#WIPWednesday - February 28th, 2024

 

It's been a month, y'all. For the shortest month of the year, it's felt like the longest, and yet I feel like I have gotten nothing done.

On the one hand, I have a decent amount of products for Troxell's Trading Post, including a few replica prop kits. Plus, I've been actively working to see if any local comic or game shops would be interested in carrying some of my work, even on consignment. I'm hoping to have some good news on that in the next few weeks. However, that's not the normal work I like to talk about for Work in Progress Wednesday. The thing is? I haven't done too much hobby work this month. That is changing, though, as of last night.

See, next Saturday, March 9th, is the 3D Printing Expo at the Carmel Clay Public Library in Carmel, Indiana. I will be there, with other 3D printing enthusiasts, showing the printer I use and what I make with it. I've got lightsabers, phasers, and a couple blaster pistols, but I want something new. I was hoping to get BD-1 done by then, but I really don't think I can finish in time. Every time I go down to the workshop, I've got three projects I'm bouncing between at any given time, and I need to focus.

Starting last night, I got back to work on Aragorn's Elven Hunting knife from Lord of the Rings. It is going to be the first piece I focus on finishing, at least to the point of paint. Up next will be the Star Trek original series communicator, followed by the Mandalorian's pistol, and the Fallout laser pistol. After that? Well, if you look in the album for today's post, you can see I have plenty to work on.

The goal is NOT to get all of these done in time for the Carmel show. Instead, the goal is to get maybe one or two of these done in time for the Carmel show, and then have more done in time for my Making Props for Cosplay talk at the Anderson Public Library on May 4th. After that, the goal is to just keep getting stuff done, because my hands and joints aren't getting any younger, and I have stuff I want to get built.

I know that's not much for this week, but it's all I've got. Dipshittery coming out of Indiana appeals courts and the State House has really taken the wind out of my sails, and has reminded me why I'm no longer an advocate for Indiana. So, please remember friends, that the world REALLY sucks out there. Try not to make it suck even more. In fact, if you can? Try to make it suck a little less.

Commercial Break - Troxell's Trading Post

 

Hey there, everybody!

Now, I'm not going to lie. There was little work done this past week. We wrapped up the final birthday weekend for my kiddo with his first birthday with his grandparents (he turned 15 this year, so that was a big deal) and then I devoted a lot of free time to making stuff for Troxell's Trading Post.

For those who don't know, Troxell's Trading Post is something my kid and I put together to get some extra cash for our hobbies. He enjoys making Perler art, and beaded Kandi bracelets and has been slowly making some cool stuff for sale up on the site from stuff he likes that he doesn't see much merch from. Myself, well, you know I do 3D Printing, but I'm also working to relearn leather working, so I can do some cool simple stuff like dice trays and journal covers.

Now, those who do this sort of thing on top of a full-time job, I salute you. I never really considered the amount of work it took to make the items, photograph the items, crop the photos, and add a watermark, before uploading everything to the e-commerce site, writing up a description, figuring out categories and variations, deciding on a price that isn't too high but also isn't costing me money to make things, and then start promoting it. Even for just four items, this can take the better part of a day, so I feel like I should be pushing this a bit more to help cover my time!

In all seriousness, you know what my kiddo makes, and you've seen a portion of what I can print. I am currently paying the merchant license fees to be able to sell prints using files from Fate's End, MatMire Makes, Mystery Maker Studios, Big Fred's Customs, Galactic Armory, and Propsmaker. While I do try to only sell what I have in stock, I'm willing to work with friends on getting some pieces I wouldn't normally get printed made, though, for some of them, it'll cost a pretty penny. For example, there's the Optimus Prime helmet I made for display at VoltCon last year. That thing, for just the print itself, costs approximately $350, because it's a beefy boy. However, if you're looking at something more like a lightsaber or prop gun, those run significantly less, so far averaging around $25 for an articulated critter, $60-$75 for a dice tower, and $45-$75 for a prop replica. Heck, I've got the TNG Type 3 Phaser Rifle up on the site for $75, and I bought a resin kit in 1993 that was nowhere near as accurate and had some horrible seam lines for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100-$150. Sure, this one is a 3D print and will need the normal work, but it's still so much nicer than what I got as a teen.

