Joust Owners Club - ostrich riders and pterodactyl slayers wanted

being a small, but tight knit club, I thought that it would be nice to have a centralized thread where joust owners (current and potential) could discuss all items joust related

to start things off:
as many of you know, jim smith and I were responsible for reproducing the joust playfield plastics approximately 3 years ago. the run was understandably small (the production numbers for joust itself were limited to begin with) and the fact I didn't want to get stuck with any product that I couldn't sell since I funded the project from my own coffers.

CPR was kind enough to come through on the manufacturing end when the local print shop could not deliver the level of (silk screened) quality that we've all come to expect, however it was obvious that I probably could have produced another 5-10 sets given the pm's that I received after selling through the 60 licensed sets that I did produce.

since I still possess the means of bending the aprons (the heat bending unit and my home-made jig), is there any demand to consider producing any more playfield plastics?

someone didn't bother to see which joust that I linked above. I'm fully aware that bally made one a decade earlier

playfield plastics update
once kevin gets the [on demand] orders up and running, the sets will be available for purchase on the classicplayfields.com website. CPR will print and laser cut them and then they will be shipped to me to finalize (heat bend the aprons), package up and shipped to the customer(s)

a bbq grill? no. wait, it's a tarp!

djblouw
congrats on the acquisition

btw, there are 3 of those luggage type locking clasps (like on the new stern machines) that hold each of the twp lockdown bars onto the cabinet. you will need to release all 6 of them to slide the playfield glass off

hopefully, the playfield prop bar is still inside the machine

additionally, the 2 panels on the either side of the base have one of those nylon "child-proof" locking mechanisms to keep the panels from crashing down onto the floor when you unlock them. you'll need to reach inside the semi opened panel and push the latch down to release it to open the access doors containing the boards

the last time that I spoke with kevin, they were over 50 commitments (re-commitments) and I was assured that the project would get done

as far as what I know and am allowed to publicly reveal, things are progressing very well

without going into too much detail, what I can say is that all of the pieces are in place for the finalizing to occur and the playfields to start being produced

a small change (a correction) was made to the playfield artwork file last night and a new file submitted, so hopefully that is the only roadblock found

big news for people on the joust pre-order list from CPR is coming (if it already hasn't been sent by kevin). I know that mirco displayed photos of a playfield that looked really nice late yesterday/early this morning, but I think this news is worth viewing before anyone thinking of jumping ship, does

not having seen either physically in front of me, that would be a hard call to make

I do know that there are a few differences between both companies' processes but I'm not really in the position of telling people what to do since my opinion would be biased (I'm not only a good friend of kevin, but also jim smith who slaved over the artwork for this project and the playfield plastics that CPR screened and laser cut for us 3+ years ago

one thing that I will say is that from looking at mirco's photos, I see a few things that [may be] viewed as incorrect

I know that kevin and mike are making sure that the joust playfield will be as perfect as possible and have been reaching out to me on a regular basis for information

[deleted post]

I will be creating a playfield swap thread once I have the reproduction playfield in hand. I've already started stripping down my current machine and figured anything that I find that can be beneficial to others should be posted to try and make this process as easy and straight forward as possible.

the one thing that I have found already is that the metal posts with the rubber sleeves around them (these ones secured with an #10 nylon lock nut (11/32" socket) from the underside also have a washer on the underside (so, don't lose them!!
530-5332-00

ps
keeping the rubber sleeves on them allows you to grip the post and makes it 100x easier to loosen the nut from underneath

additionally, after running my game with the reproduction plastics for about 3 years, I've identified all of the places underneath the plastics that are potential places that will rub the ink from the plastics. I will post images tonight or tomorrow for all of those looking to bundle their purchase of a new playfield with new plastics along with my solutions to help keep this from occurring and keep your newly restored game looking beautiful

I would prefer to let them make the announcement

I know that we are making a change to the playfield plastics and possibly adding something [nifty] to the set (if I can work out the logistics for it

as some of you know, a little over 4 years ago, jim smith (a former CPR artist) and I partnered with CPR and were able to reproduce the joust playfield plastics, helping out nearly 60 owners. it was a stressful yet satisfying project that took a lot of effort, time and money to accomplish

a few years prior to that, I had sent mr. smith a NOS playfield and he painstakingly reproduced all of the artwork, done to every last halftone dot but at that time, CPR did not have the means to reproduce widebody playfields

fast forward to earlier this year, when CPR made the announcement that they had purchased a new digital printing suite of products which would enable them to produce playfields, backglasses and playfield plastics on demand and the joust playfields would be among the first products using this technology

below are some hi-res images (best viewed by clicking on them to maximize the image size) to show just how fine the details their digital printer can produce
kevin has been gracious enough to allow me to share the following images with you the pinside community for a project that I have been working on with them for the past few months

please note that the playfield shown is a sample that I am still verifying to ensure that all elements are positioned correctly. this particular sample has not been color colored or clear coated yet so the colors may still appear a bit flat and wood grain visible through the ink in some areas, but I wanted to show just how amazing mr. smith's reproduction artwork will look on the final product (he really needs to be commended for all his hard work

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