I know I teased this one for a while, sorry it took so long to get it all together finally, it turned into a big project and was a lot of work (but fun!). I'm happy to announce I've got the designs done for my Star Trek alt translite and decal package, I've had test prints done, I'm happy with them, and I'm ready to see what people think of it.

I wanted to lose the actors and just focus on the ship in space. And not some wrong ship from another movie or TV show, or a video game, the Enterprise from the new films that goes with the story. This is a 100% original digital painting, no film stills or movie posters or anything used to create it.

The translite is printed the same way as my Shadow and Helen ones, same quality, lights up beautiful. Hundreds of people on Pinside will vouch for them.

The decals are thicker than what I used for AC/DC, with a lamination layer to help them be more robust and nice and glossy. They give enough to make installing the speaker panel easy, you can peel it back to reposition and smooth out bubbles, but in my tests they stick to the Pro-style wrinkled apron material fine.

My original plan was to just sell the whole thing as a package, keep it easy for me, but I thought maybe LE people might like the decals, or some people might not want them at all, so when you pre-order I'm giving you the option to pick how you want it, and that will give me my printing numbers. I'll probably ship the whole package orders first, and then the people who wanted to break it down afterwards.

As always, pre-order is just your verbal commitment to buy, no money down. Once they're printed based on interest I'll email everyone with payment instructions and then mail them out Two Day Priority or Priority International. I'll keep pre-orders open for a couple weeks or so, and then do the first print run. If there's still interest I can do more runs.

On to the pics!

First up, the translite:

Click to view high rez image

Then the decal package, which consists of:

- Speaker panel decal
- Apron decals (triangles, middle, and shooter lane)
- Coin door decak
- Coin reject labels (peel decals, stick to paper, and cut out)
- Tournament button plug cover decal (red and blue versions depending on Pro/Premium/LE)
- Spinner decals
- Shooter housing

Click to view high rez image. DMD and speaker grills simulated for effect, actual decal has holes cut out obviously.

Click to view high rez image

Click to view high rez image

I will also be including instruction cards, I'm still finalizing the designs to reflect the new rules. I'll post updates to them in this thread.

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Order details

The full package (translite + decals + cards) is $175 shipped in the US. Likely $205 international, but I need to weigh things still, I'll make it cheaper if I can. Shipping big boxes is expensive!

Translite + cards w/o decals is $125 shipped in the US. $150 shipped international.

Decals + cards w/o translite: Likely around $50 shipped in the US, will verify and check international prices too. Need to weigh and figure out package size still. Call that ballpark for now. I'll edit with final prices after I figure them out.
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To pre-order fill out the form here (don't PM me! use the form for my sanity): http://www.aurichlawson.com/startrek/pre-order.html

(That form fills out a Google spreadsheet with your pinside name, email, and package. You won't get an email confirmation, but I will email you when your order is ready, have no fear.)

Post updated to include instruction cards, these will be printed as part of the package:

Star-Trek-Card-2.jpg
Star-Trek-Card-1.jpg

Thanks! I didn't want to clutter up the first post, but you totally got what I was going for. I wanted the new ship, modern movies, but with an old school feel, something that fans of the original Star Trek series would dig. Hopefully it bridges the two worlds a little, and makes it a little more classic and less likely to get dated too fast.

There's a movie poster for the first Star Trek movie with a kind of rainbow glow on it that I was thinking of when I did the meteor trails (and some artistic license with how they're almost burning up in space!). That and the color changing LEDs on the playfield, I wanted to capture some of that too. Without obviously going too WOZ "over the rainbow" feeling.

Oh, I should probably explain the shooter housing. It goes inside the black metal housing where the shooter rod goes through. You have to remove your rod, slide the decal with a precut hole on, then put the rod back. I haven't seen anyone try that before, but it looks really cool.

I'll be updating with install photos.

Derp, kinda rushed the post slightly when I realized I had to get my girls from school, and I forgot to put the pic of the apron decals in!

