TK 409 site

Hey gang,

I'm going for ESB, and I ordered a cape and gloves from TK409 website. This was about a month and half ago. They aren't responding to my emails, but should I be waiting this long? I ordered my MoW boots, JP harness, braids, ammo and girth belts, chest lights, etc from various vendors and got them in no time.

Consider the time of year that the last month and a half has been. I wouldn't be worried about it yet. You aren't ordering from Walmart. You are ordering from a guy who has a real job and family obligations. I would give it a bit of time before I started worrying.

Interceptor078 said:

Hey gang,

I'm going for ESB, and I ordered a cape and gloves from TK409 website. This was about a month and half ago. They aren't responding to my emails, but should I be waiting this long? I ordered my MoW boots, JP harness, braids, ammo and girth belts, chest lights, etc from various vendors and got them in no time.

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idk about TK409, but if he's making items from scratch a couple of months isn't unreasonable for larger orders. Also, it has been holiday time, with family etc. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and hold out a bit longer for him to contact you.

Mullreel said:

Consider the time of year that the last month and a half has been. I wouldn't be worried about it yet. You aren't ordering from Walmart. You are ordering from a guy who has a real job and family obligations. I would give it a bit of time before I started worrying.

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who's worried? it's a cape. Just asking about the general timeframes for things. specifically from their website. But whether I'm ordering from Walmart or someone that makes/sells costume items like this, I'm paying money for it. I'd like to get an idea when to expect these things I've paid for. I don't care if it's a $30 cape or $2000 armor. I want to know what they're doing with my money. Doesn't sound like too much to ask. I have a real job and a family, but it doesn't take much to reply to an email. But that's just me.

I am sorry I thought from your first post you were concerned because you asked "should I be waiting this long".

This hobby has a lot of waiting time involved. I am sure you won't like this then, but I never even give things a second thought until about the six month mark. I can see you are new to the forums I have no idea if you are new to the hobby.....but read through several of the threads here and you will see the wait times involved. TK409 has been around a long time. Search through this site and others and you can see a track record form. As far as I know he has a decent track record.

Mullreel is correct, waiting is a pretty normal thing in this hobby. Also, depending on the vendor your dealing with wait times can vary.

MOW tends to have items in stock, so that would make him obviously quicker than say, someone who does things made to order, which is usually the case with this hobby. MOST of the vendors make stuff as a hobby on the side, so what Mulreel was aying is that they have jobs and family to balance with this hobby, but i agree with you 100% that they should still have time to answer an e-mail. I personally try and answer any e-mails in the morning and at night once im in from the shop for the day. There are a few who do this for a living, but the more popular they are, the longer the wait tends to be. Alot of the time these are 1 man operations. Ive bought from tk409 in the past, back in 2008, decent stuff at a decent price, but even back then the communication was very poor, so for him, its "normal". From what i understand, his sister makes any of the stuff that is fabric/sewn. I think it took about 2-3 months for me to get a cape, gloves and a neck seal. Hope that helps brother, and welcome to TDH BTW

Mullreel said:

I am sorry I thought from your first post you were concerned because you asked "should I be waiting this long".

This hobby has a lot of waiting time involved. I am sure you won't like this then, but I never even give things a second thought until about the six month mark. I can see you are new to the forums I have no idea if you are new to the hobby.....but read through several of the threads here and you will see the wait times involved. TK409 has been around a long time. Search through this site and others and you can see a track record form. As far as I know he has a decent track record.

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I should have worded it differently, my apologies. I just wanted to get an idea how long certain items take. I've seen posts about boots, armor, etc from different makers, but didn't find anything specific about these guys.

Darth Voorhees said:

Mullreel is correct, waiting is a pretty normal thing in this hobby. Also, depending on the vendor your dealing with wait times can vary.

MOW tends to have items in stock, so that would make him obviously quicker than say, someone who does things made to order, which is usually the case with this hobby. MOST of the vendors make stuff as a hobby on the side, so what Mulreel was aying is that they have jobs and family to balance with this hobby, but i agree with you 100% that they should still have time to answer an e-mail. I personally try and answer any e-mails in the morning and at night once im in from the shop for the day. There are a few who do this for a living, but the more popular they are, the longer the wait tends to be. Alot of the time these are 1 man operations. Ive bought from tk409 in the past, back in 2008, decent stuff at a decent price, but even back then the communication was very poor, so for him, its "normal". From what i understand, his sister makes any of the stuff that is fabric/sewn. I think it took about 2-3 months for me to get a cape, gloves and a neck seal. Hope that helps brother, and welcome to TDH BTW

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yeah, I totally understand about wait times--my TK took a year to produce, so I knew what I was getting into. With that being said, I know Fett stuff isn't as readily available as say stormtrooper armor, so I was expecting a wait. But the vendors (I'm sure there's other names but I'm just going with this for now) don't really have an approximate wait time or don't mention a wait, which would be cool so I can coordinate everything accordingly. One of the primary reasons I need to get some sort of line of communication with them is because my address changes Saturday, and I emailed them my new address (that's different than the Paypal info they got when I paid), so I just don't want there to be any added issues to the shipping of it.

But thanks for the welcome! I've been trooping with the 501st since June, so all of this is new to me...but excited nonetheless. Boba Fett was always the plan, way before I even thought about joining. As an artist, I'm more psyched about the painting. I'm just not good with fabrication as much as I am painting/weathering. So far everything I've ordered has been above par, so I'm really stoked to get that big brown box some time this month...

Awesome man..you know whats up
A belated welcome to the 501st as well! Ive been a member since 2008. I was a GML for 5yrs as well. Its alot of fun, as im sure you already discovered! Stay out of the politics and you will get the maximum fun out of it!

Aside from Boba.. ive had a few costumes..i tend to rotate them out sometimes, but i enjoy the building so building the same suit again is fun for me. Ive had a Stormtrooper, Sandtrooper, Gunner, Bikerscout and TIE pilot. Currently i only have the TIE..but hopefully if business picks up i can start building my "army" again haha.

But yea if you need any pointers or assistance with anything feel free to PM me anytime..or of course post up there are tons of knowledgeable folks here..fett is complicated but well worth the effort!

Darth Voorhees said:

Awesome man..you know whats up
A belated welcome to the 501st as well! Ive been a member since 2008. I was a GML for 5yrs as well. Its alot of fun, as im sure you already discovered! Stay out of the politics and you will get the maximum fun out of it!

Aside from Boba.. ive had a few costumes..i tend to rotate them out sometimes, but i enjoy the building so building the same suit again is fun for me. Ive had a Stormtrooper, Sandtrooper, Gunner, Bikerscout and TIE pilot. Currently i only have the TIE..but hopefully if business picks up i can start building my "army" again haha.

But yea if you need any pointers or assistance with anything feel free to PM me anytime..or of course post up there are tons of knowledgeable folks here..fett is complicated but well worth the effort!

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Hahaha, I think with the cost of this build, I'll be a BH (eventually) for quite some time. Within minutes of my first troop (which was on ESPN2, so it's been such a surreal experience thus far! and not many Darth Voorhees, I've seen your name over on whitearmor also. lol

I've been piecing everything together, trying to get as much from one maker as I can. I've ordered/paid for everything except toe spikes*, shin tools*, and the flight suit/vest/neck seal. Just waiting on everything to get here (drop a few lbs), then order the remaining soft goods. At least that's the plan anyway.

*these things I'd love to make from scratch but measurements aren't US and if I went with 1/2 inch toe spikes it'd be off--just slightly, but shouldn't be too much an issue