9th/10th Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver

Anakin Starkiller

I didn't take any offense at all to your statement. And you're right that people will no doubt compare any two similar products or projects. I don't object to any comparisons people want to make on my projects. When I did my run of Luke ROTJ sabers a year or so back, Tridcloudwalker did a whole write up comparing my saber to both Rylo's and Nicksdad and I thought that it was great. I just don't want to speak--myself--in terms of comparison. I don't want to to make a statement like "mine will be --- more or less than CT's or MFX's because I don't want to get into a row with anyone. Specifically with regards to sonics, I'm trying to be as diplomatic as possible because I don't want to be involved in any disagreement, name calling, or competition. I strive for accuracy and quality with all my projects and am very proud of my work, but I don't want to make any claims that my work is better than anyone else or that my products are 100% accurate because I don't want to get involved in the debate that ensues from such statements. So, my reply to your question--which is a fair one--is to diplomatically decline to speak in those terms. -best Dan

Anakin Starkiller

Also, I understand about budgets. That's why I'm trying to balance what people feel they can spend with what I might be able to provide for that price.

Sometimes the prices that prop makers charge seem to be random and artificially generated based on the maximum that think they can get. But more often than not these prices come from a balance of assessing the investment in parts and labor and coming up with a balance. If you want a $50 metal sonic, I can respect that--I'd like one too -- but when you balance the cost of a small run of machined parts by a hobbiest and the labor that is involved in painting the crackle finish, creating the electronics, assembly and finishing, this becomes generally unfeasible and the project doesn't make sense of anyone to take on.

For the Aztec stunt. I have to have at least 3 parts machined and at least 3 need to be done on a CNC (not by me in my little shop). I have to machine the blue emitter out of blue acrylic and polish it (This is at the very least a 1/2 hour job for each part if I do a bunch at a time). I have to clean up the burrs and tooling marks on the machined parts. I have to cast the handles and paint them (or finish the resin casting by sanding and polishing--I don't know if I would be able to cast the grain into the piece). Then I have to wire up the sonic and make sure everything works. Cast and finish a cap, and assemble everything.

For the Aztec B slider. I have to have at least 4 parts machined and at least 3 need to be done on a CNC (not by me in my little shop). I have to machine the blue emitter out of blue acrylic and polish it (This is at the very least a 1/2 hour job for each part if I do a bunch at a time). I have to clean up the burrs and tooling marks on the machined parts. I have to machine the acyclic rod I can't cast the handles because there has to be enough room inside for both the sliding acrylic rod to go in and out and for the wire to run up to the push button (this is a more complicated part than people might think). So I have to have that part fabricated in plastic by a rapid prototyping facility (I have a system for this already and have already done a test handle whihc worked out great. I have to paint the grips--multi part layered paint application by hand. Then I have to wire up the sonic and make sure eveything works. Cast and finish a cap, and assemble everything. So when someone says that $100 for a static sonic is ridiculous, in terms of spending $100 for a prop that essentially does nothing beside light up, this may be true--but in terms of cost and labor to the maker it is no.

Orange_Blend

THAT is why you're awesome. I don't like being treated like a jerk by sellers just because I can't afford their product.

My "ridiculous" comment was that someone said $100 would be for a static lump of resin that didn't do anything.

Anakin Starkiller

You're right about that. If someone wanted a static resin sonic that was dimensionally accurate I could do that for $25.

Which makes me wonder, Does anyone want a static resin sonic that does not do anything but is dimensionally accurate to the original prop?

Risu

If it's not extended and hollowed out to the point where one could toss in some CO electronics, I think it might be a fun piece to paint up.

themeinside

I'm glad I didn't offend you, and totally get why you don't want to name drop- I misunderstood your intent with that comment

How much would it be, for essentially, a dimensionally acurate CO sonic? Full plastic build. Because, for me, if thats the only way I can get an accurate sonic, then so be it I never minded the CO either- its just that since I got the toy, it always pissed me off how the acitvation button(s) are on the side, on the blue strip, not on the slider control ALL I'VE EVER WANTED FROM THAT PROP WAS ONE THAT WAS THE RIGHT SIZE AND WITH THE RIGHT ACTIVATION BUTTON!!!

themeinside

I'm glad I didn't offend you, and totally get why you don't want to name drop- I misunderstood your intent with that comment

How much would it be, for essentially, a dimensionally acurate CO sonic? Full plastic build. Because, for me, if thats the only way I can get an accurate sonic, then so be it I never minded the CO either- its just that since I got the toy, it always pissed me off how the acitvation button(s) are on the side, on the blue strip, not on the slider control ALL I'VE EVER WANTED FROM THAT PROP WAS ONE THAT WAS THE RIGHT SIZE AND WITH THE RIGHT ACTIVATION BUTTON!!!

-L

Anakin Starkiller

If it doesn't have to slide, I could make an accurate sized sonic that the CO electronics could fit into. If it has to slide it would be more complicated.

Dan

Anakin Starkiller

It's not the only way. But if you want it for under $100 it probably would be.

PM me if you want to talk specifics more on my plans.

