I started with just a weathered hilt, then I added an extra balance pipe, then an extra grenade, then an extra booster. Before I knew it, I was basically at an extra saber anyway.
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Limited Run DaveP's Obi Static Parts Run 2022/23 (Sign-Up Closed)
- Thread starter DaveP
- Start date
I started with just a weathered hilt, then I added an extra balance pipe, then an extra grenade, then an extra booster. Before I knew it, I was basically at an extra saber anyway.
Darth Napster
New Member
Hi Dave, i have just paid my last invoice today (for commission and postage) sorry about the delay.
I'm not sure which batch i am in. No rush.
The hilts look amazing mate, job well done.
I'm not sure which batch i am in. No rush.
The hilts look amazing mate, job well done.
**UPDATE**
Hi everyone. Hope you've all had a great week.
Here is my usual end of week update. This is the first official update for Batch 02 and Batch 03 which are now well underway!
It's been great seeing Batch 01 orders arriving at their new homes! I really appreciate all the kind words from everyone receiving those! Thank you so much!
As I mentioned in my previous update, I'm combining all of the remaining parts in to a single batch. I'll then separate back in to two batches for assembly and shipping.
I'm working to a STRICT action plan that will see all remaining parts finished before the end of the month.
So far so good!
The beginning of this week was spent organising the remaining orders, unwrapping parts and counting stock.
The vast majority of orders are "fully weathered", but there are some orders which have bespoke requirements or certain elements skipped.
It's important that I get things organised from the offset and that no mistakes are made as there are no spares! *SHOCK*
I also dedicated some time this week to cutting stencils and clamp foil. This is all now cut and weeded. So when the time comes to apply these, they're all ready to go.
The latter part of this week was spent concentrating on Emitters and Handwheels.
The emitters have all now been chemically treated (this had been done previously). This takes away the shiny machine finish and just dulls the surface ever so slightly.
The surface pitting that is visible on the example which was used on the original prop was then applied to each of the outer emitter parts. This is done by hand.
All of the parts were then heat treated. This involves simply leaving them sat directly on top of an electric hob element.
I have tried a blow torch previously, but found that the electric hob is much easier to control. It takes longer to achieve the desired effect, allowing you to take them off before they turn too dark. They can also be done more than one at a time, which makes up for the longer process.
The aim of this stage is to achieve the golden yellowish colour that we see on genuine used parts.
After this, the carbon/grime build up is achieved by hand, using oils/brushes. As much as I would like to achieve this effect naturally, it just wouldn't be practical. I've seen people achieve some nice results by coating in oil and then burning. I am aiming for consistency across all of these though, and figured the pigments in these oils are basically the same, but using a brush to apply them gives me the control I need over the final look.
To start with, I cover the whole part quite heavily. I then use cotton pads to wipe of the oils straight away, being careful to leave behind in hard to reach places. This results in a natural grimy look.
This is not the end result. I will be adding another pass with the oils where I dry brush/stipple some texture in to the final grime application. This is the next job for the emitters before moving on to adding the damage to the inner part.
The finished result will look something like this:
As well as working on the Emitters this week, I made a good start on Handwheels too.
All remaining handwheels have had their “REG DES” text aligned and set to the correct position.
All scratches have been applied to those requiring full weathering.
I've begun work on applying grime/dirt build up to weathered handwheels too.
For this, I use the same technique as the emitters. They are heavily stippled, being sure to get the paint in to all nooks and crannies. I then clean off the excess paint using cotton pads. The end result is what looks like a natural build up of dirt and grime in areas where it would be allowed to build up over time.
Next week is STEEL WEEK! I'll be concentrating on damage to grenades/boosters followed by a mammoth two day session of chemical blackening. Towards the end of next week, I'll be moving on to brass parts too and should have made some good progress on those by the time of my next update.
Thanks again for your patience everyone! It's been a long and bumpy road, but this run is finally drawing to a close! Your support over the course of this past year (and some) has been phenomenal and I honestly couldn't have done it, had it not been for your incredible patience and understanding!
It's stretched me to the absolute limit in every possible way, mentally... physically... financially...
I've learned SO much along the way though! And could not have done it without this awesome community placing your trust in me once more.
This run, (as well as the previous one!) has pushed me to reevaluate my working practices going forward…
As much as everyone has been incredibly understanding, It’s fairly clear that I am prone to underestimating how long things can take, and when I’m dealing with a run of this size, a small underestimation can result in significant delays!
