So ... between my posts that I teased back in Post 1056 (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rush-mods-amp-toys-what-are-you-hoping-for-and-who-s-making-it/page/22#post-6894329) and my the gold hardware in my Super Jackpot Cleanup Kit in Post 1179 (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rush-mods-amp-toys-what-are-you-hoping-for-and-who-s-making-it/page/24#post-6916348) .... it really kinda opened Pandora's Box.
With my own artistic love of proper color coordination (colored posts is what started this Rocket City Pinball gig for me in the first place), and some nudging to acknowledge where I already knew this was headed (thanks, but no thanks, but thanks Kez11 ) ... I'm afraid I'm getting carried away but it'll be worth it in the end.
With all the steampunk bronze/copper/gold on the plastics, the silver hardware just sticks out like a sore thumb. As such, I've painstakingly examined, sourced, and ordered all the necessary gold-colored hardware to replace all the silver screws & washers in the game that touch the decorative plastics. Once I have everything in hand and confirm I've got everything right, I'll offer this as a kit.
But it's not just the hardware itself! Looking at the game, and imagining all the gold hardware in place (or seeing some, as I had some alreadly), the next things that really stands out (pin intended) as clashing are the hex spacers, that are holding up some of the plastics and ramps and stuff. So ... again, did I mention Pandora's box? ... I designed and printed Rocket City Pinball's newest thing -- Hex Sleeves to cover up the hex spacers with a more appropriate color! They're designed to simply slide over the hex spacer and hide it inside. These will be available for Rush and for other games too (if you have others you'd like to add color to). I haven't had time to look around (between the day job and evening family time & late night working on these things), so I don't know if anyone else is making things like this, but a quick search I ran just now doesn't yield anything. Might be onto something new here! But anyway --
On Rush at least, almost all of these hex spacers have a washer at their base. To remove the hex spacer though, you need to grab the head of the screw underneath the plastic, and there are several spots where they're not easily accessible. As such, I added a rounded flange to the base of the Hex Sleeves -- this hides the washer so it's not noticeable unless you're looking at it from a very low angle.
I'm printing these in the same antique brass color as the posts. Here's a teaser photo of what these will look like when installed. You'll also note in this pic that I installed my replacement posts as well as the Hex Sleeves. The Hex Sleeves are shown here with the gold screws/washers installed too.... several others around them (including in the replacement posts) are still silver because I haven't received the new gold hardware yet. So consider this a tease, I'll post more pics when I have all the hardware in hand and continue the swapout!
pasted_image (resized).png