Dan

themeinside

Posted before I read your last post

themeinside

This project is sounding good- but just to CT- To be honest, if you think I'm a 'cheapskate thicko' for wanting a sonic for under £200, thats fine. What I mean though, is I'm not expecting your one for £20 at all. Your craftsmanship speaks for itself- from what I have seen, and what others have said- and i'm sure it is worth the £200 price tag. But thats not the point. Some of us don't have that much to spend on the item. To be honest, i'm just hoping someone will craft a resin one, for cheaper than £200. I have nothing against you, or your pricing of your product, as I said, I only feel admiration towards your project. But hoping for a sonic replica in some medium for less than £200 I don't feel is an unreasonable hope. And certainly not one that should brand me, and people in the same situation as 'cheapskate thickos'.

PS. After reading your last blog post, £200 is probably quite a good investment, for something that looks as if it will outlive the earth Bloody hell man, the thing still looks basically perfect!

PPS. Is the universal sonics capabilities based on how long you hold the button down for? or how many times you switch it on? Interesting...

elvisgump

CT called me a 'beardy c*nt' for merely asking if he would consider selling the sound chip. As long as someone is more pleasant than that I wouldn't consider buying.

Truthfully I suspect that CT might be overextended and at the price he's offering nowhere near the demand in this economy has followed. Plus he seems to offended enough people that even fewer consider buying from him. I know I never would now, no matter how reasonable his price probably is.

I'd like to just have unfinished parts as a kit to tinker with being sans my own lathe or CNC.

themeinside

I think you're right- I suspect that CTs sonic project was enivsaged when the economy was in a better state then it is now.

Your unfinished parts idea is a good one- I dunno if CT would consider it (probably not if thats what he called you when you asked for the sound chip), but Dan might.

I think a fully strippable plastic sonic would be pretty awesome meself too- like an upper class Character Options toy

elvisgump

If I had $200-300 to spend I'd rather it go to someone who is pleasant like Mr Starkiller than CT. With a name like Starkiller he has to be good. Doesn't he?

I don't have $300 cash to spend on one right now though. I'd break my penny jar for $100 for a kit in resin or aluminum.

Even having worked as a graphic designer and photographer for many years I can't imagine though how far out on a financial limb one must go on to make a run of something so ephemeral and esoteric as a load of sonics. In many ways I have to say I pity poor old CT, whoever the bugger is. I don't envy him if he's lost his shirt over his toy box. I might have even considered buying from him if he didn't verbally try to bite my nose off. But things are really tough all over and everyone has their own daily grief without having to endure made-up ones.

Anyway, Mr. Starkiller, I think it will be fantastic if you are able to make a run of it. Perhaps a practical addition for the deluxe would be some sort of phased plasma beam in the 40 gigawatt range. That way I can use it as a space heater in the wonder if the utility shuts off the gas...

Birdie

Did I miss something
Where is the information coming from that CT is taking a financial pasting or lack of demand for his sonics?

Not knocking anyone specifically or trying to be being mean, but prop collecting is a expensive hobby, period. If you can't afford it take up something closer to the means available to you.

Researching, designing, building and reproducing an accurate prop replica takes countless hours of blood sweat and tears, not to mention expense, and it can be pretty galling when folk come along and say, 'hey, that's just $20 of resin, why are you charging so much?' (oft seen on the RPF, unfortunateley)

So I kinda get where CT is coming from, albeit in his usual inimitable style.

Asp9mm

I doubt he is. People are speculating.

I think it's a case of struggling to keep up with demand rather than struggling to sell. I can't argue with the price of his sonics, it is very low for what you get. The classic sonic is much easier to make and the lowest priced one so far has been $85 without sound or any electronics and a large bulk order with very little profit for the maker. I don't think it is possible for anyone to produce anything like the CT sonic for anywhere near his price, let alone below it.

Just leave CT to it, you are playing right into his hands and when he reads this he'll be so happy that he is getting to you so much. It's something he excels at. We've read and seen it all before and the moaning about him derails threads and doesn't bother him in the slightest, in fact I believe he enjoys it. If you want to moan about CT the person then take it away from this forum and have a go at him on his blog. Criticise his props, but not the person. We've been there, done that, and had many interesting threads removed because it swung away from discussions on props too much.

elvisgump

Well, I tossed it out as speculation because frankly the guy is a jerk and then some. Go look at his postings on YouTube where he is rude as can be. I wouldn't call it "inimitable" though, I'd call it asinine with a side of Asperger's is more like it.

Trying figure him out is beyond me. I mean I don't care if the his sonic is within point zero zero microns or whatever. And if that's your thing, then $200+ is your bag and I'm not knocking it. Is his amazing looking? Absolutely. But call me names first and up his.

And the guy obviously still lurks here reading everything people say about him and stews incredibly. Within minutes of me posting about how rude he was he was on YouTube calling be a "beardy c*nt". Some 12 year old had previously to me asked him to 'send me a sound chip' and he gave the kid a pranging I couldn't believe. I don't even think he bothered to check that he was talking that way to a minor.

