Update March 17th: Doing another small run, PM me if you're interested.

Before I say anything else I just have to state that I started this project mid-November 2013. Stern announced Luci at the beginning of December, a few weeks later. I’m not claiming my idea is super original, I was just playing with a stock art pinup drawing that I converted into a devil girl, (and yes, I know Coop’s work, and didn’t intentionally combine the Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be with a devil girl after him, saw he did that later too) it all seemed to just make sense for AC/DC. Obviously I didn’t finish it fast enough and Luci came out, so it goes, but I wasn’t intentionally trying to ape what Stern did. Just had to get that off my chest!

Some of you may be familiar with my Shadow alternate translite. I’ve a lot of fun with it, and have a ton of really positive feedback from it (thank you everyone). I’m working with a great printer, really nice professional quality photographic translites, they light up beautifully, not washed out like some crappy eBay ones. It seemed natural to try it again.

Stern has Luci, and I love what they’re doing. By all means go buy it if you want one! If you’ve already got an AC/DC and want a hot devil girl of your own, then meet Helen.

translite.jpg

(All credit to Rarehero for naming her, thanks, I love it. Click to enlarge and see in higher quality!)

I’m going to do this just like I did the Shadow translite, I’ll start a pre-order list for anyone who’s interested. If I get enough names I’ll put in the order. When it ships to me I’ll ask everyone for their payment, and then by the time people have paid I’ll have the prints and will break them down and send to everyone Priority mail. Like I did with the Shadow I’m also including a set of custom instruction cards with each one.

So if you want to commit to buying one just PM me.

Price is $125 shipped in the US.

International orders are $150 shipped. Sorry for the price increase, but I ship these flat-packed (not rolled in tubes) Priority International, and that’s how much more it costs to send.

Edit: Figured out I could lower international shipping by $5, adjust price accordingly to $150 instead. Still more, but hey, saved you 5 bucks!

Updated 2/4:

Here are the final packages and prices for the translite, the apron and spinner decals, and the 3-pack of Angus-face-covering playfield decals.

Translite + apron cards: $125 shipped in US, + $25 for international ($150)
Decal option 1 (2 apron, 4 spinner): $10 w/ translite purchase ($15 without in US, international unknown)
Decal option 2 (3 angus cover decals, 2 apron, 4 spinners) $30 w/ translite purchase ($45 without in US, international unknown)

Packages.jpg

Detail of the playfield decals:

final-decals.jpg

Detail of the apron decals:

apron-decals.jpg

The spinners:

spinner-warmachine2.gifspinner-helen.gif

When I did the Shadow project I thought it would be cool to have new instruction cards that matched, to make it feel more like a factory design. So I did the same thing this time, every translite order will also ship with a set of cards. You'll get three, because the rules for the Pro and Premium/LE are different (the lower playfield) so no matter what machine you have you'll be set.

I thought that for guests it would be nice if the song rules were easier to read, so rather than cram it all on one card I broke the rules across both of them, and the songs get their own jukebox-themed card that's hopefully easier to parse.

instruction-cards.jpg

Edit: I've uploaded the cards for people to print themselves for free too. Also included a blank song one for customizing your own songs. See here: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/acdc-new-original-translite-meet-helen/page/2#post-1402812

Premium/LE: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/acdc-cards.pdf

My wife posed for me so I could get the nipple placement right.

I don't want to seem like I'm competing with Luci, it wasn't intentional, and I love that Stern did a new package with hand drawn art and brought the sexy back and everything, but I do kinda wish they'd gone all out and gave her nipples like all the classic backglasses had. I intentionally put Helen's on in an in-your-face kind of way (along with magic bra blondetall, she borrowed it from Elvira) because why half ass it?

Either you want a half-naked devil woman with erect nipples on your game, or it's not your thing (or not compatible with wife or kids), I can respect it either way.

I unfortunately don't own AC/DC. I have a test print of the translite sitting here, it's a slightly older version that's missing a few details (I hadn't added the fishnet sleeves yet for instance) but it's pretty close. I'm going to test it tonight at a friend's house, but he doesn't have AC/DC either, I just don't have any Sterns to make sure I got the size right etc. Probably going on his WPT.

I'm sure rarehero or someone else I know with a Premium would be happy to let me test, but he's a bit of a drive from my house, so I'd have to find time to get over there. If I can get any photos I'm happy to do it. I can find an existing photo and photoshop it in too just so you can see it in context, I'll work on that.