Oversight fixed! Triangle, middle, and shooter lane decals added to first post. For the lazy who don't want to scroll up:

Click to view high rez image

Yeah, that's the only downside to this setup, the speaker panel is part of the decal set. I'm using the whole sheet super efficiently, I have decals and instructions nestled in the holes for the speakers and DMD area even.

So LE people kinda get the whole thing as a package, even if they opt to skip the speaker decal. You mirrored backglass Enterprise folk aren't gonna make me feel bad for you though.

See the post I just made above about how the decals are laid out.

No real way to do a just LE version in a cost effective way I don't think. These decals are expensive to print because they're laminated, so it adds another material layer to the print process. Trying to keep it all in one run.

Maybe if I got a ton of pre-orders for just decals I could look at it, that is assuming no one who's doing that is a Premium or Pro owner who just doesn't want the translite. So it's tricky.

Thanks! I appreciate it.

I will admit that handling all the orders and taping up boxes and printing address labels and shipping and all that jazz can get a little into burnout territory sometimes, it can be a second job some nights and weekends.

But the actual art and making people happy and the whole Pinside interaction is great, it's not a burnout deal, more like a creative outlet that I'm always looking for. I'm the kind of person who needs to have a side project of some kind cooking to stay sane, so I'll keep doing these as long as the order part doesn't kill me.

I was waiting to see if Walking Dead would need a comic translite, but I'm kinda thinking no now that the art has been revealed. It was really only a viable option if they did a cheesy actor translite, but Stern zombied it up nicely, I think there's no need.

Nope, I don't think I could get a license for a little community project like this, it's just a handful of orders on a forum, doubt anyone even wants to talk to me about such a small potatoes deal. I just do them for Pinside, and hopefully no one cares at some big studio. It's original art, so I'm not stealing anything from the movies, but you're right, it is their trademark. I'd respect a C&D if they sent me one of course.

Fair enough! One thing I can say is the 3D effect is much more effective in person. The ship really floats in space when you see the layers of interaction. In fact I'd say that's true with this design in general, people who got a sneak peek at the art early and then were able to see the test print on my Premium lit up have all said it's better in person than what I emailed them.

Maybe it's the scale, the Enterprise just feels better when it's big and in your face instead of on a computer screen.

I'm blessed to have a printer who can make this happen, often the printed product isn't as nice as the on screen pixels, but these RGB photographic translites really capture the color and detail beautifully, I'm super pleased with the end result. He's the man and I tell him so, true partner in making these projects come to life.

Metallica I don't think I'll touch. Dirty Donny really did a whole package. I have some issues with his art, but really he did a nice job, it all fits together into a cohesive feel. It wouldn't feel right to break that. Plus the band is involved in pinball and I doubt I could do it under the radar, and getting permission sounds highly unlikely.

My take on AC/DC is here.

Tron ... between the 3D translite and people loving the 'two chicks' one I doubt there's much demand. It might be fun to do a decal package for it. The stock ones are low rez and the speaker panel is boring. Those panels aren't the best for decals though.

That's one thing I really like about Stern's new design, Mustang and Star Trek had zzzzzzz decals on them (at least Star Trek has an option to fix that now!) but they're doing full color art for all the new ones, and that's great. I could still do alternates for them for fun I guess, but it's nice to see more art on pins, they don't need fixing really.

I think I could do Iron Man's speaker decal better maybe, I wish they'd made the panel feel more like his armor. And the apron decals have that big ugly warning, I could replace them with new clean ones and do a coin door sticker etc. You see how my mind is whirring here ... ?

By the way, I have a test print speaker decal and translite on my Premium right now, along with some of the others, like the apron and coin door. I've made some little changes to them (reflected in the designs in the first post, those are final) so once I get the new prints with final designs I'll install them and take real world photos with my DSLR so you can see them installed in the real world.

