Wednesday Update - October 30th, 2024

Good day, and welcome to another Wednesday! You know those weeks that are REALLY busy, but when you look back, there really isn't anything you got done?

Welcome to my last week.

VoltCon

Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was prepping for and setting up at VoltCon. VoltCon Tony was really irritated at Past Tony for all the bloody frakkin' keychains he had to unpack and set up! Saturday and Sunday were the convention, and Kat and I did pretty okay. We made a bit of money, we found some cool stuff, and we saw some people we really only see once a year. Needless to say, I'm already looking forward to next year.

We got home on Sunday, and almost everything is still packed up in trunks because I haven't had the energy to get everything unpacked. Still, the Etsy shop opened back up last night, and I'm getting some stuff printed and restocked, while prepping for the OTHER show of 2024 in a few weeks.

Ghostbuster

With the convention, I haven't had a chance to work on my Ghostbuster costume much. This past week, however, I did receive an email from Hasbro asking me to make sure my address is up to date, because the Two in the Box HasLab is getting close to shipping! With that, I'll be able to mark off a pretty big item from my costume. I've also picked up a set of Spirit Halloween Ecto Goggles, and they're now with my 3D-printed set so I can look them over, and figure out how to yank them apart and improve them with some of the 3D-printed bits, along with a new head strap. Finally, I've been looking at my gray elbow pads, and wondering what I could do to make them look a little closer to what was worn on screen. You can see photos of all of these over on the Google Photos album for this post.

Support

I've had a few people ask me how they could support what I'm working on. I'm going to be honest, the money from Troxell's Trading Post goes to keeping it running, and I'm working on paying off the debt accrued from the fight to get my kiddo last year, along with some car issues. So if you like the stuff I'm doing, like the prop building and the costuming stuff, and you have more money than you need, feel free to visit one of the following sites:

• Ko-fi - Here, you can buy me a cup of tea or three. I have a goal listed on the page, and the money will get set aside until I reach that goal. When I say "set aside," it's not like Kickstarter. I get the money, I'm just personally going to set it aside until I hit my goal.
• Throne - Wishlist website. Nice repository of items I would like. Nice for the holidays or birthday.
• Amazon - I mean, we all know what Amazon wishlists are. Here's the one full of "consumables" I keep going through, like glue, paints, sandpaper, mixing sticks, and more.
• Mailing List - This isn't financial support, it's just support for me. Visit my info page, and sign up for the Troxell Builds - The Works and Thoughts of Tony Troxell email newsletter.

Everything Else

This coming week is going to involve unpacking of VoltCon items, firing the printers back up, and seeing if I can wrap up the assembly of the Belt Gizmo for the Ghostbusters costume. This is all around catching my nephew in a musical on Friday, and helping my father sort some of Mom's things on Saturday.

Finally, next Wednesday will probably be an off-week for the blog. It's November 6th, and this whole household is going to be a nervous wreck. So look for me on BlueSky or Instagram. In the meantime, please remember that the world kinda sucks, so please try not to make it suck more. In fact, if you can, please try to make it suck less.

Be excellent to each other,
Tony

Wednesday Update - October 23rd, 2024

 Hey there, everyone. We have successfully made it to another Wednesday.

BUT AT WHAT COST?!?!?!?!

Okay, in all seriousness, I hope everyone has had a pretty decent week. I'm going to be honest, I've been in convention prep mode since I last wrote on the blog, so I really don't have much to go over this week.

I guess the one thing I DO have to go over is that I'll be at VoltCon here in Indianapolis on Saturday and Sunday. I'm tabling in the Space Mall with Troxell's Trading Post, and I'm going to have the Etsy shop shuttered over the weekend as I hopefully sell off some of the stock I've had for a bit. For those who aren't aware, VoltCon is a convention that celebrates the whole "giant robot cartoon" genre, with a focus on, of course, Voltron, which is having its 40th anniversary this year. They have guests, a good-sized vendor hall, and it's a pretty tight-knit, welcoming crew. I've been to three of the last four, first as a blogger then as a vendor, and I've had a good time at all of them. If you're in the area, and like big robots, visit their website and get your tickets now!

