Sounds great man, I for one cannot wait to see what cool items you come up with next.

I had told Marcus I'd get some shots up of the 3 Iron man Hall of Armor shelves he's getting this past Friday. Thinks of course came up and I still didn't get to put them on the wall loaded with figures, but here's a shot of them stacked. They're on the floor but it'd be the same idea on the all.

This one obviously the flash hit it, but I can't figure out how to get head on shots without the flash:




These 2 are angles so no flash issues:






They do have the keyhole slot in all thre so it'll be easy to hang on the wall flush. If all goes well these and the other items go out no later than Tuesday.

_________________

Those look friggin' awesome. Can't wait to get 'em!

_________________

Wow. That is mighty impressive. Nice work.

_________________

Yeah they turned out real nice, great work J_Man.

_________________

It's been longer than I thought since I did one of these Sunday updates. I figure I'll throw one out since it has actually been so long.

I've been narrowing the waiting list down a lot for the Cobra Bases. Of course there are still people waiting, but it's a lot less than it was. A whole lot less. The stuff that's slowed me down lately is I ran out of material and stuff is on backorder. I do have a number of parts and will be working on what I have. I think I have enough to get 5 or 6 more bases out. By then I hope to have the material and can just keep going.

Another issue is I keep hitting snags with people not paying. I'm not calling anybody out and there's no need for any comments on it, I just do want to say that causes some delay. I give a week for someone to pay and if they don't I cancel the invoice and shipping and move on to the next person. But the time involved there and that week does delay things. But anyway, I just wanted to address that as it's happened a couple of times now.

Next up I wanted to just show the new large format backgrounds I'm sending out. I haven't made these 3 particular ones and I thought they came out nice. I always add dio stuff (rocks, tree stuff, or whatever the scene calls for, if it does) and these were fun. Display bases is it's own catagory as far as time goes. It's not a build like the bases so it's no huge wait there. Here's a couple of shots:











Last thing and the main real reason i'm doing this update. I have had a load of people asking about the old gliders. I've been looking into it and would like to do it. I'd really rather actually have the foam than plastic on this. The more I think about it is the more I think it would be better. The plastic would fly, but it would add extra cost that wouldn't be necessary. I'm weighing all sorts of options and how to make this happen. I don't have all the details yet. But I did want to go ahead and put it out there that it is an idea that's being looked into. Maybe it'll be the next "Cobra Base" reality.

_________________

Honestly...Just Scan the Gliders, and Print out the Large Vinal or whatever sticker. Don't waste time trying to find Foam, or Plastic...Let each customer decide what they want to stick it on. and how they want to use the product...

_________________

I guess that's an option. I'd still rather offer full gliders ready to go that that, but if all else fails... Anybody else with ideas is more than welcome to weigh in.

_________________

would plastic break as easily as styrofoam?

and what about cardboard, for the environmentally conscious?

_________________

To put it out there, cardboard looks cheap to me and I'd feel like a jerk making them. Haha, I mean I build out ideas in cardboard to see how it'll work and get templates. It just looks bad.

The plastic would be great and would allow some redesigning to make it look even better than it did. It would even fly and would stand up to bumps a little better. It just wouldn't allow for the glider to be lower in cost. That's the main thing I'm looking at. The Cobra Base is expensive due to the plastic, material for the designs, plus the materials to build it. I'd hate to run up an expense bill on the glider and have to pass it along.

That's why I was mostly looking at the styrofoam. IF it works out and I can build a die, I can punch them out. In theory I could make replacement gliders along with full sets. That way people could just buy the styrofoam glider and put their original parts on the new one. Or just get a full new one and it would be ready to go. Something else I'd like to do is work with one of these repro people to maybe get them to offer a sticker sheet (or if anybody on the list is doing repro). The machine I have makes a little more than just stickers, plus I don't have a machine to precut so they can just be peeled and stuck. Also it's yet another expense I could cut out. If it works, all that would be required is the plastic clip, the large glider, and the 2 fins. It's still all an idea for now.

_________________

Balsa might work, since it is very light so it would fly, but stronger than foam, not sure how you would do the camo and everything on it though.

For wood, I don't know how you'd get a green and blue other than wood stain. You could thin down paint and dye it I guess. But as far as the camo, that would require a template no matter which way it went. There is paint safe for styrofoam and it's have to be shot on, and wood, well you can use whatever to work. Going styrofoam, I might be able to get it through some channels already in the color needed.

_________________

J_Man

1st off your stuff is awesome and I love the fact that you have taken the time out to put together some of the best repro items outhere for us Joe fans. if I may I would like to ask how thick is the plastic you use and where would some one start to obtain some. oh and the glider idea would be great, I myself have been wanting to have one of those again..

respectfully
HaleII

_________________

Thanks for the compliment! For the plastic, I'm lucky enough that there is a wholesale plastic place here that deals with sign makers and screen printers. Because that is my main profession, I've been established with them for years and know the people well. They set me up with whatever I need and I don't even need to know much about the products. I just tell them what I need and they help me out.

For the Cobra Base I did look into several types of plastic and finally settled on this one type typically used to make signs that goes on the walls of buildings.

Where to start is an issue for someone without the connection. I would pretty much say to just find places carrying plastic. Styrene is good for a variety of uses. But you want other types too. You would need to be able to get a couple of types to try and see what works best for you.

I use 2 sizes. A quarter inch for the background and rocket with the rest using 1/16th thickness. That's required based on the design.

_________________

J_Man

thanks for responding so quickly. never even thought of a sign shop, we have one here locally I will have to see what they say and if they would be willing to sale any of the material, something small at first to try my hand. thanks, I will be looking forward to the gliders.

respectfully
HaleII

_________________