Wednesday Update - May 22nd, 2024

 

Sometimes, you just have a week where small things pile up, and it's just exhausting. That was this past week.

There has been absolutely no building work done since the last blog post. I've been focusing on getting my Bambu A1 Mini with AMS Lite printer, which many touts as "plug and play," working right. So far, I've torn it apart to replace the control board inside the AMS Lite (tiny screws + sausage fingers = day drinking), which did absolutely nothing. Finally, this past Monday they sent me a new motor assembly, which I installed on Tuesday morning. Thankfully, this looks to have taken care of the issue, and my "plug and play" printer setup is finally 100% up and running over a month after I received it. This means I can now print four colors at once, which gives me a LOT of what they call "poop" that I have to clean during printing. It's a PITA, its wasteful, and I think the AMS was a lot of money spent on what will end up being a novelty that will occasionally print something for Troxell's Trading Post.

Another item on the "small things that make Tony exhausted" thing was the bank card for Troxell Builds. Yes, I have a separate account I use to buy materials for projects, and that card came up missing. So, I spent a few days not being able to buy a bunch of filament I needed until the new card came in. Finally, the icing on the tiny little issue cake is PolyMaker has been out of stock on their CosPLA, which is my preferred filament for prop replicas. What's really annoying is, there's no info on when it's coming back in stock. If I had hair, I'd probably be ripping it out.

Still, with all that, I've printed a few more pieces for the "to build" pile. First, I've got two Pip Boys from the Fallout tv series that I got through Mystery Maker's Patreon, and I've got the parts on the way to make it "work" as well. I've also printed out the dart pistol from the TV series, thanks to files from Big Fred's Customs Patreon account, and I'm just trying to figure out what colors to print for the inserts of the vials. As always, you can check these out over on the photo album I've put together for this post.

This coming weekend is a three-day weekend, and while I'm hoping to get some work done, I'm also going to be helping my partner work on their shuttle bus to camper conversion, because they need some counters sanded down and I am the go-to when it comes to sanding in this household, I guess! If that sounds interesting to you, though, feel free to check out her work and give her a follow on Instagram under the handle KnoxTheBus.

Also, tomorrow is my "level up" day, when I turn the unremarkable age of 47. If you'd like to make it slightly more remarkable, feel free to visit tonytroxell.info and you can find different ways to support me. If you're feeling flush, feel free to pick something up off my shop wish lists. If you're not, I'd love it if you signed up for my mailing list, which will also give you a discount on your order from Troxell's Trading Post. Speaking of, I would love to spend the weekend after my birthday packing up stuff to ship out from the shop, so feel free to pick something up through there, as well!

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and bounce so I can grab some dinner and cake from my stepkid's birthday, which was on Tuesday. As always, take good care of yourselves, and each other. I'll see you on Instagram or BlueSky, or on here next week.

Tony Troxell
May 21st, 2024

Wednesday Update - May 15th, 2024

 Happy Wednesday, everybody! Yes, I'm back. It's been a heck of a month, but I should be back to building this week, after I get my workshop put back together. In the meantime, let's get back to trying to get a blog up every week.

So, what's been going on?

First off, I survived the "Props for Cosplay" talk I did in Anderson on the 4th. Now, nobody actually showed up, except for family and my friend who puts together the programs, but that's not the point! I still gave the talk, did answer questions from some folks who walked in and wanted to know what was going on, and displayed a lot of stuff. Sadly, as always, I get so focused on setting up and working with the talk, I never take photos of my setup. There is one piece, however, that I was very proud of that I built for this talk.

The Fallout 3 AEP7 Laser Pistol.

The files were from Thingiverse, and my buddy Mike had printed out a lot of the parts for me before I even owned a 3D printer. I finally got some of the stuff reprinted and started building it for the talk, back when it was scheduled to be given the day after the Fallout series premiered on Amazon. I got it wrapped up the weekend before the talk, and I tell you, I am pleased. Sure, I can see some of my failures in it, but for once I'm seeing more of the "good" in the prop, namely in the paint job. I had recently watched a video by Van Oaks Props talking about using hair spray and an airbrush for weathering, so I gave that a shot. I'd go section by section, giving the prop a light hairspray dusting, then lightly going over areas with my airbrush, then dabbing away excess paint with a shop towel. I went over it completely with two shades of brown, with some black thrown in for good measure, and I was just so pleased with how it looked. It has me really wanting to do more props from Fallout so I can continue to work on and improve my skills at this. More on that in a minute, though.

The next project I'm working on after the workshop gets cleaned, is a pair of Bo Katan blaster pistols that have been assembled since 2022 and partially painted since last fall, and the blaster belt for them to go into. My friend who I've been building these for has been more than patient, so I want to get them done as soon as I can, so they have their costume and I have that off my "to-do" list. Then, I'm rolling into my own projects.

Which, of course, are more Fallout props.

The printer has been busy, printing Pip Boys, pistols, chainsaw blades, and a few bottle caps to go into the "to build" pile. This is a mixture of items from the games and the series, and it's going to be fun to put them all together. I'll be giving more information in the coming weeks, as parts come in and pieces get finished, but let me say I'm looking to learn some things that will hopefully make a lot of these really cool.

Rolling on to printer information, I'm still trying to get the AMS Lite working with my A1 Mini. For single filament pieces, the printer has been working like a dream. Heck, I can do up to three different filaments on it! However, I should be able to do FOUR, but one of the motors isn't working. I'm still working with their support, and I'm hoping to get it back up and running soon. I have printed some fun pieces, though, which you can see over on this post's photo album.

Other than that, there's not much going on. Next Thursday is my birthday, and if you feel like giving, you can find my wish lists at this link. However, the most awesome thing you could do is visit tonytroxell.info, sign up for my mailing list, and pick up some stuff from Troxell's Trading Post. That would be really cool of you!

With that, I'm going to call this blog post done, and we'll get back to the #WIPWednesday posts next week. In the meantime, take good care of yourselves and each other.

Til next time,
Tony