That's the plan! If you have a Pro and are interested in that idea let me know, I started a list for it. I'll post more details on the decals shortly though, so if you want to wait that's fine.

So I debated whether or not to include the cards in the package, or just upload them for people to print themselves. It seemed best to make it complete and include them, doesn't cost me a lot to print them, and then people don't have to deal with it themselves.

I could just do both I guess? I definitely don't mind sharing, but the rules are across both, so you'd have to use the Helen card too to have them complete. I don't think people who are ordering it would mind if I gave the cards away for free. Anyone have a problem with that?

Yes, I did this with my Shadow cards too for HighProtein, as long as you don't mind printing them yourself I can do a design with actual pricing. PM me with your prices and I'll work it out.

lol, I know people hate it, I'm gonna try my best to fix it. I've got a test decal on my EATPM right now, seems to work fine as far as the ball going over it, but my printer and I are still trying to figure out if there's a better material to print it on.

I've been trying to find someone local with a Pro so I can test the fit, but everyone I know has the Premium or LE. Snobs!

Heh, several of you are saying that. I dunno, it seemed a little too obvious or something.

Thanks, got you on the list.

There's a minimum print run for these things, but at the rate people are signing up I'm not worried about hitting it soon. Once we hit that number I'll leave it open long enough to make sure no one else is signing up, then probably buffer a few extras for any last minute folk. Like listening to popcorn in the microwave, you want to pull it when the pops slow down, but not wait until it's all quiet.

Thanks everyone, appreciate it!

That's so crazy it just might ... actually no, it's just crazy.

My favorite part of Luci is actually the new lower playfield art, that would be a sweet thing to work on, but I just don't think it would be worth the effort, not that many people would want to take apart their lower playfield to try a swap. A translite is dead simple, even people scared of screwdrivers can do that.

I'll post them for free and people can print their own, and still include them with the translite for orders too. I haven't made the Pro version of the cards yet that has the lower playfield rule removed, so I need to do that first.

Problem is I don't actually know what my decal costs are going to look like yet, so I can't really promise anything. My plan without knowing the details was to offer them as a pack, with a handful inside, maybe some design variations. That way you could pick your fav, or if one does get worn you could replace it. I'm working on it, talking to my printer about it more tomorrow.

I noted down your name for being interested in such a thing, we can talk. Can always PM me too if you have questions.

Thanks, I don't own AC/DC, and I've only casually played it, so I would love it people could help me correct any mistakes, or make things clearer, I just went off what I researched. I thought the stock cards with the game weren't very clear, so I tried to fix them.

Here are the cards, please don't try and print these, they're too low rez, I promise when they're done I'll upload nice ones for people to print for free, with all the fixes, and a variation for the Pro owners.

card-rule-fixes.jpg

Edit: Changing bottom rule on the right to:

Lower Playfield * Select one of the three "Hell" songs to light the mini playfield, shoot song shots to enter.

Hahaha. Need to ask my CPA if I can write one off on my taxes for development work!

I'm going to post them for free. If you want to modify them yourself I will not mind. Alternately I think I'll charge $10 to make you a custom digital file with your songs that you can print. I'd offer to do that for free too, but it's a bit of a pain, and if a bunch of people asked for it I just don't have the free time right now to do all the editing, generating files etc.

With the timing of things, waiting for the pre-orders, doing the printing, etc, I won't ask anyone for money before Feb.

Haha, I don't want to hype that part too much, it's the same art just framed in the window shape, with maybe some small touches. I was just waiting until I knew more about the printing/material, I can't quote a price or anything yet.

I hadn't thought about that, not owning AC/DC means I'm not looking at it. I dunno, it's a cool idea, but I wonder how many people are willing to take their lower playfield off. And I don't really want to steal ideas from Luci, which might sound funny, but it's bad enough my idea got kinda trumped by Stern.

lol nice. Helen is much sweeter than that, Purgatori doesn't look very cuddly.

Okay, new plan! I am posting the cards for people to freely print. If you have no graphical skills at all, I will make you a custom song card for $10. But if you have even a simple image editing program I'm including a card with all the song names blank, and you can simply type over them yourself. Easy! Due to a couple requests I am also including a version of the "Helen" card with no signature, and no Free Play message.

