Wow, sled dog delivered too?! Glad you're enjoying it.

Does anyone have a cliffy on their magnet and the captive ball? Someone thought they were getting some bouncebacks up into the hammer, and I suspect it's the cliffy + captive ball causing air balls, I've heard of others having this problem.

Some people took the captive ball off. Personally I'd remove the cliffy, I don't think it's necessary myself.

I don't really see the purpose of the cliffy on the magnet myself. And if it's interfering with the game, then I'd definitely axe it.

Aww, you're the best, you help so many people! I don't think that there's a need for a cliffy in that one spot personally, but without you so many games would be hurting. I have cliffys myself, just not on Metallica.

I sent an email to my friend who has the master version to see if he thinks he'll have a chance to look into casting them still or not.

I sent a status update email to my friend who's looking at casting them, see if I can report back. Which sounds just like the last update I wrote! I've talked to him since then, and he was going to look at it. I'm guessing he hasn't yet.

Everything functions fine without the hammer. You can even set the code to have it play just like the Pro if you want.

Just mounted? Or interactive?

I don't have easy access to a Pro to really look at it, but I imagine it would need some kind of bracket that could attach to the plastic next to the snake, that would hold a tube that mounted up inside the hammer.

Interactive would of course be a lot trickier.

I would think you could 3D print a bracket, with a socket for the tube. I can help with any measurements as far as the hammer part goes, but the Pro end would be up to you.

I have no idea what's up with the other version, my friend hasn't answered my last email to him. Might need to figure out option B for getting them made, I'm just so busy right now I haven't been able to make it a priority.

Well there definitely won't be another run of the design I did for people, that was a limited thing and won't happen again. But I would be happy to do a run of the solid cast version if I can get that to happen. People have offered to 3D print it, but that's not high enough quality for my standards. And it's a really inefficient way to make a bunch anyways. Casting just makes way more sense.

Heh. The truth is I simply don't have time to attempt something as crazy as that first run again, it was a ton of work hand sculpting every single one etc. Definitely a limited edition project.

I apologize for not being able to get this other idea going, I've been so busy with work and Alien and trying to take care of my other pinball stuff that I just haven't been able to make it a priority. This is all side hobby stuff for me, but I do love it, and I think it's a great upgrade to the game, so I haven't given up.

Problem is my friend who was going to try casting them is basically as busy as me, so between the two of us there just hasn't been much time to tackle it. I might have to find someone else to cast, but that means taking the time to do it, figure out the costs, etc.

Not sure if I can make it, but I'd like to since I missed PAGG. Have to see.

I just heard back from my friend, he's going to get the materials together to try it. I'll report back if there's progress. Thanks for the offer, we'll see what happens!

I prefer a matte look myself, glossy tends to look cheesy to me in most cases. For my custom Sparky I finished him matte, but then gloss coated his tongue and eyes, it works in the right places. But for instance I think that Dr. Frankenstein looks weird with a shiny lab coat. Skin and cloth are rarely shiny.

For the hammers I believe I just used a Krylon matte clear finish. I did three coats I think. The can will have directions about multiple coats, but I think you just wait 20 minutes between.

As far as ball strikes go, I mean there's only so much paint on plastic is going to withstand a heavy metal sphere smashing into it. But yes, I'm happy with how it holds up. You can handle it all you want. I painted my Metallica custom shooter rod and coated with the same matte finish, and it's holding up great to being grabbed all the time.

Exactly. I used to paint WH40K minis myself. The Hammer of Justice sculpts used all my old skills, dry brushing, washes, etc.

The reality is the ball doesn't hit the hammer. You'd have to have one hell of a weird airball to get a ball strike. So I'm really not at all concerned about it really.

Just a little update: talked with my friend last night about casting the solid versions of the hammer. He's got some free time now to look at it, he's just been slammed like me. Casting material has been ordered, mold making has started, we'll see what we can do with it.

Might be a little bit before I have a true status update still, we want to make sure this is going to work before promising anything, but I did want to make sure the people who've been asking knew it wasn't dead.

I'll start a new thread when there's actually "news", but no point in doing that now without anything to show.

I have not talked to my friend who was going to look at casting in a while. Last time we chatted he was getting materials, and then I haven't heard from him, and I've just been too busy to follow up.

I have one hammer that had some issues that was returned to me. I refunded the buyer and I'm going to see what work I need to do to fix it up, I just haven't unwrapped it from the bubble wrap he sent it in yet. See again, the too busy part.

Between Alien and 4th quarter madness at my job and school and soccer starting I'm a little more slammed than usual. I will get that hammer fixed up and offer it back up for sale to whoever wants it though when I get some time.

Edit: Hammer spoken for.