I haven’t had a single complaint, which is testament to just how fantastic and supportive this community can be. I do feel an incredible sense of responsibility though, and cant help but worry about mounting frustrations. It’s a huge responsibility, having taken so many payments up-front!
For that reason, going forward I will no longer be taking up-front payments. With this in mind, I’ll be launching a new website very soon where I’ll be selling my wares **as they become available**.
It’s still under construction, but for future reference, here is the link for anyone who might be interested: DaveParkinArt
When the site eventually goes live, it will be primarily focussed on current projects, so with this in mind, I finally went and made a FB page. A little late to the party, but I was going through some images of my recent (and not so recent) projects, and thought it would be nice to put all of these together in one place.
I figured a FB page would be a good place to direct people who might be interested in seeing examples of past projects.
I'll also drop the occasional update on what I'm currently working on too, as well as announcing upcoming/future projects. So it’s a two way street.
So, if you’ll excuse the very shameless plug, here’s a link to my FB page for anyone interested in giving it a like: DaveParkinArt’s FB Page
I’ll be posting links to these weekly updates on there too so will try to keep everything in sync. I’ll still send out emails to those on the run who are still waiting on their orders (Y)
For now I’m going to sign off. Very much looking forward to picking things up on Monday and working on some grenade/booster weathering!
Thank you all so much for the insane amount of support that you’ve shown me over the past few months! I can’t tell you how much it means!
Have a great weekend everyone!
All the best, and as always, MTFBWY – A!
Dave
Hi everyone. Hope you've all had a great week.
Here is my usual end of week update. This is the first official update for Batch 02 and Batch 03 which are now well underway!
It's been great seeing Batch 01 orders arriving at their new homes! I really appreciate all the kind words from everyone receiving those! Thank you so much!
As I mentioned in my previous update, I'm combining all of the remaining parts in to a single batch. I'll then separate back in to two batches for assembly and shipping.
I'm working to a STRICT action plan that will see all remaining parts finished before the end of the month.
So far so good!
The beginning of this week was spent organising the remaining orders, unwrapping parts and counting stock.
The vast majority of orders are "fully weathered", but there are some orders which have bespoke requirements or certain elements skipped.
It's important that I get things organised from the offset and that no mistakes are made as there are no spares! *SHOCK*
I also dedicated some time this week to cutting stencils and clamp foil. This is all now cut and weeded. So when the time comes to apply these, they're all ready to go.
The latter part of this week was spent concentrating on Emitters and Handwheels.
The emitters have all now been chemically treated (this had been done previously). This takes away the shiny machine finish and just dulls the surface ever so slightly.
The surface pitting that is visible on the example which was used on the original prop was then applied to each of the outer emitter parts. This is done by hand.
All of the parts were then heat treated. This involves simply leaving them sat directly on top of an electric hob element.
I have tried a blow torch previously, but found that the electric hob is much easier to control. It takes longer to achieve the desired effect, allowing you to take them off before they turn too dark. They can also be done more than one at a time, which makes up for the longer process.
The aim of this stage is to achieve the golden yellowish colour that we see on genuine used parts.
After this, the carbon/grime build up is achieved by hand, using oils/brushes. As much as I would like to achieve this effect naturally, it just wouldn't be practical. I've seen people achieve some nice results by coating in oil and then burning. I am aiming for consistency across all of these though, and figured the pigments in these oils are basically the same, but using a brush to apply them gives me the control I need over the final look.
To start with, I cover the whole part quite heavily. I then use cotton pads to wipe of the oils straight away, being careful to leave behind in hard to reach places. This results in a natural grimy look.
This is not the end result. I will be adding another pass with the oils where I dry brush/stipple some texture in to the final grime application. This is the next job for the emitters before moving on to adding the damage to the inner part.
The finished result will look something like this:
As well as working on the Emitters this week, I made a good start on Handwheels too.
All remaining handwheels have had their “REG DES” text aligned and set to the correct position.
All scratches have been applied to those requiring full weathering.
I've begun work on applying grime/dirt build up to weathered handwheels too.
For this, I use the same technique as the emitters. They are heavily stippled, being sure to get the paint in to all nooks and crannies. I then clean off the excess paint using cotton pads. The end result is what looks like a natural build up of dirt and grime in areas where it would be allowed to build up over time.
