have helped out with testing and feedback during the process.
Like a lot of projects, there have been a few helping hands, and they’re all very much appreciated.
rd
Quoted from Kkoss24:Any thoughts of a Spade flipper protector on the side armor?
That could be a thing if someone nice wants to put it into production …
Quoted from Kkoss24:I keep starring at it like it was my first boob seen.
Wondrous!
rd
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