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Exciting times


TheSwede

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Ordered a FOTK from KB props and after some delay they made an annoncement that they entered a partnership and that they will supply different plastics at a much faster rate. I jumped on the Pet-G version and it will be pulled on a live stream on thursday - should be interesting:)

 

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Hello all!

My name is Hal and I own The Sandbox: A PixelArts Studio in Las Vegas. This is where Kevin moved at the beginning of the year and I will be partnering with KB for his Armor Builds going forward. I understand he is a little behind and after talking with him for a bit I have come up with some solutions and an update for all of you.

-I will be handling fulfillment from now on. Messages will still go to the KB Props page, but payments will go to the Sandbox paypal and I will be giving shipping dates when payment is confirmed.
-We will institute a “Runs” system here at the shop. We will spend a week pulling parts for a particular suit. Then move to the next style the next week and so on, on a month long rotating schedule.
-We have access to a new, bigger, Vaccuform so there will be less waste, but ordering plastic will now come in bulk. Up till this point Plastic has been ordered on a needs basis and going forward it will have to be ordered a pallet at a time. This leads to the second part of my announcement.

We will be offering a couple different tiers of suits.

#1 ABS- This is the most common and unfortunately the most difficult plastic to get. Most bulk suppliers make smooth/haircell. We don’t want this as it leaves a rough texture to the plastic and requires a lot of sanding to make smooth. Smooth/Smooth (Virgin) is most commonly “Special order”. It requires me to order a pallet, the factory then resets to make the specialty plastic, and means I have to wait roughly 4 weeks for the factory to make it, then ship it to my local hub and me to pick it up from there. This is currently the longest wait, as I have to wait until I have a stockpile of plastic here to offer it for same day shipping. (Meaning I would order more plastic before I run out never effecting my ability to provide suits.)

#2 Polystyrine- This is a little more “brittle” but comes with amazing detail. Detail I have a very hard time achieving with ABS. It does not like to flex as complex shapes, but in almost all cases if you take off the return edge it is as flexable and durable as ABS. This I can ship Vaccuformed in literally 1-3 days.

#3 Pet-G- This is a newer form of plastic. The ABS Kevin has used up until this point has been .093 ABS and Pet-G will come in .060. It comes clear. And with a film on both surfaces. This is the plastic all major manufacturers are moving to as it is Food safe and Vaccuforms as cleanly as PolyStyrine with the durability of ABS and nearly 1/3rd lighter than ABS. This I can ship Vaccuformed in literally 1-3 days.

With these new plastics and the new schedule what you will see is a much quicker turn-around for suits from order to shipment with the goal being no one orders a suit and then it is pulled. From now on the goal Kevin and I have set is that we will have a stock of suits and when one is ordered it will be pulled from inventory and sold and then stock being replenished when we get to its “Run” week.

Kevin has worked hard to build his business and I am not interested in taking it over. Kevin and I will be working as a team. Kevin will no longer have to pull suits. With this new partnership he will be more able to focus on making new suit styles and will leave the production of your suits to The Sandbox.

I will be making a list of all outstanding orders. Should anyone want to take their order right now in PolyStyrine or Pet-G I will happily pull the order and ship it immediately, for all those who wish to get their suit in ABS, The Sandbox will be placing a bulk order on Friday the 6th of April and 4 weeks after that should receive our shipment and begin filling your orders. If I find anyway to order this plastic faster I will.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience in this transition. And I look forward to working with all of you!

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Should be interesting to hear feedback on working with these new materials! Plus finding out how durable they really are in real work conditions after some trooping.

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44 minutes ago, ShadyP said:

I'm also waiting on a FOTK kit from KB but I'm hesitant to switch to the pet-g as I've always dealth with ABS.  Does anyone know anything about this material that I don't?

I have no clue but should be interesting to find out and I’m terrible at waiting :smiley-sw013:

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Following as well. Not sure how I feel about the clear plastic. Just seems foreign to me lol. Hope it works out well for you all. 

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Had a quick chat with Hal yesterday and by the sound of things it`s pretty straight forward in how you deal with ABS, looking forward getting it to see for myself:)

It`s lighter so might be loosing out on the "feel of an actual armor" but I only care about looks so:P And with the Pet-G you have no choice but to paint but apparently it takes to paint better than ABS and from what i understand most FOTK builds paint anyways. 

 

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Good to hear! I looked quickly at the short live videos they posted but since it was from a 360 camera, I didn't find that I could see a whole lot. There was a photo posted on Jsin painting a thigh...anyone else learn anything new about this stuff? Hopefully those who are the first to get armour made out of these can document their builds thoroughly for the benefit of the rest of us! ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...
On ‎2018‎-‎04‎-‎04 at 2:12 AM, lucnak said:

Saw that and really hope this helps improve their service!

 

Apparently not sad to say as I´m still waiting...

 

#3 Pet-G- This is a newer form of plastic. . This I can ship Vaccuformed in literally 1-3 days. Should anyone want to take their order right now in PolyStyrine or Pet-G I will happily pull the order and ship it immediately

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2 hours ago, TheSwede said:

 

Apparently not sad to say as I´m still waiting...

 

#3 Pet-G- This is a newer form of plastic. . This I can ship Vaccuformed in literally 1-3 days. Should anyone want to take their order right now in PolyStyrine or Pet-G I will happily pull the order and ship it immediately

Maybe he meant "figuratively 1-3 days".  People always misuse "literally".  :P Ok, I'll shut up now.

 

That sucks.  Luckily, you literally have like a dozen other builds to work on. ;)

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23 hours ago, wook1138 said:

Maybe he meant "figuratively 1-3 days".  People always misuse "literally".  :P Ok, I'll shut up now.

 

That sucks.  Luckily, you literally have like a dozen other builds to work on. ;)

And maybe it was meant to be 1-3 MONTHS:duimomlaag: oh well....*sigh* 

 

 

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Well...to much excitement...KB props is by his own words shutting down and refering those waiting to paypal.....that´s me (and a lot of others) I guess:explodingemotie:

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:56pullhair:

Oh, wow, that totally sucks!!!  I know things happen with vendors and all, but still.  

So sorry, Daniel!  

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