Poll

Which of the following statements most closely matches your feelings on a 6"x6" ceiling tile being included in the "Modular Starship Interior" kickstarter campaign?

It should be the third tile of the initial goal.
It would make a nice stretch goal.
It doesn't have to be part of the set.
I have no desire for a ceiling panel.

Author Topic: Econoliner: Corridors - NOW WITH PROTOTYPES!  (Read 12160 times)

Offline Tamer

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Re: Coming soon - Modular Starship Interiors
« Reply #60 on: April 30, 2014, 02:56:04 AM »
Doc, after talking with Twlefth Parsec, he was pretty clear in that Shapeways was very expensive and that there are some other places out there to print your prototypes in a better quality at a cheaper price. I would have to go listen to that podcast again to remember the businesses or sites he used, but it might save you some money.

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Coming soon - Modular Starship Interiors
« Reply #61 on: April 30, 2014, 07:49:11 AM »
I remember he mentioned some alternatives, but yeah - I need to go listen to it again to catch the names so I can check them out.

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Coming soon - Modular Starship Interiors
« Reply #62 on: May 04, 2014, 03:55:12 PM »
We've been running pell-mell so hard the past couple of weeks that getting a good update published has been a little bit of a challenge – by the time I could let you know what we'd done, we'd done more!  So with it being the weekend and with a number of other things coming together to create a bit of a calm spot (probably the eye at the center of the storm), I wanted to take some time and bring our fans and followers up to date on several topics.

Angel-backer – this hasn't been resolved yet.  The individual who expressed interest in supporting our endeavour had to leave the state due to work-requirements.  He has continued to express interest in our “Econoliner” project and wants to discuss it again in the future, once he gets back to town.

Econoliner: Corridors – Holey Moley!!  ::RIGHT NOW:: we have six wall-panels (two are a mirrored design to show the door from both sides), three floor/ceiling panels with spots for column ends to snap in, 3 floor/ceiling panels without those points, a column system with both straight columns and an arch, and several snap-in viewports.  The connectors have been designed to allow straight corridors, inside corners, outside corners, enclosed rooms and multiple levels.  We are awaiting funding to have all the pieces prototyped to check our fit-ups.  Once that is cleared, we'll shoot our video and launch our Kickstarter.  I also want to have my artist put together a showcase of our existing designs and maybe show how some things look fitted together.

Even if someone handed me the funding we needed to get our prototypes made today, it would be at least 3 weeks before we launched the crowd-funding campaign.  Then we'd be the length of the campaign (4 weeks?), a few days to collect the funding, a week to order the materials to make the molds and the resin, and then another week or so to get the first molds made and into production.  So, all told, we're a minimum of 8 GOOD weeks out from starting to ship Econoliner: Corridors panels if we could order up our prototypes today.

We are continuing to look ahead to new projects, as well.  What about wall panels designed with LED lighting in mind?  What about functioning data-display screens?  Bunk-rooms with beds in the walls?  These are some of the ideas we are looking at for future releases.

Other orders – We spent the weekend working on pulling a number of orders for shipping tomorrow.  In addition, we are making progress on shipping quotes for non-US orders.  I checked our pile and right now we have just three foreign orders that need pulling for quotes by USPS.  (I think there is at least one missing – I'll be rechecking emails this week to verify.)  So, if you have contacted me about shipping outside the US, we're working on it.  (In general, it is a significant hassle for us to try and teach our local backwoods post offices how to handle foreign shipping!!  EVERY TIME!!)

Other news – I got called Friday to go back to work for an as-yet-unknown length of time.  That means I will be away from home for probably 15 hours a day, 6 days a week.  Filling orders will turn into a significant challenge, until we change how some things are handled.  I'm going to bring on at least one production assistant.  On the extremely positive side, it means I'll be able to foot the bill for the Econoliner prototypes myself on my own schedule, regardless of the potential backer.  I am expecting this to last several months.  There is the possibility it will last in the 18-month range.  This would be good for my bank-account, but means I will have to entrust more production tasks to others.  That makes me nervous.

So that's where things are right now. 

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #63 on: May 12, 2014, 02:55:52 PM »
I updated the thread with the official name of the project. 

Wanted to drop in with an update - Econoliner: Corridors is still plugging along!  I got a little time in with my CAD artist last week and we sat down this morning for a major work-session.  We have other projects in the works besides E:C, but this is our biggest one underway. 

