November 16, 2022 • 41 mins
Derek "Halloween" Young and Darren "Costume" Moser are back! It's been another month since the duo recapped their latest project and con visits. Since then Halloween has come and gone with many projects in the works. And a broken laser. We can't wait to share these experiences with you.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Welcome to the nerd Party. Welcometo the Maker's Method podcast here on the
nerd Party Network. I'm your host, Darren Moser aka Doctor sci Fi,
and I'm joined as always by DerekYoung of Van Oaks Props. And this
(00:25):
is turning into like a monthly everytwo months show of Terrek. But we're
trying to bring it back. It'sbeen a very busy, busy time,
it has. And I think wehave an earlier episode where we talked about
just how crazy it gets around Halloweenfor me. Yes, and this year
(00:45):
was no different. Yeah. Well, last we spoke, it was kind
of mid September, and so youwere just descending into the cemetery, not
to be not to see your shadowagain for six six weeks. Yes,
yes, it's the jack O Lanternequivalent of punk Satani Phil. So how
(01:06):
was I was Halloween? I didn'tget a chance to get out to see
the cemetery, but I saw alot of your pictures and I know you
were working on your your hot list, So how how did that all go?
Another successful year in the books.You know, it's it's hard to
judge success for something like decorating forHalloween, because you know, there's a
(01:30):
lot of variables that can determine whetheror not people will show up to see
your your work, and this yearwas a little bit different than years past.
We try to set up two weeksin advance of Halloween so that people
can you know, take the timeget out see some local decorated houses and
(01:56):
whatnot. And so we do itfor two weeks and often have plenty of
people that will show up to seewhat's what's new, or to see it
for the first time, or youknow, our house is one of those
things that sort of is a mustsee every year kind of thing, and
(02:20):
this year, I feel like therewas definitely less people coming to see us
in the two weeks before Halloween thanusual. But because I do the big
list of all of the decorated housesand you know walkthroughs and attractions and things
for Southern California, I will saythat there were more submissions to the website
(02:46):
to be included on this list thisyear than there have been in any of
the years that I've been doing this. So in one in one camp,
yes, very successful. There's alot of stuff for people to get out
and see, and the work thatI do making that list, you know,
(03:08):
it is of benefit to people whowant to get out and see stuff
and make the most of Halloween season, but it also means that there were
less people that wanted to come tosee our house because there were so many
more options this year. So,you know, good and bad. I
(03:30):
we decorate because it's what I enjoydoing, you know, like it is
what it is, and whether peopleshow up or not, it doesn't matter
quite so much to me anymore,although I do enjoy being able to talk
to people and see what other thingsthey've seen, and just put an algorithm
(03:50):
in the website so that anything withinfive miles of your house just won't stick
on the map. And it's justyou're the only game. And now obviously
wouldn't do that now. So youknow, all that said, Halloween was
was good. The months leading upto it were quite busy. You know,
(04:10):
the YouTube channel really shifts into highgear once we basically get out of
summer, and you know, it'sit's always challenging to come up with new
ideas for video topics. And I'mI'm happy to be in November where I
(04:33):
can kind of take a bit ofa step back and recalibrate and stop thinking
about Halloween related projects for a bitand can get into some other stuff that
that just kind of uses a differentpart of my brain. So yeah,
I had a fun Halloween. Youknow. First off, for the kids,
(04:58):
we often will try to build ordo some sort of piece of a
costume for them. The hardest partis usually making sure they've committed to what
they want to do so we're notinvesting time and resources and then their minds
change. But my daughter went asa fox, and so my wife sewed
this really nice kind of bushy tailand some pieces into kind of address that
(05:23):
she could wear. And she reallyliked that because there wasn't really anything off
the rack that worked with that.But from my son, that was a
lot of fun because he wanted togo as Luigi, and so we had
a store bought Luigi costume. Ithink he already had. He really likes
Luigi right now. But he andI built together the Pultra Goes Pultra Gust
(05:47):
five thousand, which is the kindof vacuum cleaner backpack you use in the
Luigi's Mansion game, And so thatwas a fun build. We basically went
to a thrift store and got likean old red backpack, and I think
I got like an old vacuum cleanerjust for the hose and a few other
(06:09):
pieces from the store, and thenthe rest just made out of foam and
put a couple of lights in itand made some foam wheels and other little
greebly bits. But he loved it, and he's still been playing with it.
But that was a lot of funto put together, and people who
at least have played the game couldtell what it was. And obviously he
(06:30):
didn't carry it the entire trigger treating, you know, walk, but I
should have expected that. But itwas a lot of fun. Yeah,
there's there's no amount of persuasion thatwill change a child who has their mindset
on being a particular costume. AndI say this with experience because when I
(06:51):
was in the fourth grade, Iwanted to be a tombstone and it was
hands down, always the Tombstones withyou it is. It was hands down
the most uncomfortable costume I've ever worn. And imagine like walking miles in it,
where your stride is only like halfof what it normally is and your
(07:12):
shins just keep bumping up against thehard service of this box. It is
terrible and It didn't last either.By the end of the night, I
had taken the thing off. Itwas thrown in a ditch on the side
of the road. Who cares toomuch find a cemetery and add to it.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Sothat was Halloween night. But then
(07:32):
a couple weeks before the company Iwork at from my day job, they
really like Halloween. The previous CEOhis birthday was Halloween, and so it
was kind of baked in to companyculture. And now that we're back in
the office, this is kind ofthe first year that people could go back
(07:53):
to decorating and to wearing their costumes. We just did on a Wednesday that
we were all in the office.So I brought I wore my Imperial Officers
uniform, and I brought Katous andhis console, which was quite a site.
Um. Yeah, that was along week. It was like set
up on Monday, you know,us on Wednesday, and tear down on
(08:15):
Friday. But that was fun andI got a lot of compliments on it.
I mean, there is a costumecontest and a bunch of other things
that they do, but I waslike, I don't really want to deal
with that. And sure, he'sKju's having fun, but since his upgrade,
a lot of his pieces are needing. He's less, he's more fragile.
(08:39):
Now you know, there's parts thatare are better and are more articulate,
but he's not really the workhorse hewas before celebration. So he's going
to be He's going to be onthe bench for a little while, which
is fine. I'm definitely still keepinghim and still upgrading. But yeah,
just the rock saw alidness that youneed when you're walking with him and all
(09:03):
the pieces. It needs a goodshakedown before his next event. So he's
probably not going to make it toLa Comic Con. I was just going
to ask. Yeah, originally Iwas, but I kind of decided this
last week. I'm like, youknow, I don't think he's going to
be ready, but I'll bring beadyand I may still bring the console just
as some something people could stand inor it could look cool. I'll check
(09:26):
with the our booth people to seeif if they're interested in that space.
But if not, then there's wayless for me to bring. It's just
beady in his little carry case,so that should be fun. Yeah,
I mean, people do love agreat photo op. They do they do.
Definitely looks the part, and it'sit was built so that people could
(09:48):
stand on it and you know,take their take their photos. So yeah,
usually when Kju's here, he takesup the space, so it's not
as much of a photo op.But I think that could work. Do
you have a background for it oris it just the fight standing Joe,
It's just free standing. But Ithink they have a couple of backdrops that
(10:09):
they might bring. At some point, I might invest in some imperial looking,
you know, cloth background that Icould put up. The trick is
to have it far enough away thatpeople can step in and step out and
not bump up against it. ButI think that should be should be fine.
