beowulphx

[beowulphx]

I had someone suggest that, to go along with all my display stands for the Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron & Action Fleet lines, I should also make some Star Trek Accessories. And darn it, I apparently have a weakness for all things 1" action figure scale. So, I got a good deal on a few of the Innerspace and Strike Force toys on Ebay, and started mashing stuff together... and it's led me down a whole rabbit hole of potential accessories and crossovers, lol. For now, though, I've got some display stands for the Trek Innerspace Apollo and 2 shuttlecraft sets, all in their own section of my Etsy shop. Don't know how popular they'll be, but they were a lot of fun to make!

[beowulphx]

Made a new thing! Well, THREE new things, but they're related and very similar. Based on the Ghost Eye hidden orbs from the 2009 Coraline movie, I made a set of 3d printed light up versions that I'm selling as a set. As disgusted as I am with Neil Gaiman as a person, it's hard to separate how integral some of his works were to who I tried to make myself into, and I know there are plenty of other young fans of this movie who don't know about his behavior, who just like the character and the story. I'll make stuff like this for them, and hopefully let them feel a little bit closer to their hero... so they know that the real monsters of our world can still be beaten. Available in my shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4311701609/coraline-ghost-eyes-set?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=bc98e6f2ba2b6f962d351790f45fda7ba4dcd99e%3A4311701609

In a similar vein, I've got a few props I've made from the Sandman series left over; I've taken down the listings for them from my Etsy shop, but I'm considering putting them back up as the 2nd Netflix season gets closer. I just want to get rid of them, give a little bit of visibility to all the other people who worked on the show (and did an amazing job) before they knew what a shitstain the author was. If I do re-list that stuff, it'll only be so I can donate all the proceeds to Planned Parenthood or Random Acts.

[beowulphx]

New flight stands available! It's been a busy weekend for me! I've been having an absolute blast making things for the #StarWars #MicroGalaxySquadron line, and I keep forgetting to show off my work, lol. Here's an info dump:

TIE Striker stands have been added to my TIE Silencer listing; it'll hold the ship securely in 3 different positions, and all of them with the wings angled up or down. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1874151885/tie-silencer-tie-striker-3d-printed?ref=shop_home_active_2&crt=1&sts=1&logging_key=2e27982c7f1759504761e8de9666f25e9d508db1%3A1874151885

I added a new listing for some clear "universal" ball joint stands, these will fit the Desert Skiff, Fiend Fighter, Droid Tri-Fighter, and probably the Z95 and other future ships too. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1886192196/universal-ball-joint-3d-printed-stand?ref=shop_home_active_1&sts=1&logging_key=51a85f9927d3c97c027dca1fa811c11032dfa405%3A1886192196

Also, while it's not my intention to keep re-configuring my older existing stands, sometimes I have ideas that can add functionality or strength to make it worthwhile. My Marauder base has been fortified with columns inspired by the Bad Batch's time on Pabu, and I figured out a way to let my U-Wing stand show the ship angled left or right. It's my intention to keep at least a couple of every ship stand available for the folks who are new to the line, and for those who maybe finally get their white whale of a chase. To that end, I have, and will continue to keep making stands for things like Grievous' Soulless One fighter and the Ginivex fanblade, lol https://www.etsy.com/shop/GwydionsForest?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1636932020&from_page=listing§ion_id=42179283 One other thing I'm REALLY thrilled with is my Droid Dungeon, which is a 1/72 scale rebuild of the old Kenner Jabba's Dungeon & Droid Factory sets from the 1980's. It was an interesting challenge to see how accurate I could make it, while redesigning some aspects to work with a 3D printer instead of injection molded parts. I'm excited to see what other sets I can re-create, and maybe do more of my own versions too!

