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| New Miniatures Battles vehicles? |
| Sure! I'll buy whatever you make! |
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20% |
[ 1 ] |
| Possibly. Depends what's available and the price. |
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80% |
[ 4 ] |
| Nah, not really into that. |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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| Total Votes : 5 |
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Ziz
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 26 Feb 2022
Posts: 112
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 Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 3:41 pm Post subject: Miniatures Battles - want new vehicles? |
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Question for those of you that run Miniatures Battles...
I'm primarily a model builder and I have a home business I've been running for over 10 years making conversion parts for Star Trek model kits. While that's my main product line(s), I'm always looking for ways to expand beyond Trek. I currently have a series of conversion heads for the vintage MPC R2-D2 kit, but now that I've been getting back into my old WEG stuff, an idea hit me....
How much interest would there be in new 1/72 scale ships to use for your Miniatures Battles? Nothing huge like Star Destroyers or Mon Cal cruisers - more like things that would fit into ground battles - other landspeeder styles, other swoops/speeder bike styles, a desert skiff (Sarlaac pit battle), or maybe even some pod racers? Twin Pod Cloud Car? Or maybe WEG scale versions of the Mini-Rigs from the vintage Kenner action figure line? Anything from a particular WEG book you want to see made? Or do you have your own ideas?
For the record - I don't have anything for sale at the moment...just gauging interest to see if it's worth the effort. |
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TauntaunScout
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Joined: 20 Apr 2015
Posts: 981
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 8:58 am Post subject: |
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More creatures! A dewback would be great, there's really no readily sourced option for those. WEG made 3 of the important creatures, wampas can be scrounged from a Kenner toy, but dewbacks elude me.
Artillery that isn't easily found. The rebel "radar" cannon, ie the Atgar 1.4 FD P-Tower. |
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Ziz
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 26 Feb 2022
Posts: 112
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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Dewback - I'm not much of a sculptor, but if you know of something that's the general shape, I might be able to modify it.
Ground equipment is also an interesting idea. You thinking the turrets and radar cannons from Hoth? Aside from some Ewok constructions, was there anything else? |
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TauntaunScout
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Joined: 20 Apr 2015
Posts: 981
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Ziz wrote: | Dewback - I'm not much of a sculptor, but if you know of something that's the general shape, I might be able to modify it.
Ground equipment is also an interesting idea. You thinking the turrets and radar cannons from Hoth? Aside from some Ewok constructions, was there anything else? |
25mm turrets are readily sourced elsewhere. Though more options is better than fewer options. Radar cannons aren't available in 25mm at all though.
And yeah there's ewok catapults, Endor bunker entrances, the rebel base "people movers", and so on and so forth and what have you.
If you're not much of a sculptor how are you going to make them? |
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Ziz
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 26 Feb 2022
Posts: 112
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Figures are sculpted. Ships and weapons are hardware - things that can be made from strips, flats, building on basic shapes. That's what I'm good at. |
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TauntaunScout
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Joined: 20 Apr 2015
Posts: 981
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| Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Ziz wrote: | | Figures are sculpted. Ships and weapons are hardware - things that can be made from strips, flats, building on basic shapes. That's what I'm good at. |
Are you scratch-building them and making a rubber mold from a master copy, or are you computer drafting them for 3D printing? |
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Ziz
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 26 Feb 2022
Posts: 112
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| Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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Scratchbuilding, although I am starting to dip my toes in the 3DP water for certain parts of other things I'm working on.
Either way, I'll be molding/casting the pieces for sale. 3D printing is still a little slow and expensive to use for mass production unless it's a giant expensive piece, which these won't be. |
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pakman
Commander
Joined: 20 Jul 2021
Posts: 441
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Ziz wrote: | Scratchbuilding, although I am starting to dip my toes in the 3DP water for certain parts of other things I'm working on.
Either way, I'll be molding/casting the pieces for sale. 3D printing is still a little slow and expensive to use for mass production unless it's a giant expensive piece, which these won't be. |
I make terrain, minis and do custom commissions for wargaming (specifically 40k and warhammer fantasy).
For a long time I did scratch built stuff, mostly one of a kind, but a few pieces that I did make masters of and resin cast here and there.
(even have vacuum chamber for degassing silicone, pressure casting pots etc. and silly amount of molds).
Terrain pieces greebles were usually dental plaster casting rather than resin, depending upon the use of the piece.
I can say, that 3d printing - is absolutely amazing. The quality that was thousands and thousands of dollars years ago is now just a couple of hundred, and getting better (or rather easier to use) constantly.
Now, my cad skills are not great, but for someone who is primarily a terrain maker or large custom pieces - there are plenty of parts out there, or I can make simple stuff.