I've already tested peeling my new decals back and reapplying them, so fixing an air bubble is easy. Same with the stock decals, I've taken them off and put them back on, and you can store them on the backs for the new decals, they're all the exact same size.

The Helen apron decals were never designed for aprons, they were a bonus I was able to print with the playfield decal, which needed to be thin and with light adhesive. These new ones should stick better to wrinkled aprons, and they're thicker and stiffer with the lamination, so that will help them not want to curl up in the first place.

Yes, for sure, I'm just waiting for the final prints. The tests I got today have had a few things changed, and it wasn't the complete set. I was mainly checking for color, how the lamination worked, that the speaker panel fit, etc.

Once I get the final ones in I'll do a photo shoot of them installed on my Premium. I'm waiting for the final translite print too, the test was really close, but it revealed a few things I wanted to tweak (which are all reflected in the image in the first post, that's final).

Until I get real photos here's a mockup of the shooter housing since it might not be clear from the decals how it's installed:

housing.jpg

I have the Helen stuff in stock now, got them yesterday with the decals. I just need to go through them, make sure I have the right # etc, and then I'll shoot out the message to my list. So probably today.

Some good news: I'm working with the fine folks at Pinball Refinery to have a custom LED board made for the translite. It lights just fine with the stock Stern tube, but I'm pretty excited to see what they come up with to help it really pop.

I forget who asked me if I could do that now, sorry, but it was a fun idea, so thank you. That's been my favorite part about this project, going all out to really tie every piece of the machine together. It should feel factory when you install it all. Even down to the coin reject labels!

eject.jpg

Yeah, I was going to wait until I got the final print, but I can see if I can't take a decent photo with the test print. It's close enough, I just adjusted some colors and minor tweaks after seeing it printed.

I think so. The problem with the AC/DC apron decals is they were a bonus idea on the decal sheet, the main focus was the playfield face cover. So I needed my decals to be as thin as possible, and able to be peeled up. That didn't work as well with some of the rough textured aprons.

This time I'm not putting anything on the playfield, so I'm laminating them for a thicker, stiffer application. So even without adhesive they should lie flat, and not curl.

I've got test prints installed on my apron, shooter lane, coin door, and speaker panel right now, in my garage which can get pretty warm. So far so good.

They weren't specifically designed as such, they don't have any special UV sensitive ink or anything. The colors pop pretty nicely in person, so it's possible they'd fluoresce some under a black light, but I don't have one handy to test with. I have some UV LEDs, but honestly they're pretty weak, not enough to really test with.

I'm finishing up one of the cards right now. Let me get a sense for how the second one will work out and then I'll post some kind of in progress.

As for rolling your own backbox lighting kit, if you don't want to have Pinball Refinery do one for you (and I'll post up more on that when they have a chance to finish it, soon) here are the dimensions, you can use them to map out all the positions:

Click to enlarge

Yes, printed cards will be included with your order. I just haven't finished them yet, I didn't want to start on them until the new code was out so I'm still working. I'll have them done and the files to the printer by the time I put the first orders in.

I'll make sure when it's time to pay that it's clear that they're included, and will post the images in that reserved second post on page one when they're done.

Here's an in progress look at one of them, subject to change as I do the other and see how everything fits etc. If anyone spots a rule mistake let me know!

card-draft1.jpg

I really can't break up the decals, they're printed all together, it's the only cost effective way to do it. You're free of course to only install the ones you want, and once you see them you can decide.

I know that for instance the LE people probably won't want the speaker decal, but there's just not a practical way to do a ton of different options. That said, maybe you could work something out with someone with an LE who doesn't want theirs?

Thanks, those are helpful, I want this to be a clear cheat sheet people can refer to. And I have no idea what happened to that "the", I'll fix that.

lol, you're the resident Iron Man mod buyer. I'll definitely consider it once I catch my breath.

lol, I honestly don't know what else I could have done for the LE. It's hard, you guys already got so many extra toys!

