TK Build Tracker Excel Spreadsheet

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Hey everyone,

I'm using an Excel spreadsheet that I built to track my spending/parts orders/shipping time, etc. for my TK build. I haven't seen one anywhere else in my time here at FISD, so I decided to share it so that if anyone is interested in doing so, they can use it. Perhaps it is that OCD that my wife swears I have that caused me to do it, perhaps it was excitement plus boredom... No real idea, but I made it so I figure others might be interested in it as well.

 

It is very easy to use, and it will total up the spending for you as you add prices in the price column. If anyone wants to use it, please let me know and I'll send it to you in an email, and if you have any questions about it or suggestions to improve it, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

I'm not an Excel guru, but I'm pretty handy with it. Hopefully this can help some folks out as they go along on their journey to the white side of the dark side!!

[Coastertk]

I've been trying to do this by hand. PM coming with my email. Thanks.

[Toddo[TK]]

Reasonable idea. Far too reasonable in fact. I do not want to have any idea what I've spent on costumes.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

I'll get the emails sent tomorrow sometime, folks. Let me know what you think after checking it out...

 

Todd, you are probably far more right than you'd believe. I'm shocked when I look at my current total, and i don't have any armor yet. LoL

Edited February 27, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Minuteman]

Reasonable idea. Far too reasonable in fact. I do not want to have any idea what I've spent on costumes.

a man after my own heart Some things should never be revealed

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I was far too scared to do a costing LOL, best I don't know the truth of how much I have spent LOL

[I'm Batman[501st]]

I'm mainly using my spreadsheet for getting quotes on items. It's handy to have columns of suppliers/prices sitting there for a bit before I actually order. If I wasn't budget conscience I wouldn't do it. I'd hate to see the final figure. Having said that, I'm only around the $1000- mark and I'm nearly done. Where do people get $1500-$2000- from?

 

And Tim, I'm losing count of how many times you say your wife thinks your OCD and you don't. I think that might mean something  

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Ian, you might be on to something.

 

Glen, you have a rather sizable collection of impressive costumes. Your number would probably be quite daunting to behold.

 

Also, those of you out there that sent PMs....

 

Email sent!

Edited February 27, 2014 by Dark CMF

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

[aicire]

This is awesome. I would love to see yours. I just started my build and Ive been tracking with an exel spreadsheet as well, including timelines to track the amount of time Ive invested into the project.

 

I'll send you a PM with my email

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Wow.  That is ambitious, but really cool.  I'm keeping mine actually for a couple of reasons.  I can't fathom the idea of spending this kind of money and not having any real idea where it went, and more importantly, it gives me some historical data on the ordering so that if new prospects ask "how long does it take for seller #### to ship this item?"  I can say with certainty that, for me, it took ## days between location A and location B.  Just more data/info available to potentially help others, even if it is a small sample size.

 

I hadn't thought of doing build time, but if I had to guess, I've probably got about 40 hours into my Doopybuild right now, since I just posted pics from build day #13 and I average probably around 3+ hours per day when I do work on it.

 

If you don't mind sharing yours, I'd like to take a look at it.  You can just reply to my email with mine if you'd like.  I'll  send it tonight sometime.

[Darth Aloha[Admin]]

Reasonable idea. Far too reasonable in fact. I do not want to have any idea what I've spent on costumes.

 

Because you have a serious problem. 

 

-Eric

[bzb]

Haha, I had one built *months* before I bought anything, and poured over ways to cut costs. I don't know about you guys, but it takes me a long, long time to make any purchase over $200 or so.

 

Ian - I think you're forgetting a lot of things. Besides the armor, there's the glue ($20), elastics and snaps ($50+), velcro ($35), and paints ($15). Anything for assembly is extra cost, like clamps ($10), magnets ($15), and tape ($5). Then, of course, boots ($100+), HBelt ($35), neck seal ($35), holster ($40), and gloves ($8-25). Then, if you want upgrades, you got handguards ($40), strapping kit ($45), fans ($70), and helmet padding ($25). Finally, there's the Hyperfirm blaster ($250), an Aker amp ($50), and the iComm ($100).

 

These are just estimates, and I might even have estimated low. Quite easy to go over $1500.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Haha, I had one built *months* before I bought anything, and poured over ways to cut costs. I don't know about you guys, but it takes me a long, long time to make any purchase over $200 or so.

 

Ian - I think you're forgetting a lot of things. Besides the armor, there's the glue ($20), elastics and snaps ($50+), velcro ($35), and paints ($15). Anything for assembly is extra cost, like clamps ($10), magnets ($15), and tape ($5). Then, of course, boots ($100+), HBelt ($35), neck seal ($35), holster ($40), and gloves ($8-25). Then, if you want upgrades, you got handguards ($40), strapping kit ($45), fans ($70), and helmet padding ($25). Finally, there's the Hyperfirm blaster ($250), an Aker amp ($50), and the iComm ($100).

 

These are just estimates, and I might even have estimated low. Quite easy to go over $1500.

I have no problem whatsoever committing to spending money. LoL. I almost never want to buy anything that costs less than $60, besides food. As for the total on the TK... I'm estimating that mine will be pushing the 2k barrier when you consider all of the "extras" that go into building/upgrading it and the E-11. I'm already north of $900 and don't have my armor/build supplies and some electronics components that I intend to install.

