Excellent news John. Thank you for keeping us informed.

Well, I guess it is time to let people know that I’ve been working on this project.

This started out last spring when John asked me to fix the artwork. I worked on the file to go from a raster based image to a colour separated vector image. I then worked on the colours to ensure I knew what they were supposed to be. To do that, I turned to my friend Bob Timm who knows that art better than anyone. I am confident the colours are right.

Just as I finished up the art, John let me know he was not going to be able to go forward with printing the playfields. I figured it was worth seeing things through, so I bought out all John’s materiel and paid off all his creditors. The final step is to complete the production and send off playfields to the customers (creditors) that had already paid John.

So, here is the first of the new Seawitch playfields, fresh back from the print shop.

Greg Walker
Fantastic Pinball Inc.

4A2AB149-DC6A-4A60-8B62-6966B853FB97 (resized).jpeg

Oh, that's nice. Now I have to figure out what to do with the other one I have. I want one of these.

That's terrific news! Very nice work!

Excellent! I'm in for a Star Gazer when they're available!

This is a comparison to the original in a single photo.

B91D3F9B-30F5-400F-9964-3A88011019A5 (resized).jpeg

So to recap, who is this new group we need to contact to get a Seawitch Playfield?

Nice work and well done for assisting John with the art and financially. Hope to see you annouce these for sale soon and add new titles if at all possible?

I'm in for one each of the new ones.

Looks nice, but kind of a shame those of us who waited years for a pf are stuck with the bright blue one.

coffee table? wall hanger? The world is your oyster!

Why not? Pinball coffee tables seem to piss off the most people.

I’ve asked John to verify the Seawitch customer list that was provided online. He stated that some of these people may have already received their playfields. I will try to update this list until all accounts have been settled.

Updated Unofficial Seawitch List
Prepaid List + Date Paid
1. TWeaver April 23 or 24, 2013
2. Dazza88 December 13, 2013
3. jrobinso99 April 4, 2014 … Playfield Received 18 Oct, 2021
4. Evets August 3, 2014
5. Raptor December 13, 2014 (per email exchange with Raptor and John G)
6. PACMAN February 1, 2015
7. solidstate February 3, 2015
8. j_m_ February 9, 2015

PACMAN advertised a Star Gazer for sale in March 2021 and then seems to have disappeared.

https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/pacman/forum

I followed in Evets footsteps in maintaining that list and contacting people, pretty sure nothing changed with those final 8 before you went public, Greg. And Thank You for doing so! I was a buyer of the first ever (?) repro Fathom playfield that you made way back when. I was not in for a SW playfield, but maybe some other various future backglasses, are those something you'll be making also?

fingers crossed that FantasticPinball will cross the finish line this year and I can finally finish restoring mine

Received notification that a PF was boxed up for me. It looks like my personal journey will be coming to an end soon. Thank you, Greg.

Steve

F**K YEAH!

Updated Unofficial Seawitch List
Prepaid List + Date Paid
3. jrobinso99 April 4, 2014 - Playfield Received
4. Evets August 3, 2014 - Playfield received
5. Raptor December 13, 2014 - Playfield Received
6. PACMAN February 1, 2015 - Playfield Received
8. j_m_ February 9, 2015 - Playfield Received

1. TWeaver April 23 or 24, 2013
2. Dazza88 December 13, 2013 (contacted)
7. solidstate February 3, 2015

Technically, I'm still waiting to receive the PF. That said, it did arrive at the UPS Processing Facility in Ontario, CA this morning at 5:52. It's close, but it will probably take 2.5 more days (Monday evening) to complete the last 10 miles of the journey. Looking forward to the unveiling!

Ordered August 3, 2014. Arrived November 1,2021. The journey has ended.

Seawitch PF (resized).jpg

just had a phone call from FantasticPinball and we've sorted things out

I hope you are happy with this playfield. It has been an adventure getting them made. I suspect several people are waiting for your review of the playfield itself as they decide if they want to buy one of the few remaining playfields that I have in stock.

If anybody knows TWeaver and/or Solidstate, they may also be waiting for playfields. John was unsure about his records vs the online list and this has been a challenge.

For those waiting to buy, I stopped clearcoating playfields prior to sale so that I can let people choose their clearcoat option. This means there is a slight delay between ordering and shipping because the playfield will be cleared after the order is made. However, the delay is short because printed playfields are in stock and ready to go.

Fantastic!

