Yes, that is exactly why I asked. Lucky for us it's not John Young's signature on that plastic. Enjoy the lunch today. I used to live in Orlando and watched many a launch from my backyard as well as the Indian River. Even got to see a couple Saturn V launches when we first moved there as a kid in the early 70s.

Haha, while I didn't get John Young's autograph, I did at least get to meet him back in my whippersnapper early career days on the shuttle program. And this certainly isn't to downplay Cmdr Collins's accomplishments either! But I see what you're saying.

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Also, when I finally got to meet Bob Crippen, it was still about three months before I acquired my space shuttle pinball ... so I had him autograph a Columbia bookmark I had at the office at the time.

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. And this certainly isn't to downplay Cmdr Collins's accomplishments either!
Funny you say that, as I danced around how to word that so it wouldn't come off like that. Neat to see the photos of you rubbing shoulders with true Trail Blazers. Back to female astronauts and their accomplishments, both the astronauts going up today are married to astronauts in the program as well ,do you have their autographs?

Funny you say that about the female astronauts, as I danced around how to word that so it wouldn't sound like that. Neat to see the photos of you rubbing shoulders with true Trailblazers though. And back to female astronauts , both the astronauts going up today are married to astronauts in the program. Do you have either of their signatures?

Hello, member of the club here. I'm looking for a .pdf of the manual to print but the only source I can find is ipdb and it's blocked here at work. Anywhere else I can find it?

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-space-shuttle-1984-williams-manual-done
Good luck

Yes, I do have Karen Nyberg's autograph, as I supported the STS-124 mission. I met the entire crew and had them sign my photo you see attached here. (I do photography on the side, and so had fantastic opportunities to photograph the space shuttle during my time on that program.) It was such a treat for them to autograph one of my own photos -- in fact, one of them loved the photo so much, he asked for a copy, so I matted up another and sent it to him. (You can see more of my photos on turbofoxphotography.com, including my pinball shots too )

Of the autographs on my space shuttle pin, only four are women: Eileen Collins, Wendy Lawrence, Nicole Stott, and Nancy Currie-Gregg.

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Wow! That's an amazing image.

Dude, if you're ever in Minnesota and want to take some glamour shots of my shuttle ... You're hired. I'm supposed to be working now but just took a peek at your site and the first 20 images knocked my socks off. I'll revisit when I have more time to appreciate them. The neon bowling pins, great eye.

Thank you, much appreciated! I participate in juried art shows and have won a handful of awards. I certainly won't be quitting my day job though ... my moderate success at those shows allows me to occasionally buy new equipment or siphon off funds for pinball machines, lol.

I feel you. I used to do the show circuit in Florida back in the late 80s and early 90s with my reverse glass paintings. Picked up a little prize money along the way but being younger most of the winnings went to loose women and alcohol... The rest I just wasted

Sorry for my absence guys but I have been furloughed from work so had a few things to sort out.

Here are the latest images of where the model is at. I have put little standoffs on the top of the bases to separate the main structure a bit. I think it gives it a better look.
The bases are seperate from the main model. Thoughts ?

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I upgraded to the FL-11630/50v coils.

Re: stray lights - yes, I had to disconnect everything to get the head off the machine and into my basement. Are you thinking this is a connector issue?

That looks great Andrew, I'll forward the new files to everyone involved ASAP

The new files have been sent, if you didn't receive one and needed one let me know

It may be.I once had a similer problem after having some board work done.as it turns out when I reconected the board one of my conections was off by one pin(I think it was ij6 or ij7) ,anyway the machine still played but the the lite show looked like my grandpa dose leaving the polish home(all f##ked up).Might be worth double checking.Oh yeah...is your machine plugged in?

Go back to the source!

I'll poke around the boards this weekend and see what I can find.

just came out of the printer the latest model, looks good. I printed it flat down. Need to try print it straight up maybe that would be better.
but it looks great. will mount it in the machine this weekend so we can see how it looks

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looks like a good print.thanks for sharing.keep us posted.

I should be ready to test one of these by Monday evening. My buddy is printing this weekend and I'm picking up on Monday. I'll update as this plays out.

Sweet. Keep me informed please as to how it fits in the game and if anything needs adjusting.

I've been trying to hone my 3D skills for making models that are printable and modular. Looking around on yeggi and thingyverse, I am always amazed at how clever the designs are that people come up with. Printing in pieces can help eliminate support material, make the printouts smoother or allow moving parts. It also lets parts be tweaked and reprinted without reprinting the whole thing.

Anyway, I took the final models and split it up even further. I cut the truss section like slicing a hamburger bun and flipped the top over to print it. This way it is not and enclosed box so there is no top to the box and a lot of bridging is eliminated in the printout. This makes it easier to print without support and a smother surface because the top is now printed right against the printer bed. In the corners I put 7mm holes all the way through and added corresponding 7mm posts to the bumper caps to allow stacking the truss pieces together on top of the caps. Finally I printed the little nibs that stick up in the corners separately with 7mm posts that snap in to finish the model.

Not saying this is the right way to do it, but it printed nicely and was a fun experiment that I learned a lot from. I was surprised it fits together tightly too! You can see a line where is was split but it kind of looks natural like it was built that way.
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That's really impressive , I like the concept of the Caps being separate, they could be printed in a clear or translucent material that would allow for lighting which is something I'm looking to do down the road with this. Nice job.

looks even better, can you share the stl files?