 

On a totally off-subject side note, Bobby, it appears that I may be heading to your neck of the woods before the end of the year!

Edited February 28, 2014 by Dark CMF

[Toddo[TK]]

Because you have a serious problem. 

 

-Eric

 

You should see my kids

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Ian - I think you're forgetting a lot of things. Besides the armor, there's the glue ($20), elastics and snaps ($50+), velcro ($35), and paints ($15). Anything for assembly is extra cost, like clamps ($10), magnets ($15), and tape ($5). Then, of course, boots ($100+), HBelt ($35), neck seal ($35), holster ($40), and gloves ($8-25). Then, if you want upgrades, you got handguards ($40), strapping kit ($45), fans ($70), and helmet padding ($25). Finally, there's the Hyperfirm blaster ($250), an Aker amp ($50), and the iComm ($100).

 

 

 

Yeah, I've got most of that allowed for already. I guess, I already had the blaster and every tool you could imagine. Borrowed paints from fellow members. Little posts are only $3.50 but still no point buying them for 3 brush strokes or so. But it is the éxtras that certainly add up - fans, icomms, amps, etc.....

 

And that's the good thing with a spreadsheet, is that you can write everything down so you don't forget it. Or add it when you have forgotten and re-think about it. 

 

Tim, did your s/s have upper and lower limits for budgeting - ie: $40- for a Doopys upgrade kit, or $250- for a whole new blaster. $40- for Target boots, or $120- for others?

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Ian, my spreadsheet is strictly for tracking (and reminding) purposes. There are no limits of any kind built into it anywhere.

[bluehickey]

I kept a sort of spread sheet as well, monitoring prices for items, plus shipping. When I was done it was right at $1,000.

[bzb]

I have no problem whatsoever committing to spending money. LoL. I almost never want to buy anything that costs less than $60, besides food. As for the total on the TK... I'm estimating that mine will be pushing the 2k barrier when you consider all of the "extras" that go into building/upgrading it and the E-11. I'm already north of $900 and don't have my armor/build supplies and some electronics components that I intend to install.

 

On a totally off-subject side note, Bobby, it appears that I may be heading to your neck of the woods before the end of the year!

Oh yeah? Benning? Or you getting some weird assignment at Dobbins?

 

My dad just retired from Lockheed three weeks ago, which is right next to Dobbins. Trying to convince him to come on down with me to Star Wars Weekends and watch my kiddos (my wife is boycotting Disney twice in a year, haha).

 

If you're going to be here for a while, you need to join up with the Georgia Garrison!

[sekullbe]

I'm using a spreadsheet as well- it's tracking what I have spent and what I need to buy that I haven't yet. I also have a column for optional stuff (like an iComm)

 

For tracking the actual build I use a 'Trello' board. Each piece of armor or step in the process has a "card" on which I add notes like the CRL description, pictures from build threads, etc. Then I can move it through the process- trim, glue, strap, etc. It works pretty well. Here's hoping I can actually get back to the silly thing; I don't have a good indoor workspace, so I've been kind of stuck during the winter without being able to do the necessary sanding/gluing.

Edited February 28, 2014 by sekullbe

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Oh yeah? Benning? Or you getting some weird assignment at Dobbins?

 

My dad just retired from Lockheed three weeks ago, which is right next to Dobbins. Trying to convince him to come on down with me to Star Wars Weekends and watch my kiddos (my wife is boycotting Disney twice in a year, haha).

 

If you're going to be here for a while, you need to join up with the Georgia Garrison!

 

Ian, at the FAA actually.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I received an "All-but-a-confirmation" this morning from my Brigade Command Sergeant Major too, so it is looking more definite now even.

 

Scott, I'm not familiar with a Trello board.  Is that a type of spreadsheet, or is it something different?  I'm intrigued now.  LoL  I don't have a good indoor workspace either.  My Doopy has been built at the bathroom counter for the most part, in the kitchen on occasion, and one time in the living room!

[sekullbe]

Trello (trello.com) is a project management tool. Using it for one project with one person working is kind of overkill, but I wanted to experiment with something like that anyway

 

It's easier to see it on their site (it's free), but the idea is that you can break down your project into "cards" that live in "lists". Each list might be some step in a process, but you can do whatever you like. The cards represent individual items of work (in a software engineering context, which this was designed for, a card would be a bugfix or a new feature, and a list might be 'unassigned', 'in progress', 'in QA', 'released', etc.).  For me the lists are 'research', 'purchase', 'construct', 'trim', 'glue', 'strap', and 'complete'. Most of the cards are individual armor components like 'forearms', but I also have cards for other components like 'undersuit', 'gloves', etc.

 

Part of the goal for me was to have a place to organize, say, everything I know about forearms. So if I see someone post "trim the NE forearm cover strip to 15mm" in a build thread. I can put it on that card where I'm sure to look when I work on forearms.

 

I might be able to make the board public but it's got dollar costs & addresses & such that the FISD board rules like to keep sub-rosa so I haven't done it yet.

 

I bought a small work table and as soon as it's nice again I'll be outside sanding away. There's an awesome local place that offers build space & tools for hobby projects (Artisan's Asylum,  http://artisansasylum.com/) but it's costly enough that I'm not going to sign up until I can guarantee more work time than I've had lately.