Getting ready to start shipping.
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 11:25:52 AM
Hi Backers,
We are getting close to the end of this months, which means we are close to shipping!
Nov 30th we will start shipping domestic US painted wave 1 as planned. We are finishing up painting now, and as each item type is done it goes into the packing area. This week we will be working day and night to finish up the last pieces that need to be painted, so we can pack on the weekend. On Monday Nov 30th we will start shipping as US orders are packed. At the same time we will start to pull International painted orders to palletize them with the unpainted. Then they will be sent to each of the countries local fulfillment centers. We expect the packing of painted to take a couple of weeks, at the same time shipping out as we go. Everyone's Wave 1 will be shipped before the end of the year, we will try and expedite getting international orders out.
With Covid it's been tough trying to get extra help with packing orders or anything for that matter. We are in a county that is pretty strict, and we can't have more than a small group of people in our warehouse at a time. Technically, we shouldn't have been open during certain times during this year, since we are not considered "essential", but we kept plugging away with a scaled down crew. So please be patient with us over this next few weeks as we get your orders out, and keep an eye out for an email with tracking info.
It's 3am here at the warehouse, and I have to be back in 6 hours to get going again with the rest of the team, so I will keep this update short. I leave you with some photos of painted pieces! We will post more updates with photos as we are shipping out with updates on the status. Once we have some time to breath I will put together some large painted builds and post photos. Right now our time is better served painting, packing and shipping!
Have a great Thanksgiving and stay safe.
Jamison & The AOD Team
Note: The walls are getting their final stage with brown stones and highlights that are not seen in these photos. We will post photos of them after the final process on the next update.
Painted Shipping Date
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 11:47:08 AM
Hi Backers, I hope you are all doing well and staying safe!
We have had a great response from backers that received their unpainted wave 1 deliveries. It’s such a good feeling for our team to receive the positive feedback. There has been a lot of back and forth on our part with countless ideas and ways to make the product the best it can and should be. So it’s fun to see how people respond to the product. We also appreciate feedback, as we are always looking to make improvements.
The paint process is no exception for us. We strive to make it the best preprinted product on the market. Once we started painting, it was real obvious that getting 150k walls and floors painted was going to take a very long time! If we wanted it to meet our standards. Products made in China have the advantage of having 30+ people in a factory solely painting your product. Obviously with us making it all in house, in the US we don’t have the ability to do that. On the flip side the disadvantage of having your product mass painted in China is the quality. You are not getting 30+ pro painters painting with pride and detail. You are getting assembly line, fast paint jobs to meet a quota.
We wanted AOD to have a final product that is painted with as much detail as we would our personal pieces. So we started testing out machinery to help with the process earlier this year. We found a solution that allows us to do a mix of hand painting and UV printing. The result is every piece has the attention to detail that we were looking for. Instead of lowering the quality by cutting down on the number of layers of colors, washes, shading, and highlights. We are very happy with the results, as it means we will be able to scale and still keep the exact same quality. It also means we will be able to paint faster, allowing us to deliver future Kickstarters sooner.
I will be posting updates next week with photos of the walls,floors, and doors with their production paint jobs.
I have been hesitant to give an official date for painted domestic wave 1 shipping, until I could gather more info. Now that we have shipped out the wave 1 unpainted domestic and have made serous progress in the painting process, I am comfortable setting a date.
Wave 1 domestic painted will start shipping on November 30th. Once we are finished we will start packing the international wave 1 painted, that way we can ship it out with the unpainted. Once that is all complete we will have a better idea of when wave 2 will be finished. Looking at the way things have been going, my best guess is wave 2 starts shipping late January.
We are very happy with the final product and we hope you will be too.
Thanks
Jamison and the AOD Team
Unpainted domestic wave 1 all shipped!
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 12:14:43 AM
Hi Backers,
We have processed all of the unpainted domestic wave 1 orders. There is a pile of boxes in our office waiting to get picked up by Fedex and the Post Office, on Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday).
If you ordered unpainted domestic and have not gotten a notification or a shipment please reach out to us through Kickstarter messaging. There are 5 people that need to verify their address, as we have received errors in Shipstation with their listed addresses. We have reached out to them tonight, once we hear back, the orders will be processed and shipped asap.
Now moving to the mixed unpainted and painted domestic wave 1 orders. There are only about 20 so packing the unpainted part of those orders should be fast and shipped out by Wednesday. Next we move to packing the unpainted international orders.
We will be posting an update this week showing the painted progress. Once we have an exact date for shipping the painted domestic wave 1 we will let you know.
Can't wait to see photos of your paint jobs as you get your Dungeons!
Stay tuned for more info this week.
Thanks
Jamison & The AOD Team
Week one of shipping & spread sheet to track shipment waves
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Oct 02, 2020 at 02:49:20 PM
Hello Backers,
We are just about 2/3 of the way through shipping out wave 1 for domestic unpainted. We will be finishing them up over the weekend, expecting to be finished shipping on Tuesday.
From there we move to packing wave 1 international unpainted. That should be finished by the end of next week, we then move to packing domestic painted. We will keep you in the loop as things progress.
Here is a link to a modified version of a spreadsheet that was created by a backer during the KS, the original was done so well that we have continued to use it ourselves!
Make a copy of the spreadsheet so you can edit it yourself.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a5WjUOYZeNqUIaQvm-uKPI9X57AVNeVFwWGFJMW-D2I/edit?usp=sharing
This spreadsheet will help you keep track of the exact piece count you should be getting with each wave. Once you get your shipment, you can look at the packing slip and enter the quantity of each SKU you purchased into the spreadsheet, it will then break out the piece count into Wave1 & Wave 2 below.
Do not hesitate to ask for help in the comments section of this update, we will be checking it regularly.
The photo below shows what is being shipped in Wave 1.
Thanks
Jamison & The AOD Team
Domestic unpainted orders have started shipping!
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Sep 26, 2020 at 02:15:45 PM
Hello Backers,
Its been a very busy past few weeks around the AOD shop. We have been working non stop, and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel getting closer. Today we started shipping out some Domestic unpainted orders, and will continue to over this next week. Domestic unpainted orders are packed and waiting for columns to be added. As the columns come off of the injection molding machine they are added to orders and those orders are processed for shipping. Keep a look out for an email with a tracking number once your order is processed. We should be finished shipping out all of the Domestic unpainted orders by the end of next week.
Next we will finish packing the International unpainted orders, so we can move the packing operation over to painted orders. We will then start packing the Domestic painted orders, and shipping them out. There is not an exact date of when the painted Domestic orders will start shipping out, but it will be close to the end of October, hopefully sooner. Its all dependent on finishing up the wall and column paint jobs. We will post updates frequently to show the progress.
We are currently working on the designs of the molds for Wave 2 pieces and will be posting updates of them, as we start cutting the molds.
The Columns are shooting and they look fantastic!
Here is a photo of the first column out of the injection molding machine with an OpenLOCK Clip.
Here is a photo of a room build using the columns, with the finished production paint job of the Castle Floors.
Stay tuned for more updates over the next few weeks showing photos of painted walls and columns.
Thanks
Jamison & The AOD Team
