Modding Heaven

This article is an excerpt from the original article, published by Pavlov Pinball published April 26, 2014

Tim Mezel, boss of Albuquerque-based Mezel Mods, got into the modding business when his attempt to make a Donut Heaven for his High Speed II out of plastic sheets didn’t quite work out. The problem? Simple:  “It just looked horrible,” he says.

But his fortune changed when he accepted that he lacked artistic talent, and bought a 3D printer. “I printed off a new Donut Heaven, posted it on Pinside, and sold quite a few,” he explains. “So I figured that I could pay the machine off, and have just expanded from there.”

Mezel’s most successful mod to date is Metallica snake fangs. He’s sold over one hundred and sixty sets, and it’s a popular mod for the same reason that Donut Heaven is, he reckons. “These are both mods that should have been on the machine from the start.”

To give you an idea of the quality of the stuff coming out of Mezel’s printer, consider this: Metallica designer John Borg bought himself a set of fangs at the Texas Pinball Festival, pronounced them “better than the originals,” and then bought another pair for LymanSheats Jr. (the game’s programmer) as well, Mezel says. That’s not a bad endorsement.