I don't have any plans at the moment for that, it seems like there's already a pretty good thriving market for them for people who like that kind of stuff. I haven't seen the PinGraffix Star Trek ones in person, but they look like they'd probably match up pretty good with my art.

To be honest I've never tried installing mirror blades or inner art. I have a set for my Tron that I've just never bothered to put in. Maybe I should try and see if the idea appeals to me. I like to open my machines, so I guess I'm nervous about scratching the shit out of anything on the inside.

Well I have a Premium, same playfield as you, so I was really talking about the mirrored backglass, the side phaser LEDs, the side emblems, the metal speaker panel with emblem speaker holes and lights behind them. Just not much room to add or replace things. My Premium speaker panel is super boring, I'm way happier with color art on it now.

So the way these are printed is really maximized for efficiency, I even printed tips and instructions in the space where the DMD hole is cut out. Then they're ganged up on big sheets. So really there's no easy way to not do the speaker panel with everything.

If I had a ton of orders from just LE people I'm sure I could figure something out, but the material costs on this are higher than AC/DC because we're doing a lamination layer over everything, so I need to have enough volume to make the costs make sense.

This is all very small hobby level stuff just for Pinsiders, not a big commercial operation or anything.

I won't be making them so they can be backlit myself, but I will happily share my high rez files for people to print themselves. So if you want try and print it on some kind of transparent paper you can. If Pinball Refinery or someone wants to make a kit I'll give them permission to use my files. All I would want is that they ask me first.

It's just too niche of an application to try and make it a product, I don't have the bandwidth, it's more of an individual mod kind of idea. Sounds cool, I'd love to see someone try it.

And no, I'm not going with just a picture on the other card, I want to cover more rules. Just like I did with AC/DC, the left card was the jukebox reference for all the shots, this one has all the mode stuff in a similar way, and the other card will have the more basic rules, with some piece of anchor art probably. I have to see how much room I have after I work out the text.

lol, good call. I like really picky, I don't mind being edited at all, it's good to have someone else read your copy.

Just the cards, I did the same thing with my Helen cards, uploaded them so people could print their own without ordering my kit. I'll still include them printed for everyone who orders of course.

I'll post more work in progress when I get something going on the other card.

There will only be one version printed, there will never be one without the asteroids, sorry.

I won't do install pics until I get the final prints of the decals and translite, I'd rather show the real thing in photos then test prints that have things I adjusted. All the files are with my printer, so I just need to wait until he can run them off and send them to me. I don't have an estimate for that now other than "soon".

My plan is to keep pre-orders open until that point, then I'll take the install pics so everyone can see the real product, and then I'll do a "last call" for this run, and put in the print order. So you could pre-order right this moment, or you could wait until after you see photos, and it won't make a difference. In other words, no problem!

I'll do another run for the next batch of people if there is still interest. So if you're not ready or want to get reports from other people first or whatever then don't stress it.

As always my goal is for people to be happy. That's what motivates me to keep doing these. I appreciate every single comment people make, it means a lot.

Alternately, I just noticed where you are, if you're really uncertain and want to hop in the car for a little drive you're welcome to come out and see them in person, and play a little pinball. You're about an hour away from me. My in-laws live in Upland, I drive out that way all the time.

I know some people wanted some kind of space battle, and I get that, it just wasn't the vibe I was going for. Didn't feel classic Trek enough for me. I needed that 5 year mission feel, out in space, exploring and doing that whole "where no one has gone before" deal. But I knew I needed a little more action and drama than just "watch the ship go by". The asteroids provided a little danger and dynamic feel.

Some people don't care for how that front one goes over the text, and I hear that too. To me it's just more visually interesting and creates more depth. I really like it when designs break the plane like that. I originally tried creating a frame for the Enterprise to be flying out of, but it was just too claustrophobic, didn't work.