Looks awesome, John! Can't wait to see how it looks in my machine!

The modular print concept is awesome. I second the suggestion for translucency on the caps; with the right pop cap/lighting you can get some interesting effects.

To that end, could you make the cap posts hollow? I'm thinking a clever builder/hacker could place an LED at the top and thread the wires through the posts to be powered by the pop bumper...

I sent the modified stl file back to the originators of the design via email. They are free to distribute it as they please.

Excellent work! I really need to learn how to create my own designs. I'm currently working on a machine that needs three rollovers. Such a simple design, it's just stupid that I haven't sat down and learned. Its been almost 25yrs since I used to program in Cad.

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maybe someone could work on a design / stl for the shuttle toy itself next

Did they stop making the repros of the shuttle? I bought mine at a pinball show (Pinfest) a few years ago, it wasn't expensive either.

Starship fantasy still carries the repo shuttles. I will be forwarding John's STL file of the modular version of the pop mod soon.

I use a free online cad called Tinkercad. I've been planning on moving on to something a little bit more powerful but so far I've had no need. This is kind of cool because it logs you in on different devices. I can even bring the stuff up on my phone. There are a bunch of really good tutorials to get you up and running quickly.

Really nice work John. Slicing it up seems to really address the printing issues as well as making it easier to paint prior to installation. Thanks for sharing, and I have forwarded the new files to all involved. Hopefully we see some pics of it installed in a game soon. Thanks for playing.

Just one note on the model. My printer left a little bit of extra material at the entryway to the holes, so I had to ream it out just slightly in order to get the peg from the caps and nibs to fit easily.

WOW looks great, whose stencil kit did you use?

Looks great! That’s the one thing I haven’t done on my pin. Love the game, just hate to have it down for so long while I sand and paint. I’ve only done two complete repaints, my Gottlieb grandslam and big Indian using pinball pimps stencils. Love the final product, just hate all the sanding, bondo etc prep work. Maybe a summer project to make mine as awesome as yours!

Where’s the resto thread?!!!

I'm having an issue with some of my sound. I've attached a video that helps show the issue. I have the speech board bypassed for now. After power up, I can start a game and have sound. Certain switches will cause all my sounds to drop out, like the S, H, U, T, L, E and many switches behind the rubber bands. I then have to power down and start up again to get the sounds back. Does this seem like a ROM issue or maybe RAM? Thoughts? Thanks!

Lighting question. I'm pretty sure that these 4 lights in the shuttle thrust flame never light up on my machine.

1. What game event triggers them to light?

2. What behavior should I expect to see when they behave properly? Fast flickering, on solid, blinking, fading, other?

3. Which part of the Diagnostic Procedures lights these? I don't see anything that looks like these in the Lamp Test or Solenoid Test sections of the manual.

4. Do these accept the usual #89 bayonet flashers, or a special oddball bulb? Incandescents only? Use of LEDs would require a mod (similar to what I read regarding the hot dog flashers?)?

Thank you!
-Jason

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Hey Jason, first thing to know is these lights do not flash or pulse at any time while the game is in attract mode. During gameplay there are a number of features that set them off but the quick rule of thumb is if your flashers in the hot dog inserts pulse then look for thruster lights to pulse as well. Anytime you lock a ball, anytime the ball goes through the gate on the shuttle ramp, spelling the shuttle letters for extra ball value or special or hitting the center "T" Target last, sweeping the drop targets and a quick pulse after it's added up your bonus at the end of ball. will also flash whenever you achieve one of your preset scoring objectives. The bulbs are the standard 89 bayonet Style flashers. As far as test mode goes I'm at a loss as I have not had an issue and didn't realize that those flashers weren't in the test sequence. hope this helps you. Good luck with it

Oh my, I've missed some amazing stuff. That 3D model will be an absolute MUST, for sure. Great work to all!

I need to swap my bayonet sockets out for wedge.. I'm ordering red, white, and blue evos.

Just reached out on the technical assistance thread for this issue but thought I'd throw it out here as well. Having issues with my right flipper, it flips on its own when cradling a ball or sometimes double flips when I Engage The Flipper button. Have recently swapped out the coil sleeves, and cleaned all the contacts. Wondering if I should be looking at the switch stack at The Flipper button itself or maybe end of stroke switch at The Flipper assembly? Poor solder job, bad diode? Open to suggestions as to what to look at first. Thanks

Considering adjusting proper EOS is one of the most annoying things there is.. That's my bet. But would I bet money on it?

Yeah, if the leaves are too close you could get misfires right?

Thanks guys, I'll have the hood up tonight and give it a look. Worst case scenario I just make it worse.

I'm fighting dialing in pops on my high speed, forever, but thankfully no flipper EOS issues.. lol

Best of luck

Worth the effort though. There's a big difference between Pops that work and Pops that work well.

I also work at Kennedy Space Center. Though my photos can't match Skyking's, I did come across this video I made after the Space Shuttle program shut down. We were allowed to go out and take photos and video with the Shuttle Discovery and a few astronauts before it left on top of the 747 for the museum. I took all of these pictures an video (except the shots that I am in). I first started work at KSC as an engineer for the Space Shuttle launch system in 1986.