Similar to the way we've designed the viewports to connect to the walls, we've developed a small family of storage bins.  (They also have the benefit of working as footers to help lock the wall units into place.)  As a bonus, they work well in both directions.  Have a look!  (Currently, they are solid.  We're discussing the possibilities of hollow-cast units with removable doors - no promises!)

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #64 on: May 14, 2014, 07:53:40 PM »
My CAD artist showed me today that these storage bins are, in fact, hollow and can be made with removable doors.  So if you wanted to model a corridor with an overhead storage bin disgorging a lethal face-grabbing alien or a horde of fluffy, chirping lifeforms, it will be possible.  She has also worked on a "double" set, that looks distressingly like an ice cooler, rather than sci-fi furniture!

At my request, she's also started overhauling EVERYTHING to make a "minor" modification that will enhance the modularity and flexibility of the set...but means EVERY PIECE needs to be modified.  Since we're in a holding pattern for the moment anyway, as we await word on prototype funding, we're moving along with refining our products and reaching a bit further out for more detail pieces.

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #65 on: August 25, 2014, 01:14:56 PM »
Have I mentioned we have Econoliner prototypes being printed RIGHT NOW?? VERY SOON we will have the PHYSICAL WALLS in hand to show you with figures standing on them!  We expect some minor details to change, depending on how well the details work with figures - like the depressions in the floor not swallowing a Stormie's foot!


Offline Tamer

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #66 on: August 26, 2014, 02:27:02 AM »
It will be nice to see some of these printed in hand. Update on the front page.

Offline IMPURGE

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #67 on: August 26, 2014, 08:44:40 AM »
dare i say you are doing the lord's work here. of course i mean lord vader but regardless this is what customizers/dio builders have been needing for sooo long.

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #68 on: August 26, 2014, 10:16:00 AM »
Thanks, guys! Impurge, I think Lord Vader will be most pleased with my artist for quite some time. She's wanting to tackle a display for the new 6" figures - a Death Star set-up. Of course, my love is the 3.75" line, so if she does it for 6" then she'll have to do it for 3.75" also. ;D

I just want to be clear on this - the Econoliner project is going to happen!  Depending on my job situation, I may find it myself, slowly, until the next project finishes and then go into production, or we may set up and launch a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen sooner.

I heard from my printer who is handling the prototype creation and he told me or panels are scheduled to ship TONIGHT! We should have them in hand by the weekend to see how they look and what changes we need to make. Thanks to his help, I made a slight design change that drastically cut the cost of our master-parts.  This means a lot of good things for us, including the possibility of aging in another model or two to the campaign, if we go that route.

Stay tuned - and may the Force be with us all!

Offline hemble

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #69 on: August 26, 2014, 11:50:23 PM »
Damn that looks impressive and I hope you do tackle the 6" walls that would be awesome.

Ron

Offline Mr. Black

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #70 on: August 27, 2014, 02:04:41 PM »
Keeps getting better with every update, Doc. Man, I really need to get back at working on my Transport in Sketchup. I'm afraid I can hardly remember how it works  :-\

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #71 on: August 28, 2014, 10:41:37 AM »
The doors are designed so that they are mirror-images of each other, so that they fit together to make a double-sided wall. We've got an idea or two for making them actually functional when put in place, but we'll know more about that once we have the prototypes actually in-hand.

Offline DocOutlands

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - in development
« Reply #72 on: August 30, 2014, 02:17:40 PM »
WE HAVE PROTOTYPES IN HAND!!!!!  WOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!

We had 4x wall panels and 1x floor panel test-printed for us.  VERY promising!  Sure, there are some design changes I want to make before we have them produced, but that's the way it goes.  We're also still working on a way to make them interconnect reliably and securely.  BUT ENOUGH DRIVEL!!  PICTURES!!!!


Offline Tamer

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - NOW WITH PROTOTYPES!
« Reply #73 on: August 31, 2014, 07:21:08 AM »
Very cool Doc. I talked about this and your E Crater store a bit on CAFN last night. Off to share.

Offline Commander_Kurgan

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Re: Econoliner: Corridors - NOW WITH PROTOTYPES!
« Reply #74 on: August 31, 2014, 10:41:43 AM »
Doc, this looks great.
When you've worked out the little flaws, you'll have a first-class item and I bet it will sell very well.
Cool stuff!
Kurgan's Showcase: http://kurganscustoms.blogspot.com

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