But yeah, we're having a bunchof Droid builders at La Comic Con
and I'll be moderating the Droid oneoh one panel, which I think is
(10:35):
noon on Sunday, So that shouldbe a pretty good, pretty good time.
Lots of panels this year with fans, which should be should be fun
nice. I know I was toyingwith the idea of attending. One of
my patrons asked if I was going, and I had completely forgotten. But
(10:56):
it's literally because we haven't record anepisode of the show, and so long
we haven't talked about it, andit just I'd forgotten that it was still
going on, and I thought aboutgetting tickets and then found out that missus
Van Oaks's company holiday party is thesame weekend. Oh well, that takes
(11:18):
it off the table. Yeah,and so now I will be joining her
up in the Bay Area for theweekend for that, which should be fun.
No, that sounds like a lotof fun. Yeah, it's not
as many cons this time of year. The next big troop is the Hollywood
(11:41):
Christmas Parade, which is always theSunday after Thanksgiving, and that's a lot
of fun and we're looking forward tothat. Last year we did it as
well. I think it only skippedone year during the pandemic in twenty twenty,
but yeah, it was I thinkI'm just going to do my Officer
and keep it simple droids this time. I mean, K two is definitely
(12:01):
not ready, but I don't Idon't know. I don't know if I'll
bring Beady. He's fun, butI would wear him like on my Officer,
which I don't know if I reallywant to do. So I'm and
I'm fine not bringing him. Hedoesn't have to come to every event,
so I think I'll just keep himat home. But I did buy some
(12:26):
belt boxes off of Etsy and someblack gloves because it's going to be cold,
so I added a couple of littleupgrades to my uniforms that should be
should be fun. I got apromotion, is what I got, some
my five year service buckle or somethingwhatever they call it now. But yeah,
no, that's so on the costumingside. That's one of the things
(12:50):
I'm looking forward. Usually not toomany troops around this time of year,
but there are some large troops withkind of an unlimited cap where you can
really throw a lot of people atand the Hollywood Christomer Christmas Parade is definitely
one of them. Yeah, Iwould imagine. So it's interesting. We
haven't had regular television for a fewyears and so like, I don't even
(13:16):
know where to go to watch theparade. I think I found a place
that streams it online. It won'tair until December. So what they do
is they film it and then theyedit together. So during the sunlight the
day, they'll have musical performances aton a stage. Then they break down
(13:37):
the stage or move it out ofthe way and then have the parade,
and then the edit is like goingback and forth between the commentators, the
musical numbers, and the parade.Yeah. Yeah, I feel like back
in the day they used to airit, and they might still air it
on KTLA, Is that right,Okay, so they'll probably stream local channel.
(14:01):
Yeah, off to tune in andsee if I can spot you in
the oh. Yeah. They usuallywe always joke about, you know,
how little seconds we get. Imean not that it's about getting a lot
of airtime. It's just there's somany of us. Were a huge chunk
of the parade, but they keepmoving us towards the front of the parade.
They definitely like us. But I'lllet you know once we find out
(14:24):
when it's going to be airing.Yeah, I know, we live in
this on demand world. It's like, I just want it on demand.
I just want to be able topush play and watch the parade. But
maybe someday we'll get there. Yeah. Yeah. So I know it's been
a minute since we've talked about anyof the projects that we're working on.
(14:45):
Well, you know, it's hardto do projects, Derek, when your
laser isn't working. So that's beenmy month. Yeah, my glow Forage
all of a sudden wasn't cutting likeit was engraving and etching and doing all
that other stuff, but it wouldnot cut for the life of me,
and I could not tell I cleanedthat thing so many times. It looked
(15:09):
not brand new, but really reallygood, and so I just finally called
it and glow Forge is sending memy replacement, which should be here on
tomorrow at the time of this recording, which should be nice. It's like
glow Forge Christmas Day all over again. But big thank to you for helping
(15:30):
me fill a couple of orders.As we're backup. Glow Forge buddies coming
in the clutch. But yeah,the thing I've missed the most is just
R and D. I love researchand development, trying new things, trying
new materials, cutting things, andthat's I mean. I haven't ran my
(15:50):
three D printer in ages because it'sso slow. In comparison, I can
have an idea and sketch it upin vector and then throw it in the
glow Forage, and within an houror two at the most, I can
have a prototype or something ready togo. And yeah, that's that's always
(16:11):
been a lot of fun and itwas definitely worth you know, it was
not cheap to get the refurbished fixedversion, but for me, I know
I can probably make that back ina couple of months at most, So
it's it's a it's a money maker. So it's like I can't just let
it be a boat anchor sitting onmy shelf for a long time, especially
(16:33):
this time of year. Yeah,Yeah, for sure, it's weird.
I've been I find myself vacillating backand forth between wanting to use the laser
cutter and wanting to use a threeD printer because I've been spending a lot
of time in Fusion three sixty reallylike trying to just expand my skill set
(16:57):
and get better at three modeling.And it's weird because there's definitely some stuff
that I know would be faster onthe laser, but but you're thinking in
layers. Really, it's like howdo you build it up layers? Yeah,
(17:18):
And then the other thing too isthat like I use Adobe Illustrator when
I'm doing any vector drawing, andit's not designed to work relationally like Fusion
does. So like, yes,I can make a box and I can
(17:40):
make another box, but I can'tmake those two things respond when one is
moved and things like that, andI can't go back and change those relations
with the variables that you can flucture, right, Yeah, And so I'm
(18:00):
sure there's a way to export allof my sketches from Fusion three sixty as
svgs, which could then be readby the glow forage and whatever. But
for some reason, I just I'msort of like, well, I'll just
throw this on the printer, youknow, right. And I also find
(18:23):
myself in one of those periods wherelike my printer is printing really well,
right, it's dialed in, youknow, like everything is just humming along,
and I just kind of want tothrow as many things onto it as
I possibly can. So one softwarethat I use, I think it's free
(18:45):
or it's not very expensive. Ifit's purchased, I can't recall. I
bought it ages ago. It's calledone two three D make, and what
it does is it takes a threedimensional object like an STL file or an
object file, and it can doa couple of different things. But one
of the things it does is itcan slice it as if you were making
(19:07):
it out of a certain thickness materialso like your laser so and it can
do a couple different things, likelet's say you had a cube. You
could tell it, okay, mymaterial is three millimeters thick and the object
is this big, and it willslice all of those pieces and then you
tell it how big your work surfaces, and it will then place them all
(19:32):
on it. So basically it convertsa three dimensional object into flat vector files
for like a glow forage. Butyou don't have to do it solid.
You could do it more open wherethere's like gaps it and it even computes
all of the tongue and groove andconnection points. So it's you know,
definitely not for every application, butit's a really interesting it does like one
(19:56):
thing well, like if you needto do that at so, i'd recommend
checking that out just for like youwere saying, you know, you're building
things three dimensionally infusion. This isa great program for turning that quickly into
something that your glow forwarde could handleif the case arose, which honestly,
the stuff that I've been working onthis week absolutely will I'm working on.
(20:22):
So I guess I'll let me backup here for a second. In the
beginning. In the beginning, therewas man So I think I've talked about
this on the show before. Istumbled across a Facebook group where it's hyperlocal
and it's people just looking to regiftthings to other people. So like,
(20:48):
you know, hey, I've gotsix coffee mugs that I never use.
Does anybody want them? Right?It's like a no sale trade groups like
I've seen most before. Yeah,the point is your local. You could
just drop it off, but whyactually exchange money when you don't want it.
