I picked up a very nice star wars cockpit back in 2006 or so. It happened to be a factory converted ROTJ and I got it for a fair price. Soon it would be converted back to star wars. Cosmetically I didn’t have much to do with the game, other than replacing the broken canopy plexi. I couldn’t find any reproductions available, so I did some research and bought pre-cut plexi from a local vendor along with plexi drill bits and the heating strip needed to bend my own. Since I had a nice cockpit, my Star Wars upright was quickly traded away. Mongo came to pick it up and dropped off a working Tron along with a nice new set of canopy plexi. Of course. Needless to say the plexi project got shelved.

Fast forward four years and it’s time to revisit the project. I’m tired of moving the plexi around! Plus I need something to keep me busy while I wait for the Berzerk and Frenzy panels to return from the screen printer. Below you’ll see my sample plexi set and the jig I made from a set of canopy parts and plywood. The first set came out great but it needs some slight tweaking. I’ll only have enough material to make 12 sets, so if you need one, drop me a line!

The recent release of reproduction Tron handles has caused quite a stir in the collecting community. NOS handles are difficult to find and command a premium when they do pop up for sale. The fact that Randy over at GroovyGameGear is selling his “factory original” reproductions for a mere $24.95, with a trigger and top screw, is a big deal.

I ordered two handles on Sunday and received them today via USPS, pretty quick. Do the handles meet collectors exacting standards? How do they compare to an original or a previous reproduction handle? Let’s find out. (more…)