So I'm sitting here thinking about my Space Shuttle...potential market, or bad idea?

Frax

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So I'm sitting here thinking about my Space Shuttle...potential market, or bad idea?

The Shuttle toy that comes on the machine....Ed Cheung did a translucent one that looked pretty cool, but even just seeing that NOS one I bid on a while back go for 170$ got me thinking...

Vaccum table is 150$. Plastic to make these is almost negligible. I have the know-how to make a form using the one I have, and sculpt to correct the physical flaws with the one I have. I don't have the know-how to purchase all the wire and fiddly bits and get it all put together, so bascially I'd just be selling the plastic shell, POSSIBLY some pre-painted ones.

Sound like something I could feasibly recoup my money on? I'm not looking to make a fortune but it's something I would like to give a shot just for my own personal skills development, and I think it's something I could pull off small-scale without having to get a third party involved. Any thoughts?

I wouldn't be thinking of even doing this for a few months at least, but kind of trying to think long term to budget. :)
 
if you have the skills i would think it would be cool. if down the road you could make ramps also that would be awesome. i have seen many posts here and on other sites where people are always looking for a ramp for this game or that.i think there is a limited market for what you are thinking of doing. just my opinion.
 
If you are going to do a few here and there to help people out and can do it yourself, that's cool and helpful. But if you are going to try and sell them as a business, you'll need to get a license from Planetary Pinball. It seems like a lot of small businesses get licenses from them to reproduce Bally/Williams parts, so I'd guess they are pretty reasonable to work with.
 
I'd buy one, probably two. Either in white plastic (something tough - ABS?) or in clear plastic (Lexan?). A past hobby of mine was R/C cars, so I have experience trimming, painting, and finishing clear Lexan body shells.
 
Will have to play around with different thicknesses/types of plastic and see what works, but that's trial and error for later. :)

As for Planetary....meh? I'm a poor (literally..) guy trying to help out with a commonly damaged part that they don't make, and that nobody makes as far as I can tell. I don't have the money to licence anything, and I'm not going to be held to OEM quality either. Don't think they're gonna do me the favor of sending me a mold even if I was to license it. I mean really...for me to be able to afford to license it, it would have to be under 200$. =|
 
As for Planetary....meh? I'm a poor (literally..) guy trying to help out with a commonly damaged part that they don't make, and that nobody makes as far as I can tell. I don't have the money to licence anything, and I'm not going to be held to OEM quality either. Don't think they're gonna do me the favor of sending me a mold even if I was to license it. I mean really...for me to be able to afford to license it, it would have to be under 200$. =|

I understand. I'm just bringing it up. I'm not going to go running to PP snitching on you. But there have been several cases (recent) of people doing exactly what you are doing and getting a letter telling them to license it or stop.

I have no idea how their licenses work. I don't know if they want a fee up front or if they just ask for a percentage. All I know is that Planetary Pinball takes it seriously and will ask people to stop. It is something to keep in mind and a potential pitfall.
 
Funny. Never expected to run into a patent trolling company in pinball. If you look at the shuttle parts they make it's all decals...the easiest thing bar none to make. I doubt they have any serious intent to repro anything else really needed for this particular machine. Looks like they just got rights to the Williams stuff less than a year ago. They licensed out the side art to someone now selling stencil on eBay for 130$. Not a bad deal even though it's really simple art IMO.

Hopefully they just want a reasonable cut, and not control over pricing or an actual fee. Would take a deal like that ad long as I'm still making a bit and not having to charge an arm and a leg for them. I'd really liketo do this but I have a very low tolerance for asshattery. :p
 
I wouldn't call Planetary Pinball a troll. They bought the rights from Wayne Gillard in Australia last year. Since PPS took over, we've seen more parts released and licensed than Wayne ever did. It has actually been a good thing as there is more side art, backbox art, translites, decals, etc. than there was. Plus JJP licensed Williams/Bally parts to use on Wizard of Oz.

One of the co-owners of PPS is Rick Bartlett, who owns Bay Area Amusements. I don't know him in any way, but he seems pretty reasonable and nice on his RGP postings.
 
Yeah noticed BAA seemed to carry and awful lot of licensed stuff. Guess that explains that. I'm going to at least try and see what their deal is. I'd love for them to tell me, "sorry, we're going to produce these and they'll be 50$ fully painted with wiring and hardware." guess it will come down to what their terms are.
 
Just gimme the mf c/d letter already.