[beowulphx]

I didn't make a new flight stand for the #Jazwares #StarWars #MicroGalaxySquadron Desert Skiff. The ball joint display stand it comes with is just about perfect, and nothing I make would be sturdy or durable enough to compete with that. So I made a base for the base. I worked up my own version of the Sarlacc pit from #ReturnOfTheJedi, and added 2 slots where the skiff base could slide in (making room for a double-skiff display, since walmart is supposed to be getting an exclusive 2 skiff box set). Then I made a movable "beak" (it will rotate or can be removed completely, if you're not a fan of the "special edition" effect) some holes for pipe-cleaner tentacles, and an evacuation chute if you can't wait 1,000 years to get your figure back. And then, since I still have all my original #ActionFleet toys, I made an adaptor that will let the #MicroMachines version of the skiff from 1997 use the base as well. I am having a blast playing with my toys!

I don't have a listing for this in my Etsy shop yet, but I'm hoping to have that added later today. If you're a fan of the line or just want to see some of the other stuff I make, check out my shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/gwydionsforest/?section_id=42179283

[beowulphx]

I've been very busy cranking out as many #jazwares #starwars #microgalaxysquadron flight stands as I can. My 2 3d printers have been running non-stop for weeks to keep up with the demand, and I've gone from ordering a couple reps of filament per month, to needing 3 or 4 per week! As a maker, it's a great problem to have! My latest design is for the series 4 #Ywing fighter. It's a little larger than most other fighter class ships, but it's well balanced and has a center of mass that makes it easy to support. I wanted to see if I could make a stand that gives people a choice of display, either level, or at a more dynamic upward angle that I'm becoming increasingly fond of. The resulting stand ended up looking like an abstract squirrel, but works great! Stable, small footprint in both orientations, and prints cleanly with no supports. Really happy with it, and now I'm thinking about redoing most of my other stands to give them the same dual position options! All my current stands and their downloadable STL files can be found in my #etsy shop here: www.gwydionsforest.etsy.com

[beowulphx]

The #Jazwares #MicroGalaxySquadron #SithInquisitor transport, like the #BadBatch #HavocMarauder, was a large challenge to design a stand for. I needed to make sure it had plenty of clearance for the wings to fold down, but also wanted to see if I could leave room for the ramp to open, at least partially. I also made it look a little more organic and for added menace, threw a #Sith symbol from #RiseOfSkywalker on there too!

[beowulphx]

This stand was a bit of a tricky one to design. While I wanted to keep the footprint small and print without supports, the versatility of the #GauntletStarfighter with its rotating wings meant it could be positioned at multiple angles, and I wanted to make sure it could be shown off in as many ways as possible! I made the stand to hold the ship by one wing, but in 3 different positions. Banked, right, left, and straight vertical. It works, it's stable, and it's fairly unobtrusive, but I may revisit this one if i get the time.

[beowulphx]

This is the ship that inspired me to start making stands for the #Jazwares #StarWars #MicroGalaxySquadron line. #AsajjVentress' fan blade ship from the #GenndyTartakovsky #CloneWars cartoon comes with a small clear stand, but it can only be displayed with the fan partially closed and doesn't have landing gear. I decided to give it a more dynamic posethat allows it to be shown fully open! (One day, I'd like to design a replacement closed fan insert that has landing gear, but that's a project for a later time)

[beowulphx]

Really proud of this one, my #Jazwares #MicroGalaxySquadron #StarWars #LAAT stand. Designed to print without supports, hold one LAAT and 4 scout class #SpeederBikes, and have a small footprint while allowing clearance for another LAAT (or similarly sized vehicle) underneath. With the number of repaints and variations for this ship, I wanted to maximize display space!

[beowulphx]

Adding to my #StarWars #MicroGalaxySquadron Stand collection, a smaller set of tabs that will hold 3 scout class #SpeederBikes in formation. I also add at least one clear PLA version of this with every order of stands! Great for army building and diorama display!

