Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

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I'm still thinking about switching the theme from 'Thunder Valley Dragways' to 'MOPAR Muscle'. I think it'll open up more options for the rest of the cabinet detailing.


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Abodybomber said:
I actually like the Thunder Valley setup,John. Has that feel of a past drag strip, long gone in the sands of time. Just personal vibe,guy...
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Good observation bomber. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective. You've made me re-think this. I guess I'll be having images of 60s - 70s Mopars on a machine that will obviously still play like an old machine. That 'MOPAR MUSCLE' logo does seem to be too modern for it. I guess I should be trying to maintain a vintage look.
 
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The great car migration keeps hitting delays. Although the 'Lil Red has been loaded on the trailer I still have to coordinate with others before I can deliver it. Most folks are constantly busy with their own stuff.

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ariffle said:
Thunder valley has my vote John.
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I've tended to agree with you folks but I really want to be sure of the entire layout before I start painting & printing. So that I don't have all my eggs in one basket, I haven't ruled out the idea of changing the backglass theme. No matter what, I'm still planning on it being a car themed pinball machine.

Here are a couple of other designs I've played with:

If I go with a CARtoons theme I might use this for the backglass.

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And then this would possibly be the playing field where all the bumpers & flippers would be.

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I think I'd put these on the sides of the box.

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I've also considered doing a SNAKE/MONGOOSE theme.

Backglass

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Playing field.

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Sides of the box.

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In order to try to get my layouts the correct dimensions I'd need, I measured the old machine. My backglass measures 26"X22". The playing field measured 36&9/16"X17&3/8". The sides of the box measured 51&3/4"X14&1/2".

I opened up the computer's paint program and typed in the dimensions I needed. Then I searched for images that I could stretch & resize until they fit. I found several that could be used with the THUNDER VALLEY scheme.

POSSIBLE PLAYING FIELDS:

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It's difficult finding images that will fit with the pinball components. On the backglass I had to consider where the scoring numbers would be as well as the backlit portions that show the number of players and GAME OVER. I haven't mapped out the playing field yet to make sure it'll look right when the bumpers and flippers are in place.

POSSIBLE SIDES:

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Happy Thanksgiving too you and the family John!
I like many of your ideas on the pinball idea. Anyway to make the them interchangeable? Now that would be a tall order.
 
ariffle said:
Happy Thanksgiving too you and the family John!
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ariffle said:
I like many of your ideas on the pinball idea. Anyway to make the them interchangeable? Now that would be a tall order.
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Thanks ariffle. - I hope you had a better turkey day than I did.

The last several days spent outside moving things took it's toll. I spent Thursday in the dark by myself struggling to breathe while my head throbbed. Teresa went to one of her kid's places to help them clean. My fever wasn't real high (101') but the left side of my face and my throat swelled up. I managed to eat some chicken noodle soup but had one heck of a time swallowing it.

The pain was off the chart. I had thought about going to Des Moines to visit my sons but besides being sick, we had an ice storm and the roads really sucked. It took me an hour this morning to clear all the ice off of the truck so that I could go see a doctor. The trailer was still connected and iced up solid.

I got a little spooked last night. When I looked in the mirror I could see a facial droop. It was probably caused by the swelling & pain. Moving my head/tongue/mouth is so painful that it takes a lot of effort to get my facial muscles to respond. My speech is slurred but I can force myself to annunciate more clearly if I ignore the pain.

I'm on a combination of antibiotics & Vicodin now. So far today I haven't been able to take down liquids without them going down the wrong tube. The best I've done is wet my tongue and force a painful swallow.

- Not sure how long this is going to last. I'm scheduled to have the rest of my teeth pulled on December 7th. If I had to combine this pain with that I think it'd either kill me or make me wish I was dead.

It's a good thing I've got distractions such as pinball inside the house. I'm able to do the research and planning so I don't have to be totally idle. Last night (when I couldn't sleep) I re-programmed the newer machine. Some of the dip switches were set wrong and caused it to behave weird. Works good now.
 
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I hope you start feeling better, maybe a 24 hr bug? Or a possible infection from your last dentist trip.

Home remedy, just like granny on the Beverly hillbilly's, the stuff in a clear mason jar.
Slosh it around in your mouth, spit it out, drinking it is optional.
Plus if you drink it sleeping will better tonight.

If the mason jar variety is not commonly available in your area, you can get small "airplane" size bottles of 100 proof at the liquor store cheap.
This remedy also works fine on infants that are teething, just rub some on their gums.
 
It's been building up for the past 3 or 4 days. With the history I've had with sinus infections I wasn't too concerned. I figured that I'd be able to stay ahead of it using Listerine. Normally I'd have taken it easy until I had this thing whipped. I don't think I did myself any favors working out in the cold.

I'm not sure this is a 24 hour bug. I think it brought suitcases and it's been spending time in the gym. .

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Even with the Vicodin I still feel like crap.

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Mason Jar, you will sleep good tonight, maybe until tomorrow afternoon, if it is empty when you wake up.
 
Dang John, You just can' catch a break!
My wife and I will be praying for you.
Get lots of rest and I concur with Sirelan67 on keeping a couple mason jars of the good stuff around for sure. If it doesn't cure it, you won't care anyways. L.O.L!!!!
 