Next week is STEEL WEEK! I'll be concentrating on damage to grenades/boosters followed by a mammoth two day session of chemical blackening. Towards the end of next week, I'll be moving on to brass parts too and should have made some good progress on those by the time of my next update.
Thanks again for your patience everyone! It's been a long and bumpy road, but this run is finally drawing to a close! Your support over the course of this past year (and some) has been phenomenal and I honestly couldn't have done it, had it not been for your incredible patience and understanding!
It's stretched me to the absolute limit in every possible way, mentally... physically... financially...
I've learned SO much along the way though! And could not have done it without this awesome community placing your trust in me once more.
This run, (as well as the previous one!) has pushed me to reevaluate my working practices going forward…
As much as everyone has been incredibly understanding, It’s fairly clear that I am prone to underestimating how long things can take, and when I’m dealing with a run of this size, a small underestimation can result in significant delays!
I haven’t had a single complaint, which is testament to just how fantastic and supportive this community can be. I do feel an incredible sense of responsibility though, and cant help but worry about mounting frustrations. It’s a huge responsibility, having taken so many payments up-front!
For that reason, going forward I will no longer be taking up-front payments. With this in mind, I’ll be launching a new website very soon where I’ll be selling my wares **as they become available**.
It’s still under construction, but for future reference, here is the link for anyone who might be interested: DaveParkinArt
When the site eventually goes live, it will be primarily focussed on current projects, so with this in mind, I finally went and made a FB page. A little late to the party, but I was going through some images of my recent (and not so recent) projects, and thought it would be nice to put all of these together in one place.
I figured a FB page would be a good place to direct people who might be interested in seeing examples of past projects.
I'll also drop the occasional update on what I'm currently working on too, as well as announcing upcoming/future projects. So it’s a two way street.
So, if you’ll excuse the very shameless plug, here’s a link to my FB page for anyone interested in giving it a like: DaveParkinArt’s FB Page
I’ll be posting links to these weekly updates on there too so will try to keep everything in sync. I’ll still send out emails to those on the run who are still waiting on their orders (Y)
For now I’m going to sign off. Very much looking forward to picking things up on Monday and working on some grenade/booster weathering!
Thank you all so much for the insane amount of support that you’ve shown me over the past few months! I can’t tell you how much it means!
Have a great weekend everyone!
All the best, and as always, MTFBWY – A!
Dave
**UPDATE**
Hi everyone. Here's my usual weekly update on the progress of the run...
"Steel week" has been a great success and, as planned, I've moved on to working on the brass parts for the necks and wind vanes.
Following on from my last update, the week started out with me adding dings and scratches to the grenade bodies.
This was a long process, with every mark having been made individually, by hand.
They were then allowed to rust. As before, the process was kicked off with white vinegar. The vinegar is too strong for multiple applications. A second pass simply removes the first one, so the process is continued with water spray.
They are sprayed... Allowed to dry... and then sprayed again.... and again...
The process was repeated over a couple of days.
During this process, I was busy working on the booster damage.
This is far from random, as the booster on the original prop has some very distinctive features. The damaged corner, where it was once welded to the barrel of a Browning 303 machine gun, the little teeth marks from the tool that was used to grip it whilst separating from the flash, and any other prominent features have all been painstakingly replicated prior to rusting.
The boosters then underwent the same rusting process as the grenades.
Once a nice amount of rust had built up, the vast majority of it was then removed, leaving it behind in places where it would have naturally been allowed to build up over the years.
The next task after this was chemical blacking…
The remaining rust acts as a barrier to the solution, which is exactly what we want. It means that the exposed steel is blackened, whilst the rust stays put.
After the blacking solution is applied. A small amount of dewatering oil is applied to the outer parts of the grenade. They aren't submerged. The oil is applied by hand, being careful to avoid the rusted areas.
The boosters are also cleaned up. Their insides are polished and fins sanded back to bare metal, as seen on the original prop. Dewatering oil is then carefully applied where needed. Again, being careful to avoid the rusted areas.
I’m now busy applying guides to the brass wind vane rings and will make a start on stamping over the weekend.
Next week will be spent finishing off the brass, and working on the final part! (the clamps).
For once I’m actually on target and staying on track with my current plan to have all of the parts finished by the end of next week.
** With this in mind, I plan to book in all paid up orders with UPS and generate labels/tracking numbers this coming Friday (29th). All that will remain then is to assemble and ship. As I did with batch one, I’ll work my way through these and ship them out as they’re ready to go. **
I’ll post my usual update next week to show off all of the finished parts and any complete hilts that I’ve manged to get assembled by then.
