Hi Brad, I am truly honored to be in here among all of you who clearly share the passion with the immersive planetarium experience, creation and display of kinetic artforms, artistic expression, astronomy, and the instruments that are the tools of this endeavor. The degree of planetarium closures is alarming, with many institutions suffering budget cutbacks and interest waning in the science programs that so desperately require support. Advancement in digital technology has produced better projection devices to replace the older opto-mechanical star projectors, although there are still some companies producing these types of instruments. I for one, grew up with the A3P-series machine - the interesting, odd-looking contraption in the center of the dome that captured my imagination more than the stars above. My last visit to a public show no longer had that magic, as the have a Digistar projector which is nothing more than a black box with a lens on top. The stars that are projected from it look more like pixels and do not even come close to replicating what one can see when they look up at the sky on a dark night. Although the digital systems can produce a range of effects that far exceed their mechanical counterparts, I for one prefer the crisp star images that only a mechanical instrument can produce along with the smell of electrolytic capacitors, old insulation gear oil and ozone. There are still hundreds of the older machines in use across the USA, but they are a dying breed. The only thing that seems slows their disappearance are the lack of funds which prevent the purchase of an upgrade hence many places are still using the same equipment they had during the Apollo era some 30+ years ago. It is a testament to the quality of the older instruments that they are still in use. I have seen so many of these instruments trashed, parted out, brutalized and scavenged and it is a shame to see that happen. With my interest in laser projection, a seed that was planted in the late 70's after seeing my first Laserium show, all these years later these two paths converge.. how to have BOTH in the realm of hobbyists and have wondered, why not ? I love nothing better than to see a few of these get into the hands of those that will USE them, and to whatever degree I can inspire that to occur, is a good thing. Sure, they're big.. they won't match the living room decor.. the wife will throw a fit.. I don't have a dome.. and some will think its a tad nutz.. some say I am a tard.. that's o.k., I'd rather be enjoying star fields than cruising the cable tv. Not having a dome is not that big of an issue, as the starfields are still mesmerizing as they wrap around angles in the ceiling and I am obviously not going for accuracy, but rather, the experience. It is so good to have a few contacts, spread out over the USA so if I find more projectors, the odds are better that it will be given a good home as opposed to being scrapped. I cannot afford them all, nor do I have room for them all, and I already have enough. I think it will be great to see more of them enter the hobby realm. And, share through this forum their restoration and use, particularly in conjuction with laser entertainment and artform. So Brad, YES thanks I will add you to my contacts list, and I am thrilled to see the support for this activity. It warms my soul, to see that there are others out there that share a similar passion. This picture shows a couple of star machine cores coming off the truck a few weeks ago.