I took a couple of photos, but due to the extreme small size of th mini and my lack of experience with the new camera - they aren't the clearest photos I've ever taken. But here they are - just to whet your appetites for new miniatures:
Hydran Gendarme
Moderators: mjwest, Albiegamer
Hydran Gendarme
I finished the Hydran Gendarme master and packaged it for shipping to ADB. Steve Cole and Co. should have it within the next 2 to 3 days and the casting company soon after and we [the fans of Fed Comm] should have our new Squadron Boxes available soon after that.
I took a couple of photos, but due to the extreme small size of th mini and my lack of experience with the new camera - they aren't the clearest photos I've ever taken. But here they are - just to whet your appetites for new miniatures:
I took a couple of photos, but due to the extreme small size of th mini and my lack of experience with the new camera - they aren't the clearest photos I've ever taken. But here they are - just to whet your appetites for new miniatures:
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
Speaking of Fed Ex Couriers...
I finished painting my first one tonight. I'll let the paint dry overnight - then clear-coat it tomorrow and post photos soon after. I think you'll approve of it.
Fed Ex #2 has been base-coated and washed. Dry brushing and highlights tomorrow - then the typical detail process, os it'll be a few more days.
Fed Ex #3 has been base-coaed, but it'll be a simple job using a lot of custom decals, so it should go quick.
I finished painting my first one tonight. I'll let the paint dry overnight - then clear-coat it tomorrow and post photos soon after. I think you'll approve of it.
Fed Ex #2 has been base-coated and washed. Dry brushing and highlights tomorrow - then the typical detail process, os it'll be a few more days.
Fed Ex #3 has been base-coaed, but it'll be a simple job using a lot of custom decals, so it should go quick.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
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Steve Cole
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Release is scheduled for 17 Nov (shipment to wholesalers) so it should be in retail stores by Thanksgiving.
The process from here is not an easy, cheap, or fast one.
1. The last mini (gendarme) arrives, probably around the 30th. Petrick checks it. If he has a problem, it has to be sent back to be fixed, and that delays everything.
2. when we have an ok gendarme, all of the next batch (complat, gendarme, double raider, orion dreadnought, Slaver) are overnighted to Bruce. Presumably, they arrive intact (31 Oct) and don't get lost. If they get lost, we've insured them for enough to do them over, but that will take months.
3. Bruce will give them to Robert to make a master mold. This might take a few hours or it might take a few days (1 Nov to 5 Nov). It depends on a lot of factors.
4. The master mold is put into a spincaster, some copies are produced, and overnighted to me. These might arrive anytime between 3 Nov and 7 Nov. Petrick check them. If there are problems, we have to fix them which will take extra weeks.
5. if no problem, we telephone Bruce to make more spins from the master mold and use them to make the five production molds. This could take an entire day (4 Nov) to an entire week (14 Nov).
6. Once molds exist, Bruce starts spinning up anywhere from 100 to 250 copies of each ship. (These will be tin-zinc, not P65.) Casting might take 1-5 days. He sends those to us by ground freight which takes six or seven days. so earliest arrival is 10 Nov, could take up to 21 Nov.
7. We get the shipment. Mike inspects them. Good ones go into packages (nominal release date is 17 Nov), bad ones get tossed into the melt bucket and melted down. If that makes us run short, we won't have enough to fill orders until more are sent. Depending on the situation, those might be sent the same day or two days later, and might arrive in one day (it's worth paying for overnight if the total weight is low) or in 7 days (if half or more of every ship has to be done over.
There is no reason to think anything WILL go wrong but oh so many things CAN go wrong.
The process from here is not an easy, cheap, or fast one.
1. The last mini (gendarme) arrives, probably around the 30th. Petrick checks it. If he has a problem, it has to be sent back to be fixed, and that delays everything.
2. when we have an ok gendarme, all of the next batch (complat, gendarme, double raider, orion dreadnought, Slaver) are overnighted to Bruce. Presumably, they arrive intact (31 Oct) and don't get lost. If they get lost, we've insured them for enough to do them over, but that will take months.
3. Bruce will give them to Robert to make a master mold. This might take a few hours or it might take a few days (1 Nov to 5 Nov). It depends on a lot of factors.
4. The master mold is put into a spincaster, some copies are produced, and overnighted to me. These might arrive anytime between 3 Nov and 7 Nov. Petrick check them. If there are problems, we have to fix them which will take extra weeks.
5. if no problem, we telephone Bruce to make more spins from the master mold and use them to make the five production molds. This could take an entire day (4 Nov) to an entire week (14 Nov).
6. Once molds exist, Bruce starts spinning up anywhere from 100 to 250 copies of each ship. (These will be tin-zinc, not P65.) Casting might take 1-5 days. He sends those to us by ground freight which takes six or seven days. so earliest arrival is 10 Nov, could take up to 21 Nov.
7. We get the shipment. Mike inspects them. Good ones go into packages (nominal release date is 17 Nov), bad ones get tossed into the melt bucket and melted down. If that makes us run short, we won't have enough to fill orders until more are sent. Depending on the situation, those might be sent the same day or two days later, and might arrive in one day (it's worth paying for overnight if the total weight is low) or in 7 days (if half or more of every ship has to be done over.
There is no reason to think anything WILL go wrong but oh so many things CAN go wrong.
The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
Ah green stuff, indeed. This was what I used to use until Games Workshop became ridiculously expensive and so I now use Milliput instead (which does the same job at a fraction of the price). Did you put the stuff on, let it cure and then carve/sand the shape of the hull, or did you mould the shape using the putty? Or of course you could have done something completely different...
"Green stuff" is the only putty that seems to keep everyone in the process-chain SVC listed above in their "comfort zone".
It is well understood and typically performs well at each step (including the critical mold-making steps which involve heat and pressure that kills some other materials).
Other putties have been used (I used Tamiya epoxy putty for the FedEx master), but always raise eyebrows (and maybe blood pressures) due to the risk of failure.
It is well understood and typically performs well at each step (including the critical mold-making steps which involve heat and pressure that kills some other materials).
Other putties have been used (I used Tamiya epoxy putty for the FedEx master), but always raise eyebrows (and maybe blood pressures) due to the risk of failure.
Fair enough. If it works, why change it? Admittedly my putty is just used for the run of the mill stuff and it works fine for what I need it for. I would imagine Milliput would work fine for moulding (it's used a lot in plumbing so can probably withstand pressure, and it says on the pack that it can cope with reasonable heat - can't remember how much it said though!) but if we know greenstuff works, why not just use that? Saves a lot of potential heartache...