I’m still working to a VERY strict action plan with specific tasks allocated to each day. These are broken down in to smaller tasks and allocated to morning/afternoon/evening.
It’s all going surprisingly well and I’m confident that we’re going to stay on track!
I’m documenting as I go, and may drop the occasional social media post between now and next week.
Looking forward to tackling the brass and the clamps over the next week! All foil is pre-cut and weeded, so I won’t be starting from scratch.
Signing out for now, but rest assured that I’m busy behind the scenes and looking forward to getting these out to you as soon as possible.
Just a quick note for anyone waiting on an **Un-weathered only** order… I’ll be booking these in later today. All the parts for these are ready to go, but they do require final assembly. These will be shipped out as soon as they’re put together. I’ll aim to have them made up and on their way before the end of the day on Monday
Thanks again for your patience and support everyone! I’m so excited to get these finished up and on their way to their new homes! Have a great weekend!
All the best, and MTFBWY-A
Dave
Hi everyone. Here's my usual weekly update on the progress of the run...
"Steel week" has been a great success and, as planned, I've moved on to working on the brass parts for the necks and wind vanes.
Following on from my last update, the week started out with me adding dings and scratches to the grenade bodies.
This was a long process, with every mark having been made individually, by hand.
They were then allowed to rust. As before, the process was kicked off with white vinegar. The vinegar is too strong for multiple applications. A second pass simply removes the first one, so the process is continued with water spray.
They are sprayed... Allowed to dry... and then sprayed again.... and again...
The process was repeated over a couple of days.
During this process, I was busy working on the booster damage.
This is far from random, as the booster on the original prop has some very distinctive features. The damaged corner, where it was once welded to the barrel of a Browning 303 machine gun, the little teeth marks from the tool that was used to grip it whilst separating from the flash, and any other prominent features have all been painstakingly replicated prior to rusting.
The boosters then underwent the same rusting process as the grenades.
Once a nice amount of rust had built up, the vast majority of it was then removed, leaving it behind in places where it would have naturally been allowed to build up over the years.
The next task after this was chemical blacking…
The remaining rust acts as a barrier to the solution, which is exactly what we want. It means that the exposed steel is blackened, whilst the rust stays put.
After the blacking solution is applied. A small amount of dewatering oil is applied to the outer parts of the grenade. They aren't submerged. The oil is applied by hand, being careful to avoid the rusted areas.
The boosters are also cleaned up. Their insides are polished and fins sanded back to bare metal, as seen on the original prop. Dewatering oil is then carefully applied where needed. Again, being careful to avoid the rusted areas.
I’m now busy applying guides to the brass wind vane rings and will make a start on stamping over the weekend.
Next week will be spent finishing off the brass, and working on the final part! (the clamps).
For once I’m actually on target and staying on track with my current plan to have all of the parts finished by the end of next week.
** With this in mind, I plan to book in all paid up orders with UPS and generate labels/tracking numbers this coming Friday (29th). All that will remain then is to assemble and ship. As I did with batch one, I’ll work my way through these and ship them out as they’re ready to go. **
I’ll post my usual update next week to show off all of the finished parts and any complete hilts that I’ve manged to get assembled by then.
I’m still working to a VERY strict action plan with specific tasks allocated to each day. These are broken down in to smaller tasks and allocated to morning/afternoon/evening.
It’s all going surprisingly well and I’m confident that we’re going to stay on track!
I’m documenting as I go, and may drop the occasional social media post between now and next week.
Looking forward to tackling the brass and the clamps over the next week! All foil is pre-cut and weeded, so I won’t be starting from scratch.
Signing out for now, but rest assured that I’m busy behind the scenes and looking forward to getting these out to you as soon as possible.
Just a quick note for anyone waiting on an **Un-weathered only** order… I’ll be booking these in later today. All the parts for these are ready to go, but they do require final assembly. These will be shipped out as soon as they’re put together. I’ll aim to have them made up and on their way before the end of the day on Monday
Thanks again for your patience and support everyone! I’m so excited to get these finished up and on their way to their new homes! Have a great weekend!
All the best, and MTFBWY-A
Dave
It’s art and Dave is a really meticulous artist. I think he has a rare combination of talent which is only matched by his dogged determination to see a project through to completion. I certainly feel fortunate to have gotten back into the hobby when I did.
