Atlantis
Gottlieb, 1975
Road Race
Gottlieb, 1969
Surf Champ
Gottlieb, 1976Quoted from ReadyPO:I have just one item in my office at work pinball related, a Wood Rail BG given to me as a gift from my military staff. This is going to be the second item, I can't wait to explain to non-pinball folks what it is and why it is so Damn cool!
"Your military staff"? Not sure what that means... you're in the military? You're in some private business but some part of the staff comes from the military?
Quoted from PhilGreg:"Your military staff"? Not sure what that means... you're in the military? You're in some private business but some part of the staff comes from the military?
Sorry, should have explained - I have a full time civilian position as a Facility Director at a University and I am in the National Guard as a traditional (part time) soldier. I just left a brigade command where I had a full time National Guard soldier staff of about a hundred in addition to other traditional, part-time Guardsmen. Its tradition to give the outgoing Commander gifts (to a limited dollar amount). The full time military staff got me the gift below - they really know nothing about pinballs but found a military theme BG (Legionnaire, Chicago Coin, 1941), framed it put some lights behind it and laserprinted some stuff about the Brigade below (I plan to darken the letters to make it more readable). So much thought put into something they knew I would really like. I plan to put the score reel clock on a shelf below this.
gift (resized).jpgSpent some more time this afternoon.
So last time I finished with the wood putty - this is what that looked like (sorry for the fuzzy pic):
I made some more redneck engineering for the dust management of my redneck engineered belt sander:
This is what I looked like at the end of the operation this time so I can say there's a definite improvement:
And here are the wood puttied, sanded cabinets:
Next up will be an inspection, probably another slight round of wood putty/sanding, and then primer.
Quoted from PhilGreg:Next up will be an inspection, probably another slight round of wood putty/sanding, and then primer.
Man, these are going to be beautiful. Can't wait to get mine!
I really love what you did with the Atlantis translight, and the cabinet painting as well. As these get closer to shipping, I've been thinking about what I might do to mine. I spent an hour or more today just looking at backglass art on ipdb.org. I have some minimal digital graphic editing skills, but I have no real artistic skills. Still pondering what to do...
I'd love to hear what other owners of the first batch are planning to do.
Quoted from jrh7:I really love what you did with the Atlantis translight, and the cabinet painting as well. As these get closer to shipping, I've been thinking about what I might do to mine. I spent an hour or more today just looking at backglass art on ipdb.org. I have some minimal digital graphic editing skills, but I have no real artistic skills. Still pondering what to do...
I'd love to hear what other owners of the first batch are planning to do.
I really want some sort of back glass for this, but I have no skills for that. Hoping someone can step up with something I can buy and install.
Quoted from jrh7:I'd love to hear what other owners of the first batch are planning to do.
I am planning on going with a Wedgehead art package, since it has that shape to me with the rounded corners. Considering these titles:
Centigrade 37
Abra Ca Dabra
Astro
El Dorado
Flying Carpet
Galaxie
Freefall/Sky Dive/Sky Jump
Captain Card
Phil, do you have recommendations on which software (ideally free) is best to reconfigure the layout once we obtain our chosen backglass image?
Quoted from RTS:Phil, do you have recommendations on which software (ideally free) is best to reconfigure the layout once we obtain our chosen backglass image?
Never used it myself since I've always had access to photoshop/illustrator, but have always heard good things about Gimp.
Quoted from RTS:Phil, do you have recommendations on which software (ideally free) is best to reconfigure the layout once we obtain our chosen backglass image?
Yep, if you go up a couple posts you'll see how I cut pieces from a picture of the Atlantis backglass to recreate the new one. A bit tedious but not hard - I basically do a point by point selection of each component I want from the original, then cut and paste. One layer per component so I can play with the layer visibility and move things around.
I did this in Gimp.
Give me a couple of days and I'll send you guys a template to help get you going.
Quoted from PhilGreg:Yep, if you go up a couple posts you'll see how I cut pieces from a picture of the Atlantis backglass to recreate the new one. A bit tedious but not hard - I basically do a point by point selection of each component I want from the original, then cut and paste. One layer per component so I can play with the layer visibility and move things around.
I did this in Gimp.
Give me a couple of days and I'll send you guys a template to help get you going.
