Around 60.

The response has far outstripped anything I could have expected frankly, I really appreciate all the comments and support. Hopefully the test print comes in soon, but in the meantime it seems like the extra time has been helpful for people to find this, the orders are still steadily trickling in.

Put you both on the maybe, I'll follow up with anyone on the maybe list before finalizing the order.

Heh, honestly if I didn't own a Shadow I probably wouldn't have burned all this time on it, it was a bit of a personal project that I decided to go ahead and take public. The Shadow is somewhat unique in that the translite is so hated but the game is so awesome, hard to find that combo.

Lmjdad and Heath, I'll put you both on the maybe list, no problem.

Man, I had no clue over 60 people were going to want this. If I'd known I would have ordered the test prints before saying anything so there wouldn't be a delay, I apologize. I honestly didn't know if there would be enough interest to even go forward with it.

I'm going to try and see if I can get some kind of estimate on them getting to me.

Thanks. Just not the best feeling when you realize you're leaving a ton of people waiting on you is all! It's just pinball, you're right, no rush, but I guess the response has left me feeling a little pressured to get it moving.

Is what it is, out of my hands, so I just appreciate everyone's patience. This is why I'm not taking any money until I have product ready, that would seriously stress me out if I was sitting on your cash while you had to wait!

Update:

Just got this note from the printer:

Aurich, I wanted to let you know that I am playing around with different ink limits for your overlay, so it is taking longer than normal. I will keep you posted.

Happy to wait a little longer if he can get a better result out of the design.

I'll update if I get any more info!

Yes, he knows what it is.

Ontario in the house! Thanks guys. Grauwulf are you going to change your avatar now?

Just got a shipping notice for the test prints, so I imagine I'll have them within the next few days. Once I get them in I'll take photos and document.

Hoping the test print comes in today (edit: nope, looks like won't make it today, boo), so in the meantime I'm working on photographing the stock translite while it's backlit, it's tough to get it to come out looking like it does in real life. I'm trying a quick 3 bracket exposure combination, this is the best I've got so far. I'll use the same settings with the new one, so you can compare it against something you know as a reference.

Not sure this is really the best, it's a little artificially saturated feeling, lemme know what you think.

Note that the weird black blobs you see on it are from someone trying to patch holes in the translite white backing with some black crap, so just ignore them.

shadow-translite-original.jpg

Oh, we'll that's easy to explain, it is lit with LEDs

Hey, thanks, I appreciate it. It was really a personal project, I did it for myself mostly, and had no idea so many people would want one. I like to find ways to personalize my projects, that's a big part of the draw for me, though I do love playing my Shadow too. I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by what I'm gonna need to do now to fill all these orders!

Shipping estimate from USPS still says Sep 14th delivery for the test print, so hopefully that just means it will be here tomorrow. Got the DSLR and tripod ready to document!

Yeah, it's really just a personal preference I guess, but I personally far prefer LED backlighting, the yellow incandescents just aren't true to the colors of the art. Not always as good for the animated light shows, there's always a trade off. I'm not going to swap out my bulbs for the photos, but I will shoot both the new and old with the same setup, which should be enough to decide if it lights okay just from a quality/layout perspective. Then you're free to light your own however you see fit, even if you use LEDs you might do it totally differently than I do (I'm not big on color bombing translites, some people love it).

Tell you what, I'm really normally not big on color bombing the GI with LEDs on games especially, but I might try it with Elvira to help hide some of the work I'm doing, some colors and darkness might actually be a benefit on this one, thanks again for the assist on that this morning!

Yeah, I consciously decided to move utterly away from the other characters, and the whole movie in general. The flashers aren't honestly gonna do much on this design, that's the tradeoff I guess. I don't think the Shadow back box has much of a light show, so it didn't seem to matter much to me. Only time I ever notice the flashers is when the game is over, and even then, eh. Everyone has their own opinions on what's important though.

My EATPM does a lot with the lights, like when you hit the BBQ and it all goes dark and the grill lights up, I love that stuff, but The Shadow really doesn't do that kind of animation.

Heh, me too. I'm actually talking with another printer right now who might be able to provide some more advanced services on this now that it's gotten so crazy. Trying to not delay things too much though.

Either way I'll post updates as I can.

Haha, I promise I'm not gonna make anyone wait longer than necessary, but I do want to get this right!

Thanks, other people are messaging me with the same sentiment, so I won't stress.

I just hate flakey people, so being reliable is kind of a big deal. Anyways, it's gonna come out great, I will it to be so, so thanks for the patience.

I got the test print in today. I'm honestly not happy with it, the quality is not what I was hoping for, especially backlit. To the point where I'm not even going to post photos right now, it's just not worth it at this point. Sorry!

I'm in discussions right now with another printer who has experience with real translites, might have to delay things a week while I get another test print done, but at this stage I couldn't go with what came today, it's just not up to my standards. I'm hopeful that the next attempt will be a big improvement!

Sorry for the delay, if I'd known 70+ people wanted this ahead of time I would have tried to sort this out before I posted anything. As it is I'm still committed to it, no one will give me a dime until they see the final product photos and decided they're happy with it too, and I won't post anything until I have something that looks right.

Will update as I know more, thanks again for your patience!

I'm feeling hopeful that this is actually going to come out better than originally planned actually, and that you'll all win from the extra little wait. I've got pretty awesome karma with Pinsiders reaching out to me at just the right time, with machines or services or whatever. This looks like it might be another one of those times. Just one more reason to love this forum, even with the occasional silly drama.

Yeah, I'd used this shop before, but not for something quite like this, and I was let down. A new test will be on its way to me shortly, I'll update as I know more, but I'm hopeful this will be a huge improvement.