Anyway, I'm doing this post today to try to get this out to more eyes. I'm running the shop on Square's free merchant platform for a bit, because I'm already in a good chunk of change every month to cover merchant license fees, and it does not have nearly the reach or discoverability of Etsy. However, Etsy is also home to all the IP lawyers, and since some of what I deal in is prop replicas, I figure it's best to not get caught in any nets over there.

So if something like this interests you, here's where you can find the shop and all associated social media:

• Troxell's Trading Post Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads

If you could check it out, and share it around, that would be fantastic. If you check it out and find something you like, that would be even more fantastic! Also, if you check it out and see something you like that's listed as out of stock, reach out. I've got a doc where I've listed most of the filaments I've used, so I should be able to get you something similar.

In the meantime, I'm going to cool it this "commercial break" and get back to work. I've got an opossum to pack and I have some parts I need to sand down in the workshop, so I will HOPEFULLY have actual work up next Wednesday! Until then, remember to take good care of yourselves, and each other. The world sucks out there, so try not to make it suck even more. In fact, if you can, try to make it suck just a little bit less.

Tony

#WIPWednesday, February 7th, 2024

 I am disappointed that last week, I didn't just post a blog with an "After these messages, we'll be right back" gif on it. Oh well, you know how it goes, you get your best ideas two weeks after the moment it would have been relevant. Anyway...

I took last week off because, honestly, I was exhausted. The first week I've had some really good progress on projects, and I was too tired to write about it. So today is going to touch on the past couple of weeks as I continue to prep for a 3D printing library thing in March and the Props for Cosplay talk on May the Fourth in Anderson, Indiana. This show has become especially real as I just got my speaker paperwork emailed to me to get filled out and sent back.

So, what has been done?

First off, I'm pretty much done with the lightsaber project until around April, when I'm pulling them out, making sure they survived, and getting some final detail bits taken care of. You can see the sabers I built in the picture that kicks off this post, with individual photos in the album I made for this blog post. Left to right, we've got Count Dooku, half of Darth Maul (more on that in a few), Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi from both Kenobi and The Phantom Menace, Anakin Skywalker from Revenge of the Sith, and Darth Vader from A New Hope. On the very bottom is Yoda's saber. These were all just printed out of different colors of filament, support material was removed, and everything was just glued together. No sanding, no painting, just lightsabers showing the "quick and cheap" option for "Good, quick, or cheap. Choose two." Darth Maul was the biggest pain out of all of these, because the fins under the emitter all snapped off as I was trying to slide pieces in, and no matter what, I can't get the two halves to line up, so frak it! It's half of the saber. Detail can be seen in the album.

Now that those are tucked away in a box, I've started on a few other pieces. Thanks to ADHD, I currently have three pieces on the workbench. The Aragorn Hunting Knife, BD-1, and the Star Trek TOS communicator have all gone under the first round of sanding and have received a nice glaze of body putty thinned with acetone. The knife blade has been glued together, and I used some UV resin in small amounts to fill in and hopefully reinforce the seam between the two halves. I need to put some serious work into these this month, so I have some stuff to show in Carmel on March 9th.

Finally, I got the Communicator Dice Holders done for two sets of Star Trek Adventures dice. I like how well these hold the dice, and now I just need to get some magnets to keep them closed.

Photo albums for this week include the one made for last week's post, and the one for this week's post.

Before I wrap up, though, I want to ask for some help. Part of my exhaustion last week stemmed from my 2011 Scion xB, the Cardis. On Saturday, we made the final car payment on it. Then, because it wanted to be as cliche as possible, Sunday it started making noises before the power steering went out Monday, apparently due to the alternator going out. We were down to one car last week, and everything got fixed over the weekend. We had the money to get it taken care of, but we really need to replenish some savings. So, if you have the opportunity, head over to Troxell's Trading Post and maybe pick up a print or two. I'm trying to get new stuff posted every few days, and I am starting to fade away from articulated critters and dice towers for the time being and printing some prop kits from Mystery Makers, Big Fred's Customs, and Galactic Armory (affiliate link). So if you have any requests, please feel free to reach out either at my email or on any of my social media accounts, and we'll see if it's something I can print for you.

With that being said, I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. Remember, the world sucks out there. Try not to make it suck even more. In fact, try to make it suck just a little bit less. Take good care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you next week.

Tony