"In addition, there needs to be a chain for quality and safety for the parts. Often there are infringing parts which are sub-standard and this hurts the overall pinball hobby. With PPS, all parts are run through the approval process to insure the best part is able to reach the market."
 
Got emails back from Rick @ PP today. Says that someone's already doing the shuttle toy AND the ramps, and should be available soon..

Didn't tell me who though...completely infuriating. Hopefully they come to market somewhere obvious instead of "random ebay person" like the stencils. =|
 
I imagine he can't disclose who is doing it until it is done in case something would happen or there are problems.

Sounds like it was frustrating, but hopefully everything you went through saved you some time and effort in the long run. Thanks for the update.
 
Just frustrating in the fact I want to buy them NOW, lol. I'm still gonna probably end up buying the vac table because I think it'll be fun to do, but I'm not going to be in any rush to do it. I think the interior illuminated one looks awesome...would be fun to rig one up to the flasher triggers. :)

Also got some ideas for other things using that shell.
 
Just frustrating in the fact I want to buy them NOW, lol. I'm still gonna probably end up buying the vac table because I think it'll be fun to do, but I'm not going to be in any rush to do it. I think the interior illuminated one looks awesome...would be fun to rig one up to the flasher triggers. :)

Also got some ideas for other things using that shell.

There's other stuff out there if you want to repo pinball parts. Gameplan and Zaccaria are fair game as far as I know. Good games made by both and some parts are impossible to find.

Try your hand at these Cyclopes bumper caps. I saw a game for sale missing one, near impossible to ever find a replacement. Shame that the game would look like shit missing one, since it's pretty damn cool.

image-3.jpg
 
have a pin buddy that got one of those cyclopes just a few months ago. had a broken pop bumper cap. they are indeed nigh-on impossible to find.
 
Personal benefit is first, assisting others is second unfortunately. I don't have the time, or the money, to take on projects that don't have a direct benefit to me. This isn't something I've done before. It's not just something I can pick up and make a reasonable attempt at because I've done similar things. =\ Those are some cool looking pop caps though. Very odd placement with that one on the lower left..

I was kind of wondering about pop bumper caps though...still haven't seen anywhere that sells these Shuttle ones either. Anyone know what the thickness is on them? Not really sure that vaccum-form would be the best way to do them. You'd almost have to do two molds, then figure a way to join them together. Don't think home hobbyist could get an even enough heat on plastic that thick to even do it? Not sure how they were originally molded, but I'm guessing injection or pressed inside a 2-piece mold....
 
Got emails back from Rick @ PP today. Says that someone's already doing the shuttle toy AND the ramps, and should be available soon..
Didn't tell me who though...completely infuriating. Hopefully they come to market somewhere obvious instead of "random ebay person" like the stencils. =|

I talked to Pinball Inc about the Space Shuttle ramp back at MGC. They said that they hoped to produce them someday, but the original tooling was gone. With the new tooling costs, it would end up being a ~$150 repro ramp. They weren't sure that they'd sell enough of them to be worthwhile (even though every Shuttle in existence has busted ramps). I let them know that CPR is making repro Shuttle playfields, and every person spending $600+ on a new playfield (including me) would be happy to spend the money for a new ramp to go with it.

A new shuttle toy would be the proverbial icing on the cake!
 
Ain't no way I'd pay 150$ for that ramp....but mine is in good condition aside from the part under the metal flaps. I'm killing myself trying to get enough money to pat for the CPR playfield before I get that email asking for money. I was considering selling some of my CPS2 carts or my vs. SMB cabinet to make it a bit easier but I dont want to let them go. :/
 
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Funny. Never expected to run into a patent trolling company in pinball. If you look at the shuttle parts they make it's all decals...the easiest thing bar none to make. I doubt they have any serious intent to repro anything else really needed for this particular machine. Looks like they just got rights to the Williams stuff less than a year ago. They licensed out the side art to someone now selling stencil on eBay for 130$. Not a bad deal even though it's really simple art IMO.

Hopefully they just want a reasonable cut, and not control over pricing or an actual fee. Would take a deal like that ad long as I'm still making a bit and not having to charge an arm and a leg for them. I'd really liketo do this but I have a very low tolerance for asshattery. :p

The IP here is copyright (and maybe some trademarks). Patents aren't at issue for decals and these types of parts, so labeling them as a patent troll is wrong from the start. Besides, patents have a lifetime of (ballpark) 20 years, so anything from an 80's (or earlier) pin won't be protected by a patent at this point anyway.
 
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