Brand new 2 pin side and I've owned a 1984 space shuttle for 26 years, it's been dead in the water for the last fifteen and I've just started breathing new life into it in the last 2 months. Will post a couple photos of some of the mods I've done curious what other shuttle heads think. Replaced the space shuttle toy with a custom-built rebel model kit 25 years ago and it still is holding up well. Also I reverse painted The Border areas of the play fieldglass to add some extra depth and character. Love this game!

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Thanks, it is airbrushed, the foreground work is done first and then each element of the background layered over it so you can see the image through the glass. The image doesn't cover any of the Playfield area where you have action so it doesn't distract from playing the game and I left a slight Channel down the ramp return Lane so you can still see the ball coming at you as it's coming off the ramp. The exhaust Flames for the shuttle don't exactly line up because of the modded shuttle I have in it but it lines up perfectly with the original shuttle toy.

Wondering if anyone has any ideas for a simple fix to loose popbumper light sockets. Pops work great but the lights always work themselves free after any amount of serious gameplay. Thought replacing with LEDs might snugg them up a little more because they have a slightly different profile but seems to make no difference.

Thanks, seems like a no-brainer, wasn't sure how much abuse those sockets could take and didn't want to create an additional problem. I'll give it a shot

A special shout out of thanks to the techs who helped me get the balls rolling again. My shuttle had been neglected for 15 years and stored in some very unideal locations over that time butt with a little help it's now performing flawlessly. Locally, thanks Jim,the flipper rebuild is rock-solid, also Edward Cheung, words cannot express how good I feel about the work he did on my board, I was told more than once,"there's nothing we can do", "it's too far gone"or my personal favorite,"strip it down and make jewelry out of the components you can sell them on Pinterest". What was once a very temperamental machine is now a tamed wild beast. Also he helped with a special mod for the machine but I will get into another time. And lastly thanks to the pinsiders, this forum has been fantastic for tips and tricks and simple fixes.What a wonderful forum for people like us, that just want to keep playing with their balls.

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I picked that guy up at a Toy Show a few years back, thought he would be a nice addition if I ever got my machine up and running again. Not sure who the manufacturer is but I'll snap a picture of the card when I'm in the shop later today.

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This is not the final resting place for this astronaut I've got other ideas of where he's going to go on the machine, however it was such an easy mount ,original Hardware screwed right into the left hand of the astronaut. Literally a two-minute install. Love it when a plan comes together. I haven't had to look for these but I'm sure eBay is a good start. Oh yeah, and so not to disappoint but the mysterious Space Rock mentioned on the card, is actually plastic.

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This piece looks totally at home anywhere on this table. I like what you did with the pose, looks natural, and shows off the figure well

So here is a mod that's fun and different, 20 years ago I installed a battery operated laser pointer on my shuttle machine. Added a few mirrors and got the laser bouncing across across the Playfield, creates a really subtle strobe effect on the Playfield as the ball crosses its path, big fun but a pain in the butt because it was battery operated. I recently got my shuttle machine up and running again with the help of Edward Cheung and while he had my board he converted my laser from DC to AC so I could wire it directly to the GI circuit on the shuttle. The following photos show the placement of the mirrors as well as the laser. The effect is almost unnoticeable during fast gameplay but when you have a slow lob or Arch across the middle of the Playfield it's showtime. I'll try to include a short video of a test and actual gameplay. Would like to get feedback from other shuttle heads

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Laser mod test, with gameplay

Right, this would look right at home in a" Stellar Wars" or" space station"or "Firepower" Etc. I'll be adding one to Mars God of War this fall.

Thanks, I always thought the Green seemed out of place, the only green on the machine.

I think you know how I feel about this subject, just trying to come up with the right real estate analogy so that others in this thread could comprehend as well

For what it's worth mirror blades will go a long way for brightening up this machine especially if you're dropping in LED lights also, just be mindful of the thickness there's not a lot of wiggle room between the cabinet and the Playfield

Had some time over the weekend to install some new LEDs on the shuttle. Wow! Comet pinball wow! Will definitely be adding some more of these. Also had a chance to add some new paint for the reverse painted Playfield glass so the shuttle thrusters luminate from the rear of the shuttle, tied them into the lights of the flickering shuttle thrusters on the backglass for a wonderful animated effect. LED strip on ramp lights and flickers with plunger. the red in the lock channels is tied into the lock light, so blinks when lock is able and solid when ball is captured, love this game!

