Gailbraithe Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Sorry I haven't been down at the club recently. I've been swamped getting Gailbraithe Games up and running, and still have a lot more work to do. The shop building itself is finally done except for painting the trim. It's got power, insulation, interior walls, everything you want in a shop. Even air conditioning. The next step is assembling this mess into a functioning workbench: The machines for casting are all here, as are the initial molds, so once the workbench is done and the machines have been moved in place -- which should be by the end of next week -- I'll get started on making the first molds and doing some casting. I'm going to be really happy when I can finally work on a miniatures project again. I recently picked up some awesome stuff to add to the store's terrain collection: And also this: I might try to make it down this next tuesday, especially if someone is interested in playing 7TV, but I might just wait until the week after because I have to be in stupid traffic court at stupid early in the morning next Tuesday. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generalripphook Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Wait you are starting a game store? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Wait you are starting a game store? No, a miniatures line. Remember these guys: Everything should, I hope, be up and running by the end of May at the latest. I'll be launching with 11 figures, and hopefully adding 1 each month for the rest of the year, then slowly ramping up to 3 new models per month. And I'm talking with the guys who publish 7TV about maybe licensing their rules and using them as the base for a revamped RAGE. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMGraham Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 That's exciting! The terrain is great but ... CASTING!!! Did you have the initial spin molds made elsewhere, or did you get your vulkanizing press? Not sure if "vulkanizing press" is the right word, but I'm guessing you know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generalripphook Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Are you gonna launch it on kickstarter or anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 That's exciting! The terrain is great but ... CASTING!!! Did you have the initial spin molds made elsewhere, or did you get your vulkanizing press? Not sure if "vulkanizing press" is the right word, but I'm guessing you know what I mean. It's called a "Vulcanizer." I found this one in Canada: The single biggest hurdle left before everything is done and I'm ready to start casting is actually going to be getting the damn thing in place. Right now its sitting in my carport still on the pallet it was deliver on. It weighs 600 pounds. I'm going to have hire a whole crew of dudes to move it into the shop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 Are you gonna launch it on kickstarter or anything? Not planning to right now, but I might if I don't see any traffic from my initial press blitz. Maybe if/when I decide to launch an actual game I'll do a kickstarter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 Finished my workbench! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 Check it out! Vulcanizer, meltping pots, casting centrifuge, and air compressor, plus tool board. I'm almost ready to begin making my first molds, but I encountered a mind-bogglingly stupid problem once I got the vulcanizer in place: The power cord is too short to reach the outlet. By, I kid you not, THREE INCHES. So I had to order an extension cord and it hasn't shown up yet (240v extension cords are hard to find). It was either that or tear open the wall and move the outlet. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Son of a bitch. I got the extension cord for the vulcanizer only to discover that the platens don't heat up, the jack that supplies the pressure is missing parts, and worse the jack has been discontinued by the original manufacturer and new parts aren't available. I'm going to have to buy a whole new vulcanizer, and because the goddamn electricians lied to me about how soon they could get my shop wired for power, I'm already past the return-by date so I don't know if I can get my money back for this $1500 piece of crap. I am so pissed off right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMGraham Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Man, that bites! You're close, though. You're very close! Was it a second-hand vulcanizer? If not, I'd imagine the company would have some vested interest in making certain their products work and customers are satisfied with such a specialty product. If so, it leaves you with little recourse. Unless you paid for it with a credit card? Sometimes their protection extends pretty far. The cash bite hurts, I'm sure, but I also no how much waiting sucks. I imagine you were really excited to get things running, and crushed when it didn't work out. Hang in there. You've got a great set-up, awesome greens, and are almost there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted April 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Man, that bites! You're close, though. You're very close! Was it a second-hand vulcanizer? If not, I'd imagine the company would have some vested interest in making certain their products work and customers are satisfied with such a specialty product. If so, it leaves you with little recourse. Unless you paid for it with a credit card? Sometimes their protection extends pretty far. The cash bite hurts, I'm sure, but I also no how much waiting sucks. I imagine you were really excited to get things running, and crushed when it didn't work out. Hang in there. You've got a great set-up, awesome greens, and are almost there! Yeah, it's second hand. The bigger problem is that I didn't actually buy it -- my step-dad owes me a lot of money, and he put it on his credit card as a partial repayment, so there's basically nothing I can do except wait for him to deal with it. Plus, even if he does get the money back and I can get a new one quickly, there's the problem of moving this 400 pound hunk of garbage out of my shop and disposing of it. I had to pay a crew of guys just to get it in place, and now I'm going to have re-hire them to move it out, then move another one back in. This is just eating up money in a bad way, but I'm way too invested to abandon things at this point. I am starting to worry this is going to do long term financial damage though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gailbraithe Posted May 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2016 Hey, so, things went from bad to worse. I was stressing out about this damn vulcanizer so much that my cigarette consumption rose to 2 packs a day, and then my mom came up to help me do a big spring cleaning and I ended up inhaling a lot of dust. So much dust. And then my right lung filled with fluid and I ended up in the hospital. My asthma has gone into full overdrive and the last few weeks have been pretty rough, but I'm mostly recovered. I haven't had the energy to do, well, anything, which is why I haven't been down to the store (and won't be down tonight, I'm still not up for a night of standing on my feet and talking to people). But I did manage to get the vulcanizer disassembled, pulled out the jack that isn't working, and today I drove it down to some hydraulics experts in Lynden, and it should be fixed within a week. Then I just have to reassemble the whole thing and finally I can get started on making molds and casting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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