Each card should be printed at 300 dpi to come out the right size. If that's greek to you we can help you out. Alternately if you order the translite I'm including pre-printed cards in it for those who don't want to deal with making their own.

Download the zip here with 4 high quality JPEGs in it.

A preview of what they look like:

helen-card-grid.jpg

Edit: Added PDFs to make printing easier too, these print at the exact right size with no fuss:

Pro: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/acdc-cards-pro.pdf

Premium/LE: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/acdc-cards.pdf

I almost linked them in your jukebox thread, but I didn't want to highjack it. Would go well with your project though.

Yeah, I don't know why that part wasn't planned better. They didn't have to black outline the window shape, just make it integrate with the rest of the art.

I think everyone will be happy when they see it in person, everything has a lot more impact at the actual size instead of a small image on the screen. I know I even felt that way when I first saw the test print.

Yes, definitely. I just had so many people wanting them, or wanting to customize them that I decided to just share them with everyone. Every order will still get printed cards.

Haha yup. I've done this before myself with The Shadow. Half the time I see nothing in the notes area, and then get a PM from a nice Pinsider sheepishly admitting they forgot a minute later.

I keep everything organized in Excel by Pinside name, makes it easy to track people and PM if there's a problem or anything.

Just let me know! We're already gonna be good for the minimum order, so this is happening, but I'm going to leave the first run open until the order pace slows down, I hate having to tell someone "too late, should have PM'd me a few hours ago". But at some point obviously I need to just shut it down and put the order in, don't want to leave everyone hanging for too long. That's why I don't collect money until it ships to me, don't like holding people's cash longer than necessary.

Just ran the test print of translite over to a friend's house since I don't have any Sterns right now. He doesn't have AC/DC, so stuck it on his WPT. Not exactly the same, but gives you an idea of what it looks like on a machine at least for now. Just a camera phone shot, so not exactly what it looks like it person, the phone sensor tends to make the florescent tube's uneven lighting exaggerated, so it's a little blown out in the middle, and a little dark at the top and bottom compared to real life.

This is an older version of the design, so don't pay too much attention to anything that seems different (like the missing fishnet sleeves for an obvious example) but the colors and design are virtually the same, close enough for this kind of testing.

wpt-test.jpg

Honestly I'm a little leery of using AC/DC's logo, so this was a way to do the design with a compromise. That's all done with a font, never touched their logo, which is rendered a little different. It's a bit of a dodge, but it makes me more comfortable, and I think it's visually interesting.

I'm happy with the design as is, the scale and balance feels good to me in person, once I got the test print I was happy. After people start ordering something I basically don't want to mess with things overmuch anyways, this forum knows all about pre-ordering something and then having it change, and no one likes that.

A couple people told me they actually did that! I consider it the highest compliment someone could give me. Thanks!

Dude, she looks kinda devilish too!

You're welcome. It's all a trick to make you fall in love with Helen and buy my translite of course!

Seriously, since I rarely play AC/DC I can never remember the song/shot connections, so I figured a card that made it easy to look up would be a cool thing. For guests if not for yourself. I'd use it at your house!

My pleasure. I was gonna charge for doing custom ones just because it's a pain and I wanted to discourage too many people from asking me, but when I realized I could do it this way and give it away instead I was much happier. It's always nice to be appreciated though, so thanks!

I do make money off my translites, but they're a ton more work, not mention have a lot more actual costs associated with them. The apron cards are just fun, I'll keep doing them even for games I don't own. I just posted my JP cards recently for instance, I don't own that one either, did them for a friend.

Tell you what, I'll post something tomorrow. I need to go pack Shadow translites tonight, no time to get images ready. I don't want to build them up too much.

Anything is possible.

I think it's a great idea actually. This is where not having a machine really hampers me though, they're odd shapes, I'd really need to scan them to be able to duplicate.

Tell you what though, if you can put down a credit card over one of them (blank out the numbers of course) and take a picture from as directly overhead as you can manage, so they're dead on in the camera view, not from an angle, I could work with that. The credit card is for scale and to allow me to square up against any lens distortion.

Sure, that would work too. Credit card is just close by hand for most people, work just as well, it's a known size and squared off.

Shadow packed, calling it a night, thanks everyone for the great response today.

Done! Thanks for the extra effort, I'll try and figure out something to do with those since you went through all that trouble.

