'Epic' Clear Out

Long before the re-birth of Specialist Games and the announcement of Adeptus Titanicus I was planning on doing a Horus Heresy Space Marine Legion army for Epic, plan was to put an army together following the look and make up of a Legion force. As such I hunted on ebay far too much picking up early Epic models for it.

However, I got no further than buying things. I had (and still have) far bigger hobby priorities to work on. Now we have Adeptus Titanicus on the way and to be frank I am far, far, more excited about doing that justice when it arrives than have a 6mm Epic force. I certainly don't have the time or resources to do both.

As such I need to move the Epic stuff on.

It will start to go on ebay this Sunday, however before it goes on there I wanted to see if anyone who reads this blog (or knows someone who might) would want to pick any of the pieces up before I go through the hassle of listing it all.

So the picture below shows everything I have at the moment...

Lots of plastic infantry plus additional metal command, Rhinos, Land Raiders, Whirlwinds, (metal) Predators and Vindicators, Contemptor style plastic dreadnoughts and later style metal dreadnoughts, a Baneblade, two Reavers and two Forge World Warhounds.

If you are interested drop me an email rictusrd-blog @ yahoo-dot-co-dot-uk (delete the spaces and makes the -dot- just .).

Recalcitrant Daze...

...and a single tumbleweed bounces from screen right to screen left.

So things have been a bit quiet in here. I have been busy, just not with models. I have things I need to work on (Daemons, Deathwing and the first priority of the Junka), however the bit of freetime I have had I have needed a break, so it's been filled with reading and films instead.

The one thing I did do was pack up a couple of my models for them to be sent to the States...

My first Looted Vehicle...

Yep, i've sold the Storm'amma and Deffstrike Rokkit Launcha.

It was hard to see them go but in the end I have no inclination at all to do an Ork army. These just sit in boxes for month after month with no finished paint job in sight.

I decided it would be better to let them go to a home where they will be finished off and see a gaming table once in a while.

The money raised will of course go to good use.

I do however have another Superheavy sitting in a box without a home to go to:

Yeah, the Looted Shadowsword which goes by the name of 'Da Choppa'.

To see more pictures click on the 'Da Choppa' label below.

I may be tempted to put my two Looted Wagons up for sale as well, along with the modified Fighta I did. I shall have to ponder this.

This will go on eBay at some point in the near future. However if you are reading this and you want to make an offer drop me an email at rictusrd @ yahoo dot co dot uk

Scatter Terrain 15 - Dragons Teeth for Sale

Just a quick one tonight.

While I was mainly working on the Nurglings I did also get the last of the Dragons Teeth based...

Probably a bit over the top. Don't know if I will ever need anywhere near that many tank traps, in total they come to just under 1.5m in length.

In other news I am now offering the tank traps for sale at £4.50 for a set of nine cast in resin...

Have a look at the Sales & Commissions page shown above for details.

Gun Turrets 5

So, I've not had any time to build the Mk. II Gun Turret, however while working on the new modified gun mounting plate for the gun emplacement I got thinking about using 3D modelling/printing to make the new gun turret.

This had led me to a crossroads as there are two ways I could take it...

1. Scratchbuild the basic shape then add detail pieces (such as rear door area, turret ring etc) which have been 3D printed.

2. Do the entire thing as a single 3D print.

The former will be a deal cheaper, while the second will allow more detail and be less hassle.

I am tempted to go with the second option but it really depends on how many casts I am likely to sell to people as that would make the initial expenditure worthwhile.

So to help me work out costs and to gauge interest I did a 3D mock up.

Now this is just a mock up, the basic size and shape is there but the details were just slapped on, the final design would be more developed.

To mount the turret there is a recess for a magnet and a 2mm hole  as an alternative means.

So what do people think? Is there enough interest out there for me to go down the one piece print?

Terrain Pillars - First Cast and Moulds Available

As previously discussed I set abotu doing a Mk. II Pillar. The Mk. I was used to try out the Zone Mortalis rule set.