Anyway, prepping for the show hasn't just involved getting product around. It's also involved getting displays around for the show table. Shelving, spin racks, dang near everything is 3D printed. No, it's not for "branding," it's because printing a spin rack is cheaper and probably more stable than ordering one off Amazon. I've also been busy printing some new lower-priced items, like keyrings, and cutting some prices pretty deep on some of my larger items, like dice towers.

So, that's pretty much it. I've got some stuff on order, so next week will probably be a bit more wordy, and it'll actually have pictures again. In the meantime, please remember that the world sucks out there. Try not to make it suck any worse and, if you can, try to make it suck a little less. Get out there and vote, and I'll see you next week.

Be excellent to each other,
Tony

Wednesday Update, October 16th, 2024

 Hey there, everybody. We are back with another Wednesday, and we've got a little bit to go over. I'm back in the office/print room this week, since vacation is over and I'm back to facing real life. Facing that started on Wednesday, as the post was scheduled to go out I was out with my kiddo getting our boosters for Covid and Flu, as well as some other shots we were both in need of. That kind of threw off the rest of the week, with Lizz and I mainly leaving the house to run errands but otherwise staying home, cleaning stuff up, starting to winterize Knox, and starting to get things prepped for VoltCon which is a week from this coming Saturday. Also, today is my father's 80th birthday, so happy birthday Dad!

On the 3D printing front, everything I've been doing the past week has been to prep for that. I've been taking care of some extra product, and I've been trying to figure out my table setup and printing pieces for that. I mean, if you look around, you can find retail displays for a lot of stuff. I have a keychain rack with trays for small little critters, I have a magnet display that will also have some matching keychains, I have an earring display with space in the center for extra stock, and I have stands for wood shelving that I need to complete this week so I can sand and stain the wood this weekend.

The Twitch streaming has been on hold because of the trip, the vaccines, and this past Monday was a work holiday, so Lizz and I went and cast our ballots early. By the time this posts, I should be wrapping up my Wednesday morning stream, and things should be back to normal on the Twitch account moving forward.

Speaking of Monday, after we cast our ballots and went out for breakfast, Lizz and I took a quick swing over to Spirit Halloween where I picked up a Ghostbusters Radio because I figured, if it's the wrong model, I don't want to put a lot of work into it. This one, I can print a replacement "Motorola" label to go over the Ghostbusters markings, make a new holster for it, and call it a day. After we got that taken care of, I got settled at the dining room table, pulled out the 3D print of the "belt gizmo" for my costume, and got to work.

Rant incoming.

While the file set looks really good, the tolerances are something that my machine is not set up for, because NOTHING on this piece is fitting right. On top of that, there are absolutely no instructions. I have been slowly going through all the parts and comparing them to images I snipped out of the Etsy listing, and assembling it that way. Of course, in assembling, once I figure out where a piece goes, I then need to start trimming and sanding down the base so it actually fits on the "circuit board" body, and some of these pieces aren't much bigger than a pencil eraser. I've put many hours into it already, and I'm only about halfway done and my hands are crying foul. Oh, and once I have it almost done, I still need to figure out what wires go on it, I need to figure out how to wire some lights onto it, and I need to make the holder and clip to attach it to the belt. I'm going to be honest, without the wires and lighting, this should have been a one-day build, max. I'm a little frustrated, but it's going to get done, and it'll work until I either find the real calculator used, or I get one of the $200 replicas.

This coming week, it's more cleaning and getting ready for VoltCon. I've still got shelves to build, I need to finish assembling the displays to see if I have everything printed, and I need to tape off the size of the table onto the dining room table so I can figure out if everything I have fits! Other than that, I'm going to continue to fight this belt gizmo so I can move on to other parts of the costume, like the Ecto Goggles and figuring out how to keep the hose from falling out of the holder.

With that, I'm going to wrap this up. I've had a full day, and my hands are still screaming from the hour and a half I worked on the gizmo this morning. Don't forget to take a peek at this week's photo album to get some WIP pictures of the gizmo, along with some vaccine selfies, the radio, and some other parts to the Ghostbuster jumpsuit. In the meantime, please remember the world kinda sucks right now. Try to avoid making it worse and, if you can, see if you can make it better.

Be excellent to each other, and I'll see you next week.

Tony