Great. After checking out the pics, it looks like this version has a smaller surface area for the art layout.
I've got a few backglass ideas, but looking forward to receiving the template to measure how best to fit the art into the usable space without shrinking it too much. Thanks!
Quoted from brucea1956:Please add me to the next batch.
Thank You!
You got it - next batch is still unconfirmed, but you're on the list if it happens!
Quoted from PhilGreg:You got it - next batch is still unconfirmed, but you're on the list if it happens!
Please let us second batchers know when you need confirmation from us or anything else. I'd hate to miss the next go-round.
Quoted from Dono:I'd like to be added to batch #2 as well!
Awesome stuff here.
You got it!
Quoted from Fulltilt:Please let us second batchers know when you need confirmation from us or anything else. I'd hate to miss the next go-round.
"Second batchers" 
Yes, don't worry - last time I hadn't really made up a list of interested people as I wasn't sure I was going ahead with production, but this time I do have a list, you're on it and I will leave people on it a couple of days to reply.
Quoted from alveolus:Just stumbled onto this thread. Amazing!
Please add me to the list.
Done.
Quoted from TreyBo69:I also wanted on the next list and could you send me a copy of the template. Please and thank you.
You got it!
Ooh, put me on the list please! Normally I'm haunted be time, but at least now I'll look forward to seeing time progress!
Quoted from bobwiley:Ooh, put me on the list please! Normally I'm haunted be time, but at least now I'll look forward to seeing time progress!
Ok! Not sure I follow you with the time haunting, but I took your name down!
Sorry, yeah, my job and life is really dependent on time, so every time I look at the clock, I'm like "oh no! I only have 3 minutes left!!"
I'm just learning Gimp, trying to figure it out. Very similar to Photoshop, but with a much better price tag.
I want to recreate Gottlieb Road Race, but there wasn't much canvass to work with so I started with something simpler on my first attempt.
How exactly do the grey squares remain transparent during the print process? I like the effect of the image covering over a bit of the transparent area. Will that still work?
1624063113809_Fun Fest w logo (resized).pngQuoted from RTS:I'm just learning Gimp, trying to figure it out. Very similar to Photoshop, but with a much better price tag.
I want to recreate Gottlieb Road Race, but there wasn't much canvass to work with so I started with something simpler on my first attempt.
I plan to add "it's more fun to compete" in the lower area and also include the Williams logo above.
How exactly do the grey squares remain transparent during the print process? I like the effect of the image covering over a bit of the transparent area. Will that still work?
[quoted image]
Nice! The gray squares don't stay transparent - for the Atlantis translite I cut them out with an xacto knife. I had the printer quote me for them to cut them out - I forget how much it was but they were charging me some overhead that I thought was too expensive. I had a few translites printed in case I wouldn't do a good enough job on the first try, which is what happened.
There's a better resolution picture here that I found: https://i2.wp.com/andyspinballgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/20180102_140922-e1514921892381.jpg
So Phil when you going to announce your line-up?
Standard Version - modeled after the EM (like you're making now)
Limited Edition - modeled after Solid State with orange displays
Collectors Edition - modeled after modern machine and it will have a LCD in it. It will display the time but also can be hooked up to cable and used as a tv.
I started the painting today.
I had built this paint rack a few weeks back so I can do 6 at a time:
Some remaining imperfections now show up so there will be another round of putty, sanding, and priming before I move on to the actual paint.
Quoted from meSz:So Phil when you going to announce your line-up?
Standard Version - modeled after the EM (like you're making now)
Limited Edition - modeled after Solid State with orange displays
Collectors Edition - modeled after modern machine and it will have a LCD in it. It will display the time but also can be hooked up to cable and used as a tv.
I guess I kinda did things backwards, because the hardest part of the project was doing the score reel mechanism. On the other hand, I think that the score reel version kinda stands on its own even without the backglass, but an SS version without a backglass wouldn't look very cool.
I'm focused on building these right now but the SS version could be a cool side project to work on at some point.
If you're looking to add features, a chime for 15 min, 30, 45, and on the hour, just like the sound EM's do when they count your bonus at the end of ball...
