hey everybody happy holidays it's shawn from tested i'm here with my favorite things of the
year um have a nice variety we're going to start with the tools um i have bought so many dremels
over the years rechargeable ones all different configurations the deluxe model the basic model
whatever and they've always been okay and um i bought i got this as a gift this year this is the
fordham rotary tool and it has changed my rotary tool game forever i am i am 100 spoiled for the
rest of my life um this is typically you'll find these a lot at jewelry uh supply places um both
online and you know if you have a place in town but this is the deluxe uh rotary tool version
that you can get and what really really sets it apart is this speed control it has a foot pedal
speed control that you can just you can just ease it in you can ease it out you can give it just a
little bit you can give it full blast which was always my problem with the dremels is they they
you're always trying to fiddle with the switch while you're using it and just it's not the same
this is so much more responsive and makes uh rotary tool jobs a delight um has a a powerful
motor that can go both forward and reverse this is the standard uh chuck or handle that comes with it
it has like a jacob's chuck on it like a drill press it simply snaps on and off it has a key
that lines it up so you can get different hand pieces for different jobs or different things
you can even get little sanders and chiselers and stuff like that and then it comes a little jacob's
key that you can you can put your standard tools into i've been using this for grinding drilling
buffing and polishing like all the stuff you'd use for dremel but it this the foot pedal thing just
makes all the difference and this feels so good in your hand it has a nice shape and weight and it
you know looks like a lightsaber on top of that so that's a that's a bonus
um and it has a lot of different accessories with it so like the uh you could hang this on
like pegboard if you have that above your bench uh i got the the stand that you can hang to from
and it comes with a another option which is the drill press so you can put this guy in
put drill bits in or even sanding drums and use this little platform and it has a spring-loaded
drill press mechanism and i use this far more than i thought i would i thought this was a little
extravagant or not needed but this really has been awesome for a lot of different tasks and then it
has the bench top clamp so you can kind of you know you can put a grinding wheel in there and
use it to polish grind whatever you need to do but it is it is really up to my game and i know other
um uh like uh people will have these and jewelry makers will vouch for these now the downside to
the fordham is it is so expensive um if you look it up you follow the links that we'll put down
there it is a pricey tool for as much as i use it it is worth every penny for me and my workshop
there are other alternatives that are cheaper one of them is the growbit which i've bought a lot of
growbit tools over the years and they've all been quality and they have one that is almost identical
to this which is significantly cheaper so that might be worth looking into and there are other
options as far as the stands and the clamps and the drill presses and stuff like that but
um the pinnacle and and probably top of the line is probably going to be the fordham i'm i'm sure
that there's other ones even higher than this but this is uh this is a game changer for me so
the the fordham uh rotary tool system uh check it out um kind of that uh something that i've used in
conjunction with this a lot and i think adam may have shown these off before but i got this little
uh hand vice or jeweler's vice and this has also been a game changer for me because
a lot of stuff i work on like the camera stuff and and other delica things are are
often very tiny and i do have trouble coming up with good clamping mechanisms
um so this guy simply uh has a jaw that opens up it has a set of pins that you can rearrange even
for like oddball shaped stuff and it will clamp just about anything um so i got this this odd
shaped camera part and it will securely clamp it in place and then it's perfect for sitting
here and using the rotary tool on or just other delicate work and you can also take the pins out
and just use it straight up as a clamp and the head will even unscrew and you can attach it to
something else they do have like uh bench top bases that you can use with it as well but little
jewelers hand vice also a game changer for me it does come with more pins in this so you can uh
use even more than the regular four if you need to and uh pins or no pins but little hand vise
okay so let's let's move on to more fun stuff we'll go to the the toys um let's start with
these guys this is good timing considering the new movie just came out and that we've been covering
a lot of ghostbusters stuff lately um these are the mini epics um from what a workshop i have
bought um various runs of the mini epics and they have all been great the detailing is so good the
characterization that they do and the poses they do the attention to detail the paint jobs like if
just like if you look at the proton packs the detailing on it are are absolutely fantastic and