Ditto. Incredible dedication to detail and seeing this through. Definitely in for the next run.
Absolutely cracking work Dave! Congrats and kudos to all the lucky owners!
Those are stunning, Drew! Love it!
And thanks for sharing! **UPDATE**
Hi Everyone.
Here’s my usual end of week update. It’s been a crazy week as usual.
For the most part I’ve kept to the action plan and the vast majority of the parts are now finished and ready for final assembly!
I did face a couple of minor set-backs this week which have resulted in a couple of items that need to be finished off over the weekend and possibly in to Monday (explanation bellow), but I’m very happy to say that I’ll be moving on to assembly and shipping as planned later this week!
The un-weathered orders from batch two and three have departed already and are well on their way to their new homes (if they haven’t already arrived). Including this machine finish one which are always a treat for the eyes:
I’ve been busy this week working on the last couple of sections (Brass and Clamps).
Towards the end of last week I began preparing the brass rings for stamping.
I continued with these this week and happy to report that stamping is now finished.
This was a long process and took up the first half of the week. The process is sped up slightly by working on a few at a time.
Wind Vane damage has been applied where needed too and I’m about half way through darkening. So batch two grenades are complete and ready for final assembly.
Why is only half of the brass darkened you might ask? Well, I’ve run out of Birchwood Casey Brass Black unfortunately and my new bottle which was ordered over a week ago appears to be stuck in Royal Mail limbo! It’s not something you can just walk in to a shop and buy unfortunately, so I’ll wait a little longer and if it doesn’t show up in the next couple of days, I’ll order another one (or get the seller to re-send).
This isn’t too much of a problem, as I had plenty of work to be getting on with on the clamps! The darkening of the brass is a relatively quick job and will only take an hour or two to darken the remaining bits and pieces once I receive my fresh supply of Birchwood Brass Black.
Moving on to the clamps, the first job was to mark them up for drilling.
The marks are then punched to prevent the drill from traveling on the chrome. I use a lath centre to do this.
Then It’s on to drilling….
And then finally countersinking for the brass screws…
Exponentials really start to come in to play when it comes to things like this.
You might think that drilling the clamps would be a quick task, but when you multiply each hole by the number of operations, and then multiply *that* number by the number of holes in each clamp…. And then multiply *THAT* number by the number of clamps… well, you end up will a rather large number of individual tasks.
That said, we got there! And all clamps have now been drilled!
I’ve moved on to adding the damage to the weathered clamps.
This is another long process, and involves physically damaging the surface using a Dremel and engraving bit. This is the only way to get down to the underlying steel, which can then be darkened.
I was on a roll, and having the most productive day, when disaster struck!
This is the second time this year that I’ve had a Dremel die on me. The first time was a little more dramatic as it actually exploded! This time, not even a puff of smoke. It just simply stopped working, without warning. Having changed the fuse (with no luck), I decided to open it up to see if there was an obvious loose connection, or if it needed cleaning. Well, it just fell apart and I’m not at all confident that I would be able to put it back together.
Well, I immediately ordered a new one, which arrived this morning. It does mean that not all of the clamps are finished unfortunately. I did manage to get a few of them completed before my Dremel cut out on me, but I’ll need to continue with the rest of them over the weekend and possibly in to Monday to get them all finished.
Here’s one of the completed examples that I managed to get finished:
All foil is weeded and ready to apply, so it really is just the damage that needs my attention before moving on to final assembly and shipping later this week.
On the subject of shipping. I HAVE begun booking remaining orders in with UPS and have got a fairly large chunk of them booked in last night. This is just to generate shipping labels/tracking numbers, so that as I get them assembled next week, I can drop them off or have them collected as I work my way through them.
I’ll continue to get fully paid up orders booked in with UPS in the evenings and whenever I get a chance to sit at the computer. I’ll send people their tracking numbers later today, but please allow a few more days for me to get the clamps finished up and to move on to assembly.
These will start to ship out this next week though.
Thanks again for your patience everyone! I’m looking forward to getting these remaining commissions out to everyone over the course of the next week or so.
I’ll check in again next week to let you know where things are up to. I expect a good proportion of these to be on their way to their new homes by then.
Have a great weekend everyone!
All the best and MTFBWY!
Dave
Last edited:
TK-Fett
Sr Member
Which version?
Looking great dave!!Those are stunning, Drew! Love it!