The response from people I leaked it to early like yourself was what made me feel good about starting this thread.

I've been getting some PMs asking about when people pay, and do they have to monitor this thread etc. Well if you are still reading this thread here's how it works:

I'll send out a mass PM to everyone when it's time, but I don't do that until after I've ordered the prints and my printer tells me they're about to ship to me. Then I collect the money while they're in transit and break down the package and send out to everyone.

So you'll get a message from me, no need to do anything, and I don't ask for money until the product exists.

I won't intentionally limit it, but I do have minimum print runs, so at some point there aren't enough people interested and something is "done". With The Shadow it looks like this 3rd run is possibly the last one. Who knows with this. Could be a do a few runs, could be this first one is it and done. So it's not an artificial LE model, but if you think you can just pick one up later you might be disappointed is all.

These are photographic translites, printed on a glossy stock, with a diffuser layer behind. They're more like the old Williams tranlites than the Stern ones, they're a heavier weight stock. That's one reason I ship them flat instead of rolled in a tube.

They light up really nice, not like some of the cheapo eBay ones that wash out when you stick a light behind them. Everyone who bought my Shadow translite was really happy with the way they looked, and this is the same material, so I would expect people to be pleased this time too. I stand by my product if there are any issues though.

To be honest that's not really my style, I like aprons cleaner and simpler, so not really something I'd do. If someone wants to develop an apron wrap that matches they totally have my blessing.

Okay, as I've told a few people I realized that I needed to weigh some things, my international shipping extra charge was based on my experience with the Shadow translite, but that package had a speaker panel in it. The good news is without the speaker panel it drops under 2 pounds, and that shaves a little off the shipping. So I've lowered it by $5, now it's $150. Best I can do, but hey, $5 less isn't nothing I guess.

Edited opening post to reflect the new cost too.

The only thing I'd say is when these translites aren't lit they're a little dark, they really need the backlight to pop. So if anyone actually wants to do that I would recommend a Swap Box or something else that is lit up.

You're the second person to say they're using this as phone wallpaper by the way, that's awesome, glad you like it.

Hmm, the decal stuff I'm messing with now is removable, it's like a Fathead, sticky but only mildly so, it seems to peel off a playfield with no problems at least. I honestly don't know how it would do over a sticker though.

lol, no. Her underboob tattoo will have to remain a mystery.

Here are some decal concepts, with original on left. It's the same design, this is actually where Helen started, I didn't move her to become a translite until later. My printer is testing a thinner glossy decal this weekend, and then will send me a test if it looks good.

One on the right was just some fun, making it look like a Premium/Pro where the lower playfield window has shattered to reveal Helen underneath.

Helen-Decal-Concepts.jpg

Oops, forgot one more, it's just a variation of her smaller to reveal more like the one on the right, but without the glass and heavy flames, for those who like more boobage.

Not sure what the plan is for these yet, but didn't want to keep them a secret since they're not some crazy new design or anything.

helen-no-glass.jpg

This new decal material sounds like a winner, my printer is feeling good about it. I don't know the costs yet though. I've gotta go to NYC for business next Tues-Fri, so I probably won't be able to test it until I get back. And I'm still trying to find a Pro to test fit it on. I've had some offers from out of towners, might need to take someone up on that.

I could probably work up a variation where the flames were providing a bit more modesty, have a full on and semi-safe version. But honestly this idea wasn't really about being too safe. I guess it's up to personal taste, my girls are 6 and 9 and have watched daddy design this, and my wife helped me pose for part of it, so it's not a problem in my house.

Done, thanks.

Sweet, thanks for the pic.

Hmm, they look a little small though, no? Did I screw up a dimension or did they not print full size? According to what I was told they should be 5.5"x3"

This is why I like designing for machines I actually own, I can just go measure and test myself.

Thanks Joe! I'm in NY next week actually, but I'm there for work and probably won't have much in the way of free time.

Yeah, I hear that. I think they both have merits for different reasons, but the "Original" is actually the original vision. Horns inside the horns on the window etc. It's not a big deal to do a few different designs once they're printing, so people don't necessarily have to decide. If there's enough interest to run these I can just make a pack and you can choose after seeing them in person.

Oh yeah, for sure, I've got some old mockups I need to update. Basically I'm slightly behind on the decal, but I felt like the time was right to announce the translite instead of waiting, so I just went for it rather than trying to get it all set at once. Would have been easier, but I dunno, something about the tone of the forum made me think I shouldn't wait. Maybe it's the Luci folks all getting their pins now.