[beowulphx]

An update to my previous post about the #Jazwares line of #StarWars #microGalaxySquadron ships. I've been having a lot of fun designing some 3D printed stands for several different models now, and have expanded them to have their own section in my #EtsyShop! (Check them out at GwydionsForest.Etsy.com: https://www.etsy.com/shop/gwydionsforest/?section_id=42179283 ) The challenge was to make them relatively simple to print with no supports, but to have ample clearance for the wings/guns etc to be displayed in flight mode, while having a smaller footprint and still being stable. For the #BadBatch #HavocMarauder, I also added some tabs to hold a couple of the scout class speeder bikes, and room for Hunter's AT-RT underneath, so all of #CloneForce99 could be displayed together!

[beowulphx]

Last weekend, I had the chance to go to #Creation’s #SPNNJ2023 con and meet most of the main actors from #Supernatural. It was a great time! (a little expensive, but fun! I definitely reccommend doing #KimRhodes and #BriannaBuckmaster’s #PajamaParty if you’re able)  My wife, Shannon, found a video of #MishaCollins showing off his #Trebuchet (you can see it here: https://youtu.be/-hcNV9T_0AY?t=1194) so for our photo op with him, I drew up a Mallrats-inspired blueprint of our adventures using Vera (my very favorite trebuchet) one Halloween. It was a simple drawing, but I had a lot of fun making it, and pleased I was able to work in a stick figure batman mask and #JensenAckles’ bow legs, lol

[beowulphx]

Jazwares Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron Flight Stands

Something new I'm trying out-

I was a big collector of the older Micro Machines Star Wars Action Fleet line of ships and figures- 6" ships with opening cockpits, folding wings and landing gear that were a lot easier to store and display than the larger Kenner toys. So when I saw that Jazwares was making a new toy line at almost the exact same scale, I gave myself permission to go a little nuts with it, lol.

These new toys have some amazing detail, from the landing gear that folds up almost seamlessly, to the molded flight controls and painted weathering... but they lack one thing: STANDS! So far, they can only be displayed at rest, or in the case of the Jedi Starfighter, in parts. So I'm setting out to fix that. Thus far, I've only got a couple preliminary designs, for the Fett Firespray (formerly "Slave I", but sold as repaints as Jango Fett's Starship and Boba Fett's Starship) and the Jedi Starfighter that comes with the removable hyperdrive ring. I've kept them very basic, just adding my shop logo underneath, and some Aurebesh labelling to make it at least a little easier to remember which ship goes with what stand, but I'm hoping to add more as my collection grows (and I can get my hands on more ships to take measurements)

[beowulphx]

What I've been up to...

Spent most of the past year going through Merit America's Full-Stack Java developer program. It was an intensive, frustrating process at times, and the workload and learning curve were steep! But with the support of my family and friends and some EXCELLENT coaches and fellow students, I completed the course and was able to remind myself how much I enjoyed learning new skills and playing with new technologies. While I've been lucky enough to continue working full-time throughout the pandemic, I've also been throwing myself whole-heartedly at the job search, trying to keep up with my Etsy shop and develop some coding projects to build up a programming portfolio of sorts. To that end, I just uploaded a more polished version of my Big Bang Theory inspired "Paper/Rock/Scissors/Lizard/Spock" game to GitHub, link below.

My hope is that I'll be able to keep building on that to make more complex versions with added features (Score tracking database, browser interface, etc) But for now, it's a fairly enjoyable text game completely built from scratch that I'm proud of.

[beowulphx]

[beowulphx]

Been way too long since I added something to Thingiverse- been busy with a new Java Coding course, about 12 weeks into it now. Took a quick break to put this little guy together; the GISH mascot for 2022. Haven’t finished actually printing one yet, but I thought the design came out pretty well for about an hour’s worth of work in tinkercad and meshmixer!

[beowulphx]

Thanks, #WilWheaton, for bringing this to my attention: I'm an #EtsySeller, and while I'm very grateful for the opportunity to sell my #Crafts online, I've seen my shop's fees more than double since last year. Today, Etsy plans to implement another fee increase. I'll be placing my shop on VacationMode for the rest of this week in solidarity with the #EtsyStrike; please consider signing the petition here:

As we haven’t posted our petition here yet, thought I’d start by sharing it!