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Thanks, coming from you that means a lot. Recently read your thread on the restoration you did on your shuttle machine, very inspiring

I had to share these, I just received the new Ultimate pinball topper from litepinballmods and this thing is over-the-top! (See what i did there)I can't wait till my schedule frees me up to do more with it but I absolutely love this thing. A holographic projection fan that mounts on top of the pinball machine. You can load up to 50 videos in the loop for this thing it's amazing!

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That's awesome, got to love the classics

I do, it doesn't do it justice because you get sort of a flicker on video that you don't see in person. I may have a chance tonight to upload something.

Loose ground wire, duh.

Hey shuttle brother, had the guts of mine exposed this week and thought of you,hope these help.

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Keeping in mind that I have limited technical know how,I would say those images are not equal. Mine seems to be set up like your image on the left,if yours is set up like the image on the right, that might be a reason for your issues

Nicemodz! Great-looking machine

Maxing out your drop targets and or your USA multiplier

Looking for some advice on what to check next,shuttles not working.all playfield switches and solinoids stoped working.same issues a few weeks back,I tightened loose ground at coin box and that fixed everything,or so I thought.now same issue.all lamps work.when in test mode no solinoids fire.during switch test 34,33,32, 20 ,12,11,09 cycle through dissplay.flippers work during test.I am just not sure where to look next.any ideas would be welcome
Fuses good,continuity around coin box good.

Still trying to breathe life into my shuttle machine, I think I'm closer here's my question, none of the solenoids fire during the solenoid test, I have continuity in all the lines to all of the solenoids, I did find one diode on a solenoid that is bad, would one bad diode keep all of the solenoids from firing?

Thanks for steering me in what I believe is the right direction. I just checked the voltage at the large capacitor that drives the solenoids, reading 14 volts if I understand the schematics correctly should be 28. Makes sense, it's old ,looks really swollen and Bloated with some green Funk coming out of one end (whoops ...I just described my ex-wife). :DAnyway, Parts on order,if I don't destroy the board reinstalling I think I'll be in good shape. Thanks again for the tip

So now I'm at a loss ,installed a new capacitor on the power supply that look bad and still no solenoids fire, still reading 14 volts coming off the capacitor when it should be 28. Really at a loss here open to suggestions if anyone has any idea what Avenue to pursue next

Ready for liftoff! Finally found the issue again. The 12 pin connector that comes off the power supply board, top pin on the female connector (solenoid ground) damaged. This five-week journey down the rabbit hole started with what I thought was a bad ground , funny how it comes full circle.Happy happy joy joy

Try cleaning the flipper contacts if you haven't already

She CANNOT see the playfield for the darn reflection of the head on the PF glass. A lot of folks have replaced the lights behind the shuttle with LEDs ,super bright. Try going old school with some incandecents (#44's) behind the shuttle. Good luck and welcome to the club

Here are some questions for any shuttle heads who have installed a hardtop on their machine. I know they look impressive right after the install how are they holding up after you've had them in there for a while? Was there anything during the install you would do different if you had it to do over again? I'm finally ready to pull the trigger on one and I've set aside some time in the spring for the install. Any tips or tricks, Do's or don'ts would be appreciated.

I didn't buy it mainly because of the hardtop. It was coming up under the ramp area

not what I wanted to hear but probably what I needed to hear. I have concerns because I'm thinking of possibly adding one of Starship fantasy ramps and I know they're thicker and can be a pain to get flush with the playfield at the ramp entrance,wondering if the thickness of the hardtop is just going to add to the complications.

Good looking game,like the lit ball trough,nice touch

Thanks for sharing, interesting to see authentic shuttle history.

Welcome to the club, you're in for a fun ride.

Sounds like Starship fantasy is ready to reproduce the shuttle ramps , but is having a rough time finding a donor ramp to write the program. Would prefer NOS but if you had an NOS ramp you probably wouldn't be in the market for a new one anyway. Check out Post Number 175 on his feed for more details

So, I'm wondering about some part numbers. Specifically, the tall posts that are threaded internally under the shuttle ramp that secure it. More specifically, the one just above the right pop bumper and the one uppermost right under the shuttle ramp. Just can't seem to find these in the manual anywhere. I'm trying to get replacement parts together before I do a hardtop install in the spring. Any help would be appreciated.

Starship fantasy has the replacement shuttle if you're looking. Good luck, and welcome to the club.