It's a gift that it's not inyour house anymore exactly. And so
(21:11):
about a year ago, someone inthat group was looking to get rid of
a dog food storage container. NowI don't have a dog, but the
container itself looked very star wars eeand I immediately thought, like, I
have no idea what I would makewith it, but I know if I
(21:33):
don't tell them that I will gladlyaccept this dog food, it's gonna be
gone. By the time you thinkof something, it'll be gone, and
I'll kick myself for not moving onit sooner. And so I've just been
sort of pushing it around the shopfor like a year, trying to figure
out what I was going to useit for, and I finally landed on
(21:57):
because I think YouTube like served mesome videos on the topic, but basically
of turning it into a Bluetooth speaker, but it will be a sort of
in universe Star Wars bluetooth speaker.And so I've been working on all the
different sort of outside elements. It'sgot molded plastic parts with like dog paws
(22:23):
on it and stuff. It's youknow, it's cute dog stuff. But
I want to get rid of allof that and replace it with other things.
And so there's been a lot ofthree D modeling and printing and some
laser cutting and it's a whole thing. I'm excited to get started on the
(22:44):
project. I'd actually intended on startingit last week, but we ended up
having three days of rain and thebulk of my work I do outside,
and so that really crushed that dreamfrom happening, especially because like where do
you go to paint? Yeah,we're entering that time of year that might
(23:10):
not be paint time. Or youneed to build a booth inside, which
I've never Yeah, it's on mylist. You know. I've got the
vacuum forming machine that I've used threeor four times since I've had it,
(23:32):
and now it just takes up space. But I feel like with a bit
of reorganization, that could be agood spot at least for doing smallish things
like nothing bigger than a helmet,right, But most of the stuff I
do is about that size anyway,But you know, at any rate.
Yeah, So there's just been alot of like, oh do I three
(23:56):
D print this part or do Ithrow it on the laser? What do
I do? And then I justkind of end up coming back to the
three D printer. But it's interestingbecause I have that kind of feeling as
well. It's almost the when youhave a laser cutter, everything is a
(24:18):
laser project, like sure, Andwhen I'm designing, you know, objects
from my store, you know,I'm usually making like tabbed boxes or things
like that, and I'm always thinkingin like you know, there's certain pieces
that I know, Okay, ifI had a dialed in three D printer
or something like that, this probablywould be better made in that medium because
(24:44):
of its because it can make allthese complex angles or things like that,
versus thinking in three millimeter layers.Like you know, you spend a lot
of time building up things or addingspaces and whatnot. But it works still,
so it's not to the detriment.But um, like a lot of
(25:07):
the pieces I've seen on your store, like the light switch covers or things
like that, where or the plugswhere obviously it's it's layered MDF or something,
but you have that resin or castelement, you know that if you
were trying to replicate that out ofyou know, like like Brian Thompson,
you know, does the the Droidinterface socket, but it's and it's completely
(25:32):
laser cut. So when you're makingtall cylinders, it's like eight layers of
MDF you know rings, which isa lot of gluing and a lot of
you know, putting together versus obviouslya three D printed cylinder is going to
look smoother and be better. Butnow you're you know, you're mixing mediums.
So but yeah, all that tosay, I like the plugs that
(25:57):
you design because yeah, are functionallya laser cut project, but you have
a bit of something extra that youcan cast or just add on to it
that adds a lot to it.But not just staying in the laser wheelhouse
gives you that opportunity. Yeah,Yeah, and this bluetooth radio thing is
(26:18):
definitely one of those projects too,where it's like there's plenty of stuff that
I have laser cut for it,and then there's a handful of things that
will be three D printed, Andsome of the three D printed things could
have been laser cut, but itwas you know, I had started designing
it for another thing and hadn't reallyintended on using it for this project,
(26:41):
and then kind of shifted gears,you know how we just sort of every
day it could be something different.You know, you forget that you need
to accommodate x amount of space inthis particular part, and so now you
need to make some sort of changeto your overall design line or whatever it's.
You know, there's been a lotof that, you know, and
(27:07):
it has been extremely nice to havethe option to switch back and forth.
But yeah, for some reason,I just keep coming back to the three
D printer, which is so funnybecause I didn't do a ton of three
D printing before, like I've hadother printers. I have the Prousa Now.
(27:30):
I actually sold my CR ten sincethe last time we spoke, because
I just wasn't using it. Yeah, and now here I am like running
the printer around the clock, butit's like weirdly cyclical. Yeah, but
you are running it around the clock, but it's still not enough to buy
(27:51):
a second printer again, so you'restill covered. Really Yeah, yeah,
for sure. And a lot ofthe stuff I'm doing is in the same
way that that I would on thelaser that we both deal on the lasers.
Like it's a lot of prototyping anditeration. Yeah, And because you
know, one of the problems Iwas trying to solve for today, which
(28:15):
I think anybody that's made any kindof like Star Wars or sci fi panel
that has backlit buttons, it runsacross the same problems, like how do
I diffuse the led bulbs? Right? And I'd remembered that my buddy Colin
(28:40):
was I had like figured out awhole way to go about doing it,
and I was just like, Oh, why hadn't I thought about doing it
that way? And when I sayColin, I mean Odd Viking on both
Instagram and YouTube, and I'd likegone back quite some time on his Instagram
(29:07):
and it's seen some of the thingsthat he had done, and I was
like, oh, yeah, ofcourse it's got to be that way.
So then I hop back in,Okay, well, let me kill the
print that I've got printing right nowbecause I'm not going to use that.
Let me do a modification. Doesthat one seemed like it's going to work
out? Okay? Fine, butyou know, just being able to like
quote unquote rapid prototype. Yeah,no, I get that well. And
(29:30):
I think I think i'd shown youhow I did my diffused lights for K
two's panel, and that was buildinga kind of cup, a square cup
that had a hole at the endfor the led, but then it was
enough of a space for the lightto diffuse before it hit the piece of
acrylic, so you didn't get thatpinpoint spot. Yeah, but again,
(29:53):
yeah, it's that's that's fun though. That's the nice thing of the Internet.
It's the record of knowledge because youcan go back and be like,
oh, what what did he make? What month was that that I saw
that video or that post? Yeah, well, and someone like him in
particular, like I knew that Iwas going to start tackling this project.
(30:15):
He's done a ton of different typesof containers for different parts of his kit,
and so I was like, oh, you know, what do you
know about this material? Or whatever, and he was like, Oh,
that stuff's going to be challenging topaint. You might want to look into,
you know, this approach or thatapproach or whatever. Or I could
(30:37):
say, you know, hey,I was looking at how you had done
the diffusion panels for your LEDs.You know, is there has there been
any update to how you do itthat just hasn't been documented yet? Like
what have you learned since doing itthat way? And you know he's always
willing to talk shop and stuff.We should totally have him on the show.
(31:00):
Oh yeah, we should. Supertalented. He much like Brian Thompson
over at the smugglers Room, islike really nailed the aesthetic. Um,
and not so much in like athat is specifically Star Wars, but it
is sort of that. Um,what was his again? Aliens? It's
(31:22):
odd Viking? Oh yes, um, I can't think of who the production
designer was on that did Star Warsand Alien I'm sorry, Brian, if
you're listening, I know we talkabout Geiger. No, okay, as
gonna say, I don't think youdidn't get Star Wars. I'm gonna get
(31:45):
I'm gonna get read in the commentsfor not knowing the name, it's late
everybody, but yeah, it's It'salways nice to have like a network of
people who are just open to talkabout whatever it is that they're working on
(32:05):
because they like, they just don'tcare. Like you and I have stumbled
into a network of people who arejust like, I don't care. I'll
tell you how it's done. I'llpull back the curtains so that you know,
because I feel like, much likewe're talking about this stuff now,
there's plenty of people to talk aboutthe stuff that we do or the stuff
that they see other people do thatthey're just like, that's super cool.