**UPDATE**
Hi Everyone.
Here’s my usual end of week update. It’s been a crazy week as usual.
For the most part I’ve kept to the action plan and the vast majority of the parts are now finished and ready for final assembly!
View attachment 1745023
I did face a couple of minor set-backs this week which have resulted in a couple of items that need to be finished off over the weekend and possibly in to Monday (explanation bellow), but I’m very happy to say that I’ll be moving on to assembly and shipping as planned later this week!
The un-weathered orders from batch two and three have departed already and are well on their way to their new homes (if they haven’t already arrived). Including this machine finish one which are always a treat for the eyes:
View attachment 1745025
View attachment 1745026
View attachment 1745027
View attachment 1745028
I’ve been busy this week working on the last couple of sections (Brass and Clamps).
Towards the end of last week I began preparing the brass rings for stamping.
I continued with these this week and happy to report that stamping is now finished.
View attachment 1745029
This was a long process and took up the first half of the week. The process is sped up slightly by working on a few at a time.
Wind Vane damage has been applied where needed too and I’m about half way through darkening. So batch two grenades are complete and ready for final assembly.
View attachment 1745033
View attachment 1745034
View attachment 1745030
View attachment 1745031
View attachment 1745032
Why is only half of the brass darkened you might ask? Well, I’ve run out of Birchwood Casey Brass Black unfortunately and my new bottle which was ordered over a week ago appears to be stuck in Royal Mail limbo! It’s not something you can just walk in to a shop and buy unfortunately, so I’ll wait a little longer and if it doesn’t show up in the next couple of days, I’ll order another one (or get the seller to re-send).
This isn’t too much of a problem, as I had plenty of work to be getting on with on the clamps! The darkening of the brass is a relatively quick job and will only take an hour or two to darken the remaining bits and pieces once I receive my fresh supply of Birchwood Brass Black.
Moving on to the clamps, the first job was to mark them up for drilling.
View attachment 1745035
The marks are then punched to prevent the drill from traveling on the chrome. I use a lath centre to do this.
View attachment 1745036
Then It’s on to drilling….
View attachment 1745037
And then finally countersinking for the brass screws…
View attachment 1745038
Exponentials really start to come in to play when it comes to things like this.
You might think that drilling the clamps would be a quick task, but when you multiply each hole by the number of operations, and then multiply *that* number by the number of holes in each clamp…. And then multiply *THAT* number by the number of clamps… well, you end up will a rather large number of individual tasks.
View attachment 1745039
That said, we got there! And all clamps have now been drilled!
I’ve moved on to adding the damage to the weathered clamps.
This is another long process, and involves physically damaging the surface using a Dremel and engraving bit. This is the only way to get down to the underlying steel, which can then be darkened.
I was on a roll, and having the most productive day, when disaster struck!
View attachment 1745045
This is the second time this year that I’ve had a Dremel die on me. The first time was a little more dramatic as it actually exploded! This time, not even a puff of smoke. It just simply stopped working, without warning. Having changed the fuse (with no luck), I decided to open it up to see if there was an obvious loose connection, or if it needed cleaning. Well, it just fell apart and I’m not at all confident that I would be able to put it back together.
Well, I immediately ordered a new one, which arrived this morning. It does mean that not all of the clamps are finished unfortunately. I did manage to get a few of them completed before my Dremel cut out on me, but I’ll need to continue with the rest of them over the weekend and possibly in to Monday to get them all finished.
Here’s one of the completed examples that I managed to get finished:
View attachment 1745046
View attachment 1745047
View attachment 1745048
View attachment 1745049
View attachment 1745050
All foil is weeded and ready to apply, so it really is just the damage that needs my attention before moving on to final assembly and shipping later this week.
On the subject of shipping. I HAVE begun booking remaining orders in with UPS and have got a fairly large chunk of them booked in last night. This is just to generate shipping labels/tracking numbers, so that as I get them assembled next week, I can drop them off or have them collected as I work my way through them.
I’ll continue to get fully paid up orders booked in with UPS in the evenings and whenever I get a chance to sit at the computer. I’ll send people their tracking numbers later today, but please allow a few more days for me to get the clamps finished up and to move on to assembly.
These will start to ship out this next week though.
Thanks again for your patience everyone! I’m looking forward to getting these remaining commissions out to everyone over the course of the next week or so.
I’ll check in again next week to let you know where things are up to. I expect a good proportion of these to be on their way to their new homes by then.
