From the project:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, manufacturing pipelines, tooling, and other various sourcing supplies, we, unfortunately, will have to raise our prices to reflect the actual costs of producing the CMCP metal edition with real toggle switches in limited numbers (under 250).

For all of you who have already pledged, consider it like buying Tesla or Amazon when the stock was only fifteen dollars. Your reward is now easily worth 4X more than you paid.

Several things have recently changed: our metal panel supplier is no longer available, and we had to source a new one. Unfortunately, the price skyrocketed for various reasons, and our costs for the 3 metal 1/4" laser-cut aluminum panels are now almost $700. The circumstances regarding our injection molding vendor changed because of the lack of a large volume to offset mold-making expenses.

I can not state enough the complexity and number of custom-made parts. The limited number of units has caused us to reevaluate our business model and find the most effective way to produce it with the most satisfactory results.

We will still give away ten acrylic CMCP panels for free to those who have already contacted us from a museum or educational institution.

But I don't imagine that the original backers who pledged $1000 will still have access to that price. Most likely, everyone will have to pay the new $4000 price, which is unfortunate. I was happy to pay $1000 for such a remarkable item, but $4000 is outside of my budget.

According to the campaign update, the problem is that he has to go through a new supplier, and the price for machining the parts is very high because the quantity is so low. By far, the most expensive work for the machine shop is setting up the templates/molds. Once that's done, the individual cost of creating items is rather low in comparison. So when the order is small, that setup cost is spread over fewer items, and the price goes up dramatically. So if he were to double/triple the amount of orders, the price would drop back down toward the earlier levels.

So instead of using the short-term, low-quantity funding method of Kickstarter, I think a better solution for this project would be a business loan. That would increase the amount that could be produced, which would lower the price again. And then they could be sold for a longer period of time than the brief Kickstarter window. And with a final product ready to ship, people will be more willing to make a purchase, without taking the risk of Kickstarter.

The project has also added a few new options to the $3,900 full-scale metal replica:

• $949: Three aluminum laser-cut panels (bare bones); No instruments, no switches, no parts for anyone who wanted to build their own. Includes left, center and right aluminum laser cut panels only.

  This is for anyone who already pledged for the STL file set and wants to build their own replica.

• $995: All of the above plus the STL files.

• $1495: Apollo 11 command module control panel full-scale replica with six acrylic panels. Materials are plastic and acrylic and includes 200 real toggle switches.

We have not posted any updates recently because we have been discussing with someone who would like to invest a significant amount to help our cause. What they are proposing would significantly reduce our costs and bring all the tooling we need in-house.

We are no longer concerned with reaching our goal because we will have the resources available through this third party. We will continue on our original path of completing one prototype within the next two weeks. We will showcase it in a museum here in Albuquerque and publish photos for everyone to see.

We will have a 1/2 scale version certainly available. The full size is quite impressive but too big for many collectors' homes. The half-scale is still large enough that it feels real but with half the space.

I have not been able to post any photos because I have been out of town on another project but will be back this weekend to post updates.

But I wanted to let all of you know don't be disappointed if we do not make our goal because we now have an alternate solution that will help us get funding without needing a Kickstarter. Once we're up and running, you will be able to place an order directly and have it delivered within 60 days. So there will be no risk at all.

Our focus now is to complete a prototype and showcase it.

Seemed he and his partners were certainly the types to get this working, albeit, it was severely under-priced. Looked like they had some prototypes in the works, but poof.