I feel you - paid half of that for mine with an almost pristine PF (small wear on the USA inserts and around the pops).

I don't wanna talk about SS cost.. I'm still in pain from what I paid for mine lmao

That truss is looking awesome. Definitely love the clear, although I'm not sure how my r/w/b theme would look with it. I was just about to order a set of evos and that reeeeally ruins this possibility

You could print a red, a white and a blue base. Problem solved.

Paid 250. For my shuttle, fully functioning in 1995 .

8.5 hour drive (each way), $2000. Bleh

Yeah but worth every penny, worth every mile, worth every slim jim eaten along the way.

I do believe they make transparent colored filament, so that's one option. But really, the cheaper option, is to just print the clear ones and use colored LEDs!

That did it Thank you sir!

Stand by, video uploading

Regarding colors / color schemes:

Another good and informative video Andy. I like the way that the Playfield artwork now looks like a reflection of the physical model. Very cool.

Haha yeah I hadn't really noticed that, good observation!

Now that I just finally got my own 3D printer, I was messing around and executed a goofy little mod John and I were joking about -- I printed a vertical stabilizer, painted it (sloppily, I'll probably try again), and stuck it to the glass with some fun-tac.

It took a few tries to get the size to look just right; the toy on the playfield obviously isn't exactly high fidelity for accurate scaling.

I kinda hate to admit it, but I actually really like it!

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That is amazing. You are right to hate to love it.

I love it, and here's why , here's my origami business card and Sharpie version from a year ago.

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Goofy?
Messing around?
Joking?
Admit?

Proudly own this concept and execution of genius!
I want to make a bunch of fake Pinside accounts so I can upvote this more than only once.

From the moment I first saw this game in the arcades when it was new, the missing vertical stabilizer has always bugged me.

Brilliant to make an over-glass mod.

How much $ do you want to make another for a fan?

Thanks,
Jason

Haha, thanks for all the great feedback, guys. I wasn't sure how this would be received -- though there's probably a lot of people who hate it who are kindly keeping their opinions to themselves, lol.

I couldn't possibly charge for this, considering:

- I didn't even model the stabilizer myself -- I extracted it from an amazing space shuttle model someone else posted on the Thingiverse, and then just resized it a few times ( original source: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2825854 )
- I certainly couldn't follow up a free mod whose design actually took time and effort (read: the 3D truss) by charging for something simple like this
- The only thing 'worth' anything here is the time/effort to paint it, but I'll honest -- my paint job sucks. The painting method needs refinement, as the paint has a tendency to wick into the material grooves; I need to try printing at higher resolution and/or be thinner with the paint and/or use sharpie.

All that being said:
- For those who have a 3D printer, here is the stl file, scaled to the size I printed: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1E3PdsBX3sU-ffuhUQ0WuOWyFL45ms6Ph ...if for some reason your software auto-scales it when you open it, the X length (fwd to aft) should be 80.82mm. You're welcome to resize it to your preference, of course. Just know the vertical stabilizer on the real-life orbiters are a lot bigger than you might realize.
- For those who don't have a 3D printer, I'd be happy to fire off a unit or two for you if you would cover materials and shipping. I will leave it unpainted so you can do that yourself, as that's the most time-consuming part.

A collection of highs... And lows. So it's pretty obvious after a good 8 weeks of the machine being finely-tuned ,that it's not going to allow me a high score much over 4500000. The machine is dialed back to all of the original Factory presets, and I'm okay with those scores. The other score however is why I keep playing. That's an actual score at the end of five balls of play. Definitely a new high in low for me.

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Just a couple of teaser pics. I'll post some details as soon as I have some time.

Thanks ranman2001

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So on Friday I received just the truss modeled in silver from @ranman2001. Thanks Randy! This was printed from one of the earlier runs, no bases, no nibs printed on the Truss, no holes to mount , no problems. I used a 7 mm drill bit (that's 9/32 for those of you who don't live in Canada)to drill out the corners of the trusses. This should allow for easy assembly of the bases from the newer files down the road. For the bases I used 1 gallon water jug lids, again with a 7 mm hole drilled in them. Not ideal, but I'm kind of digging them. I then used a 7 mm Pyrex rod and mushroomed out one end to create a lens. My pop bumper caps already had holes drilled in the center from a previous lighting option, so I cut the Pyrex Rod to length so that the base of the rod rest right over the center light in the pop bumper assembly. This acts as a fiber-optic and Carries that light up to the lens. BOING! All in it took maybe a half hour to put together and install, and I'm really happy with the overall effect. There will be tweaks down the road as I play with other base and paint options but for now I just want to flip it. I'd like to thank every shuttle head along the way who played a role in making this concept a reality. But for now, I just want to flip.

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SkyKing2301 for President 2020.

A little sanding w/ 220 grit to smooth the texture, 2 coats of spray primer, 2 coats of spray enamel satin, some straightish hand-brushed black from my boy's pinewood derby paint set, 2 coats of clear coat spray, then extra fine point Sharpie for the thin horizontal line that I overlooked.

Tacked w/ Elmer's glue to a link from an old broken swing arm lamp while working.
A little hot glue to extra-cleaned glass.

I love it.

-Jason

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New CPR playfield. Will make this my Winter project.

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SkyKing2301 for President 2020.
That looks really sharp Jason, there's nothing better than "a new piece of tail"

Bwahaha, thanks Jason. It turned out great!

Pay it forward, for all the helpfulpants people on Pinside.

Doing a little housecleaning & have something to give away.
Shuttle tile souvenir from Kennedy Space Center.
Pay shipping from USA 92620 & it's yours. First responder gets it. The package will probably weigh about 3 ounces.
Make your own topper!

