Those light blue flippers and bushings are perty.

It's amazing how much shit Mike had to deal with on pinside early on, along with stated personal issues, and had the fortitude to put all that behind him, come back here, and now show with complete transparency what it takes to make a top quality pinball machine. Which is what I'm sure it will be.

Hats off to Homepin!

I am really surprised Homepin has not been added to this pinside sub forum when they are making games and actually participate here more than many of the others. Looking forward to more updates. And keep up the good work!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/forum/manufacturers

What joint are you using?

I figured as much.

No, what corner wood joint?

My experience in life tells me spending a little more to do something right the first time with the best materials possible, costs you less money, time, and headache in the long run.

I don't know why Mike bothered to come on this site in the first place.

Now we will have pages and pages of how trolls are ruining pinside which is almost as bad as the troll post itself. Pinside in the state it is now, doesn't deserve straight shooters like Mike IMO.

Making pinball machines is hard, but dealing with this place is almost impossible.

Is it just me, or does the mole look slightly out of place in that pic?

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I was bummed when they stopped selling gasoline by the liter.

Or delete them or ban them or not. Just like on fckbook.

Exactly. I like Mike and I'm all for him coming back, but if all pinball manufacturers were allowed to have their own personal social media page on this site where they could manipulate it to their liking, then pinside would go to hell in a hand basket in a hurry.

Yes it does because by current pinside rules users are not allowed to say negative things about pinball manufacturers or their themes or will get permanently banned from those sub-forums and threads. Ask me how I know.

What could work and has sort of been done here before is a manufacturer could have a locked update thread where he or she is the only one allowed to post. And that would eliminate a lot of problems.

Thunderbirds wasn't exactly the fastest moving show.

In the 90s Fox shortened them to half hour episodes and added rock music and even then it was slow.

My digital camera bends everything to hell. How come that never happened when we used real film?

I did and it's no help.

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They look more puppety than they really are.

My older Nikon coolpix didn't do it, the newer one does. I liked the old camera because it was compact and fairly cheap. When it broke I bought the newest one and something has changed.

I like the part about single level playfield with ramps and SUBWAYS.

I had heard a rumor that subways are nowadays very costly to include in a new machine.

Not me. My old man sprung for the first color set on the street. With remote control!

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Close, but this is the one we had. We weren't rich at all, but my dad loved his late night TV and never cut corners when buying one.

$500 must have been a lot of money in the mid 60s, but that Zenith and remote worked great all the way into the 80s.

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That's a lot of cabbage there. And we were in no way rich. My pops was the best at bargain shopping so I'm sure he got the best deal possible when he bought it.

I guess you could almost equate it to buying a pinball machine today.

I'm sure he can do without you too.

Edit- never mind.

If it's something then it still won't matter. Anything that offends podcast boy and his minions can't be all bad.

I'm sure whatever he said, he was probably baited into it. But I didn't see it on the pinside forum which is where we are now.

Oh, and racism doesn't? I think I see where you're coming from.

It's right in the post everybody's talking about half a page up.

Well, if you had actually reported word for word, there may have been a better understanding of what your point was.

Truth is I've been to Australia and they are decades behind the USA as far as political correctness goes. So basically he was baited into an Archie Bunker rant.

When will people start getting offended when they are called nerds?

I don't mind that they got the right to vote, but whoever gave them drivers licenses in the US was surely out of their mind.

No, I'd stop talking to them altogether.

I've been called lots of things by lots of people, and you know what? It has little effect on how I feel about myself. Unless it's somebody that I respect in the first place. Then I listen.

And yes, I do respect you.

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Nah, because then they would probably want a whole bunch of extra money for tasteless mods and rainbow colored LEDs that I would have to remove anyway.

I'm sure there are some out there that won't want Thunderbirds because the puppets smoked cigarettes. It's up to each person to decide what his or her own level of tolerance is.

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I bet the puppets will be slang free as well.

In the not too distant future it might be. It is a derogatory remark and an attack on people of who they are or how they present themselves. Every day they are finding more and more comments or phrases that might offend some group of people.

You are talking about a whole different country and culture. It wasn't that long ago that those words were commonplace in this country. Even in magazines and advertisements. I could bring up a few.

Evolution happens at different paces in different places. I'm not defending it, but you can't force other cultures to evolve to your liking.

It will only fuel the fire. Just google it and see the results.

I guess all this won't get me a discount on a Thunderbirds pinball machine anyway.

I think the machine is looking great.

I find it sad that a man can do great work for a lot of years and receive praise for it and never have any trouble with the law, but if he has one slip of the tongue or says something that offends somebody or somebody that thinks they are defending somebody elses feelings, there are those that would chose to forget any good he has done, and crucify him on the spot. And expect everybody else to do the same. I believe it's called the holier than thou complex.

Funny how nobody ever complained about the Guns N Roses pinball machine or said they wouldn't buy it because the band used those exact same words in their song lyrics. And that has never even been discussed on this forum.

I'd even wager that some that say they won't buy Thunderbirds because of that actually own GnR or GnR albums . lol.

I think homepin is now my favorite pinball company.

I like guys that tell it like it is and don't sugarcoat anything.

Can you please show us where he posted those words on this forum? This forum will ban you if you fart in the wrong direction.

No way dude. I've received ban threats and too many moderation notices already. Last one being for making a joke about a blow up doll.

