23rd of June What is happening with Karl Quappe?

In case you are wondering what is happening at the Karl Quappe front.

Half a year ago I ordered the overlays (see blog way back 🙂 )  – last week I got feedback, that the printing was finaly done and I eagerly awaited the final outcome. The reality caught up with me quite fast and was sort of anticlimactic.

It seems that the colors I chose were not compatible to the plastic sheets used for the overlay, there were “cracklings” all over the place, and the overlays were not useable. Possibly some few might be salvaged – but I have not seen them by myself yet.

There were three options to me:

a) skip the overlay

b) chose other colors

c) try a different printer

While I first thought about option a) – I than decided to go for option b) [do a blue based overlay instead of a green based one]. Three days ago after some further communication I more or less settled for option c). The order to a second printer was finalized – and now I am waiting again. The new printer said he would need about 10-15 days – in view of previous procedings this seems lightning fast – and this was the main reason I thought “why – let’s just give it a try”.

The downside of the the printer is – I have to order 100 overlays (instead of 50) – which is about double the original estimated price. Also – I only need 20 max!

To all involved people: Thanks for your help!

The box

A month ago I wrote a post about the boxes. As it turned out the boxes (while being beautiful) were about 1-2mm to big. I wanted the boxes to be the exact size as the originals, since I wanted them (amongst others) to fit in standard Vectrex box-protectors.

So – here also I ordered a second batch – which still is on its way.

Instruction manual

The already printed manuals (see also old blog entry) was so badly executed – that I almost immediatly dismissed it – and also sought out another printer. Which turned out was once about 500m from my home. The new manuals are quite good – imho.

So – at the end of the day, I will have 80 overlays to spare and about 20 boxes which are not exactly the correct size, and 30 manuals which are badly printed and cut.

I know – sometimes I can be a perfectionist – but getting so many things “wrong” is quite a bit disheartening. I learned quite a lot by doing “Karl Quappe in the box” – but it was rather costly and not really inspiring for any new “complete” Vectrex projects.

Meanwhile I built a couple of cartridges that – one day – will rest in boxes. At least that went ok.

Malban