They didn't back in the old days, before the internet. So I built my own from a modified Revell model kit and still holds up to this day

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Welcome aboard, looks like you'll have your work cut out for you, but that's half the fun of this hobby anyway isn't it. Don't be surprised if that board gives you more problems then you think around that battery pack, good luck

This never happens, simple answer, yes.

I replaced all of my old bulbs with LEDs in my shuttle, and in the end went back to the old number 44 incandescent for just behind the shuttle. Cuts down on the glare by 50%. As a side note for the back glass ,RGB color changers behind the planet create an interesting animated effect.

I left them in, the glare from the exhaust has never been an issue for me but the bright white from the shuttle when it's LED that is a little over-the-top for my liking because of the glare but it does stand out from across the room when they're in there.

Never knew, but of course now I'm curious. You will drop us a hint later right.

If it makes you feel any better, Starship fantasy has the replacement shuttles.

it could be because of my ramp protector and that the screws are not countersunk.
The ramp protector looks nice, but if those screws are not flush. They may chew up your ball, everytime your ball passes over one. It'll create a little Nick in the ball that eventually will be like sandpaper on your play field and wear the play field art prematurely.

Well, I did it. . Ordered a hardtop on Friday for my shuttle. , FedEx says it'll be here tomorrow. . Over the weekend I built a rotisserie. , and started the top side tear down today.

Life is good!

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No the stuff off to the left did not come with hardtop, I've been accumulating over the last week or so. Clear pop bumper skirts and bodies, some blue inserts and some new lollipop targets, also blue. Thought while I had the table on the rotisserie It gives me an opportunity to upgrade a few things that have been," want to do's" for a long time.

I had the same issue with my pop bumpers. No matter how much I fiddled with the sockets on the inside, the bulbs would eventually work themselves loose, drove me nuts. It was suggested to me to swap them out with a wedge style socket if I ever reworked the pop bumpers. Last year, however, I replaced the single bulbs with one of those pop bumper clusters from comet, the additional wiring creates just enough tension to hold them in place and have never had to adjust them since installing.

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I don't think they'll be an issue with clearance, besides when the game looks that nice, you don't want to fold it up anyway. Really like what you did with the red white and blue lighting scheme.

Made some progress over the last week however real life,( that is life that doesn't involve pinball) and weather have kept me out of the shop more than I would have liked. I did finish tearing down the top side and started sanding last night . After closer inspection the pops are going to need a lot more of a rebuild than I originally anticipated, parts are on order though. So far no major surprises, this has been fun.

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You can tell it that, but it's not going to listen.

Check out edchung.com. seems to me in his space shuttle restoration he documents installing and testing new displays. This guy knows the ins and outs of SS like nobody's business.good luck.

Slowly but surely, a little more progress. Have finished the sanding, swapped replaced and buffed all of the inserts. Replaced the old targets with new translucent blue lollipops .(major pita)A few more tweaks and I should be ready to actually install hardtop early next week.

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I noticed that during the test fitting, will definitely unscrew them before the final install. Thanks for the heads up.

So I was digging through a box of old shuttle parts last night and found this, the old piece of s*** shuttle that used to be in my machine. It's truly hideous, try not to look directly at it . but it got me thinking , there are probably even worse examples of this out there and if you're like me you probably didn't throw yours away , nice to have that comparison piece. Post a pic and let's see who truly does have the ugliest shuttle

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Safety First.

One step forward two steps back. Decided I couldn't live with a couple of the inserts in the condition they were in. Have ordered the parts, while I'm waiting polished most all the metals and detailed the under side of some of the inserts that weren't replaced.added some paint to the Hubble Space Telescope I've had in the machine for a while now. Hope to get to the hardtop install before the weekend

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I saw on Starships thread that you pulled the trigger on the clear ramp. Love it or hate it you got to post some pics when it's installed. I'm leaning in that direction, now would be the time as I'm putting in the hardtop,but I'm way over budget on this project as it is.(wife would never allow it) I think the clear ramp will really make the printed plastics over the ramp pop, plus there's a lot of room for a lot of different lighting options underneath that ramp. Good luck,have fun with it.

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Progress

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Correct

It's coming together. Absolutely love the look of the new hardtop, and the look of the new pops, can't wait to see this thing lit up. I won't have much time over the weekend to work on it, but I'll keep chipping away at it.