Honestly my biggest concern was ending up looking too much like the LE backglass. That's why I decided to show the ship from the underside, just to make sure it would visually differentiate itself immediately, even though we have similar elements. Ship with a planet in space, natural stuff, but easy to feel derivative. That angle from below just naturally lent itself to the asteroids, it's like the ship is almost straining upwards against the storm as they cascade down.

My hope is that people who buy this really enjoy it, but also that it still feels right and good in a few years. Another movie comes out, but your pin still looks good and not dated.

Oh man. I've actually tried to look into that, but I haven't made any real progress. It's some niche stuff, I gotta find the right contacts. That's my goal though, to someday do a mirrored backglass. Would be a giant headache I'm sure, but so damn cool.

Are you kidding? You guys are blowing up my ego like there's no tomorrow. I'm gonna start posting while wearing a cap and a Burger King crown! The response has been awesome, I appreciate all the positive comments, and anyone who's had criticisms, thank you, your input is just as welcome.

Packing supplies arrived! Gonna try and use tubes for the decal-only people, see how that works.

I got the final prints, so as promised here are the photos of things installed on my Premium. I'm still finishing the last rule card, and then I'm going to put in the order for everyone on the list. Don't know how long I'll keep running these, I want this to stay a small community project for the love of the game and the theme, don't want to step on Paramount's toes too much, and of course as always these are only available on Pinside.

It's tough to photograph backlit sources, so these photos aren't quite representative of what it looks like in real life, but close enough. The blue on the engine nacelles especially seems to be washing out.

If anyone who pre-ordered just the translite wants the decals after seeing them installed just PM me.

Click to enlarge all the images.

3-quarter.jpg
cabinet-front.jpg
translite+panel.jpg
The trifecta!
The shooter housing up close
Tournament plug (also comes in blue)
The spinner looks green because of the yellow insert shining on the blue
A close up crop of the new decals vs stock to show the print quality difference

I really did my best to make it work on both the Premium and Pro (and the LE for any parts of the decals people want to use). The Premium cabinet has a lot of blue and purple, so I was able to key off that safely while working with the Pro blue.

I'm looking forward to seeing it installed on a Pro, only person I know with one has a Refinery edition, so it's got blue armor and is more like the LE.

It's in the goodie bag that comes with the game. I'm not from the "leave it stapled in place and never open it" school. My game didn't come with one though actually, I had to have my distributor get one from Stern for me. Thanks Gio!

No problem, it's all just a spreadsheet, I updated yours, you're all set.

ASAP, I've got one done, just haven't had time to do the other yet. That's the last puzzle piece now, so I'll try and bang it out. Been traveling for business, trying to catch up to everything that piled up.

Definitely no pressure, I just don't know how long I'll do these. Want to keep it a small community project so Paramount doesn't get upset with me.

Yes sir, you're on the list, I checked to be sure.

Not at all. I've already tested this because I peeled off my prototype speaker panel decal to install the final one to take those photos.

They're meant to be able to give a little so they're reposition-able if you get an air bubble or put it on crooked. They're laminated so they shouldn't have issues with curling. Working just fine in my testing.

Just to be clear I haven't done any other one for Star Trek. There's one you can get on eBay, that has the wrong ship and a big emblem around it, maybe that's what you mean. That's art stolen from some Star Trek Online game, I had nothing to do with it, and I would expect mine will be higher quality.

Not at the moment, I just came up with the idea for Star Trek. As far as I know I'm the first to try it. I might look at trying new decal sets for other games using some of these ideas if there's interest. AC/DC is tricky, I don't want anyone I already sold decals to to feel like they missed out, or have to buy things again. I dunno, I'll ponder it.

I'm working on the other instruction card right now.

Okay, I think the cards are ready. Made some tweaks to the one I posted before and created a second one with the more basic rules. I'll look them over again tonight, see if anything pops out at me after a break. If anyone spots something that should be more clear or that I missed please let me know!

I uploaded these at full size if anyone wants to print them to try them out. They're at 300 dpi. I'll include printed ones with the packages though as usual.