(32:29):
I'd love to know how they dothat. Yeah, I'm I'm in a
couple of like glow Forge groups wherepeople are like sharing files or tips on
how they do stuff. And I'llsay I'm about seventy five transparent there only
so far as I don't mind sharingor talking or anything like that. But
(32:52):
there is a small part of mybrain that is, like, I do
have a store where I sell thing, and if there was another person who
was going to replicate what I do, it would be the people in this
group because they literally have the sametools. So which, again I don't
think it's a bad things, that'sfine, But yeah, the majority of
(33:14):
the discussion is like, I justgot to go for itge what should I
start with? Or you know,I'm having trouble in graving this, or
how do you set up this?Or what settings did you use? Those
are fun communities to talk with.Yeah, yeah, I mean, nobody's
ever like given up the goods totheir own detriment because I'm like you,
(33:34):
you know, like every once andagain, something will pop up on my
timeline where someone's like, purchase oneof my three D files and is now
offering them for sale, right whereyou're like, m I can forgive,
but only to a certain degree.And thankfully, everybody that I've ever had
to have that conversation with has beenlike, oh, I'm sorry, I
(33:57):
didn't realize I got the file fromsomebody else and Whatever's yeah, it's always
the whole thing, but yeah,it's and that's that happens. But again,
and there's a lot of times whereI'll get files from Etsy because I
mean, yeah, could I sitdown and design a Christmas tree totally,
but it would take me time orI could buy it for four dollars,
and it's like it's not worth mytime to not spend a couple bucks and
(34:22):
just have it or have it ata starting point. I know I'm going
to mod it or make a changeor make a different material or whatever.
And yeah, no, it itworks. It works. It supports small
business. You know. Well you'retalking about, you know, finding a
group of of makers to chat abouta newer podcast on the scene. I
(34:43):
think they're around fifteen or so episodes, so at our rate they might catch
up to us. But um,the Dad Batch podcast is a is a
great one, yes, And Ilove their segmented approach. You know,
news, what's on the workbench,you know what's going on, trooping and
building, and they're just always sharinguh you know what they're what they're working
(35:06):
on from Ramy's super fast uh youknow, designing things in three D and
half a second to you know,chroming and all the extra pieces. But
they definitely found their you know,their people and their group to encourage and
to share as they're you know,working on Star Wars. It doesn't have
(35:27):
to be Star Wars. It justhappens to be. But it's also about
fatherhood and life and making and allthose fun things. It's a tangential podcast.
Yeah, yeah, I haven't hada chance to listen to it yet,
but I also don't have kids.Well I mean it doesn't matter,
but yeah, the dad part isnot the core tended. It's more the
(35:49):
batch part than the dad part.But um now it's uh yeah no,
And I've seen I've seen them allin person and certain of because they used
to all be local around here orat least every once in a while.
But yeah, no, it's yeah, being finding your people in that maker
(36:12):
group is often a lot of fun. But oh, that was the other
thing. I'm like, there's somethingelse I wanted to tell you. So
I have a new costume that I'min the R and D. More like,
I'm watching the R and D groupsand just waiting for them to figure
things out. I can't say thatI blame you, because Lord knows,
people have spent lots of money onlyto be super wrong. Yeah. So
(36:36):
this is a group that is designingthe prison costumes from and Or, and
I think it's very simple. Weshould be a lot of fun and they're
basically treating it like the wil RowHood running of the Hoods, which I
think is going to be hilarious.So I think it looks like a really
(36:58):
fun costume and really not. Imean, obviously it'll take some sewing in
some some effort, but I thinkthat would be like we say, you
know, make the costume you wantto make, and if that's what piques
your interest, you know, givethat, give that a try. And
I think that should be fun.Absolutely. The other thing that's great about
that particular costume is that it's notfitted. No, it's I mean,
(37:21):
obviously and Or's is a little bitfitted because he's the hero, but most
you can tell it's like a onesize or two size jumpsuit that everybody gets
thrown on. It's not supposed toit's supposed to be a little baggy,
yeah, which means that if you'renot particularly good at sewing, like some
people, and by some people Imean me, it is still an achievable
(37:45):
costume because it doesn't have to betailored well. And the funniest part is
people trying to come up with solutionsfor the bare feet because technically the and
so you're talking about like you know, slip shoes or you know, hobbit
feed or extra. But it's like, hey, if you want to,
(38:07):
if you want to go that far. I don't think if anyone shows up
in a shoe people are gonna care. But it's a lot of it's a
lot of fun. Um. Yeah, so it's fun to be on program
and find our find our way out. But no, I'm looking forward to
(38:28):
that for getting getting a group togetherat probably a future celebration, I'm sure,
and I know it's it's only onlytwo more episodes at the time of
this recording for season one, soit's been a it's been a good ride
so far. Though it has ithas, I've enjoyed it immensely. Also,
the fact that there's like a wholeslate of new stuff that they'll be
(38:52):
bringing out is very exciting because Ialways fall into that camp of I like
it all, I don't really carewhat it is well, and you know,
for the it's not great, butyou know it's it's all still enjoyable
to some degree. One for theroom builders and the Star Wars makers,
like they're just you know, there'sso much good stuff that's on the screen
(39:13):
and that's fun to deconstruct and belike, oh what is that? Or
oh, I mean there's new ISBuniforms and there's actual kind of you know,
consistency with ranks, which is kindof cool to see. And yeah,
just seeing all these different pieces,and I mean they definitely put the
money on the screen pretty much everysingle episode. It's it's there for sure,
(39:38):
all right. Well, yeah,well it's been fun kind of catching
up a bit. Maybe we'll shiftthis into a monthly routine or or just
keep it at when we have timeand something to talk about. But we
do appreciate everyone from for listening.Didn't you say we're like number forty and
the Canada or something that. Yes, as of this morning, we were
(40:05):
ranked number forty on the Apple PodcastsCanada Hobbies Podcast charts. Well, I
got to make a plaque now andput that on the wall because it got
to commiserate that. But no,we do. We do think our listeners
and to continue to share the show. And yeah, as this continues to
evolve, as we're sometimes interviewing peopleor talking or just talking about what we're
(40:30):
what we're working on, it's definitelystill been an enjoyable thing that we are
continuing to do and in the slightinfrequency of life. Well said, but
if they want to go check outany of the things you're building as you
shift from Christmas or from things fromHalloween to Christmas. I know it's all
(40:53):
about Christmas now, right Where wouldthey where would they find that? They
would not find Christmas? What?I don't know what that is. But
you can catch me every Saturday morningPacific time over on YouTube at van Oaks
Props. And what about you,Darren? Where can people find what you've
(41:15):
got going on? The best placeto look would be doctor sci fi dot
com and maybe maybe we'll get somemore YouTube. We'll see how that,
how that goes, that's still inthe cards. We'll see how that comes
together. I think you'll hit onehundred k before I do. No,
no worries there, but I meanwe'll see. Anything. Could happen,
(41:37):
that's that's true. Could have lightningin a bottle, that's true. All
right, Well, thanks you allfor listening to Maker's method, and don't
forget to keep making
Welcome to the nerd Party. Welcometo the Maker's Method podcast here on the
nerd Party Network. I'm your host, Darren Moser aka Doctor sci Fi,
and I'm joined as always by DerekYoung of Van Oaks Props. And this
(00:25):
is turning into like a monthly everytwo months show of Terrek. But we're
trying to bring it back. It'sbeen a very busy, busy time,
it has. And I think wehave an earlier episode where we talked about
just how crazy it gets around Halloweenfor me. Yes, and this year
(00:45):
was no different. Yeah. Well, last we spoke, it was kind
of mid September, and so youwere just descending into the cemetery, not
to be not to see your shadowagain for six six weeks. Yes,
yes, it's the jack O Lanternequivalent of punk Satani Phil. So how
(01:06):
was I was Halloween? I didn'tget a chance to get out to see
the cemetery, but I saw alot of your pictures and I know you
were working on your your hot list, So how how did that all go?
