The World Of Twilight

an idea of my progress in creating my building kits.

I have 10 11 stages to getting a kit together, from having a bright idea or suggestion through to getting kits available to buy.  So, I shall try and update the following chart as I make progress. This wont change daily... more like weekly or longer.


I shall update this chart as we go along rather than posting changed versions of it appended to the thread, but feel free to make suggestions of what you might like to see, whether its entire building ideas or just architectural elements.

The ones that I like and get plenty of support will find their way onto the bottom of the chart for consideration.


EDIT: oooo look, I'm an "Official Fubarnii Architect!" does that come with a salary?  ;)

B

Would Pringles be an acceptable currency for you?
Ha ha  ;D

Ooh, nice system for letting people know how things are going!

Would it be worth doing a few extra of each prototype (when you get to that stage) and selling them? Anybody buying one of those knows they are getting a prototype, but that might be a good way to get feedback and give people the option to get a version much earlier than they would otherwise.

Do you mind me asking what's stalled with Tew-Fah?

I thought it was the wrap-round stairs - railing that was stalling the pump-out.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

Thanks for the "ooh" mike.

It's possible to do more proto-types, yes. But as i am getting the hang of this and learning i didn't know whether any of these kits would be complete disasters and therefore useless and I am trying to keep my costs down.  It's possible I could sell on prototypes as I get more confident - I hadn't thought about it.  I did try sending out a prototype before but the person i sent it to cut it up to make something else  :P ;)

The Tew-Fah bridge is stalled for a few reasons. The bridge connects 2 buildings, and I only have a single building so far. I wanted the bridge to be able to join any of the buildings i came up with but that means the ends of the bridge need different Radii so they mate with the building correctly. Also I have been using magnets sunk in a 'blob' of putty to locate any hoin between the bridge and the buildings... whilst this works  its inelegant and looks ugly on the buildings when you dont have the bridge in place; I want to devise a way for magnets to be included in the bridge kit, along with suitable pieces for the magnets to be sunk flush with the surface and then attached to bridge and building so that when the bridge isn't attached the building doesn't look odd.  At the moment I am erring towards including a vertical beam member with 4mm magnet holes cut in it which can be glued to the face of the building central to the bridge axis with a similar component on the end of the bridge. I have no idea yet how to fix the variable radii on the bridge-end. (Fecking cylindrical architecture!)

As i'm genuinely not making progress on the bridge right now i thought it fairer to mark it as red.

@ Lord Abaddon of Wormwood - The stairs on the stable are done. I simplified them a little so that there is a top landing and a 1/6 of a turn helical set of stairs descending to the ground - no middle landing. That change means that I can fit the 1mm thick components onto a single A4 sheet of Styrene, and it simplifies the railings.

Its actually been the railing that has been the worst part - trying to accurately model a flattened twisted helix no more than 3mm wide with holes to accept the balusters has been tricky. Compounded by me teaching myself yet another new shiny CAD system along the way.

The good news is I've managed to communicate with Fenris Games now their Salute backlog is cleared and I hope to place an order for PrynGul kits (here forth known as TWP01) in the next week or so, and the prototype kits for the Stables (TWP02) will get cut in the same batch! If I get better at this I shall have to add likely release dates to the progress chart!

@ Darth Tater - I have sooo gone off Pringles... too much of a good thing!  The good news is i think Ben n Jerry's ice cream tubs are next!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm ben & jerrys....... :)

I'm thinking a cookie dough barracks........ ;)

I think it might be a Fish Food Barracks with watchtower roof allowing you to put figures under the pergola/ hexagonal roof covering...

... but i really should get the kits i have finished into production first.

yep......I have a growing stack of empty pringle tubes......97p in Tesco!   ;D

was buy one get 2 free in sainsbury! 75p each :)

Now just need a kit or two

They had the short pringles tubes at the Eurostar terminal in Paris... It's a shame you can't get those in the UK any more!