Star-Trek-Card-2.jpg
Star-Trek-Card-1.jpg

If you look to the left of the modes they have a color coded circle. It's subtle, but it felt too rainbow when I made it more blatant. See if that helps. Could maybe balance it more if need be.

If anyone wants to try it feel free, you have my permission to use the files I posted here, or contact me and I can get you a higher quality version, the Pinside uploads get compressed.

Derp! Thanks for the catch! I'll fix that on my file right now.

Had to get the Vengeance in there somewhere for people.

Just got a package from Pinball Refinery. Updates on that soon. Should be ... illuminating.

I took one with those others, but it came out too dark to really see. My garage isn't exactly set up to pour down light onto the pins, I'll have to wait until daylight but I could try again.

As you can see from the others though they really do print pretty close to what they look like on the screen.

I dunno! Honestly. I have a short list of project ideas, but I just go with whatever strikes me as something fun to do. I need to ship this one out and finish the soccer season before I'll have any real time to get into anything.

I'd like to see it too! I don't have speaker lights. I did get replica metal badges for my speakers, but I wasn't happy with how they were installing and I haven't gotten around to fixing it.

What I'm really excited about is this Refinery light board I got. I tried to post a pic but the mobile interface won't take it. Lemme try again.

Edit: Nope, must be a new bug. I'll let Robin know, and I can post pics later when I get them onto my computer.

Posted this earlier:

It looks like Pinball Refinery did something for the asteroids on this light board, I'll try and install it tomorrow. If it's all ready (this is a prototype, they're just working off dimensions I gave them) then I'll shoot a video of it in action. Maybe it will change your mind.

I'm going off of what was posted in the Galactic Modes thread. If that's not accurate I'd definitely want it to be. Anyone else have a thought on that?

I'll try and investigate.

Heh, no worries, just wanted to make sure I was clear so no one was confused. That one basically outright stole someone else's art (and it's not even the right ship) so I'm not really a fan of it.

Here you go, snapped an iPhone pic with the apron decals and test prints of the cards.

apron-installed.jpg

I'm taking pre-orders through this weekend and then putting the order in with the printer on Monday.

Generally speaking that means I'm shipping them out maybe 2 weeks after that. So give or take that's what you're looking at. Beginning of October. I can do another run after that if there's demand, just trying to keep this to a small community project so Paramount doesn't feel upset by it.

Right? That was definitely part of the motivation to make decals part of this project, got tired of staring at that text! I guess the Pro machine doesn't have that warning?

You won't have an invoice yet, I don't send them out until the print run is ready, then I'm not sitting on anyone's money for too long. I'll email everyone an update this weekend and explain what's up so you don't have to follow this thread to know the important things.

You're the first person to ever mention Doctor Who as a project. I dunno, I kind of dig what there's already, it matches the game well, and it fits with the theme of all the different doctors. It's hard to imagine really improving that. I generally like to tackle things where something doesn't feel right, or I have an idea that I'm excited to explore.

For Star Trek it was really about not wanting the headshots, I wanted the ship, which is the true star to me. AC/DC was about trying a sexy rock and roll devil deal (which ended up being funny since Stern announce Luci while I was working on it) and Shadow of course was about killing of Alec Baldwin and letting the actual hero take center stage.

I really don't know what's next, I just have to see what strikes me. If I'm not having fun then it's not worth doing.

I don't know the answer to this one, but I would love to try doing a mirrored backglass. I haven't found a printer who knows how to handle that yet, it's something I need to look into, I just don't have a good lead right now. It's sort of a specialized thing I guess.

I don't think I'd do an Iron Man translite, though it might be fun to do a new decal set, I think the Vault Edition speaker panel could have been better. And then I could get rid of the warning text on the apron decal, do things like the shooter rod housing etc.

Haha, yeah, it would a ton of fun, I'm a serious fan of mirrored backglasses. It's pretty much the main reason I shelled out extra for METLE. And I bought CPR's EATPM conversion to get the mirroring.