Quoted from PhilGreg:The gray squares don't stay transparent - for the Atlantis translite I cut them out with an xacto knife. I had the printer quote me for them to cut them out
I think the transparent section can be done without cutting (I'm assuming we print onto a clear plastic. )
I made a color based selection of the four gray squares and then deleted them so no image would exist in their space, clear down to the checkered background layer.
My assumption is that a printed image will keep this area transparent and no cutting would be necessary.
The only remaining question is the opacity percentage. If it's printed fully opaque, it won't illuminate from behind. Do you create an alpha channel to fully block certain sections and allow light through certain parts, or is it all printed semi transparent with even illumination?
1624130609544_transparent window (resized).pngQuoted from Pauz21:Sorry if I’m too lazy to go through the whole chat but what are you selling these for? I would be interested in one
First run was at 219USD + shipping. I'll put your name down.
Quoted from TylerJac:Sign me up, this is awesome!
You got it! Thank You!
Quoted from RTS:I think the transparent section can be done without cutting (I'm assuming we print onto a clear plastic. )
I made a color based selection of the four gray squares and then deleted them so no image would exist in their space, clear down to the checkered background layer.
My assumption is that a printed image will keep this area transparent and no cutting would be necessary.
The only remaining question is the opacity percentage. If it's printed fully opaque, it won't illuminate from behind. Do you create an alpha channel to fully block certain sections and allow light through certain parts, or is it all printed semi transparent with even illumination? [quoted image]
When I did the Surf Champ I had the translite printed on a transparent acetate and it was completely transparent.
Didn't work. I ended up printing on thick card stock and also you see the grain, I thought it looked pretty good.
For Atlantis, I went with some white plastic material they use to make indoors marquees I think is what they told me. Again, happy with the results.
IMG_3874 (resized).JPG
IMG_3873 (resized).JPG
IMG_3869 (resized).JPG
pasted_image (resized).png
I think the only way you'll get to not have to cut the holes is if you go with screen printing, but that will cost you a fortune. I recommend you go to a local print shop, tell them what you're doing and have a few different ideas printed out. Again, having done it twice, I would recommend something in the same vein as what I did with the Atlantis.
As for masking only certain areas, I didn't do it, but you would probably need to use a cameo vinyl cutter (or do it by hand) and stick it to the back of your printed translite.
I'm pretty sure that's what the guy who made my North Star translite did:
pasted_image (resized).png
IMG_3872 (resized).JPG
IMG_3875 (resized).JPG
Quoted from MrKegFlex:Please add me to the next batch if it happens, looks really cool.
Will do! Will have to make this batch bigger! 
Quoted from Bee-barf:What a great thing to have in my game room. Way over my talent. Please put me down for one. I really like the offset numbers on the Atlantis one.
You're on! If there's a second round I will most likely try to make some more improvements, but I'm pretty sure I'll stick with this format however, with the centered numbers.
Quoted from PhilGreg:For Atlantis, I went with some white plastic material they use to make indoors marquees I think is what they told me. Again, happy with the results.
Thanks, great info. I think the material is called Backlit Film or "duratrans."
Can you confirm the print dimensions from your template are 7.5" width x 5.75" height?
I saw this online printer that will do those custom dimensions for $15 plus shipping. Still would require cutting out holes.
https://posterprintshop.com/product/backlit-film
Also attempted another image. These are from tiny files I found.
Road Race template (resized).pngQuoted from RTS:Thanks, great info. I think the material is called Backlit Film or "duratrans."
Can you confirm the print dimensions from your template are 7.5" width x 5.75" height?
I saw this online printer that will do those custom dimensions for $15 plus shipping. Still would require cutting out holes.
https://posterprintshop.com/product/backlit-film
Yep, that looks like the right stuff. And yes those are the dimensions - still, wait until you have your clock in hand so you can do a paper mockup first to be sure everything aligns just right.
Quoted from PhilGreg:Yep, that looks like the right stuff. And yes those are the dimensions - still, wait until you have your clock in hand so you can do a paper mockup first to be sure everything aligns just right.
Yes, I plan to wait. Just playing around with ideas right now.
How did I miss this?!?! I got into clocks and watches while in the heart of quarantine.
Please please please add me to the next batch if there is one. I’m down for at least one. Let me know if there’s any info you’ll need from me!
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Québec, QC
Fishers, IN