I'm buried in work so I only took time to open the package and snap a quick pic. I'll get it under some better lighting and place it next to my original before offering a review. That said, the initial impression is very good.

what options are you offering?

Any updates on Stargazer?

So it looks like CPR is selling these now. After 8 years of waiting for this.

From the photos above, the updated colors on this look far and away, more like the original to me. The CPR playfield looks grossly over saturated and just plain weird.

I have not seen the other guys playfield and can’t speak about that, but I can tell you that the Fantastic playfield uses the colours that Bob Timm said are the correct colours. If you look on any two screens, the colours will look different, so I mailed the colours to Bob and got his endorsement prior to printing.

I did some color tests with some appropriate swatches for myself, using an old Star Gazer playfield I had lying around. After removing the yellowed lacquer in some areas, it's not hard to tell what the colors should look like. And while computer displays will show colors differently, many years of experience with color as a graphic designer gives me some comfort in making educated guesses based on overall white balancing. Your playfield looks FAR better than the CPR, which looks bad to me. I imagine some people will think it's better because it's brighter though.

I have no time right now for a more thorough analysis, but I did place my new PF from Greg next to my original PF and to the naked eye the darker blues, greens and yellows seem on the money, particularly when I look at the colors that have been buried under posts. The lighter blue above the lower flippers is inconsistent with my old faded PF which is largely light green, but that light green color is clearly a product of age, as the light blue still exists under posts. Overall, the colors on Greg's PF pass the side by side naked eye test. There's no hint of too much purple, or not enough green. I get that this is a problematic assessment (non scientific), but the the PF looks good. I can point out some small flaws in the clear coat, but keep in mind that I find issues with every PF I've purchased. If I wanted absolutely perfect clearcoat, then I would send it off to Kruzman, and pay for that specialized, exceptional service. Overall, I am pleased with Greg's PF and look forward to installing it.

I received mine today and my sentiments echo Evets
the colors seem to be spot on and the entire playfield looks very nice. however, when held to the light, there are a lot of fish eyes that can be seen through the clear and banding in the dark blue areas is evident from the direct printing

fortunately, the majority of the fish eyes seem to be limited to the area between all of the thumper bumpers so they will not be visible and the banding blends away at a distance 6" or more

overall, it's a very nice playfield and the included test board was a pleasant surprise

IMG_8665 (resized).jpg

The CPR playfield is great in that we now have two sources, never a bad thing.

I'm really glad you all like this new playfield. As stated, you are going to find something in every playfield you look at. This is why some folks try grading and discounting the products. It just seems a shame to sand it down and start over because of a spec or bubble. Noting the cost to produce these, rejecting a playfield for a fisheye under the apron is throwing away about $900. Discounting the product means selling at a loss and putting the project upsidedown.

I am hoping to keep doing this, as long as you all like what I am making. Thanks for your support.

Fantastic!

saw this

pssst FantasticPinball

Screen Shot 2022-07-18 at 11.01.22 PM (resized).png

Yep. In stock.

Fantastic!

Where does one go to buy a Star Gazer playfield?

I would like to get one as well.

nearly makes me want to buy a new repro to swap out John's repro and keep that one as a wall art piece

Damn ! That as fast. I decided about 4 hours ago that I probably should get one of these new Seawitch play fields while the getting was good.

I made my paypal purchase about 2 hours ago. I already have an email notice telling me the play field is shipping today !

That's fast.

I sold my Greatwich Seawitch play field 2 weeks ago so I could go this direction with Fantastic Pinball.

Going faster than expected. I have two Seawitch left out of this batch. When they are gone I'll start again, but I am really busy with other new titles.
If you want a Seawitch Playfield that is true to the original with the colors that were certified correct by Bob Timm, with a clearcoat job that would cost you as much as the playfield elsewhere, then move quick.

For those lucky few who are holding the Seawitch metallic playfields, You have treasure. Hold them close!

Fantastic!

What is this? metallic play fields?

In the first batch of Seawitch playfields, the guy doing the clearcoat did what he did for all his automotive clearcoat, which is to add a small amount of aluminum powder that acts as a catalyst or accelerant to the reaction of the two part clear. The result was that the ink took on a slightly metallic look that was, in many opinions, nicer than the original. I only sold a few of these. I wish I had kept one for myself. I'd love to see one of these in a machine. They were special.

Fantastic!

Alright… that means someone needs to post some braggin’ rights photos up in here.

I'm going to have to look at mine again. I don't remember it having any metallic sheen to it and I was one of the individuals to receive one from the first batch