My point - 3d printing is absolutely getting faster and better. Now, yes, if you already have your molds, and have good resin you can do a pour and pull faster than a large 3d print at maximum quality.
But the repeatability, not needing to use pressure etc. for me, the 3d printing has become much more effective.
Especially when now instead of doing 10 resin pulls to get 30 usable crates (did a very large cargo hold terrain piece for space hulk), I can have my printer print them out over night and I get 40 out of 40.
Now, since I mainly do terrain or vehicle conversions - I don't always have to have super great quality - so that helps.
(well, actually - time wise, I just don't take commissions anymore - time is short, and I don't want to charge people what it would take for me to do them, unless it is a desperate friend who needs help with a project - behind on my final big commission now...).
_________________
SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon.... |
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Ziz
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 26 Feb 2022
Posts: 112
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| Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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I don't have a 3D printer myself - been depending on a friend to print a few parts for me for another project - but last I read was that the time/cost ratio was still on the high side. I've also been molding/casting for 12 years, so it's just natural for me at this point.
I'm also somewhat biased to the idea that people have to actually learn skills and put effort into building and painting something rather than just hitting "Print". |
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TauntaunScout
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Joined: 20 Apr 2015
Posts: 981
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| Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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| You can also 3D print a master of a large piece and use that to make your mold. |
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pakman
Commander
Joined: 20 Jul 2021
Posts: 441
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:53 am Post subject: |
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| Ziz wrote: | I don't have a 3D printer myself - been depending on a friend to print a few parts for me for another project - but last I read was that the time/cost ratio was still on the high side. I've also been molding/casting for 12 years, so it's just natural for me at this point.
I'm also somewhat biased to the idea that people have to actually learn skills and put effort into building and painting something rather than just hitting "Print". |
I understand - I have hand made custom terrain and model modifications for years, including a lot of foam, plasticard and a lot of silicon and resin.
Some of them very extensive or expensive (I have a $1000 model in my workshop right now, that I am behind on finishing some major modifications on).
My mustafar lava refinery table which was made for a big star wars RPG game, was also my entry into a terrain contest for a wargaming tourney; and of this was years before I got my first 3d printer... but I digress.
However - 3d printing IS here, and just to let you know the person who told you 3d printing is too much work is not congruent with "just hitting print".
And neither is true.
Are the 3d printers still hobbyist devices? Can they be temperamental, yes?
Are they more complicated than a high quality double action air brush with a fine needle? about the same.
They are also a lot more than "just hitting print". You have to learn about how they work, how to position and orient models, and the basics between nozzle temp, bed temp and alignment. (again, similar to an airbrush in multiple things going on). It would be like someone saying "you are just pouring plastic into a mold, how hard is that".
(answer: years to know how to make the mold properly to do that, so you can get the part out without destroying the part or the mold).
Don't let pride stand in the way of new tools - there will always be a need for filing, sanding, filling, gluing and modifying (you can have my large tub of expoxie sculpt when you pry it from my hands....) models and parts.
But I can spent hours making a master for a vent, then mounting in a box, coating with mold release, mixing and filling silicone, degassing said silicone, putting in pressure pot, and making one mold. then ...you know the rest.
Or I can make the vent in sketch up or tinker cad (or download one I like for free) and print 16 a night while I sleep - for about 50 cents worth of plastic total.
(If I add up the costs of my casting stuff - it is about the same as a decent printer).
No resin, no mess, no smell, no vacuum pumps or prying spilled resin off my workbench.
Decent printers for hobbyists are about $240 bucks (I suggest an ender 3 pro for a started FDM printer) and those will do fine quality for vehicles or terrain parts.
Printing the body of a speeder on the printer, then adding greebles that were too thin or difficult to print by hand is a great hybrid way of doing things. That and 3d printing just can't replace textured evergreen sheet plastic....not yet anyway. The skills of scratch building and 3d printing are complementary, not competitive.
_________________
SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon.... |
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Ziz
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 26 Feb 2022
Posts: 112
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 8:11 am Post subject: |
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| I'm not against 3D printing as a general rule, I just don't have the time or money to dive into it right now. Yeah, my info may be a little out of date, but I've been noting prices now and then on equipment and supplies. I'm just not in a position to do any hard math to figure out what a specific size print would cost me, so I haven't tracked it in any kind of detail. And, just like physical model building/molding/casting, there's a learning curve to it. I'll get more into it eventually, just not in the foreseeable future. |
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TauntaunScout
Line Captain
Joined: 20 Apr 2015
Posts: 981
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| I just got a free 3D printer that a local library was gonna throw away because they're upgrading. |
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