Mk. II is an improved design. I was able to do the first couple of casts today and the end result is a much easier casting process and a higher quality of cast.

The Mk. II Pillar Master

Comparison shot of the Mk II and Mk. I casts.
The difference in quality is easily shown.

As I cast two pillars I was able to slot some walls and doos in place to see how things fit together:

Walls in slotted into the outer grooves

Militiaman Bob showing the height of the pillars (70mm)

A door slotted into the central groove

So the design is much improved, so much simpler to cast than the orginal. I didn't use any form of vibrating table or other casting aid and I still only got a few small air bubbles. (Note: the two casts shown have not had their bases cleaned up, hence the rough looking edges).

The pillars are still meant more as a means to allow a quick, easy and relatively cheap modular board to be built. Unlik the Mk. I design though these have a much nicer finish so have a more permanent role, the former design was more obviously a stop gap to a permanent board being built.

Here is a shot taken from the test games I played of Zone Mortalis to show the idea of the pillars being used to put together boards:

Now to be able to put together a full board something in the region of 30-50 pillars are needed depending on the size of the board and the balance between rooms and corridors you use. The cost of plaster (approx £25 for 10kg) means that even with that many casts and the cost of the mould(s) themselves a board can be assembled within a reasonable amount.

The walls are made from 1mm card while the doors are 3mm Finnboard. The grooves in the pillars are .5mm over this size, so there is some leeway to the size you use.

So are you interested in purchasing one or two moulds?

The moulds weigh in the region of 400g which is a fair amount of rubber. This combined with the amount of time it takes to do the moulds I have decided on a price of £30 for one mould, or £55 for two moulds.

I will do a test cast with each mould to ensure the mould is ok. If there is a problem which means the casts are unusable (e.g. an air bubble here and there in the mould will be passed as ok) it will be scrapped and a new mould done in its place.

I recommend having two as it will dramatically speed up casting time, but if you have time to play with one will obviously do.

So to summarise:

£30 for one pillar mould + postage at cost.
£55 for two pillar moulds + postage at cost.

Time wise I will be doing any moulds to order, as such it will take a few days as a minimum before postage as each mould must be left 24 hours before the master can be removed. Also as each mould uses a fair amount of rubber I cannot gaurantee I will have enough at any particular time to do an order so an additional week may be required for new rubber to arrive.

If you are interested drop me an email...

rictusrd-blog (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk

Recalcitrant Daze - ZM Pillars and Gun Turrets 4

Moulds for Pillars on the way...

When I originally did the pillars to try out Zone Mortalis I had a few people ask me if they could have some to do the same thing. The original master was a very quick build and was destroyed during the moulding process (i.e. I had to break it up to get it out of the mould) which left me with a single mould. There was no way I was going to cast pillars for people as it would of taken weeks to knock enough out.

However I was recently asked again for pillars so I decided to make a new master, one I could use to do multiple moulds. I still won't be casting pillars for people, however I will sell the moulds themselves allowing people to cast as many pillars as they like in plaster.

So here is the new master.

The new design is the same as the first in principal - namely two outer grooves (1.5mm wide) for card walls to be slotted into and a central groove (3.5mm) for a door to be slotted in.

However the new design will use less rubber for the mould and less plaster in the casting. It should also provide a much easier casting experience as the original mould is very awkward and results in lots of air bubbles due to the thin walls which make the grooves for the card to slot into.

It is still plain and simple and I am not going to town making it perfect - it is still intended as a quick, cheap and modular way to try out Zone Mortalis or similar games set inside buildings/tunner sytems/space craft etc.

Like the Mk. I version the pillars are 70mm tall.

Some walls and a door slotted in place.

Gun Turrets.

Recently I asked if people would be interested in buying gun turrets if I built a new one. Well I think I had enough interested via the blog and forums to go ahead and at least do a new master.

So I got out the original master and it's current state is now...

I needed the lego to act as the internal structure of the new model. However it will be slightly smaller (the original was a touch too big) for easier set up. I was not happy with many aspects of the original design so this will be a good opportuniy to do a much better model.