Another successful year in the books.You know, it's it's hard to
judge success for something like decorating forHalloween, because you know, there's a
(01:30):
lot of variables that can determine whetheror not people will show up to see
your your work, and this yearwas a little bit different than years past.
We try to set up two weeksin advance of Halloween so that people
can you know, take the timeget out see some local decorated houses and
(01:56):
whatnot. And so we do itfor two weeks and often have plenty of
people that will show up to seewhat's what's new, or to see it
for the first time, or youknow, our house is one of those
things that sort of is a mustsee every year kind of thing, and
(02:20):
this year, I feel like therewas definitely less people coming to see us
in the two weeks before Halloween thanusual. But because I do the big
list of all of the decorated housesand you know walkthroughs and attractions and things
for Southern California, I will saythat there were more submissions to the website
(02:46):
to be included on this list thisyear than there have been in any of
the years that I've been doing this. So in one in one camp,
yes, very successful. There's alot of stuff for people to get out
and see, and the work thatI do making that list, you know,
(03:08):
it is of benefit to people whowant to get out and see stuff
and make the most of Halloween season, but it also means that there were
less people that wanted to come tosee our house because there were so many
more options this year. So,you know, good and bad. I
(03:30):
we decorate because it's what I enjoydoing, you know, like it is
what it is, and whether peopleshow up or not, it doesn't matter
quite so much to me anymore,although I do enjoy being able to talk
to people and see what other thingsthey've seen, and just put an algorithm
(03:50):
in the website so that anything withinfive miles of your house just won't stick
on the map. And it's justyou're the only game. And now obviously
wouldn't do that now. So youknow, all that said, Halloween was
was good. The months leading upto it were quite busy. You know,
(04:10):
the YouTube channel really shifts into highgear once we basically get out of
summer, and you know, it'sit's always challenging to come up with new
ideas for video topics. And I'mI'm happy to be in November where I
(04:33):
can kind of take a bit ofa step back and recalibrate and stop thinking
about Halloween related projects for a bitand can get into some other stuff that
that just kind of uses a differentpart of my brain. So yeah,
I had a fun Halloween. Youknow. First off, for the kids,
(04:58):
we often will try to build ordo some sort of piece of a
costume for them. The hardest partis usually making sure they've committed to what
they want to do so we're notinvesting time and resources and then their minds
change. But my daughter went asa fox, and so my wife sewed
this really nice kind of bushy tailand some pieces into kind of address that
(05:23):
she could wear. And she reallyliked that because there wasn't really anything off
the rack that worked with that.But from my son, that was a
lot of fun because he wanted togo as Luigi, and so we had
a store bought Luigi costume. Ithink he already had. He really likes
Luigi right now. But he andI built together the Pultra Goes Pultra Gust
(05:47):
five thousand, which is the kindof vacuum cleaner backpack you use in the
Luigi's Mansion game, And so thatwas a fun build. We basically went
to a thrift store and got likean old red backpack, and I think
I got like an old vacuum cleanerjust for the hose and a few other
(06:09):
pieces from the store, and thenthe rest just made out of foam and
put a couple of lights in itand made some foam wheels and other little
greebly bits. But he loved it, and he's still been playing with it.
But that was a lot of funto put together, and people who
at least have played the game couldtell what it was. And obviously he
(06:30):
didn't carry it the entire trigger treating, you know, walk, but I
should have expected that. But itwas a lot of fun. Yeah,
there's there's no amount of persuasion thatwill change a child who has their mindset
on being a particular costume. AndI say this with experience because when I
(06:51):
was in the fourth grade, Iwanted to be a tombstone and it was
hands down, always the Tombstones withyou it is. It was hands down
the most uncomfortable costume I've ever worn. And imagine like walking miles in it,
where your stride is only like halfof what it normally is and your
(07:12):
shins just keep bumping up against thehard service of this box. It is
terrible and It didn't last either.By the end of the night, I
had taken the thing off. Itwas thrown in a ditch on the side
of the road. Who cares toomuch find a cemetery and add to it.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Sothat was Halloween night. But then
(07:32):
a couple weeks before the company Iwork at from my day job, they
really like Halloween. The previous CEOhis birthday was Halloween, and so it
was kind of baked in to companyculture. And now that we're back in
the office, this is kind ofthe first year that people could go back
(07:53):
to decorating and to wearing their costumes. We just did on a Wednesday that
we were all in the office.So I brought I wore my Imperial Officers
uniform, and I brought Katous andhis console, which was quite a site.
Um. Yeah, that was along week. It was like set
up on Monday, you know,us on Wednesday, and tear down on
(08:15):
Friday. But that was fun andI got a lot of compliments on it.
I mean, there is a costumecontest and a bunch of other things
that they do, but I waslike, I don't really want to deal
with that. And sure, he'sKju's having fun, but since his upgrade,
a lot of his pieces are needing. He's less, he's more fragile.
(08:39):
Now you know, there's parts thatare are better and are more articulate,
but he's not really the workhorse hewas before celebration. So he's going
to be He's going to be onthe bench for a little while, which
is fine. I'm definitely still keepinghim and still upgrading. But yeah,
just the rock saw alidness that youneed when you're walking with him and all
(09:03):
the pieces. It needs a goodshakedown before his next event. So he's
probably not going to make it toLa Comic Con. I was just going
to ask. Yeah, originally Iwas, but I kind of decided this
last week. I'm like, youknow, I don't think he's going to
be ready, but I'll bring beadyand I may still bring the console just
as some something people could stand inor it could look cool. I'll check
(09:26):
with the our booth people to seeif if they're interested in that space.
But if not, then there's wayless for me to bring. It's just
beady in his little carry case,so that should be fun. Yeah,
I mean, people do love agreat photo op. They do they do.
Definitely looks the part, and it'sit was built so that people could
(09:48):
stand on it and you know,take their take their photos. So yeah,
usually when Kju's here, he takesup the space, so it's not
as much of a photo op.But I think that could work. Do
you have a background for it oris it just the fight standing Joe,
It's just free standing. But Ithink they have a couple of backdrops that
(10:09):
they might bring. At some point, I might invest in some imperial looking,
you know, cloth background that Icould put up. The trick is
to have it far enough away thatpeople can step in and step out and
not bump up against it. ButI think that should be should be fine.
But yeah, we're having a bunchof Droid builders at La Comic Con
and I'll be moderating the Droid oneoh one panel, which I think is
(10:35):
noon on Sunday, So that shouldbe a pretty good, pretty good time.