i just picked up they just released recently the demon dog and holy cow this is my favorite thing
ever these guys are up on the shelf but this guy sits by my my computer like every day because it's
just a delight to look at we got slimer i am crossing my fingers for a mini epic stay puff
but i hasn't materialized as of yet um but if you are a fan of ghostbusters or they also do a run of
alien um they've done just about any lord of the rings you can think of they've done district 9
but every single mini epic that i've got has been a delight and definitely worth checking
out if you're a fan of ghostbusters or quality vinyl models so what a workshop mini epics
and then we're going to jump over this and this is a blast from the past these are toys from my
childhood which i just recently discovered are still being made uh so i i didn't hesit
i hesitate to to do favorite things that are like oh you got to start ebay for it but these you can
still get now these are at least 35 years old from my childhood these are zoids they are a unique
and fun construction set for kids any ages and uh the the original run uh started with these little
wind-up toys so they all have some kind of motion and these little guys would wind up and then do
their thing and but the unique thing about the zoids is they come as a kit so everything comes
on a sprue like a regular glue together or snap together model kit you cut them off the sprues
and then you assemble them but the unique thing about the zoids are they use these rubber nuts
and the rubber nuts basically go on and retain all the panels sometimes they're used for detailing
but like i said i've had these for 35 years and these little rubber nuts are still going strong
and they're really fun to build they usually come with these little tiny gold or silver pilots
and there's some customization you can do like it comes with a variety of weapons and decals
and you can mix those up a little bit but the standard model is basically you know is the same
this bigger guy they did some battery-powered ones uh this one was actually a robo-struxx which was a
offshoot of zoids a re-branding of zoids that they did but they're they're virtually
identical they they go together the same there's a crossover between the two brands
um but this guy's battery powered and well he's old but he still goes
some of them have lights some have sound yeah but i love these guys they're great so what
i discovered they're still making these they still have little wind-up ones they still have
the bigger guys and you're going to do a little research on your own because i'm not totally up
on my new zoids but uh the bigger ones it looks like they have options of of ones that are powered
like this guy or ones that are just like just st like uh static well not static models but
they're non-powered and they're just posable but they still go together with a little rubber twist
bolt construction they still come on the sprues and there's some really cool ones out there
and the little guys if you're on more of a budget so zoids and vintage robo struts still out there
still going strong so if you're in you know for something a little different as far as a model kit
that's easy to put together check them out and then finally it is the holiday season so we're
gonna end with a holiday item these just aren't up for decoration these are these are my holy grail
of led christmas lights um i grew up with the c7 um you know ceramic christmas lights that was like
the standard around my house and over the years these have gotten harder and harder to find or
all of them have moved to leds and um i to my taste none of them look right they they either
were too dim the coloring wasn't right because they're using plastic housings and i just found
last year these these c7 and they make the bigger c9 led christmas lights that are screw in so which
was really unusual usually they all come pre-wired so i had all these old vintage bakelite christmas
strands that were just sitting around because i wasn't buying the old ceramic bulbs anymore
and these work perfectly in there they look identical to the original old ceramic bulbs they
don't get hot they don't break i've been running a strand in my workshop non-stop for a year
every day and i have not had any uh um blowouts or dot you know dead bulbs or anything like that
and let me grab the end of this strand because what i did is i put the old style ceramic bulbs
in and if we compare them you really can't tell the difference between them
and these are super hot too hot to hold they break super easily and they're just hard to find anymore
so if you're looking for a nice upgrade to your old christmas stuff the uh these are wintergreen
opticor christmas bulbs i will say they are a little pricey unfortunately but i really wanted
to use these old christmas strands and to me it was worth it because it captured uh memories of
my childhood and it felt right so these these are the wintergreen opticor uh led christmas bulbs
so that's a those are some of my favorite things for the year i hope you enjoyed them
let us know some of your favorite things in the comments or if you have
any questions or comments i will always read those and try to get back to you
so with that happy holidays from tested and we'll see you next year