While I would like to get the gun turret done ASAP I have a lot on my plate at the moment (some of which will come out in the near future) so I think it will be a slow build over the next few weeks.

Gun Emplacement Mk II - 7

Emplacement Kits for Sale...

Good morning.

After showing the emplacement in a few places I had enough people ask me if I was selling kits to actually offer it for sale.

By doing extra moulds I can knock out a full set of casts in an evening in plaster for the walls and resin for the base, steps and gun mounting plate...

So we have eight curved wall pieces, two end wall pieces, 12 base pieces, 3 step pieces and the gun mounting plate. I will cast into one wall piece some rebar in case people want to add damage and have it showing.

I am going to offer the kits for £25 plus postage (at cost) for one or £45 plus postage for two kits.

As before if you are interested drop me an email... rictusrd-blog at yahoo dot co dot uk

EDIT: Got email address wrong....cheers Oink.


Using the pieces shown above, which I cast to determine how quick I could knock out a set, I was able to put together the second gun emplacement

The plan was to add some more details to the gun emplacements. First up I knocked up a shell case. I did the master, the mould and the first casts before I realised I actually had an Earthshaker shell with the Militia artillery crew set. Thankfully the sizes match up ok.

I then looked at the crank handle mechanism to turn the gun mounting plate.

I realised I had made  a mistake on the gun mounting plate by putting the recess - which I intended to use to locate the mechanism, was on the wrong wise. On the right it would block access to the gun raising handle. As such it will have to go on the right.

Due to this I will modify the gun mounting plate master to get rid of the recess and do a new mould.

Defensive Walls 11 and more on Moulds for Sale

Moulds On Sale

 

I modified the defensive wall masters to remove the mounting plates so people won't have to spend hours removing them from the casts (as I had to do...). I did the new mould...

 

Modified masters on the left, casts from them on the right.

However after using the new mould and comparing it to my original moulds I think I will actually be selling the separate moulds as shown below. They just seem easier to handle and use. It also means if people only want to use the walls without the plinths then I can sort them out with what they want easier.

 

So the prices as previously shown will be...

 

Mould Set 1 – two moulds covering the straight wall, corner wall, straight plinth and corner plinth. £22 + postage

Mould Set 2 – Two of Set 1. £40 + postage

Mould Set 3 – As Set 1 + mounting plate mould & 4 pieces of rebar (each just shy of 100mm long). £25 + postage.

Mould Set 4 – Two of Set 3. £45 + postage.

 

If people are after some drop me an email... rictusrd-blog at yahoo dot co dot uk

 

The weight of the box for Set 1 will be in the region of 450-550g. As such keep this in mind when deciding what you want. As before I do reccommend you get more than one set as with the amount of casting you will need to do having more than one mould of each piece will make life a lot more easier.

 

I have ordered a second print of the straight and corner wall pieces which should be here in a couple of weeks. This will allow me to do more moulds quicker and also larger moulds for those who may want a mould for say two straight wall pieces and one corner wall piece.

 

I have had a couple of people asking about the Gun Emplacement curved walls (see below) and I will be offering the mould for these for sale as well. However I have just placed an order to get some prints for the base parts which I hope will turn out well so I am going to hold off making it 'official' till I got hold of these.

 

 

But for those who are only interested in buying the emplacement wall mould rather than a complete gun emplacement set please drop me an email and i'll let you know a price.

 

 

Defensive Walls.

 

Sunday I was able to get all the wall pieces so far cast and along with a few bastions I did a set up...

 

 

I think now I have enough cast, I will continue to do the odd few as I do test casts for any moulds I sell but otherwise I will stop the bulk casting I have been doing (bit of a relief, I need a break from casting).

 

I did get some pics regarding the Planetstrike guns as well:

 

 

As you can see only with the box base can the guns fire over the walls with the plinths, however the other base isn't far off. I think I will be doing a new base from scratch, similar to the small base (as shown on the left) but tall enough to be used behind the taller wall set up.

 

Along with building some sub assemblies I'll be casting some mounting plates and adding them to the walls - I need a shed load of these so i'm not really looking forward to it.

