MattyCollector "Mattel Hoverboard" discussion

[Roland]

Guys, haven't you seen the following thread? http://www.therpf.com/f13/hoverboard-lenticular-material-161506/ - scroll down to post #9 - that's the absolutely correct material. It's purple with a very small shot of red. It's translucent and has NO neon effect. BUT: the neon pink of the board shines through and it gives the lenticular its slight neon pink effect as seen on screen and auction pictures.

I bought the lenticular from the sales thread and have it now in my hands. It's great stuff. Later today I will post some pictures (now it's too dark outside for photographing), where you can see the effect.

 

[Davlin]

IF the lenticular sold by Philipes is the right one, then, having bought some, I must back what Roland said above : It's purple with hints of red, with the pink underneath.

 

[Clock88]

...scroll down to post #9 - that's the absolutely correct material.

It's not the correct material. That material in the thread isn't that hard to find online either. Although, I don't want to take a bite into Phil's sales by posting a link..

That material is a 2 toned red and silver (the company that makes it calls it "chrome red") honeycomb lenticular that is translucent. The real stuff was not translucent (it was opaque) and was single toned (pink).

Still looks nice though. I got a couple of samples of it from the company.

 

[Roland]

It's not the correct material. That material in the thread isn't that hard to find online either. Although, I don't want to take a bite into Phil's sales by posting a link.. ...

Since his sale is done, I don't think it would be a problem to post a link. This material looks pretty close to me, when it's put (or glued) over a pink colored surface. Even if you're right and this is not the correct material - I think it's still perfect enough for most people here. And if we can get it for cheap, why not?

... The real stuff was not translucent (it was opaque) and was single toned (pink).

Still looks nice though. I got a couple of samples of it from the company.

Do you have any pictures of that real stuff? And: anything that proves that this is the correct material?

 

[BTTFSpencer]

Yeah. Where is your proof? And how did you find this out?

 

[Clock88]

Lol!

You guys have to trust me when I say I have been researching this since 1999! I have gotten to look at one of the lenticular boards up close and gotten the exact specs from the company that made the stuff for the film. Here are some of the samples I have. I got rid of the color you guys have a while back...

What you guys have is 2 toned translucent with no backing (from Rowland Technologies). The board in the film was single toned opaque with backing . Rowland and Sommers are the only two people that sell it, just not in the right color. That is the problem. Both companies are not willing to do a run LESS than 10,000 square feet in a custom screen accurate color. Which is way too much money! Unless we can get a few hundred people to split the cost... it's just not gonna happen.

I have looked up china suppliers with no results.

Honeycomb - SPECIALTIES
Rowlux Illusion Film Design Center » Rowland Technologies

Click 3D for the Rowlux website (Rowtec Industries). You'll find the stuff you have under two toned chrome red (translucent).

 

[BTTFSpencer]

I didn't know that you had been researching it since 99'. Wow... 13 years and change of your life. Incredible, I've only been researching about 3 months.

Anyway. I'm really really glad that I got the lenticular that Phillip supplied. It's perfect to my eye, and is a more than reasonable substitute for the real thing which may never pop up.

 

[AlexBC]

Are people canceling their orders over anger or just the inaccuracies?

If we'd know about them from day one would those people who have now canceled have ordered one in the first place?

 

[AlexBC]

Lol!

You guys have to trust me when I say I have been researching this since 1999! I have gotten to look at one of the lenticular boards up close and gotten the exact specs from the company that made the stuff for the film. Here are some of the samples I have. I got rid of the color you guys have a while back...

What you guys have is 2 toned translucent with no backing (from Rowland Technologies). The board in the film was single toned opaque with backing . Rowland and Sommers are the only two people that sell it, just not in the right color. That is the problem. Both companies are not willing to do a run LESS than 10,000 square feet in a custom screen accurate color. Which is way too much money! Unless we can get a few hundred people to split the cost... it's just not gonna happen.

I have looked up china suppliers with no results.

Honeycomb - SPECIALTIES
Rowlux Illusion Film Design Center » Rowland Technologies

Click 3D for the Rowlux website (Rowtec Industries). You'll find the stuff you have under two toned chrome red (translucent).

Pardon my ignorance, but would the white work if it had an appropriately pink film over it?

 

[steveo3002]

whats the 10.000 feet cost then? id imagine there would some intrest in people buying it

 

[Clock88]

No Ignorance at all!

I actually tried this a while back. It looks similar, but you don't get the full spectrum of light pink to dark pink that you get with the real stuff.

Some other techniques tried:

Using pink vinyl on the back of the clear stuff.
Spray painting the back of the clear stuff.
Translucent pink vinyl on top of the white stuff (as discussed).
Using the two tone "chrome red" on top of pink vinyl.