Where's Dug at? He bugs me every time he sees me about this topic!

From what I can tell from other people doing it the cost for mirrored backglasses shipped approaches $300, so not cheap, and I'm not sure about trying to ship them overseas. Definitely more expensive and more headaches. But it would be super sweet to do.

I can tell you it's not happening for this project, if I ever did it then it would be for something where it was designed for mirroring from the beginning.

One problem is I'm not really happy with how decals look over the "old" Stern wooden speaker panels. That's definitely one big advantage of the new metal angled panels, they take decals way better.

If I did an Iron Man set I'd probably only do the Vault Edition panel.

As promised in my tease yesterday, here's a video of the Pinball Refinery custom lightboard installed with the translite. Was a breeze to install, took like 15 minutes maybe, with detailed instructions. It's hard to shoot a video, when you seeing things blowing out white it doesn't look anything like that in person, it just lights up nicely. Gives you a sense of how it works though.

My favorite parts are how the planet glows blue when you hit the left saucer, and how some modes make the asteroids pulse red, they really look like they're on fire.

If you want to order one from Gio he put up a page: Pinball Refinery order page

I'll send out an email update to everyone on my list today, and include the video link to for those who aren't following this thread (which means you're not reading this now! )

If you want in on this run though then please put your pre-order in today: http://www.aurichlawson.com/startrek/pre-order.html

I think that might be the first FSM reference I've seen on Pinside.

Yeah, the meteor going over the text really pops nicely when the red light behind it pulses, it's pretty perfect.

Not too bad considering they didn't even have a translite to work with, just the graphic with dimensions overlaid on it!

Okay, I'm going to send out an email update and get the order in for everyone on the list. If you're a last minute person I'll probably have a window where I can still update it, otherwise I can put you down for a possible second run.

I'll get a few extras of everything to be safe too.

It doesn't look like that in person, the camera is just blowing it out. I shot that with my iPhone strapped to a mic stand, it's not bad quality, but it can't really handle the transition to the flashers going off. Overwhelms the sensors.

6. Here's the naked board:

IMG_2937.JPG

The order has been placed with the printer, they're going to try and get to it this week. Now comes the best part, taping up boxes.

I ordered a couple extras, so not too late.

Well if anyone has leads for hunting down a mirrored backglass printer send them my way. I tried to reach out to CPR's guy and he was non responsive. Maybe I should ask Ron Webb, I think his guy has done mirrored glasses, anyone know if that's true?

That's the translite only option. Cards come with that, but no decals. PM me if you want to work it out.

Thanks, someone already caught that typo and I fixed it, I just didn't reupload the cards. I should do that with the final design though.

I don't have a Pro I can photograph, but it sounds like you want something like this quick mockup?

star-trek-pro-vs-aurich.jpg

I don't think Stern (I guess Greg Freres) did a bad job with the translites. Just not a big fan of the actor headshot look. The LE came out great.

For me the missed opportunity is the speaker panel. Now that I'm used to my decal on it I can't imagine going back to the drab grey texture. Stern seemed to realize this too, Iron Man VE and TWD both switched up to full color speaker decals. Which is great! Always down for more spots to put art on pins. Oh, and the new LED Metallica Pro too. That looks solid.

My printer told me he thinks they'll ship to me beginning of next week. I'll update if I hear more.

I don't have any speaker lights, but I am enjoying this prototype Refinery backbox light kit I have installed.

Hey, we need printers! I wouldn't be able to do much for the community without you guys.

Yup. I'm expecting to hear the good word this week, just waiting like everyone else at this stage. Last word I heard was they were waiting for the laminate for the decals, but they should have it by now.

Oh you know what? I never uploaded the final version, with the typo fixes. Lemme do that for you. I can make it a PDF, should make it easy to print the right size.