I'll do that for sure. I'd like to take a real photo too, still trying to locate a local Pro.

Thanks for the feedback guys, very helpful.

A few people have asked about decals for the lower playfield. I'll take a look at it next time I play someone's. No promises though.

I'm not 100% sure. The orders have slowed, but they're still steady. Some people aren't here every day like me. But I don't want to make everyone who's signed up wait too long. So maybe give it all of next week and then cut it off for the first run. Can do more later if there's still interest.

So you have some time I think, just let me know. I'm pulling for you!

So I'm testing one now that isn't final, we just found something better, so I have to verify the new stuff (which is thinner) will act the same. But the plan is removable. Like a Fathead, tacky enough to stick down, but you can peel it back up to remove or adjust if you get an air bubble applying it. Takes a little careful working under the edge to get up, like enough to feel secure, but it comes up clean and easy, no residue that I can see.

I don't think you even need soap and water, just a squeegee or something like it would probably be enough, it's not that big and you can peel up to adjust if needed. I'll maybe start a thread to get a consensus and write up instructions.

I've got the test on my clearcoated Elvira right now. Not the final design, not the final material, but holding up great. You can see the edge of it just a little, new one is thinner to fix that. This one is matte, the new one is glossy, should match the playfield clear nicely. Even with this thicker one the ball goes over it clean, no problems.

eatpm-decal.jpg

I also thought this would make a bad ass topper, but I dunno anything about setting them up, might be more involved than I have time for.

topper.jpg

Yeah, totally hear that. I was going to wait until the decal was done for that reason, but something made me feel like I should just go for it.

I'll sort it out as soon as I can, you're not the only one waiting for that. I've noted your name down on a list for combo folks in case I need to contact everyone with details.

I honestly don't know what I'm doing with the topper idea. Maybe I'll talk to Laseriffic and see if he wants to help me with them, I don't know if there's even any demand for it. I just mocked it up because it sounded like fun.

I sent Joe a PM, maybe we can work something out.

Joe and I will talk.

Happy to. Can anyone confirm they're the right size? Maybe I should have made them PDFs to help them print right.

Sorry, pinups are cool, but full on topless isn't really my style.

Got you down, thanks.

A few people have told me they're using the translite design for their phone wallpaper, so I when I was messing around last night I made a proper sized one for anyone who wants it.

Click to enlarge for full size. If you want one that Pinside hasn't compressed you can also grab it here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/Hellen-Phone-Wallpaper.jpg

Hellen-Phone-Wallpaper.jpg

It was there, but wasn't quite as bright. One thing I'm doing now after seeing the test print is adjusting some of the colors/contrast, and I specifically went in and brightened up that particular highlight. That wallpaper image above is based on the latest version of the art. It's all subtle stuff, but I'm kind of obsessive that way. It's one reason these take so long, the main image gets done and then I spend forever tweaking it until I'm happy.

Can't say TF does a whole lot for me, the Bay films were kind of a giant turnoff compared to my childhood, I grew up with the cartoon. Metallica though, that I'm interested in, I might mess around with something for that someday. If I come across a good deal on a local Pro I'll probably pick it up, that would definitely motivated me!

So wait what are the stock cards? 5.25" x 3"? I can adjust. Man, designing for a game I own is so much easier!

I just see the theme and I'm turned off, I dunno. I must not be the only one, looks like you gotta drop to $4000 or so now to move an LE. I've never actually played the game.

If I had a Metallica I'd be figuring out how to make all the songs be from just Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets and painting up my Sparky, that all sounds like fun. Not really a big fan of Dirty Donny, it's not so much that he's derivative, more that he doesn't even nail that aspect, but his Metallica work is easily also my least favorite thing I've seen him do. Spooky House, Beatniks, and Hellacopters art was much better. Part of that is the crap job Stern does with printing the playfield and plastics though, that's not really his fault I guess.

I dunno, I'm not really an ace illustrator, those skills are pretty rusty, I started with a stock drawing for AC/DC that I just turned into something more my own. Probably wouldn't have gone that route if I'd known I was going to spend so much time on it, would have started more original, but it was an easy way to play with an idea and I kinda got attached to it. So I don't want to shit talk too much here about talent. Stern doing hand drawn art should be applauded, not bitched about. Just wish he'd knocked it out of the part more, I think he's capable.

