The last three days have been spent on location in Vista California. A 4 hour drive from Ventura and a brutal one at that.  I have never seen more  accidents and driving with “total want and disregard “. This has directly increased with the bad politics in this country to such a level it’s worth your life to drive anywhere.
 Fortunately for Mary and I we were in our motorhome which tends to keep them away. By the time we got to the grandchildren’s home in Vista we were exhausted. Three days there, Elaina’s 7th birthday party and sleeping in the motorhome Mary and I are pretty spent. To add insult to injury, Elaina’s 2 year old sister was sick. Mary and the whole household got it(except me). Then there was the 4 hours of driving back home. We saw 8 cars pile up in the carpool lane. They were always such a lame idea. Half the people in the lane don’t have passengers anyway or electric vehicles.

So far I have been spared the cold or whatever it is. Today I’m going to the studio alone to catch up on orders I’m now behind on. Getting sleep hasn’t been stellar either with Mary coughing and being in discomfort during the night.

With Mary sick I think Thanksgiving may be a wrap so I may work that day too just to catch up.
Whatever she has she can smell and taste. So it’s not covid. Either way this is no fun. Next time I’m wearing a mask when we go there or I’m staying home.
Sorry for the delay to all my customers. I’ll keep at it because “I don’t believe in a no win Scenario”. 😉

I mostly worked on the Star Destroyer base yesterday. I need to get this model finished and orders are coming in again and I need to attend to them next week and get them all out the door before Thanksgiving.

The mask, ears, and bust all need to dry over the weekend and Tuesday they get painted.
I made another SNG Shorts video that has a short tour as well as work at the shop yesterday. Give it a watch now in 4K and real sound. Yes I’m using the pro camera and mic again. The iPhone just doesn’t cut the mustard.

The base needs two more coats of tung oil next week but it’s nearly there. The video explains.

I also ran the studio dirt track at linch for fun!

And some pictures of my Iron Giant in the Gallery because he’s so cool.

I’ve put enough lights in the model and I need to take down some of the brightness however the camera tends to make things look brighter then they are. Next is to close the model and add the remaining few parts and do the final paint job and base.

Mask, communion Bust and ears are ready to paint next week after they thoroughly dry out over the weekend. Made a base for the Communion bust out of resin to simulate marble.

And here’s a short video showing the base being made, pulling the mask out of the mold and the Communion bust work

Lots more done again yesterday. Got some more orders for masks. Poured rubber. Made spock ears and worked on new production molds for the slot car.

And we added more fiber optics to the Star Destroyer. I think it has nearly enough and it’s time to close this model off, satin the base and paint the model with weathering effects and call it done.

Here’s some pictures and a new short video series called “SNG Studio Shorts” which takes you quickly through the day’s work.

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Yesterday was a mix. I poured orders for and Communion bust and original Spock Ears for the Ticonderoga Star Trek Set Tours Museum.

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I used for the first time my pressure pot for resin casting and cast parts from my new molds for the Slot Car kit I’m producing. They came out great. No bubbles and even the tiniest parts like the steering wheel came out of the molds perfectly.

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I vacuumed formed the first wind screen for the slot car and test fit it and the resin cast exhaust. Mounted the motor to the frame and put some dummy wheels on the car until the scale wheels and tires show up from New Zealand. This car is going to work out very well. I used an old Mattel vacuum former from the 60’s to do a first test. Later I’ll use the large vacuum form machine to make up to 20 at one time.

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The motors arrived from Canada from Solarbotics and they are excellent. Perfect fit exactly so the seat fits in and a full driver and cockpit.

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And lastly a bunch more fiber optics in the Star Destroyer! I should finish all the lighting today.
Great day. I want another today! 

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Not much to report from Monday. I had molds to make and masters to clean up before I could make those molds. Back to the endless stringing of fiber optics today and more. Here’s a few pictures from yesterday.

I reworked the slot car test frame and got the crown gear to fit and added the slot guide. Motor mount goes in next and the motors I received from Canada yesterday. Wind screen master was finished and molded too. Now I can vacuum formed and make resin parts using the new pressure pot.

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I love racing. And Assetto Corso via force feedback equipment combined with HP Reverb VR headsets is amazing. Except for the lack of G-forces it’s pretty realistic right down to the graphics, sounds, and physics.

For some reason the F1 race I had didn’t record. In that race out of 22 cars I came in 8 positions. Sadly many people who race in the sims don’t take it as seriously as they should and run into you costing you your position. But some servers I have found have adult serious drivers that know how to drive.

If you are enjoying the many articles and video shows we make buy us a Cup of Coffee. This helps keep our doors open and the many videos about “How to Make Things” coming. The studio is pretty much non profit and a lot of support comes from people like you.

And here’s that link to “By me a coffee”: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SNGStudio

Thanks as always to our many supporters!