Lots of panels this year with fans, which should be should be fun
nice. I know I was toyingwith the idea of attending. One of
my patrons asked if I was going, and I had completely forgotten. But
(10:56):
it's literally because we haven't record anepisode of the show, and so long
we haven't talked about it, andit just I'd forgotten that it was still
going on, and I thought aboutgetting tickets and then found out that missus
Van Oaks's company holiday party is thesame weekend. Oh well, that takes
(11:18):
it off the table. Yeah,and so now I will be joining her
up in the Bay Area for theweekend for that, which should be fun.
No, that sounds like a lotof fun. Yeah, it's not
as many cons this time of year. The next big troop is the Hollywood
(11:41):
Christmas Parade, which is always theSunday after Thanksgiving, and that's a lot
of fun and we're looking forward tothat. Last year we did it as
well. I think it only skippedone year during the pandemic in twenty twenty,
but yeah, it was I thinkI'm just going to do my Officer
and keep it simple droids this time. I mean, K two is definitely
(12:01):
not ready, but I don't Idon't know. I don't know if I'll
bring Beady. He's fun, butI would wear him like on my Officer,
which I don't know if I reallywant to do. So I'm and
I'm fine not bringing him. Hedoesn't have to come to every event,
so I think I'll just keep himat home. But I did buy some
(12:26):
belt boxes off of Etsy and someblack gloves because it's going to be cold,
so I added a couple of littleupgrades to my uniforms that should be
should be fun. I got apromotion, is what I got, some
my five year service buckle or somethingwhatever they call it now. But yeah,
no, that's so on the costumingside. That's one of the things
(12:50):
I'm looking forward. Usually not toomany troops around this time of year,
but there are some large troops withkind of an unlimited cap where you can
really throw a lot of people atand the Hollywood Christomer Christmas Parade is definitely
one of them. Yeah, Iwould imagine. So it's interesting. We
haven't had regular television for a fewyears and so like, I don't even
(13:16):
know where to go to watch theparade. I think I found a place
that streams it online. It won'tair until December. So what they do
is they film it and then theyedit together. So during the sunlight the
day, they'll have musical performances aton a stage. Then they break down
(13:37):
the stage or move it out ofthe way and then have the parade,
and then the edit is like goingback and forth between the commentators, the
musical numbers, and the parade.Yeah. Yeah, I feel like back
in the day they used to airit, and they might still air it
on KTLA, Is that right,Okay, so they'll probably stream local channel.
(14:01):
Yeah, off to tune in andsee if I can spot you in
the oh. Yeah. They usuallywe always joke about, you know,
how little seconds we get. Imean not that it's about getting a lot
of airtime. It's just there's somany of us. Were a huge chunk
of the parade, but they keepmoving us towards the front of the parade.
They definitely like us. But I'lllet you know once we find out
(14:24):
when it's going to be airing.Yeah, I know, we live in
this on demand world. It's like, I just want it on demand.
I just want to be able topush play and watch the parade. But
maybe someday we'll get there. Yeah. Yeah. So I know it's been
a minute since we've talked about anyof the projects that we're working on.
(14:45):
Well, you know, it's hardto do projects, Derek, when your
laser isn't working. So that's beenmy month. Yeah, my glow Forage
all of a sudden wasn't cutting likeit was engraving and etching and doing all
that other stuff, but it wouldnot cut for the life of me,
and I could not tell I cleanedthat thing so many times. It looked
(15:09):
not brand new, but really reallygood, and so I just finally called
it and glow Forge is sending memy replacement, which should be here on
tomorrow at the time of this recording, which should be nice. It's like
glow Forge Christmas Day all over again. But big thank to you for helping
(15:30):
me fill a couple of orders.As we're backup. Glow Forge buddies coming
in the clutch. But yeah,the thing I've missed the most is just
R and D. I love researchand development, trying new things, trying
new materials, cutting things, andthat's I mean. I haven't ran my
(15:50):
three D printer in ages because it'sso slow. In comparison, I can
have an idea and sketch it upin vector and then throw it in the
glow Forage, and within an houror two at the most, I can
have a prototype or something ready togo. And yeah, that's that's always
(16:11):
been a lot of fun and itwas definitely worth you know, it was
not cheap to get the refurbished fixedversion, but for me, I know
I can probably make that back ina couple of months at most, So
it's it's a it's a money maker. So it's like I can't just let
it be a boat anchor sitting onmy shelf for a long time, especially
(16:33):
this time of year. Yeah,Yeah, for sure, it's weird.
I've been I find myself vacillating backand forth between wanting to use the laser
cutter and wanting to use a threeD printer because I've been spending a lot
of time in Fusion three sixty reallylike trying to just expand my skill set
(16:57):
and get better at three modeling.And it's weird because there's definitely some stuff
that I know would be faster onthe laser, but but you're thinking in
layers. Really, it's like howdo you build it up layers? Yeah,
(17:18):
And then the other thing too isthat like I use Adobe Illustrator when
I'm doing any vector drawing, andit's not designed to work relationally like Fusion
does. So like, yes,I can make a box and I can
(17:40):
make another box, but I can'tmake those two things respond when one is
moved and things like that, andI can't go back and change those relations
with the variables that you can flucture, right, Yeah, And so I'm
(18:00):
sure there's a way to export allof my sketches from Fusion three sixty as
svgs, which could then be readby the glow forage and whatever. But
for some reason, I just I'msort of like, well, I'll just
throw this on the printer, youknow, right. And I also find
(18:23):
myself in one of those periods wherelike my printer is printing really well,
right, it's dialed in, youknow, like everything is just humming along,
and I just kind of want tothrow as many things onto it as
I possibly can. So one softwarethat I use, I think it's free
(18:45):
or it's not very expensive. Ifit's purchased, I can't recall. I
bought it ages ago. It's calledone two three D make, and what
it does is it takes a threedimensional object like an STL file or an
object file, and it can doa couple of different things. But one
of the things it does is itcan slice it as if you were making
(19:07):
it out of a certain thickness materialso like your laser so and it can
do a couple different things, likelet's say you had a cube. You
could tell it, okay, mymaterial is three millimeters thick and the object
is this big, and it willslice all of those pieces and then you
tell it how big your work surfaces, and it will then place them all
(19:32):
on it. So basically it convertsa three dimensional object into flat vector files
for like a glow forage. Butyou don't have to do it solid.
You could do it more open wherethere's like gaps it and it even computes
all of the tongue and groove andconnection points. So it's you know,
definitely not for every application, butit's a really interesting it does like one
(19:56):
thing well, like if you needto do that at so, i'd recommend
checking that out just for like youwere saying, you know, you're building
things three dimensionally infusion. This isa great program for turning that quickly into
something that your glow forwarde could handleif the case arose, which honestly,
the stuff that I've been working onthis week absolutely will I'm working on.
(20:22):
So I guess I'll let me backup here for a second. In the
beginning. In the beginning, therewas man So I think I've talked about
this on the show before. Istumbled across a Facebook group where it's hyperlocal
and it's people just looking to regiftthings to other people. So like,
(20:48):
you know, hey, I've gotsix coffee mugs that I never use.
Does anybody want them? Right?It's like a no sale trade groups like
I've seen most before. Yeah,the point is your local. You could
just drop it off, but whyactually exchange money when you don't want it.