I like being on pinside so I am learning how to self censor myself so I don't end up offending the overly sensitive types that reside here.

Anyway, I think it's time to get back to Thunderbird Are Go!

Yeah well, Williams doesn't make pinball machines anymore.

From what I understand they have shipped some to an upcoming show.

And let's just say I'm not a fan of this everything has to be family friendly and politically correct attitude especially when it comes to pinball.

No, this topic is about Homepin parts and machine progress, and my comment was in regards to Mike's last few comments in this thread. I like the fact that he shows no need to kiss anyone's ass or apologize to anyone.

I would like to have a few acres there myself, then I could feel right at home next time I'm down under.

What do you get with a bogan american.

Spoken like a true righteous one.

I don't know why you guys continue to force the issue. It's known what was said, why it was said, and Homepin has already issued a response.

Beating this into the ground isn't going to make anybody more aware or change anything.

So can this thread get back on topic now and stay there?

How did he get banned for that comment? I'm hoping for one of those put it together yourself kits myself.

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That's because peoples jaws were dropping and they were speachless.

The game looks sweet! Those palm trees add a real nice touch. Nice way to take a vintage theme into the 21st century.

Do we know who designed it yet?

I can't wait to hear it play as well as see it. I may just have a place for this game in my living room.

I don't know if there was any truth to that rumor or not which is why I asked. And if it turns out to be as good as it looks, it won't matter.

I am just really pleased with the way Mike has presented this project while it was being made despite all those that tried to bring him down.

I'm all for that no matter who designed it.

These narrower and narrower flipper gaps of today where the ball can barely fit thru are for wimps.

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That center ramp is genius!

It only got hung up there because the guy didn't hit it hard enough. Once it seemed to bounce back.

But I do love the fact it doesn't use the generic ramp habitrail return and drop in the inlanes that makes so many of today's games tedious and boring.

Maybe by the end of the weekend an advanced player might actually try it.

They could make it like that jump ramp on No Fear and of you don't make it, it just drops into the pop bumpers.

So did Mike design the layout?

Yeah after I watched it again I saw that bracket get hit. Still looks like it'll be a fun game to shoot once it all gets sorted out.

It's going to get air there for sure. Fronthand or backhand.

Well, you know me Dave. I'm never in that much a hurry. I'm just happy for the scraps.

Sucks when the ice is running low.

I'll be stocking up on the ice!

Knotts Scary Farm!!!

I saw Wolfman Jack perform there and catch the theatre on fire.

On that shot of the underside of the playfield can somebody point out where the subways are that this game is supposed to have?

It's exactly what Fox did trying to spark interest with the younger generation when they ran this show on Saturday mornings during the 90s. What I couldn't get past though, was them shortening each episode to half an hour.

Yeah, the original Thunderbirds music was part of the charm.

Remind me never to get the same haircut as BenHeck.

Or the lawyers?

Sounds like it's time for somebody to either lawyer up or shut up or both.

Nice one Mike! Maybe if you send Heck a cookie, he'll let it go for now.

Hehe.

Unlike in America where everybody wants to sue somebody or blame somebody, maybe where he's at he just wants to make pinball machines and not deal with all the finger pointing or any of the other bullshit.

If he is using Heck's design, he is already showing appreciation. And that is the best compliment you can give anyone.

Would posting over and over again that somebody used your design qualify as broken record on this forum?

Keep those thumbs down coming people, but I've been informed we all have to play by the same rules around here.

I know this isn't supposed to be a popularity contest, but given the choice, I'd rather sit down and have a beer with Mike than the guy that's been doing all the complaining.

As long as he didn't sit and gloat and tell me over and over again I couldn't have a beer because it was too much like his or have to apologize for being in his royal company, I can take getting told to get f**cked.

I just like rebels. And when I have been moderated for and being called a broken record, which is kind of offensive as it is, it kind of sucks watching somebody else get away with it.

Well, when Thunderbirds was first announced and there was a lot of shit thrown his way he PMd me and treated me with respect and like a human being, not somebody that acted like he wanted me to bow down to. And throughout this entire shit storm, his responses are much like mine would have been.

It sucks if he did steal, but truth is he never stole anything from me, but if he had I wouldn't be crying about it on this forum.

[edited]. You should have considered securing the code in the first place.

Only those that are over 55 now and living on a fixed income. But where there's a will there is always a way!

You must have been watching the shortened version FOX did on Saturday mornings right before Bobby's World came on then right? I'm guessing there may have been a few others beside you and me.

I am still of the opinion Saturday AM TV was at it's finest in the mid to late 60s with Thunderbirds being one of the crown gems, but I gotta admit that Bobby's World was fairly entertaining to watch even in my 30s.

But it was The Tick from that same era that is one of the all time classics. Never missed an episode.

I'll pick those up and put them in a shipping container with the rest of my junk. They will probably still arrive faster.

Rotordave, possibly the only guy on this website that got his Christmas presents and didn't open them until New Years because he was a "tad busy".

Like those other freezing cold nights out in the garage, it will be warmer to the touch than steel, just like one of those wood rail ones.

So are you saying if you release a 40 year old theme without much pre-announcement it becomes more relevant?

Where I live, that is called killing two birds with one stone.

Agreed. Plus it's truly a sight to behold and play.

I don't see how a couple cheap plastic ramps can add that much value to any machine.

Nothing like hitting those ramps 100 times a game to keep things from getting repetitive.