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.
Poll