Would have been a coup if Stern had hired Pushead instead!

Designing up a playfield sounds like a lot of fun actually. Working with the constraints of the ramps and toys etc, and figuring out how to lay out the inserts is totally the kind of design challenge I love. I look at things like the bottom of the AC/DC playfield, where someone just plopped some rounded rectangles, and think about how much better it could have been. Star Trek, for all it's cheesy beveled art, at least made an effort to make that area cohesive.

Someone asked me to help re-theme an AC/DC into an Iron Maiden pin, whole new art everywhere. I doubt I'd have the time for something like that, and it wouldn't be as much fun since the inserts couldn't really be changed, but still an intriguing project.

I'm just not into doing topless versions guys, giant anti-gravity boobs with nipples you can see from across the room is as far as I go, sorry.

So I'm heading to NY for a business trip tomorrow, through Friday. I'll keep tabs on email and this thread while I'm gone, but won't be as immediately responsive as I usually am, might take me hours instead of minutes to get back to you.

When I get back I'm going to close orders and put in the number with the printer, start the print run.

I hope to have an answer for the people who are interested in a decal package before then. I'll contact everyone who's on that list before I order and give them any updates I have and they can make an informed decision.

I need much smaller numbers than the first time to do a second run, so it's probably not a big deal if you miss the first run, I would expect to do at least one more assuming everyone reports back that they're happy. Which I expect!

Would it be easier if I made them PDFs? Those should just print at the right size, no need to fiddle with graphics programs etc.

Here are the cards on a single page PDF, about 4.6 megs:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/acdc-cards.pdf

I left the other two off since they're for more 'advanced' users who probably all have decent graphics software already. The PDF should open and print at the correct size on just about any computer, no messing around.

Let me know!

Testing the hopefully final version this week, I have a volunteer checking the size on a Pro playfield. I designed it over a scan (thanks Neo, your scans come in handy again!) so hopefully it's dead on, but with this kind of thing you never know, might have to adjust slightly.

I've got templates now for the apron decals that are the exact right size, but I haven't done anything with them yet, and I dunno what the plan would be. It may not make economic sense to get them commercially printed, would need to have them each cut with their own dies, and I'm not sure if there's really enough demand or not to justify the costs.

I can look into it for sure though. Maybe there's a DIY option as a backup.

Hmm, I can't remember exactly what they look like, but he opted for a little bit more of a realistic flame design, no? As opposed to mine, which are more kustom kulture hot rod flames.

Man even in that photo the apron decals look like ass, I see what you guys mean.

Whoops, forgot there are two versions, thanks for reminding me. Pro version without the lower playfield text here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/acdc-cards-pro.pdf

Talking with my printer now, I think we could fit them on the sheet with the playfield face decals. But they wouldn't be available separately if you had a Premium and didn't want those. Maybe for that I could upload a PDF and you could print on label paper and self stick?

I dunno, still pondering. I haven't even designed anything for them yet.

You're welcome! Now keep in mind that I did go to UC Santa Cruz, but I keep seeing the One Ring in your avatar and thinking it's a banana slug.

Here are the final decal designs, we're testing the new material and fit on on Pinsider's Pro this week (thanks!). The plan, is to offer them as a 3 pack, maybe with apron decals too, and you can pick which look you like best, or switch it up later or whatever. Final details coming soon, including price.

1) Broken glass, that looks like the Premium/LE lower playfield has broken through to Hell (in a good way, hi Helen!).

2) Close up, more like the original Angus face, and this one is a little more modest with the crop and flames if you're maybe not in a house that's friendly to nipples on the playing field. Nothing wrong with that.

3) No glass and zoomed out a bit for more full body shot if that's more your thing.

The material is thin and glossy, sticks tight until you want to remove it, but comes up clean when you want it to.

I'll start a new thread when they're totally ready, and if you've PM'd me about wanting a decal/translite package I'll let you know when that's looking together etc.

Click to enlarge:
Helen-Decals-Final.jpg

Not at the moment, I'd need to really look at how it's put together first and think about it I guess. What do you dislike about it?

Honestly I have no idea, this is commercial stuff, my guess is you can't use it in a home printer.