They sell them here at the airport too......bloody expensive though!   lol  :o

Well I finished a tub of Ben n Jerry's Chocolate Brownie ice cream last night and my wife finished her tub of Hagaan Das Pralines and Cream... so thats two more choices for buildings... the tubs are a bit flimsy though :(  I hope adding styrene beams to them will stiffen them sufficiently!

If it does, and I can cope with assembling a conical section rather than just a cylindrical one, then I had the best idea yet last night.

McDonalds drinks cups!!

standard size the world over! :)

In the meantime I am struggling through the completion of assembly instructions - which is turning out to be a mammoth job.

Working in pure 3D for the instructions - would be easier to than step by step snap shots... if your heading down that path.


Lord of Wormwood

The assembly instructions are all CAD generated.

This is a sample image...

(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RRKBhA-2I4w/S-1PdP5jWII/AAAAAAAACgM/7nzMdmqFJZU/s576/BumpOut2.jpg)

I'm working through the whole model and exploding sections, applying the sketch style exporting as a bit map and laying up the whole thing in publisher so you get a downloadable pdf.

Its not difficult, just time consuming. - although I'm not going to be able to do this for the conical shingles sections... :( they're just a nightmare to model in 3D...

Try this link to see a pair of sample pages from the Instructions... (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B06t3PB5k709Y2I5NTJlN2UtNjZkZS00YjJlLWE4NmMtZTczNTljN2FiNTIy&hl=en_GB)

Updated to include assembly instructions in the progress chart.

Instructions for the pryngul tower are now complete... feedback welcome... (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B06t3PB5k709MzJjZDUzYWItNWEyMi00MGM0LTk0ZTItMzg1MmI4MTViMjkx&hl=en_GB)

Wow, that looks awesome.  I downloaded the instructions and flipped through them and it is detailed.  You spent a lot of time on this and it shows.  I really love the color coded arrows you used throughout the instructions.  Only thing I would like to see is at the end of the instructions, you show a side by side comparrison of the finshed/unfinished.  I would like to see more angles of the unfinished tower, so you can see the whole model.  3 pics will probably cover the entire model.  Maybe have page 12 with 3 pictures of the unpainted tower from 3 different angles and page 13 with the same pictures but fully painted.

I'm really looking forward to other buildings you are making. 

Thank you for the comments on the WIP instructions Scalifano :)

would this picture be what you are after?

(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RRKBhA-2I4w/S_O2cpl1WOI/AAAAAAAACgs/HMnJ3a1LSNY/s576/painting%20pub%20front%20piece.jpg)

*link* I have included it in the NOW COMPLETE assembly instructions  (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B06t3PB5k709MzJjZDUzYWItNWEyMi00MGM0LTk0ZTItMzg1MmI4MTViMjkx&hl=en_GB) *link*

These are actually 2 different buildings - if you look they are not configured the same. They are prototypes for the Pryn-Gul Tower so the final kits are a little different and more detailed. (I also glued the sign post on upside down on the left hand one!! D'oh!)

I was trying to avoid adding large file size photgraphs to the instructions as they are already a 5Mb, 14 page file... but I can take more pictures like this and make them available.  Note that I am already working on a "Painting Guide" to show step by step how I painted the demo model - that will have a lot of pictures.

How did you find the link to the google docs storage space to get the file? did you have to sign-in or register? willthis work with a link from my blog and ebay as a way of customers getting the files?

As I said in my last PM to you, the instructions look very professional. I had to sign in with my google account, though, so I assume people without a google account couldn't access them...

damn its set to share without having to sign in, i guess that doesn't work...

anyone know a good file host that handles pdfs?

Could you not just host them on the main filespace for the WoT website?

I was able to download the instructions without having to log in.  The link took me to the google page and started downloading the PDF immediately.  I ended up hitting hte stop button and right clicked the link and did a save as.

Yeah Brandlin, thats the picture I was talking about.  I hadn't even realized that it was two different towers until you mentioned the differences.  I always like to see unpainted versions.  