Here's the PDF, see how that works for you. Just make sure when you print it to set it to 100%, and not scaled or print to fit or whatever your print options look like. Then it should come out the right size. I use a ruler and an Xacto to cut mine out, follow the guides and you'll get it perfect.

StarTrek-Cards.pdf

I'll be emailing everyone tomorrow with some good news.

Technically dug paid first since he hit me up at League last weekend.

As soon as I get back from Expo I'll start packing these up.

By the way - If you pre-ordered and haven't heard from me via email then you're on the waiting list. I'll address it after this first batch has shipped.

Heh, not exactly, most people aren't bothering to update the thread when they pay. Don't worry, I'm a pro at folding boxes by now.

I ship USPS Priority International for anyone outside the US. To Canada it's around a week, give or take depending on the shipping and how customs moves things through.

Yeah, unfortunately that one wasn't caught until after the print job. I'll fix it and upload new card files for anyone who wants to reprint their own if it bugs you.

No one actually reads all those words I spend all this time trying to get right anyways. And I guess I could have spent another 5 minutes getting them right ... doh!

"Oh snap, you got that Star Trek error card from 2014? You know those are going for crazy money on eBay now right?"

Good news everyone! (Futurama voice)

The package from the printer came in a day early, arrived this afternoon. Been packing ever since. I won't be able to get the international orders done tonight, they take a lot longer, can't batch print everything and have to fill out all the customs forums, but all the US orders should hopefully make it to the post office tomorrow. I have to squeeze it in before hurrying to the airport, as long as the post office opens on time I should make it.

You should all be getting tracking #s to your email addresses and have them by the end of the week or sooner.

Just glad they arrived a day early, original estimate was today. I felt kinda bad about the timing with being in Chicago.

If I had just a little more time I could do the international orders too, but I gotta get ready to catch my flight. Take care of that as soon as I get back.

Oh right, I set the shipping date to today, so it probably delayed the notification emails until today too. About to go pack my car, one of the few times that I curse driving a coupe.

US packages made it to the post office safely, heading to the airport to fly into Chicago. Hope to see some of you at Expo!

No problem! I recruited the whole family, my kids were even helping collate decals for a while (each order needs 16 different ones gathered up) and my wife was taping up boxes. Didn't have much time and I really didn't want to only send out some orders, didn't seem fair.

Sorry I couldn't get to the international orders, I'm out of customs envelopes and filling out the customs forms takes longer too. Soon as I get back I'll finish, I have most of it packed already just waiting for postage.

Basically grabbed a cab when I got back from the post office, I was there before they even opened standing in line.

Looks like we're just now flying over Nebraska, just crossed over the border from Colorado.

Yours could have been in the mail already!

Heading out for drinks with Ars Technica people, and then grabbing a car out to Expo. Glad to see people are starting to get these, enjoy! I'll check in more with this thread over the weekend, I fly home tomorrow night.

I really looks best with the new speaker decal, a few people opted to not get the decals though, he might have been one. All good.

Lol. Right I'll fix the cards. Sorry forgot to get to that.

I'm home now, but crashing. I'll respond to any questions etc tomorrow. I love seeing all the pics!

Glad everyone is enjoying. I'm back from Expo, I'll get the new version of those instruction cards with the typo fix uploaded today.

Yeah, you have to remove the rod to get the decal on, and you have to take the shooter tip off to do that. Mine was really on there too, I did just bust out the pliers eventually. Remember, these are replaceable parts, they're meant to come off, and if you damage it you can just pop a new one on there from Pinball Life etc. Pliers didn't hurt mine though.

I'd never had so much trouble getting one off before as my Star Trek, sounds like it wasn't just my machine.

Sorry I didn't get to this yesterday, the post Expo crash kicked in. Here's an updated PDF of the cards with the typo fix on "Enterprise" (edit - and typo on boldly! ):

StarTrek-Cards.pdf

I don't see the typo? If you mean there's no "to" on it then that's on purpose.