Defensive Walls & 3D Printing 10 and Mould Prices

I had some more plaster arrive resulting in more wall casts being done. Since the last update the tally now runs at…

64 No. Straight Walls (3.2 metres)

54 No. Corner Walls
44 No. Straight Plinths (1.1 metres)
19 No. Corner Plinths

Some close ups of the latest walls with damage carved into them:

Sometime this weekend I will (I hope) get some Realm of Battle panels out and do some set ups with some bastions etc to see how many more casts it is worth doing.

I am also thinking about static guns (ala planetstrike) and how they would set up behind the walls. I don’t like the base you get in the planetstrike sets and while I like the alternative Tarantula like base it takes up too much room with the legs spread out.

I am thinking of either a. using the base without the legs or b. doing a new one from scratch.

Here are some pics of the guns set up:

Using the 'box' base

Using the alternative base without the legs.

I prefer the legless base, but not completely sold on it yet. I'm probably going to end up doing a new one similar to it.

Moulds for Sale

As discussed in the previous post I am thinking about selling moulds of the defensive walls for people to then cast their own sets. I’ve had enough emails of interest to make it worth giving it a go. As such I have some new rubber and I’ll be doing the first mould this weekend.

I have some prices which are almost certainly going to be what I go with. I have decided to not include the mounting plate mould in the basic set as I know not everyone would want to bother adding them. So the prices are:

Mould Set 1 – single mould covering the straight wall, corner wall, straight plinth and corner plinth. £22 + postage

Mould Set 2 – Two of Set 1. £40 + postage

Mould Set 3 – As Set 1 + mounting plate mould & 4 pieces of rebar (each just shy of 100mm long). £25 + postage.

Mould Set 4 – Two of Set 3. £45 + postage.

Postage would be at cost. Keep in mind the boxes won’t be light, though a lot less than if you were buying a whole set of cast walls.

I recommend if people can to buy the two mould option as it will make casting all the pieces a lot less time consuming, it allows you to alternative doing casts so that you can do it constantly rather than having to wait for plaster to dry before doing the next set.

I will not be taking orders as such until after the first mould is done this weekend. It allows me to do a test cast to ensure that the mould size and everything else is ok. Plus it’ll give me a weight to determine postage costs so no one has a nasty surprise later.

Defensive Walls & 3D Printing 9 + For Sale...?

So I have been rather busy casting.

To date I have cast...

42 No. Straight Walls (so 2.1 metres of straight walls)
38 No. Corner Walls
34 No. Straight Plinths (so 850mm)
15 No. Corner Plinths

All set up they look something like this:

Though in an actual game setting there will be bastions in there which would increase the area covered.

I think I have nearly enough now. I have run out of plaster but i've ordered a load more. Once it arrives I'll finish off the casting and do the sub assemblies for the plinth walls sections.

I do have the fun task of casting all the mounting plates for them. I can hardly wait.

Not much of an update I admit, however the main reason for this post is to follow.

'Defensive Wall Mould Sets'

A number of people have asked me if I would be selling casts of the walls which they can buy.

I did consider it but the amount of time this would take up would be far too much and would result in it being too expensive for people to buy.

However, what I am seriously considering is selling a set of moulds which people can then use to cast as many walls as they like. It will be far cheaper for people to cast their own walls using moulds they have bought as the plaster is very cheap.

So what I am proposing is to sell a set which will include moulds for 1 Straight Wall, 1 Corner Wall, 1 Straight Plinth, 1 Corner Plinth and a mould for four Mounting Plates. A mould for rebar will not be included as it uses a lot of rubber, I am finding I am not using much at all - just four lengths so far. As such I will include with the moulds four casts of the rebar.

All this depends on demand. I don't know how much a set will be yet, once I know this is a goer (i.e. there are people interested) I will order some more rubber, as I don't have enough left for a full set, and produce the first set. From this I will then be able to determine a price and people can then order them.

So if you are interested please drop me an email at rictusrd-blog at yahoo dot co dot uk