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Really looking forward to it, that mirror like finish and it's so quiet just rolling a ball casually across the play field versus the old sounds like my balls crossing railroad tracks when it's rolling over inserts, can't wait.

So close...

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Zitt at pinball-mods.com has the clear pops and skirts and targets.
20200312_103655 (resized).jpg I couldn't find the pop bumper base available in clear so I went with a white and then painted it silver before the install.

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The rivets are a bear, but I followed vids guide that was posted on zitts thread,made short work of it(not true, better part of an afternoon).

Since the targets are already attached to the Leafs , and I have never removed a rivet before ,I thought I would do less damage by replacing the leaf instead of the face. Plus I figured easier to run screws through the leaf switches then to have to re rivet the target face.

Not really, I took a few pictures along the way. I just followed that same guide has it referred to removing the rivets and that technique worked just fine. One thing I did find was that taping the three drop targets together while I had them out of the machine worked for me as I'm not a big fan of having to solder any more than I have to. Another take away from that thread was to install a piece of foam behind the target, I used a small piece of a can koozie worked perfect.

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Welcome aboard, that speaker Buzz is probably just,"a shuttle thing". Try tightening the screws on your main board

Sexy is right. In fact, if the coin slot was just a little bit bigger...seriously,l could see one of these in my shuttle's future. For now I'll have to settle for a set of those entrance flaps. Great job on the install, a real eye catcher.

Soooooo...close. well it's been moved off the rotisserie and back into the cabinet, have worked through most all the bugs, no real surprises for the most part. I still have to do some ramp work before I get that installed, ( waiting on a couple of the posts that hold the ramp in place and some flaps ,will improvise for now)rewire my shuttle,and repaint some of my playfield glass. It's been nearly six weeks, and it's time to get the balls rolling.

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Shuttle and ramp complete. I've tried a number of different lighting options in the shuttle over the last few months, had to clean out the excess and make the whole thing more accessible to service. It has a couple of red comet LED strips in the fuselage and nose.Comet star post light White and dimmer switch for the cockpit as well as a six LED white pad for the thrusters. The thrusters are tied into the thruster flickers in the backglass,the other lights are controlled by the GI.my machine has a reverse painted Playfield glass that needs to be touched up and reworked, dig out my topper ,reinstall that and it will be ready for liftoff.

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Thanks, this is been a hoot. I'll probably have some video of the game play in a couple of days. still got a few things to tweak yet.

Okay,the hardtop rocks,love the new surface,actually played a few games on it last night. A few minor issues to work out, but it's close. I still need to rework the paint on the playfield glass and add the topper. Here's a couple of pics of my not ready for pictures shuttle.

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That's a cool look, I like the red white blue color scheme in the pops. That clear ramp is starting to grow on you isn't.

So I promised a picture of a really cool topper.........

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Sorry, couldn't resist doing that, it's actually a meerkat. I keep it up there to keep my granddaughter from monkeying around with my machine when I'm not around ,really creeps her out for some reason, makes me giggle. Here's some shots with the actual topper.

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Sadly, now that the machine is 100% ,I need to reset those high scores. For what it's worth, those are five ball games, and I have the spinner value set to hold over from ball to ball.

So then this happened... the machine is finished and all the bugs are worked out, went out to play a few games last night and this is usually where you hear the part about it won't boot or some system error but no quite the opposite. For 15 years the main cabinet speaker has not functioned in my machine. So no bass, no stereo sound but could still be played and was always a low priority. Now that I finished the Cosmetic overhaul I figured I'd tackle the sound next, turns out I didn't have to. For no reason at all the sound is back and working oh, it's as if the machine is throwing me a bone kinda saying thanks for all you've done here's one for you. I can't take credit for it but I am loving it, for now I will cross my fingers.

I had forgotten how awesome the sound is on that machine when it's working.

Unfortunately, it seems like for the older machines There's No One Stop Shop for all the parts, especially if you're trying to restore to original specs. If you're just putting in things that make you feel good you have a little more wiggle room. At the end of the day ,no matter how many things you order from any different company you're always going to need that one more thing you forgot about after the order has been placed. I found my set of NOS decals on eBay.

I may have omitted that the extra ball frequency setting is it at the most liberal, and specials are set for extra balls as well. However you don't get the extraball lit for multiplier bonus option until your multiplier reaches what would be 8x.(gotta work for that one). Extra balls can be earned at 1200000,3500000,500000 and 7500000.keep flippen!