Itching to get my hands on one or more of these. how close to production/sale are you getting?

HI emberbreeze

the kits are at the cutters now, but i know they are busy. I'm expecting to get them back in maybe a week. I'll be selling through ebay so getting a storefront is straightforwards. I do want to get some more details and pictures done and on my website (static pages on my blog that we can link to and from) to hold the instructions hints and tips, painting guides etc... I also need to sort packing and postal materials. Even though I am trying to keep the costs down I want to have a comphensive and quality feel to things.

So realistically I think its a fortnight until they can be ordered , but for valuable fodders and twiligh forum members i may run some initial discounts a few days earlier.

I am really pleased with the support this is getting for one of my daft ideas. Thanks for the interest emberbreeze.

I haven't got any of those mini-magnets yet, so forgive my ignorance but - do they work almost as well through the thickness of a tube - could you glue them to the inside of the tube and have them work almost as well? That might solve the looks issue.

Can't wait to see these in the flesh, so to speak.

Yes they would - they are surprisingly strong. And it would solve the looks issue. I might have to go up a size - say 6mm rather than 4. The problem would be aligning them. Getting them accurately in the right place on the surface of a curved tube to narrow to get your hand in.As I'm selling a kit so it needs to be repeatable and fairly straightforwards.

Also if the customer has already built their Pryn-Gul Tower then its sealed so you couldn't get to the inside if you then wanted to add a bridge.


Thank you...

I'm actually quite nervous having just invested £200 in styrene and laser cutting and am now waiting for the first production run to come back!

Very probably - but that would mean doing complicated things ike "talking to mike and tom" :)  I'm a bit of an interloper here so i didn't want to assume. Besides i like CONTROL!!!!

I think one of the issues about the having to sign in or not might be that IF you have a google account set to sign in automatically then it takes you straight there.

Just heard from Ian @ Fenris Games...


I can't believe how nervous I am!

what if the geometry is wrong... what if the strene melts, what if no -one buys one?
sigh - this is not a time to be a pessimist!

Superb  ;D

And don't worry, you're not an interloper. :)

cool   ;D

well I definately want one mate!   ;D

I'm sure they'll fly out!

Well done! Looking forward to seeing what people do with your kits!

w00t!  ;D

How much will a kit cost?

Less than a leg a bit more than an arm!

ok that wasn't very helpful :(

I'm working through costings, but because the single largest charge is the laser cutting time and i buy that by the hour, until i get the kits and the bill i wont have accurate costs. Sorry - but i am finding it as frustrating as you guys.

I had calculated a retail price of £14 per tower. But the good news is that we seem to have got more kits through the laser than expected so that price should come down a little. Don't hold me to these numbers though if something changes massively.

I WILL announce all the costs and such like and have proper pages o my website by the weekend and they will be on ebay. I have also committed to discounts for the members of this group, which will amount to around 10% as that will circumvent ebay charges.

Yay  :)

That's a perfectly reasonable order of magnitude. I have a pringle tube ready and waiting 8)

just the one?

Darth tater made pringles into a whole new food group!

We had to try those 3 new "British" flavours......quite what is British about Kebab and curry flavour?!? lol

Anyway that's a few more tubes added to the pile........ :P

Thank you Royal mail - 62 sheets of laser cut styrene are with me now... [insert manic mad scientist world domination guffaw here]

Chicken Tikka Masala is our national dish.

Well, we did own india

We gave it back though. Eventually.

We owned a lot of France as well, glad to see it wasn't frogs legs or snails we adopted, lol! Actually, Chicken Tikka Masalla isn't an Indian dish at all, it was invented in London. Chap I knew did a survey of all the Indian takeaway's and restaurant's in Lincoln, he found out that of around 15-odd, only 1 was run by or employed Indians, the others were Pakistani, Bangladeshi or someone else.

ok, I have updated the progress chart at the start of this thread, and It's also available on my blog now.