Have a great weekend everyone!
All the best and MTFBWY!
Dave
Those are stunning, Drew! Love it!
**UPDATE**
Hi Everyone.
Here’s my usual end of week update. It’s been a crazy week as usual.
For the most part I’ve kept to the action plan and the vast majority of the parts are now finished and ready for final assembly!
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I did face a couple of minor set-backs this week which have resulted in a couple of items that need to be finished off over the weekend and possibly in to Monday (explanation bellow), but I’m very happy to say that I’ll be moving on to assembly and shipping as planned later this week!
The un-weathered orders from batch two and three have departed already and are well on their way to their new homes (if they haven’t already arrived). Including this machine finish one which are always a treat for the eyes:
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I’ve been busy this week working on the last couple of sections (Brass and Clamps).
Towards the end of last week I began preparing the brass rings for stamping.
I continued with these this week and happy to report that stamping is now finished.
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This was a long process and took up the first half of the week. The process is sped up slightly by working on a few at a time.
Wind Vane damage has been applied where needed too and I’m about half way through darkening. So batch two grenades are complete and ready for final assembly.
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Why is only half of the brass darkened you might ask? Well, I’ve run out of Birchwood Casey Brass Black unfortunately and my new bottle which was ordered over a week ago appears to be stuck in Royal Mail limbo! It’s not something you can just walk in to a shop and buy unfortunately, so I’ll wait a little longer and if it doesn’t show up in the next couple of days, I’ll order another one (or get the seller to re-send).
This isn’t too much of a problem, as I had plenty of work to be getting on with on the clamps! The darkening of the brass is a relatively quick job and will only take an hour or two to darken the remaining bits and pieces once I receive my fresh supply of Birchwood Brass Black.
Moving on to the clamps, the first job was to mark them up for drilling.
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The marks are then punched to prevent the drill from traveling on the chrome. I use a lath centre to do this.
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Then It’s on to drilling….
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And then finally countersinking for the brass screws…
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Exponentials really start to come in to play when it comes to things like this.
You might think that drilling the clamps would be a quick task, but when you multiply each hole by the number of operations, and then multiply *that* number by the number of holes in each clamp…. And then multiply *THAT* number by the number of clamps… well, you end up will a rather large number of individual tasks.
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That said, we got there! And all clamps have now been drilled!
I’ve moved on to adding the damage to the weathered clamps.
This is another long process, and involves physically damaging the surface using a Dremel and engraving bit. This is the only way to get down to the underlying steel, which can then be darkened.
I was on a roll, and having the most productive day, when disaster struck!
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This is the second time this year that I’ve had a Dremel die on me. The first time was a little more dramatic as it actually exploded! This time, not even a puff of smoke. It just simply stopped working, without warning. Having changed the fuse (with no luck), I decided to open it up to see if there was an obvious loose connection, or if it needed cleaning. Well, it just fell apart and I’m not at all confident that I would be able to put it back together.
Well, I immediately ordered a new one, which arrived this morning. It does mean that not all of the clamps are finished unfortunately. I did manage to get a few of them completed before my Dremel cut out on me, but I’ll need to continue with the rest of them over the weekend and possibly in to Monday to get them all finished.
Here’s one of the completed examples that I managed to get finished:
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All foil is weeded and ready to apply, so it really is just the damage that needs my attention before moving on to final assembly and shipping later this week.
On the subject of shipping. I HAVE begun booking remaining orders in with UPS and have got a fairly large chunk of them booked in last night. This is just to generate shipping labels/tracking numbers, so that as I get them assembled next week, I can drop them off or have them collected as I work my way through them.
I’ll continue to get fully paid up orders booked in with UPS in the evenings and whenever I get a chance to sit at the computer. I’ll send people their tracking numbers later today, but please allow a few more days for me to get the clamps finished up and to move on to assembly.
These will start to ship out this next week though.
Thanks again for your patience everyone! I’m looking forward to getting these remaining commissions out to everyone over the course of the next week or so.
I’ll check in again next week to let you know where things are up to. I expect a good proportion of these to be on their way to their new homes by then.
Have a great weekend everyone!
All the best and MTFBWY!
Dave
Amazing work
**Pre-update update...**
Hi everyone.
I just wanted to check in with my usual Saturday morning update, but running slightly behind I'm afraid. So I'll be posting the next proper update on Monday/Tuesday.