I did go all blue but to brighten things up I added Comets Star post lites under most all of them and as a bonus I put some above the star posts,facing down under the plastics ,lightens up the play field without the need of spots which I hate. Stumbled Upon This by accident. Originally I had the star post lights under the star post nearest the flippers and it was just way too bright for my eyes
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Check out @beatmaster thread on his shuttle restoration, seems to me he went with clear star posts. Either way it's the most impressive shuttle restoration I've ever seen. Very inspiring!

Probably referring to the rubber cow bells. The odd shape rubbers right by the shuttle ramp entrance. And they are a pain in the ass to pull off of there. Or the standoffs attached to the Plastics over the kickers

I'll give the factory preset a try over the weekend , got some time put aside just for playing and long or short game, this one is always fun and challenging.

After looking over posts from yesterday it seems like there's a lot of hardtop projects that are about to be started. I'd like to share a few things I noticed that may be helpful to those about to embark on this endeavour. First definitely take the time to check out the suggested videos that are included with the hardtop, more knowledge more better. I would also suggest putting social distancing aside the day you actually lay down the hardtop ,you're going to want that extra set of hands. One person could do this, two people could do this much easier. I noticed after test fitting the hardtop that a number of the holes were not drilled ,and there were a couple bonus holes that did not need to be there. Wait until the hardtop is installed before trying to drill out these holes , on mine there were a couple under the apron, all of the small holes around the pop bumpers, all of the holes under the right siderail, as well as the small stop-pin hole for the airlock gate. The holes around the pops were a little tricky because the artwork covered where you needed to drill , I used the pop bumper base as a template to assure the holes were in the exact position. When installing the hardtop, focus on the insert alignments more than pilot holes for screws, those can easily be dremeled out after the installation. I'll address some more of this after I tend to some domestic issues.hope this helps for now.

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Painting after sanding? I noticed on some of the other hardtop feeds that a number of people painted around inserts after sanding, to compensate for misaligned hard tops. After test fitting it seems like there's no need for that ,as everything lines up perfectly as far as the inserts are concerned. However to appease my own OCD I decided to add black enamel around the light socket inserts. IMO it gives a more finished look in case anyone ever peeks underneath the Plastics. Also added white enamel around the USA rollover Lanes. At that time, Had I noticed the extra holes under the flipper tips, and the left ball return Lane I would have added some blue . Why are those there? Anyway, that's a fix for another day now.

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Always something, I got a giant dust Speck over one of mine I don't like to talk about

Just throwing this out there, translucent white rubbers. Figures I would see these after I just replaced all of mine with blacks. Seems to be a nice way to keep it close to the original look, while still giving the machine an upgrade. photo credit beatmaster
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Actual photo credit TractorDoc ,that's on me.

I went with the disc, primarily because I already had them on hand and like the look of them,Because of that,I left the original sockets in place (bayonet Style) but if I was building them from scratch it seems most people lean towards the wedge style for pops. Honestly, I think the Rings look better and I believe they have a light on the bottom of them that would illuminate the clear bodies better. If it weren't for Budget constraints ( I'm married, and have to push everything through the committee) probably would have gone with the Rings. Wish I could help you with the screw sizes, picked mine up at a local hardware store and just went with, these look like they'll work.

Hey@ruralcollector ,you ever get that clear ramp installed?

Did not know that, makes sense. Used them as a point of reference when eyeballing

Good question, mine were missing also.

In regards to inserts.... I was very intimidated as I have never replaced,removed ,sanded or polished anything insert before this project. Fortunately vids guide to Playfield restoration put my mind at ease and covered every aspect very thoroughly. In the end I still had to go to two different sources to get all the inserts for my project( pinball life and Marcos). The hot dogs were the biggest pain, as no one had the original Style shuttle inserts (much thicker and darker then what's available now). I ended up with what Marcos had available but feared Hardware ,lights, sockets excetera would be visible through the lighter red. Once installed I found that was exactly the case. Fortunately, a redneck remedy, I added a piece of tail light tape under the Playfield, Eureka moment as it hides the hardware, darkens the inserts and the red pulses are as bright as they were with the original inserts. Also while I was at it I shuffled the white out lane bonus insert to the 20000 bonus spot. With a few carefully placed LEDs, white, yellow, orange, red left to right the shuttle bonus now reads like an intensity meter. Darker the berry, the sweeter the juice.

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