But hey, if having a expensive sonic that in no way is connected to the show, but rather something made by a rude show-off sitting there in a case to stare at is worth it to you to support the guy, that's your deal. Again, not knocking it, just saying.

It's just me. I wouldn't.

Ever since I larked and I mean went on a lark to make one or find something to mod, all I wanted was something a little more durable than the C.O. and something I could shoehorn a pen in. That's my favorite thing about having the C.O. in my pocket. It delights people who have no idea what Doctor Who is.

Maybe I'm just a beardy old c*nt perhaps, I'd like to think of myself as a silly eccentric. I have minute variations on this same conversation so many time at registers.

I like it when people go "What is that?"
"My pen."
"Where do you get a pen like that?"
"Gallifrey."
"Where's - Galli-what?"
"Gallifrey."
"Yeah where's that?"
"Turn left at Kasterborous."
"What?"
"If you come up to Calufrax you've gone too far."
"What?"
"Missed your turn. At Kasterborous."
Usually at this point just give them a trill from the sonic, you've surely had enough time to finish signing whatever you were at the register for. End with a cheerio and leg it out of there.

All that said, cheers!

E-Wan

In all fairness, you were trying to sweet talk the guy on YouTube, and slagging him off here at the same time. That kind of behavior would upset anyone.

elvisgump

You free of course to believe whatever you want to believe, but check the time stamps. They weren't simultaneous.

I tried to talk to him reasonably and even wished him the best, but he was an ass. I mentioned it here afterward and he was on me like a shot. So he's the paranoid, scouring these boards looking for the slightest "insults".

I did respond to him via YouTube afterward. I kept it civil there and I'd like to think I'm keeping it civil here now. But look at his loony arguments. He equated me merely asking to BUY a sound chip tantamount to going to KFC and asking for their secret recipe!

If I or any hotshot wanted to divine the secret to his sound chip and 'steal' from him, this increasingly hypothetical evil genius would merely buy a chip, reverse engineer it and laugh all the way to - to- to where exactly? One won't become Bill Gates selling the super-duper copy of the sonic screwdriver! I mean, PLEASE!

As for the secret KFC recipe, well my own mother pretty much figured out how to do that with no more than an 8th grade education. (She grew up in the that last Depression that was, I suppose, supposed to end all Depressions.)

CT's a wonderful craftsman or knows how to have it hired out, but whatever he is, a nice guy 'victimized' by me he ain't.

That said, kindly believe what you want. Caveat emptor.

LeAngeSolitaire

Come on now, you did call the guy 'horrid' and 'a dick' on the other thread just because he didn't sell you a sound chip which he is perfectly entitled not to do for whatever reason. You don't have to be offended by the refusal unless you feel that he should sell you one. I read the exchange on YT and he was perfectly civil to you until the point you started bitching about him. Any normal person would feel aggrieved by that.

Risu

I'm not going to lie to you, watching this from the outside is mildly amusing.

And lurking implies that he's reading without posting. Sock puppet.

Oh, and in before the lock.

elvisgump

I too am wondering whio is who Risu and for all I know I'm talking to him as one of his sock puppets. I'm informed he is tweeting or betwatting about this thread. I don't know since I don't tweety. Did I call him a "dick"? I don't remember that but, you know, at least I got the gender right. I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

As for the assertion he is in any way civil, haha, good one. I wonder what CT stands for anyway? Internet tough guy in Chinese?

All I can say is I hope the thread isn't locked which is I'm assuming some sort de-escalation thing for web forums. I wish Starkiller success with his adventure. Don't lock it on my account, just delete my posts or delete me. This is too much nonsense at this point.

But it is rather silly that this is all over a very expensive TOY isn't it?

Asp9mm

If CT was on here, he would not be able to hold back. Your mention of Aspergers is spot on. When he was on here last year he couldn't hold back from posting in his own unique style.

Risu

Last year? Was it really that long ago? Wow. But it's really not that hard to spot his sock puppet. It's pretty obvious actually.

themeinside

Perhaps to negate the problem of potentially getting this thread locked, we should move it back to the sonic?

Maybe open this thread up a little- use it as a posting grond for people who have attempted their own replica of the Sonic- post 'em up.

And just an aside to CT- I do get it, and have frequently said that I don't expect a totally CNC'd Sonic for under £200- if you read my last post- I said i'd like a sonic in 'some medium', that is to say, I am expecting, and would be happy with, a resin sonic- and was interested when you said you were considering a resin sonic- but that the numbers of orders you'd need to make it viable were too high. If someone else can offer that- then I'm going to be interested. And if someone does pull off a metal sonic for less than yours, it doesn't mean I'm going to buy it- because not only do I not have that kind of money to spend on your sonic, I haven't got £150, or whatever the conversion rate to the dollar is at the moment, to spend $200 on one either. I've been looking for an accurate sonic- and yours was the only one out there. But if someone can make a resin one for cheaper- then thats an interesting prospect to me.
And I do realise if you could sell it for cheaper, you would- but the economies of scale holds you back and I totally get that. As I have said, time and again, I don't 'expect' your sonic for cheaper.