I've been working flat out this week assembling batch two weathering commissions, in the hope that I'd be able to get them moving before the end of the week...
I've just simply run out of time though unfortunately. Despite working 9:00-midnight pretty much every day this week.
I may have been slowed down somewhat by some sort of seasonal lurgy, and have had a lot of correspondence to keep up with, but that's not an excuse.
The assembly and finishing process just takes a lot of time, and isn't something that can be rushed.
That said, they are all VERY nearly built, but requiring some of the final finishing touches now before they can finally be boxed up and sent out.
I've arranged for a collection on TUESDAY. This is absolutely NOT going to change! I just need this one additional day to get everything finished and packaged up. I'll get some beauty shots of everything for the update then if that's ok and follow up this update with a more substantial one either Monday night or Tuesday morning.
I would absolutely continue over the weekend (and usually do), but my wife has arranged a family trip away for my birthday this week. This is why I've arranged for them to be collected on Tuesday (my actual birthday!) rather than the next available collection day (which would be Monday). This just gives me all of Monday (and the house to myself) to get everything packaged up and ready to go!
In the meantime please ignore ANY communication from UPS. Their system has confused itself and sent out updates to a couple of people saying that their package is either on its way, or missing documents. This is NOT the case. Accurate updates won't go out until the packages have been collected.
Please believe me, I'm doing everything within my power to get these completed and out to you all as soon a a I can.
They are looking great, and can't wait to get them all laid out on Monday once they're fully assembled. I'll get some pictures then.
I'll check in again with my usual picture heavy update early next week.
Sorry (again) for not quite hitting my target, and for any disappointment/frustration.
I really was very close!
There won't be any more extensions now, and Tuesday is set in stone as the day that Batch two will be leaving! I'll then be moving straight on to assembly of batch three. Again, the parts for this batch are all finished and fully weathered. Please allow some time for assembly though as this has proven to be a big task in itself.
Signing off for now...
Hope you all have a great weekend.
Looking forward to getting these out to you very soon.
All the best and MTFBWY!
Dave
Hi everyone.
I just wanted to check in with my usual Saturday morning update, but running slightly behind I'm afraid. So I'll be posting the next proper update on Monday/Tuesday.
I've been working flat out this week assembling batch two weathering commissions, in the hope that I'd be able to get them moving before the end of the week...
I've just simply run out of time though unfortunately.
Despite working 9:00-midnight pretty much every day this week. I may have been slowed down somewhat by some sort of seasonal lurgy, and have had a lot of correspondence to keep up with, but that's not an excuse.
The assembly and finishing process just takes a lot of time, and isn't something that can be rushed.
That said, they are all VERY nearly built, but requiring some of the final finishing touches now before they can finally be boxed up and sent out.
I've arranged for a collection on TUESDAY. This is absolutely NOT going to change! I just need this one additional day to get everything finished and packaged up. I'll get some beauty shots of everything for the update then if that's ok and follow up this update with a more substantial one either Monday night or Tuesday morning.
I would absolutely continue over the weekend (and usually do), but my wife has arranged a family trip away for my birthday this week. This is why I've arranged for them to be collected on Tuesday (my actual birthday!
) rather than the next available collection day (which would be Monday). This just gives me all of Monday (and the house to myself) to get everything packaged up and ready to go!In the meantime please ignore ANY communication from UPS. Their system has confused itself and sent out updates to a couple of people saying that their package is either on its way, or missing documents. This is NOT the case. Accurate updates won't go out until the packages have been collected.
Please believe me, I'm doing everything within my power to get these completed and out to you all as soon a a I can.
They are looking great, and can't wait to get them all laid out on Monday once they're fully assembled. I'll get some pictures then.
I'll check in again with my usual picture heavy update early next week.
Sorry (again) for not quite hitting my target, and for any disappointment/frustration.
I really was very close!
There won't be any more extensions now, and Tuesday is set in stone as the day that Batch two will be leaving! I'll then be moving straight on to assembly of batch three. Again, the parts for this batch are all finished and fully weathered. Please allow some time for assembly though as this has proven to be a big task in itself.
Signing off for now...
Hope you all have a great weekend.
Looking forward to getting these out to you very soon.
All the best and MTFBWY!
Dave
As per usual mate, your communication to your customers is flawless. Your passion for this hobby clearly burns inside you and you are a credit to this forum. Enjoy some well deserved time off. Hope you have a great Birthday!