However I think I've solved the problem, and can offer commercial quality apron decals to non-pro owners. Just need to spend some time laying things out, pretty sure I can fit extras on the sheet.

I'll try and look more carefully at the lower playfield next time I play a Premium or LE.

Honestly, no idea. I don't want to try and promise either way, because I haven't even looked at it beyond a "huh, yeah" response.

With your avatar you would!

I gotta go pack for a trip to NY, gonna finally feel a little cold this winter.

I'll still be checking email, I'll make sure I have my spreadsheets on my laptop, and I'll poke into the forum when I can. I'll track any orders that come in via PM, no problem to message me, but if you don't hear from me right away that's why.

Yeah, it's really a personal preference. I tend to like the glossier ones just because the cards I've been printing lately for my own machines have a lot of black, and you get a deeper saturation with the gloss. Once it's under the glass it doesn't really look shiny or anything. I have some nice HP photo paper I use for that stuff, it really makes a huge difference to use the nice photo paper, they can hold the ink droplets much better for a crisp image.

If I can I'll try and work on the apron decals during my flight, gonna be 5 or 6 hours, might as well try and be productive. I did part of the Shadow translite on a plane too if I recall correctly.

Cool. Test decal on way to Pinsider with a Pro now, should get it shortly and we'll see if I got the fit right or not! If so we're in good shape, so fingers crossed.

Nice, thanks for the pics.

Chilling on the plane, designing the apron decals. Just grabbed a stock drawing before I got on the plane and I'm modifying it to look more like Helen, be a an effective quickie I think.

I was going to leave off the hold flippers for info text, no one actually needs that right?

These are subject to change, I'll post more detailed images when they're final, but thinking the apron decals might look something like this (click to enlarge):

apron-decal-peek.jpg

I might redo the right instruction card (I'll leave the current version uploaded for anyone to print though) and take Helen off it, make the rules a little easier to read instead. A little too much with the other devil girls there I think. I dunno, I'll sort it out.

Big thanks again to Buckman for scanning his stock decals for me.

I think we've figured out a way I can print these die cut for both Pro owners who also want the face replacement decals, but also separate for Premium/LE owners. I need to sit down and really look at the costs, but I could add them to a translite order for probably $10 or something reasonable I think. They'll be the same nice thin and glossy material as the playfield ones, and removable if you ever don't want them on anymore.

Let me know what you think, if people want them I'll make it happen as part of everything.

Not a lot of room on those decals for a full body pose. Maybe something kind crammed into the shape, but not really feeling how that would look or how small they'd have to be to fit. I'll look at it more when I hit my hotel though, that was all just messing around on the plane.

I just tweaked some stock drawing, how I was able to get it done on the flight. I'll probably keep messing with it we'll see. It is of course mirrored but with tweaks so it doesn't feel too much like it. Just waiting for my bag at JFK reading Pinside on my phone, look at it all again later.

Heh, this is why I usually try and only show things when they're totally done. No worries, love hearing ideas. Apron decals only happened because of feedback in this thread!

I don't think I'm going to spend a lot more time on the decals, I really need to lock things down so I can get the printing to happen, or I won't be able to actually get any of this stuff on your games. Nothing is going out unless I'm happy with it though.

I've said it before, haven't hid it, but just to be super super clear those apron decals I did on the plane today are based off a vector image I grabbed from my stock photo site and tweaked to bring in line with everything else. Nothing wrong with that, what stock art is meant for, and I'm changing thing around and making the content original, but I feel kind of uncomfortable trying to play it off like I'm the one doing all the illustrations from scratch here. It's more like half design, half art directing if that make sense.

Change the coloring, redo the shading, erase the lips and draw new ones, tweak the eye sizes and placements, adjust the pose, that kind of stuff is what I did today to make those.

I'm sure no one cares, I just don't want to feel like a phony, passing off other people's work as my own. My personal illustration style is different than this.

Also, I'm not a big fan of Stern's design work generally, but they're working with licensed titles where someone gets to approve and ride back seat on everything. I get to just do what I please here, it's not really a fair comparison. I know people preferred my Shadow translite, but I bet if Doug Watson could have had free reign he would have killed it. Wasn't his choice to paint a big ass Baldwin head.

Sorry, long day, I'm in between time zones, I think I'm rambling. I'm just glad to bring something to people's machines that makes them happy, how the sausage is made is probably irrelevant. And I appreciate the compliments.