Here is my version of lighting up the miniature Space Station. I used a double sided copper clad printed circuit board. I bought a 6 inch square one. I cut it into a 4.75 inch diameter circle. Since I didn't want to tamper with the original space station, I made an aluminum bracket to hold the LED strip lights. I was able to put a string of 9 on each half. The LED lights can be cut in groups of three. So that worked out good. For the center, I bought a 10 mm flashing LED. This I mounted to a 35mm film container and epoxied it to the aluminum bracket. I designated the top of the pc board as +12 V and the bottom as ground. The connecting wires are hidden by the spokes in the space station.

I made a wiper assembly out of 3/8 in thick plastic. I made a brass rod that threads to the 6-32 threaded rod near the space station. the plastic assembly slips over this and is fastened by a 6-32 screw. Two more 6-32 screws hold the two music wires that actually slide and make electrical contact to the two sides of the pc board.

I had planned to connect the circuit to the 3 orange/yellow lights only to find out mine have about 65 volts AC on them. (which is why I wired them in series, this is another issue for me to deal with later). I started to look for another 12 volt DC source. I ended up with the power supply in the lower back right of the back box.

I tried to make use of found stuff around the house to build this. One of the things I would do differently is use 20 mil thick aluminum instead of the 10 mil I first found (I did find the 20 mil later). I would also recommend the 12 volt dimmer. I have it sitting behind the speakers of the back box.

pic1.jpg pic2.jpg pic3.jpg pic4.jpg pic5.jpg pic6.jpg

It came with the machine. I must have one of the earlier versions. The lights in the space station in the back board do not "rotate". The flames on the other space shuttles and the Williams logo flash. I did make my own ramp protector for the right side.

I am thinking about putting white and green strip lighting along the inside of the side cabinet near the glass top. The white would be on with the GI and switch to the green LED when in green mode.

Regarding lighting the miniature Space Station, here is a picture where I tried to adjust the exposure to show the LED reflection off of the copper surface.
Pic with exposure adjusted.jpg

From Amazon:
LED light strip ~$10
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EHHLD8/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00
Dimmer ~$3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L4KKF2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

Local Fry's Electronics:
Double sided copper clad board 6 inch square by 1/16 inch ~$6
Cat # 550
Flasher LED 10 mm ~$5
B438H1FL Red 3.5-14V

Hobby Lobby:
Music wire 0.032 ~$1
#5501

I would recommend Using 0.020 thick aluminum for the bracket. You can probably get this at Home Depot or Lowes. I just cut it with tin snips. I made a wooden form 3.75 inch in diameter, to form the tabs in a circle. Then epoxied the tabs together. I snipped them at the two spots to fit around where the screw holes for the space station extend out. I cut the LED strip to two sections with 9 LEDs each. I also epoxied the ends of the LED strips to the aluminum bracket. I cut a plastic 35mm film container shorter so that it would hold the flasher LED under the space station dome. The flasher did come with a socket and prewired.

Instead of etching the copper clad board, I used a 1/4 inch brad point drill bit just to score the copper. Then used an Exacto knife to remove the copper. You need to prevent shorting when soldering to both sides of the copper clad board.

The wiper bracket was 3/8 inch thick, 1 1/4 inch high, and 1 1/2 inch long. The top was angled and trimmed to fit just below the space station rotation.

BTW, I have a pretty decent garage workshop, metal lathe, drill press, band saw, table saw, etc.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions.

Bracket.jpg

After hundreds of games, there were no glitches. It worked out better than my expectations, especially in the visual presentation. The pictures don't do it justice. You really need to see it rotate with the light reflections.

I tried taking some video but I wasn't satisfied with the results. It is the same issue that your eyes have a much higher dynamic range than the camera. The reflection of the individual LEDs reflecting off of the copper surface does not show up. To the eye, it appears that there are 18 LED around the "outside" perimeter of the space station. As my previous picture with the exposure adjustment, you can see the reflections in the chrome chutes. As it rotates all of the reflections move around. Really neat.

That sounds like a lot of work on my part. (I retired early for a reason) I wish everyone with a Space Station pin had one of these. I am willing to answer any question or give helpful construction tips. I would suggest trying to find someone locally that could do the work.

However, I would be interested in making one more assembly to be used with their miniature space station. I would include everything necessary. The person would need to drill a small hole in the back of the play field to feed the wires through, install the wiper assembly and install their space station over the LED assembly. For this I would trade for a 1-2-3 mini play field in decent condition that includes the back decal. My mini play field is in rough shape.

Not a very good video but here goes:

That is why I made a bracket to hold the LEDs. My next project is to put white and green LED strips along the sides just under the glass. Switching between them when in "condition green". I'm waiting on parts.

Whatever I do can be easily removed without damaging the original machine..

Here is the picture. I used clip leads to connect to the bridge rectifier. I also used a dimmer to control the brightness. This power supply is located in the bottom right corner of the backbox.

BTW, where did you get the LED ring? Does it come in different diameters?

Space Station power supply.jpg

Here is what my wiper assembly looks like:

Wiper assembly.jpg

My space station and I think all only turns counterclockwise.