Repro Ramps - Starship-Fantasy

[FastEd]

I just wanted to give a shout out to http://www.starship-fantasy.com/

I just ordered a set of Repro Ramps for my Theater of Magic, and the experience was outstanding.

First of all, Starship-Fantasy has taken over the repro ramp business from Pinball Inc. I believe Pinball Inc was the supplier of repro ramps to Marco, Bay Area, etc. These ramps are much better than the original and much beefier.

Larry at Starship was very prompt in getting back to my email (less than an hour), and had processed and shipped out my ramps later on that day. It arrived at my house in about 11 days, solidly packed. The shipping was via USPS and Canada Post. The shipping cost was much much cheaper than anyone else (like 1/4 of Marco). The price of the ramp was also much cheaper than anyone else (which makes sense, since they make the ramps for everyone else, right?). You can PM me if you want the detail on the pricing.

If you guys need replacement ramps for your machines, I think this is THE place, buy with confidence!

 

[dnewman]

I had a great experience dealing Larry at Starship-Fantasy too.


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[Fifty]

Cool website. I wonder if they will start repro'ing ramps for newer games any time soon? Thank you for posting!

 

[Menace]

Cool website. I wonder if they will start repro'ing ramps for newer games any time soon? Thank you for posting!

That wouldn't be a bad idea seeing as how thin and brittle some of the new Stern ramps are... I'm sure Stern wouldn't allow it as they make good $ off their parts division.

D

 

[Fifty]

I can see Stern being upset, but if they wanted $ all they would have to do is actually make the parts. For example, my NASCAR has a broken ramp. It's from 2005. Every vendor is sold out and some of the older threads on Pinside are saying Stern has decided to not bother making more. WTF? The game is only 10 years old?! I can get parts more easily for my F-14 Tomcat and it was build in '87!

 

[FastEd]

Which ramp for NASCAR? Is the game still playable? You should see if there is a cliffy protector for the ramp. I did a quick search and it looks the right ramp is nowhere to be found. I think Marco has the left ramp. You should also pm arakissun, it sounds like he might have access to hard to find parts

 

[Fifty]

It's the right side. It's only cracked, but it's one of those unsightly things that will drive me nuts unless I fix/hide it. There are no Cliffy's for NASCAR other than the universal rollover switch protectors. Marco sells protectors made by Stern but they are $75 each. Give me a break.
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/502-5041-46

I have one installed on the left ramp. This I'm guessing is from the factory as no one is crazy enough to shell out $75 bones on a $2 piece of metal.

Marco actually does have the right ramp (lower section), but it doesn't have the blue steel attached to it. How hard is it to rivet them on?
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/545-6232-00

[EDIT] Maybe those protectors are priced wrong on Marco. I found this one and it's more inline with my price.
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/535-9745-00

 

[FastEd]

It looks like Marco sells the metal flap for the ramp separately. You can always remove your existing metal flap and rivet it on to your new ramp ($29 sounds like a good price, just be ready for shipping charges...). I think attaching the metal flap to the ramp with rivets should be straight forward, if you have the right tools. I should be getting a rivet press shortly. There should probably be members in the Ottawa area that has a rivet press. You don't want to crack the new ramp by installing the rivets with the wrong tools!

 

[Fifty]

This is the rivet tool I have. Based on my limited use of this tool, a rivet gun like this would definitely crack the ramp. It pulls the back of the rivet through to the front and then snaps off the excess. All done using compression. I'm not familiar with how a rivet press works, but I imagine it would be a heck of a lot cleaner looking. The CAD dollar sucks right now, so I'm holding off on any Marco orders. I'm just worried I'll find the left ramp also cracked and be out of options. The left side seems impossible to find.

 

[Menace]

You can't use that rivet tool on pins, as it doesn't work with semi-tubular rivets that are used on pinball machines.

If you find yourself needing to rivet pinball parts, everything you need can be found here @ Pinrestore;

http://pinrestore.com/Riveting.html

I just bought a bunch of the rivet dies to convert the 4 arbor presses I own into rivet presses. I've sold one to a member here and I will be posting the other two up for sale eventually should anyone be interested.

D

 

[Fifty]

I've seen that one before. I can't afford $200 + shipping for something I'm only going to be using a handful of times. Why do you think I have that shitty rivet tool in the first place?