FInally at long last I can do an update. KB Toys closing took a lot of my time and it pulled me away from progress. The whole project got put on hold for me until I could devote my full time to it. Now this isn't THE post to announce it's under full production. I'm gonna hold off until after Toy Fair to give everyone a proper green light. What I am posting about though is to say I have pre-orders in and these will be first on the list to be contacted. Anyone that wants to get on the list and reserve a position, you can go ahead and pre-order. No money is required until I contact you to say I'm about to ship.
Ok, now my main reason for the update, images of the one I've been trying out some stuff on. Now it's a little messier than the ones everyone will be getting, but it works well for what I wanted to say:
This is the over all shot. You'll notice first thing that I have the console over further than it's suppose to be. More on that further down. What I wanted to point out is why this is my messy one that I've been trying stuff on. I have it sort of modular and have been making test parts attaching and taking away. The console shown has been through a battle of it's own, hehe. It's been broken apart and glued back together a few time. I wasn't warried about the look of it, it's purpose was to help me get a perfect level console and show me all the angles of the pieces. That way as I'm making the "production version" I know what I'm doing. ome might wonder how the heck it helps, but trust me it does.
Now this one shows what I was talking about with the console. Since I redid the art so it's a clean background. there's no slots to attach the console. Technically I can leave it unattached. I think I'll either allow people to select that as an option, or if popular vote says just make it that way I will just do that.
One other thing this "prototype" has shown me, the console doesn't really need those slots cut open for feet to fit into. It did on the cardboard one due to how the seats were, but it's really not necessary. I'm changing the design with this point and everyone will like the change. I think I'll leave it a surprise for people to see how it's changed. I like the way it looks more and it give it a more 3D look. You won't see it in these photos, although I'll be fixing this one later to reflect the change.
This gives you a look at the elevator. The slots have been a journey it's self. I've had to come up with ways to make this work. I still might make some changes again on how it's done, but for now it's perfected enough. This one was orginally done by hand, but I've cleaned it up with my new method. This one's not perfect, but your's will be a straight clean cut like it's suppose to be.
Just another shot showing the elevator up and the missile raised.
A further back view of the same thing.
Here you can see the console. This one is banged up as I mentioned. But the thing to notice is how flat it sits. That sounds like a "so what?" type of thing to say, but this has been an issue. Due to the original being cardboard, it wasn't exactly perfectly straight artwork to allow a perfectly flat plastic console to work. This has required a lot of playing around with the art and as I mentioned gluing and breaking apart the console pieces until I got it right. Even though this one has gaps and all, it's straight and will be what helps me make sure all of the others are straight.
Finally here's Cobra Commander happy to have a base to rule over. He's also a hint of a new item that's coming soon! Those who get the base will get a first look at it!
Last thing I want to mention, I like making sure these items I build will hold up in shipping. This also gets the same level of attention. I'm placing small nails through the back of certain areas to make sure it's tightly held in place. I drill tiny holes and coat a small nail with super glue before inserting it. Once in place nothing moves. The large backdrop that holds the missile gets 5, each seat has 1, and if the console is attached it'll have 4. I'm really liking the console not being attached though.
So there's an update. Make sure to keep an eye out because it's about to happen. I know this stuff usually goes in the marketplace, but this item has been being discused for a while and has been in the Joe section, so I figure it's the best place to do this.
I just said a post by Dark Jedi makes sense. I am going ice-skating in Hell tomorrow.