It's a gift that it's not inyour house anymore exactly. And so
(21:11):
about a year ago, someone inthat group was looking to get rid of
a dog food storage container. NowI don't have a dog, but the
container itself looked very star wars eeand I immediately thought, like, I
have no idea what I would makewith it, but I know if I
(21:33):
don't tell them that I will gladlyaccept this dog food, it's gonna be
gone. By the time you thinkof something, it'll be gone, and
I'll kick myself for not moving onit sooner. And so I've just been
sort of pushing it around the shopfor like a year, trying to figure
out what I was going to useit for, and I finally landed on
(21:57):
because I think YouTube like served mesome videos on the topic, but basically
of turning it into a Bluetooth speaker, but it will be a sort of
in universe Star Wars bluetooth speaker.And so I've been working on all the
different sort of outside elements. It'sgot molded plastic parts with like dog paws
(22:23):
on it and stuff. It's youknow, it's cute dog stuff. But
I want to get rid of allof that and replace it with other things.
And so there's been a lot ofthree D modeling and printing and some
laser cutting and it's a whole thing. I'm excited to get started on the
(22:44):
project. I'd actually intended on startingit last week, but we ended up
having three days of rain and thebulk of my work I do outside,
and so that really crushed that dreamfrom happening, especially because like where do
you go to paint? Yeah,we're entering that time of year that might
(23:10):
not be paint time. Or youneed to build a booth inside, which
I've never Yeah, it's on mylist. You know. I've got the
vacuum forming machine that I've used threeor four times since I've had it,
(23:32):
and now it just takes up space. But I feel like with a bit
of reorganization, that could be agood spot at least for doing smallish things
like nothing bigger than a helmet,right, But most of the stuff I
do is about that size anyway,But you know, at any rate.
Yeah, So there's just been alot of like, oh do I three
(23:56):
D print this part or do Ithrow it on the laser? What do
I do? And then I justkind of end up coming back to the
three D printer. But it's interestingbecause I have that kind of feeling as
well. It's almost the when youhave a laser cutter, everything is a
(24:18):
laser project, like sure, Andwhen I'm designing, you know, objects
from my store, you know,I'm usually making like tabbed boxes or things
like that, and I'm always thinkingin like you know, there's certain pieces
that I know, Okay, ifI had a dialed in three D printer
or something like that, this probablywould be better made in that medium because
(24:44):
of its because it can make allthese complex angles or things like that,
versus thinking in three millimeter layers.Like you know, you spend a lot
of time building up things or addingspaces and whatnot. But it works still,
so it's not to the detriment.But um, like a lot of
(25:07):
the pieces I've seen on your store, like the light switch covers or things
like that, where or the plugswhere obviously it's it's layered MDF or something,
but you have that resin or castelement, you know that if you
were trying to replicate that out ofyou know, like like Brian Thompson,
you know, does the the Droidinterface socket, but it's and it's completely
(25:32):
laser cut. So when you're makingtall cylinders, it's like eight layers of
MDF you know rings, which isa lot of gluing and a lot of
you know, putting together versus obviouslya three D printed cylinder is going to
look smoother and be better. Butnow you're you know, you're mixing mediums.
So but yeah, all that tosay, I like the plugs that
(25:57):
you design because yeah, are functionallya laser cut project, but you have
a bit of something extra that youcan cast or just add on to it
that adds a lot to it.But not just staying in the laser wheelhouse
gives you that opportunity. Yeah,Yeah, and this bluetooth radio thing is
(26:18):
definitely one of those projects too,where it's like there's plenty of stuff that
I have laser cut for it,and then there's a handful of things that
will be three D printed, Andsome of the three D printed things could
have been laser cut, but itwas you know, I had started designing
it for another thing and hadn't reallyintended on using it for this project,
(26:41):
and then kind of shifted gears,you know how we just sort of every
day it could be something different.You know, you forget that you need
to accommodate x amount of space inthis particular part, and so now you
need to make some sort of changeto your overall design line or whatever it's.
You know, there's been a lotof that, you know, and
(27:07):
it has been extremely nice to havethe option to switch back and forth.
But yeah, for some reason,I just keep coming back to the three
D printer, which is so funnybecause I didn't do a ton of three
D printing before, like I've hadother printers. I have the Prousa Now.
(27:30):
I actually sold my CR ten sincethe last time we spoke, because
I just wasn't using it. Yeah, and now here I am like running
the printer around the clock, butit's like weirdly cyclical. Yeah, but
you are running it around the clock, but it's still not enough to buy
(27:51):
a second printer again, so you'restill covered. Really Yeah, yeah,
for sure. And a lot ofthe stuff I'm doing is in the same
way that that I would on thelaser that we both deal on the lasers.
Like it's a lot of prototyping anditeration. Yeah, And because you
know, one of the problems Iwas trying to solve for today, which
(28:15):
I think anybody that's made any kindof like Star Wars or sci fi panel
that has backlit buttons, it runsacross the same problems, like how do
I diffuse the led bulbs? Right? And I'd remembered that my buddy Colin
(28:40):
was I had like figured out awhole way to go about doing it,
and I was just like, Oh, why hadn't I thought about doing it
that way? And when I sayColin, I mean Odd Viking on both
Instagram and YouTube, and I'd likegone back quite some time on his Instagram
(29:07):
and it's seen some of the thingsthat he had done, and I was
like, oh, yeah, ofcourse it's got to be that way.
So then I hop back in,Okay, well, let me kill the
print that I've got printing right nowbecause I'm not going to use that.
Let me do a modification. Doesthat one seemed like it's going to work
out? Okay? Fine, butyou know, just being able to like
quote unquote rapid prototype. Yeah,no, I get that well. And
(29:30):
I think I think i'd shown youhow I did my diffused lights for K
two's panel, and that was buildinga kind of cup, a square cup
that had a hole at the endfor the led, but then it was
enough of a space for the lightto diffuse before it hit the piece of
acrylic, so you didn't get thatpinpoint spot. Yeah, but again,
(29:53):
yeah, it's that's that's fun though. That's the nice thing of the Internet.
It's the record of knowledge because youcan go back and be like,
oh, what what did he make? What month was that that I saw
that video or that post? Yeah, well, and someone like him in
particular, like I knew that Iwas going to start tackling this project.
(30:15):
He's done a ton of different typesof containers for different parts of his kit,
and so I was like, oh, you know, what do you
know about this material? Or whatever, and he was like, Oh,
that stuff's going to be challenging topaint. You might want to look into,
you know, this approach or thatapproach or whatever. Or I could
(30:37):
say, you know, hey,I was looking at how you had done
the diffusion panels for your LEDs.You know, is there has there been
any update to how you do itthat just hasn't been documented yet? Like
what have you learned since doing itthat way? And you know he's always
willing to talk shop and stuff.We should totally have him on the show.
(31:00):
Oh yeah, we should. Supertalented. He much like Brian Thompson
over at the smugglers Room, islike really nailed the aesthetic. Um,
and not so much in like athat is specifically Star Wars, but it
is sort of that. Um,what was his again? Aliens? It's
(31:22):
odd Viking? Oh yes, um, I can't think of who the production
designer was on that did Star Warsand Alien I'm sorry, Brian, if
you're listening, I know we talkabout Geiger. No, okay, as
gonna say, I don't think youdidn't get Star Wars. I'm gonna get
(31:45):
I'm gonna get read in the commentsfor not knowing the name, it's late
everybody, but yeah, it's It'salways nice to have like a network of
people who are just open to talkabout whatever it is that they're working on
(32:05):
because they like, they just don'tcare. Like you and I have stumbled
into a network of people who arejust like, I don't care. I'll
tell you how it's done. I'llpull back the curtains so that you know,
because I feel like, much likewe're talking about this stuff now,
there's plenty of people to talk aboutthe stuff that we do or the stuff
that they see other people do thatthey're just like, that's super cool.