Backstory:
I picked this up at the gift shop when I went to Kennedy Space Center in 2007 to see the Phoenix Mars Lander launch.
There was a shuttle launch a few days later, but I didn't stay for it, figuring it would probably be delayed anyway, & I should really get back home. (Of course, it launched right on time--never did end up seeing a shuttle launch...d'oh!)
I know a guy who worked at United Space Alliance. He gave me the most amazing tour: the Vehicle Assembly Building (which had some booster parts being assembled), the crawler, seeing Endeavour (from not too close) set up at launch pad 39A, going up launch pad 39B, up close tour of Discovery getting prepped for launch & the crew touring it, etc. That was a *huge* treat.

Thanks,
-Jason

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Very awesome of you! Someone get this cool piece of history!

For any of you that purchased a new ramp from Starship Fantasy, have you had any fitment issues? Did you have to trim any areas of the ramp to make it fit better? I realize that the original playfields were made in different factories and specs were not exactly the same from game to game but I'm noticing some spots, specifically around the spinner and the top right pop bumper where a bit more clearance might be necessary. I may even need to shave the tops off some plastic posts so that the ramp entrances sit flush with the playfield and can be screwed in place.

I do understand that some of the issues I'm experiencing are the result of a hardtop install which adds a bit of height to the playfield but this change should be consistent everywhere so it really shouldn't be a factor. And I know that the new ramp is also thicker than the original. I did swap out every post in the game for new ones but I didn't measure to see if there is any difference in height between old and new.

Just looking for feedback from others that have installed new ramps.

Thanks!

I am still working on getting my Starship Fantasy ramp fit in my Hardtop machine. I had to trim at the spinner and heat and bend at the left hand side of the left ramp. Also need a little heat and bend at the ball drop on the right to get the mounting hole to line with the post. Overall thrilled to have a new ramp even if it is not a drop in fit.

I have a Hardtop on my Shuttle. Starship Fantasy ramp went right in with no fit issues.

I have a Starship Fantasy black ramp on my hardtopped SS. I trimmed the hardtop back about an inch from the ramp entrances (under the ramp, not visible) and shaved down the plastic posts a bit as well. Nothing too difficult.

Hey Art, how did that mod for holding up the play field end up working out for you?

Zero fitment issues with my clear SF ramp.

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Don't mind me, just posting my picture for the millionth time unnecessarily

The mail came today! Special shout out and a thank-you to Jason for his generous offering. This truly is a unique little bit of space shuttle history, can't wait to share this Hands-On with my grandkids. We might even try some thermal experiments in the Kiln tonight.

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I'm super jealous. Serves me right for not keeping up on this thread! I've been busy with my new Taxi

It's all good, I wish I had your problems with having to balance my pinball time between 9 machines. Anyway,are you adding a hardtop to that Taxi?

Not planning on it, unless mylar pull gives me issues or I can't remove ball swirls / touch up / blend. I want to fix and then clear mine. The cabinet is MINT.

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That's a nice-looking ride.

The cabinet is so glossy and beautiful, I can't believe it. Absolute dime piece, man.

So this is not really pinball related, but Jason opened the door when he sent me this piece of shuttle tile material. My Fearless, eight year old granddaughter learning about thermal dynamics.

Amazing material.

It's 90% air!

Doing this demo, all I can think of now is, "Hold out your hand, Frodo; it's quite cool."

You sleepy, bubba?

Just bummed, there's not much going on in the world of space shuttle lately.

I hate to say it, I haven't hardly played mine lately. It makes me mad because I suck at it....

Hate to hear that, practice, practice, practice. I get it though, you have options so if you're frustrated I would move right on to World Cup soccer ,that games a blast. I haven't even seen a meteor machine since the 80s, how's that title working for you?

Here's a little tip might help with the suck Factor. During the stop and score feature , I get you have to take shots of opportunity however ,if you have the ball Held or cradled
and can wait to take the shot, watch the timer. When it gets to about the high 30s or mid-forties , Drop The Flipper and take the shot. You should get a score in the mid-to high 90s as it goes through the ramp. Every machine is different , so you have to find The Sweet Spot that works on yours. Practice, practice, practice.

That's exactly it. When a machine dunks on me a couple of times in a row I just move on to one of the other 6.

Meteor is actually leaving this weekend. Paid for and ready to go. I'll miss it, I love the game, but no one really plays it and I'm trying to ultimately get back to 7 machines I think (F-14 is supposedly claimed by a friend... Eventually). I'm over stressed with fixing stupid things on them all the time, 8 is--or maybe just the 8 I have are--just too many (my eight ball deluxe isn't here).

Are we through this damn pandemic yet?! :'(

Will we ever be?!

Wish I had your problems, got a Mars God of War that I want to get fixed up but my wife won't let me bring it into the shop , she's afraid I'm going to put too much of my time into it. And she's absolutely right. So I just keep adding more bells and whistles to my space shuttle. I have a fun addition coming next week to keep me amused for a little while.

I told her I would stop at 5...Then I got 6..Then 7..Then 8..Now 9...

I am at *MAX* capacity for the space I said I would potentially occupy, and that's with two machines (Cactus Jack's and Meteor) on the opposite side of "pinball row", against the wall next to my Neo Geo MVS. Technically I have room for 8 set up like this.. I needed to get back to 7 *here* because once my Eight Ball Deluxe is finished and comes home, I'll be back to 8 again, and again..at capacity. My next goal is to get rid of F-14 (before the hardtop comes out and my stupid a$$ hardtops it and fixes/repaints the cab, which I *do*not*want*to*do* but will absolutely do because I apparently hate myself) and replace it with a DE Jurassic Park or whatever glitzy turd pops up in front of me next. I've got pinball ADHD it would appear.

Tl;dr:

"Heh."

Lol, very well put, I totally get it.