Hello everyone! Just stopping by to drop off the latest updates:

The final audio looping for Port Washington has been done! I’ll edit it into the movie timeline this week while my cases cure. (Multi-tasking!) If the music gets done in time I could have the movie completed in May. Hurray!

The new molds for the Phoenix are curing and should be ready for their first resin test by Monday evening. No paint was used on the original parts, hopefully avoiding the solvent reaction to the silicone rubber problem I had last time. Look for more updates re: this by Tuesday morning. If all goes well I plan to start taking Phoenix orders immediately thereafter.

I don’t know if anyone will care about this, but I plan to start writing a series of articles for my friend’s movie review website. My articles will be about a pastime I have which is to get with friends, grab some beers and rent really bad movies to watch and mock (a la MST3K, which is obscure, yet popular enough, to warrant an acronym) See, I think watching bad movies is more social than watching GOOD ones because everyone is encouraged to join in on the heckling, jeers and Lou Diamond Phillips jokes. Based off our experiences I’ll recommend which crap movies are actually entertainingly bad and hilarious (like Dungeons & Dragons) and which are just boring and bad (for example The Avengers) Maybe it’ll start a whole new pastime in the country! Anyway this’ll be on my friend’s site but I’ll provide links.

I’m planning to make a redesigned set of molds this weekend to address the problems I found with my first molds. Trial and error I guess you could call it! I’m pretty confident these new molds will fix all the problems and allow me to GO FOR IT with the Phoenix project.

So keep those emails of interest coming, I won’t forget about you! I’m also getting the sales system/pages ready on the Phoenix site itself. Look for more updates this weekend!

Here it is:

The paddle and volume knobs are still drying as of this photograph. Rest assured they are silver.

I’ve installed the screen, plates and the PCB as you can see but haven’t attached the back or an Atari yet (as I am out of Ataris right now – more coming!) There’s a resulting texture from an anomaly in the mold that actually looks really neat when painted flat black but for the other color schemes I think the case should be smooth. So I’ll probably be making another set of molds next week, and I’ll make a new proto case piece for it that will address some issues with this one (such as the walls being WAY thicker than they need to be!)

This way people can choose texture or non-texture as well as color. Having 2 sets of molds will also prolong their lives and allow me to make the cases faster. (As I think this standard style as shown will be 50% of the orders) There’s a few kinks here and there I need to tweak but the bottom line is it worked.

And since it worked that means the Phoenix Project 2005 is a FULL ON GO! (Yahoo!) At the moment I have enough parts to build 2 more right away (the first one was reserved) So if you’d like one and can get an Atari 2600 4-switch my way quickly, let me know! By the end of next week I should have the “official” ordering system set up as well.

Once I sell these first few I’ll have some capital to order tons of circuit boards, screens and all the other materials to really get the ball rolling!

The Phoenix project is in its final critical stages… If all goes well then by this weekend I should be able to say “It is time” (just like Arnold) and start taking orders!

During these final stages the Phoenix Blog will be updated daily (or even more often) with the current progress.

Also I’m thinking about not limited myself to making 100 Phoenix but rather as many as people want. Over the years the request-to-sales ratio of portables has been at least 10 to 1, which in a business sense makes one wonder what is wrong with me! I did some estimates and I think I should be able to crank out 10 a week once I get going. Again this speed would depend on people trading in / finding the Atari(s) for me. And if a buyer took apart the Atari themselves and just sent me the motherboard that’d be even better! (And less for shipping) What do you, the reader, think?

To answer a FAQ I’ve been getting – the Phoenix will not be available in kit form. If you’d like to build your own portable then my book is the way to go.

The Phoenix is coming along pretty decently, I got my first custom-made PCB’s ever today! (They’re for the Phoenix of course). For more info on the status of things, check out the Phoenix blog (use link at left)

Or, if you just can’t wait, why not buy my book and build a custom portable of your own? (That’s always a good option for the “do-it-yourselfer!”

It’s at www.benheck.com/phoenix. Most of the links lead to something but it’s not all filled in yet.

What IS filled in is the “Customize” page, where you can see all the color combinations I intend to have the Phoenix available in. Of course there’s the classic “black, brushed & wood grain” but now it’s joined by several other cool choices.

I’m casting the molds right now and will update the Phoenix blog about this later today. Remember, if you’re interested in getting a Phoenix see the link below in the April 3rd story.

…but as always if you’re interested in a Phoenix send me an email using this link and I’ll collect the requests in a bin. That way, once they’re available I can notify everyone who was interested! How handy!

Also new entries have been added to the Phoenix Blog if you’d like to keep tabs. Very close now…