I have run the gamut of techniques with this material over the years. They all look okay (and some may be very happy with it), but I am holding out now for the real stuff.

 

[Clock88]

whats the 10.000 feet cost then? id imagine there would some intrest in people buying it

It's over a buck per square foot so over $10,000 approx. I tried to convince them to do a lower run but they won't budge.

 

[steveo3002]

ah yeah thats a bit spendy , was hoping it might be a few cents a foot lol

 

[autoprops713]

No Ignorance at all!

I actually tried this a while back. It looks similar, but you don't get the full spectrum of light pink to dark pink that you get with the real stuff.

Some other techniques tried:

Using pink vinyl on the back of the clear stuff.
Spray painting the back of the clear stuff.
Translucent pink vinyl on top of the white stuff (as discussed).
Using the two tone "chrome red" on top of pink vinyl.

The samples I received from China all had this type of look. Nothing close enough to me anyway. I bet the samples that Mattel received were probably the same from the descriptions I got. It looks like the correct one may be proprietary?

Dave

 

[who45]

now the question to me is - could mattels pre order book have held enough money/funds after all its tooling costs to produce the hoverboard in its current nycc form to then be able to afford for them to place an order with rowland for the lenticular....... after all 84 ish boards at 120 usd = 10,000 - pity we dont know the amount of pre orders or boards that are on the cards to be made and mailed out. i feel 10k would have been a small price for matty to have spent to keep most people excited - the whole point of this board from a making point of view is the overall look and finish in comparrison to a screen used one

 

[AlexBC]

There's a company over here in Japan that produces these big hand fans, one of which has a pink lenticular similar to the Hoverboard. I'll have a look when I go into town on Thursday and see if I can scare up any info on that.

 

[Clock88]

There's a company over here in Japan that produces these big hand fans, one of which has a pink lenticular similar to the Hoverboard. I'll have a look when I go into town on Thursday and see if I can scare up any info on that.

Take a photo if you can... would be cool to see! :cool

 

[autoprops713]

now the question to me is - could mattels pre order book have held enough money/funds after all its tooling costs to produce the hoverboard in its current nycc form to then be able to afford for them to place an order with rowland for the lenticular....... after all 84 ish boards at 120 usd = 10,000 - pity we dont know the amount of pre orders or boards that are on the cards to be made and mailed out. i feel 10k would have been a small price for matty to have spent to keep most people excited - the whole point of this board from a making point of view is the overall look and finish in comparrison to a screen used one

No way would Mattel go for this. They have their own factories so they want to produce parts like this themselves. They would never buy at item like this from the supplier and be at their mercy...there's one problem. If they would have to pay a royalty to Rowland to produce the film themselves, forget it. They are already paying plenty to Universal as far as royalties go. If they worked around what I believe is Rowland's patent then the film would look incorrect and we're back at square one. If Mattel saw that working with Rowland would've had some marketing potential then maybe. But again that appeal would only be to a dozen of us.

Dave

 

[Clock88]

No way would Mattel go for this. They have their own factories so they want to produce parts like this themselves. They would never buy at item like this from the supplier and be at their mercy...there's one problem. If they would have to pay a royalty to Rowland to produce the film themselves, forget it. They are already paying plenty to Universal as far as royalties go. If they worked around what I believe is Rowland's patent then the film would look incorrect and we're back at square one. If Mattel saw that working with Rowland would've had some marketing potential then maybe. But again that appeal would only be to a dozen of us.

Dave

Yeah... this is the unfortunate truth.

I am going to try again to get Rowland to do a smaller run, but I don't think they will go for it. They probably have to order a minimum amount from their supplier which would cost a lot of money. Perhaps we could somehow get their attention on this and show them that there would be interest from a lot of people for a run in pink? Maybe it would be good marketing for them?

 

[Harry Bardwell]

Does anyone know if there is a relatively cheap close enough option for the material, because we can make the boards, and the magnets, and thanks to roland we have awesome graphics that would make a good stunt board, I'd just like to have some shiny stuff on a board I threw together, it would look great in a display and as we are saying/seeing, there are only a handful of people in the world that would notice the inaccurate design of holo material. I too would love to see perfectly accurate material available, but as we are finding out that's hard.

I'm still unsure as to cancel my order or not with mattel, as there are pros and cons to it, such as inaccuracies and the way matty has treated customers, but the collectible nature of the piece since it's official, and that I can probably resell it for more than I paid. Also the fact that I have so many projects that trying to do a hover board in the near future isn't really an option, so even an inaccurate one is more than I have now. oh cruel world