Just a note on delivery times. I thought I'd go on another long, rambly explanation of what's going on behind the scenes, and what you can expect when, and just whatever else comes into my head. All is good, just keeping you posted
(And a note for the purposes of this long winded brain dump: I'm focusing on my end, the other two fine fellows helping me out have very similar journeys, so for the most part when I say 'me' it applies to 'we'.)
First, I don't usually finish props to this level, I do it to a very high standard, but I'm also collaborating with two other amazing makers and we've been using this as both a knowledge/technique sharing exercise, and lets face it, there's some 'one-upmanship' going on in the background.
Here's some examples of retail props I still have in stock:
This is a close up of what I consider to be a 'very good' finish. This exact E-11 is featured on Bucketheads. The 501st has also been through this at exhibitions and has highly praised the accuracy and finish, I dare say some have said it's the finest E-11 they've ever seen.
But if you zoom in this close you can clearly see the layer line, print artifacts, etc.
Here's me showing it along with the story:
Same with my upcoming mando baster release (there's a demo if this in the vid above as well):
(Signed by Paul Lee, fellow Canadian and Mando/Boba Fett actor)
Unless you're VERY picky you will not see these defects very well:
These prints were also done with standard PLA, not as strong as the stuff I'm using now. This has also meant that it's WAY harder to sand and finish!
Which has meant a whole slew of extreme finishing tools to both improve quality and cut through this crazy material!
This is an Asian signature stamp making kit, my new secret weapon against layer lines and overhang artifacts. I'm sharpening them with a 6000 grit stone and then stropping, that's what it takes to smooth out these small details on tough PLA.
I got by for years with nothing more than files and sandpaper, and now everything I'm using is diamond coated:
This has added a LOT of scope to the sanding, but the really hard part is out of the way for the entire run now, all the initial sanding and smoothing is done. You'd be shocked how long the details take though.
I was also up last night fabricating the new pins, see the post a few above for details. These 'little additions' take quite a bit of setup and time. They look awesome btw, time well spent.
There was also a code build pushed an hour ago by
Spidey74 with better lighting F/X, and I still have to recompose some of the audio to fully max out the sound level and replicate the movie sounds. This also means not installing it yet since pulling them all apart every time we make a change would be crazy, they're happy in their little trays until we put a pin in the code and sound.
So between the feature additions and slew of other improvements you can read about further up this thread, I think we're rocking along. But that being said, I'm working a lot more parallel than I expected (I did say sets of 3 at the start), this way every one is getting the benefits of progressive experience and improvements and a much better end product.
So while the first shipment is later than expected, the rest of them are bunching up close behind. I've literally being at this every day and I really feel we're in home stretch territory now.
Here's a summary of where I'm at personally:
- All electronics are done and tested for the run, we're just tweaking the code and audio before shipping the kits and installing into the blasters. It's a real pain to pull them all out for changes so it's better to leave them on the trays for now
- All resin/metal parts are finished and ready to install, this includes the glow sights which looks awesome after some extra tweaks
- All frames are sanded. 3/9 frames have had primer and and now in finishing sanding, 3 have had filling and primer, 3 are in filling. This part alone is still following the 3/3/3 I established at the start since it's by far the hardest thing to deal with
- All slides/mags/tops/etc have been primed, not doing the second prime/sand and finish until the frames are done
There's a lot more than these 4 points, if you have any questions, want any pics or elaboration, etc. just post here. It's officially coming "soon", and I'll keep posting here., unless you really need it by a particular date, in which case I can rush it no problem. They're more than good enough as they are now that I can just top coat on what I have, ship it out, and they'll still rock