(32:29):
I'd love to know how they dothat. Yeah, I'm I'm in a
couple of like glow Forge groups wherepeople are like sharing files or tips on
how they do stuff. And I'llsay I'm about seventy five transparent there only
so far as I don't mind sharingor talking or anything like that. But
(32:52):
there is a small part of mybrain that is, like, I do
have a store where I sell thing, and if there was another person who
was going to replicate what I do, it would be the people in this
group because they literally have the sametools. So which, again I don't
think it's a bad things, that'sfine, But yeah, the majority of
(33:14):
the discussion is like, I justgot to go for itge what should I
start with? Or you know,I'm having trouble in graving this, or
how do you set up this?Or what settings did you use? Those
are fun communities to talk with.Yeah, yeah, I mean, nobody's
ever like given up the goods totheir own detriment because I'm like you,
(33:34):
you know, like every once andagain, something will pop up on my
timeline where someone's like, purchase oneof my three D files and is now
offering them for sale, right whereyou're like, m I can forgive,
but only to a certain degree.And thankfully, everybody that I've ever had
to have that conversation with has beenlike, oh, I'm sorry, I
(33:57):
didn't realize I got the file fromsomebody else and Whatever's yeah, it's always
the whole thing, but yeah,it's and that's that happens. But again,
and there's a lot of times whereI'll get files from Etsy because I
mean, yeah, could I sitdown and design a Christmas tree totally,
but it would take me time orI could buy it for four dollars,
and it's like it's not worth mytime to not spend a couple bucks and
(34:22):
just have it or have it ata starting point. I know I'm going
to mod it or make a changeor make a different material or whatever.
And yeah, no, it itworks. It works. It supports small
business. You know. Well you'retalking about, you know, finding a
group of of makers to chat abouta newer podcast on the scene. I
(34:43):
think they're around fifteen or so episodes, so at our rate they might catch
up to us. But um,the Dad Batch podcast is a is a
great one, yes, And Ilove their segmented approach. You know,
news, what's on the workbench,you know what's going on, trooping and
building, and they're just always sharinguh you know what they're what they're working
(35:06):
on from Ramy's super fast uh youknow, designing things in three D and
half a second to you know,chroming and all the extra pieces. But
they definitely found their you know,their people and their group to encourage and
to share as they're you know,working on Star Wars. It doesn't have
(35:27):
to be Star Wars. It justhappens to be. But it's also about
fatherhood and life and making and allthose fun things. It's a tangential podcast.
Yeah, yeah, I haven't hada chance to listen to it yet,
but I also don't have kids.Well I mean it doesn't matter,
but yeah, the dad part isnot the core tended. It's more the
(35:49):
batch part than the dad part.But um now it's uh yeah no,
And I've seen I've seen them allin person and certain of because they used
to all be local around here orat least every once in a while.
But yeah, no, it's yeah, being finding your people in that maker
(36:12):
group is often a lot of fun. But oh, that was the other
thing. I'm like, there's somethingelse I wanted to tell you. So
I have a new costume that I'min the R and D. More like,
I'm watching the R and D groupsand just waiting for them to figure
things out. I can't say thatI blame you, because Lord knows,
people have spent lots of money onlyto be super wrong. Yeah. So
(36:36):
this is a group that is designingthe prison costumes from and Or, and
I think it's very simple. Weshould be a lot of fun and they're
basically treating it like the wil RowHood running of the Hoods, which I
think is going to be hilarious.So I think it looks like a really
(36:58):
fun costume and really not. Imean, obviously it'll take some sewing in
some some effort, but I thinkthat would be like we say, you
know, make the costume you wantto make, and if that's what piques
your interest, you know, givethat, give that a try. And
I think that should be fun.Absolutely. The other thing that's great about
that particular costume is that it's notfitted. No, it's I mean,
(37:21):
obviously and Or's is a little bitfitted because he's the hero, but most
you can tell it's like a onesize or two size jumpsuit that everybody gets
thrown on. It's not supposed toit's supposed to be a little baggy,
yeah, which means that if you'renot particularly good at sewing, like some
people, and by some people Imean me, it is still an achievable
(37:45):
costume because it doesn't have to betailored well. And the funniest part is
people trying to come up with solutionsfor the bare feet because technically the and
so you're talking about like you know, slip shoes or you know, hobbit
feed or extra. But it's like, hey, if you want to,
(38:07):
if you want to go that far. I don't think if anyone shows up
in a shoe people are gonna care. But it's a lot of it's a
lot of fun. Um. Yeah, so it's fun to be on program
and find our find our way out. But no, I'm looking forward to
(38:28):
that for getting getting a group togetherat probably a future celebration, I'm sure,
and I know it's it's only onlytwo more episodes at the time of
this recording for season one, soit's been a it's been a good ride
so far. Though it has ithas, I've enjoyed it immensely. Also,
the fact that there's like a wholeslate of new stuff that they'll be
(38:52):
bringing out is very exciting because Ialways fall into that camp of I like
it all, I don't really carewhat it is well, and you know,
for the it's not great, butyou know it's it's all still enjoyable
to some degree. One for theroom builders and the Star Wars makers,
like they're just you know, there'sso much good stuff that's on the screen
(39:13):
and that's fun to deconstruct and belike, oh what is that? Or
oh, I mean there's new ISBuniforms and there's actual kind of you know,
consistency with ranks, which is kindof cool to see. And yeah,
just seeing all these different pieces,and I mean they definitely put the
money on the screen pretty much everysingle episode. It's it's there for sure,
(39:38):
all right. Well, yeah,well it's been fun kind of catching
up a bit. Maybe we'll shiftthis into a monthly routine or or just
keep it at when we have timeand something to talk about. But we
do appreciate everyone from for listening.Didn't you say we're like number forty and
the Canada or something that. Yes, as of this morning, we were
(40:05):
ranked number forty on the Apple PodcastsCanada Hobbies Podcast charts. Well, I
got to make a plaque now andput that on the wall because it got
to commiserate that. But no,we do. We do think our listeners
and to continue to share the show. And yeah, as this continues to
evolve, as we're sometimes interviewing peopleor talking or just talking about what we're
(40:30):
what we're working on, it's definitelystill been an enjoyable thing that we are
continuing to do and in the slightinfrequency of life. Well said, but
if they want to go check outany of the things you're building as you
shift from Christmas or from things fromHalloween to Christmas. I know it's all
(40:53):
about Christmas now, right Where wouldthey where would they find that? They
would not find Christmas? What?I don't know what that is. But
you can catch me every Saturday morningPacific time over on YouTube at van Oaks
Props. And what about you,Darren? Where can people find what you've
(41:15):
got going on? The best placeto look would be doctor sci fi dot
com and maybe maybe we'll get somemore YouTube. We'll see how that,
how that goes, that's still inthe cards. We'll see how that comes
together. I think you'll hit onehundred k before I do. No,
no worries there, but I meanwe'll see. Anything. Could happen,
(41:37):
that's that's true. Could have lightningin a bottle, that's true. All
right, Well, thanks you allfor listening to Maker's method, and don't
forget to keep making
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