No go on the mason jars. I haven't been able to swallow. I can suck a bit of ice water onto my tongue to keep it wet but anything more and I gag.

I don't know what they call the space in your mouth that is directly below your tongue, but I don't have it anymore. The floor of my mouth has now swollen and is holding up on my tongue. Talking is near impossible. I am able to make moaning noises. It's great if you're into zombie flicks but really puts a damper on conversations.

I tried to sleep. I bundled up as good as I could - in an effort to combat the fever & chills. It was really strange. Within a minute of lying down I was asleep. -BUT I kept waking up every 5-10 minutes. I kept thinking that I'd slept for a few hours but when I looked at the clock I could see otherwise. I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

Around 4a.m. I woke up with the absolute worst taste in my mouth and for once I couldn't blame it on Teresa's cooking. That swollen area below my tongue had burst. I was spitting up blood left and right. (actually I wasn't able to spit so it sort of oozed out of the side of my mouth) The good news is that about half of that swelling disappeared. Unfortunately none of the pain did.

I'm sure hoping that the diagnosis was correct. So far things have moved from bad to really really bad. I should have figured the doc was a quack when I saw his bill.
 
O-M-G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a nasty outer ear infection a few months ago. I thought that was bad..........

Feel sorry for ya buddy.... Get well!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :poke:
 
SNKEBIT said:
O-M-G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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SNKEBIT said:

Had a nasty outer ear infection a few months ago. I thought that was bad..........

Feel sorry for ya buddy.... Get well!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :poke:
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They say that as we age we talk more about health issues. We must be frickin' ancient. I expect a blow by blow account of your ankle surgery. I need it to be SO graphic that it'll make me forget all about my mouth problems.
 
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1967 'cuda said:
They say that as we age we talk more about health issues. We must be frickin' ancient. I expect a blow by blow account of your ankle surgery. I need it to be SO graphic that it'll make me forget all about my mouth problems.
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I can give you a play by play of my knee replacements. #-o
 
As expensive as surgery can be these days you'll almost be 'the six million dollar man' soon. OOOH! OOOH! Go for the bionic eye next! I always thought that would be cool!
 
I'm still battling with that tooth/jaw pain. The antibiotics seem to be slowly making a difference. I spend my time either in agony or zonked out by the pain meds.

One thing I did manage to get done was the installation of a back up camera system on the pickup. I'd bought a cheap one a few years back in hopes that it would improve rear visibility on the 'Cuda but it was a joke. You couldn't see at night because the image was too dark. During the day it was too bright and washed out. It worked great just before dusk and just after dawn. - So there was only about two 1-hour windows when it really worked. By trying to save a few bucks I ended up wasting the money. That tends to happen often when I'm looking for the cheapest route I can find.

I really hate denting the back bumper when hooking up to trailers. Most of the time I'm by myself so it's been a pain getting lined up (especially at night). Rather than rely on a seller's advertising hype for advice I decided to research what the best camera setups were. One of the highest rated ones that I read reviews about was the REAR VIEW SAFETY RVS-770613. At over $200 it wasn't the most expensive but they weren't exactly giving them away either. I searched eBay and found a used one that was taken off of a delivery truck. The ad said it was in perfect condition and had been professionally removed.

Despite the lack of original packaging, everything was included as when originally purchased. It still had the protective film over the screen. I chose to go with a hard wired camera system after reading about a lot of issues with the wireless systems. It didn't work out too bad. I was able to route my cabling through a rubber body plug in the back of the cab so I didn't have to drill any holes other than for the camera mount. - And those two holes went through my license plate so they'll be covered if the camera is ever removed. In addition to aiding with hooking to trailers, I think it'll be nicer keeping an eye on the cars being towed.

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I mounted the screen low inside the truck because I didn't want to clutter the dash any more than I have to. All of the wiring is hidden but I haven't hard wired my GPS into the truck yet so I do have the power cord for it still exposed. I'll probably buy a second power cord for it so I can hide the wiring in the truck and still be able to pull it out and transfer it to another vehicle when we want. The dash must have been repainted at some time and has a bunch of chips in the paint. I'm having a problem finding the correct color match so I can re-do it.

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One of the worst things about the camera installation was the snow and ice. It took a long time to defrost the truck. I set up the space heater in the garage and it melted it all off but then I had a soppy mess all over the garage floor. I layed out some plastic sheeting to keep myself dry.

I chose a GARMIN nuvi 2797LMT for a GPS unit. Although I've had pretty good luck with the previous units I've owned I did decide to research online for one that was considered to be a good one just to make sure I didn't end up with a lemon. I guess there isn't much to say about it. I like it and it's not much different than my old one was. This one does respond to voice commands. I'm not sure what all you can tell it but I know it understands the word HOME. I don't think I really need a bunch of bells & whistles with a GPS unit. I just wanted an easy interface.

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I'm toying around with the idea of getting a dedicated dash cam. It'd be nice to have pictures for the scrapbook of when I get a beat down for having exhaust too loud.


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FedEx and UPS were here today. That wall clock I ordered showed up. It didn't take me long to get it hanging on the wall!

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While I was shopping online I came across these 'tractor seat' barstools. They're plastic and steel. At a cost of around $21 each I couldn't pass them up. They look proper for a game room.

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It's a small start but at least one corner of the basement is starting to look outfitted.

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