Out of curiosity, once you have a mold, how hard would it be to make the mini? Is it just a matter of filling the mold with some kind of material and letting it harden?
Out of curiosity, once you have a mold, how hard would it be to make the mini? Is it just a matter of filling the mold with some kind of material and letting it harden?
It's fairly difficult if you don't have professional equipment or aren't skilled. Of course, it depends on the material. For this to work, the material and kits would have to be such that the average hobbyist could manage.
Guys, you are neglecting something big: 3D printers. Get a Cupcake CNC up to spec with a microfine extruder, and game stores install them, wherein people pay the shops for the cost of plastic plus convenience. You could just dial up a one piece mold of your desired unit with whatever equipment you want and get it in minutes.
Rapid prototyping amongst hardcore 40k gamers holds a lot of allure. I know a guy who may or may not have built a Land Raider tank battalion for his mechanized IG with the 3D printers and scanners at his college. Yeah: scan a GW sprue and run off 20 copies for maybe $75. Save about $725.
Games Workshop suffers from a strong used market much in the same way as video game publishers do. A lot of people put serious bank into buying up all the armies, get halfway through painting them (or never start), and eventually wind up not using them often enough to warrant that cost. Rather than letting them sit on the shelf, something with that high of value always finds its way onto eBay to make the money back. People are willing to part with perfectly good second-hand units for a fraction of the price.
I am amazed by the idea of using a 3D printer for miniature wargaming. We had one in college and people were always sneaking in to use it for cool and interesting purposes. The best I can remember was a new hull for an RC boat, optimized for speed.
It's fairly difficult if you don't have professional equipment or aren't skilled. Of course, it depends on the material. For this to work, the material and kits would have to be such that the average hobbyist could manage.
Lego. A properly done (read: Consistent.) Lego game would rock balls.
Guys, you are neglecting something big: 3D printers. Get a Cupcake CNC up to spec with a microfine extruder, and game stores install them, wherein people pay the shops for the cost of plastic plus convenience. You could just dial up a one piece mold of your desired unit with whatever equipment you want and get it in minutes.
Rapid prototyping amongst hardcore 40k gamers holds a lot of allure. I know a guy who may or may not have built a Land Raider tank battalion for his mechanized IG with the 3D printers and scanners at his college. Yeah: scan a GW sprue and run off 20 copies for maybe $75. Save about $725.
I think I've found some of those templates before. Seems like a good idea to me.
It's fairly difficult if you don't have professional equipment or aren't skilled. Of course, it depends on the material. For this to work, the material and kits would have to be such that the average hobbyist could manage.
You could get away with making premade mini's for people without the skill or time, and offer the make your own kits to those people with skill and equipment. This is kind of like the beer industry. You could go by a six pack at the beverage center, but with some time and effort you can craft your own tasty brew. You could save a little money in the long run, but most importantly it's going to give you a sense of accomplishment when it's done.
I've made lead sinkers with an antique mold. It's not easy, but you can pull it off.
Guys, you are neglecting something big: 3D printers. Get a Cupcake CNC up to spec with a microfine extruder, and game stores install them, wherein people pay the shops for the cost of plastic plus convenience. You could just dial up a one piece mold of your desired unit with whatever equipment you want and get it in minutes.
Rapid prototyping amongst hardcore 40k gamers holds a lot of allure. I know a guy who may or may not have built a Land Raider tank battalion for his mechanized IG with the 3D printers and scanners at his college. Yeah: scan a GW sprue and run off 20 copies for maybe $75. Save about $725.
I think I've found some of those templates before. Seems like a good idea to me.
This is our Rapid Prototyping lab at UIUC. You could run off the entire GW product line in a few hours with the SLA (it'd be way expensive), or individual sprues with the 3D printer (on the cheaps).
College kids whine about 40k prices. They obviously don't have Fab Labs.
So, based on Ro's recommendation, I read The Stuff of Legend and absolutely loved it. It reminded me of a darker version of Toy Story meets the Cuckoo story in volume 5 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The art was gorgeous, the story was captivating and interesting and I can't wait to read the second book.
My local comic shop/boardgame store owner recommened me Three Shadows because I liked the Stuff of Legend so much. Three Shadows is very different, but it has that same indy feel to it. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and without giving away any of the plot, the story is both heart-breaking and hopeful at the same time. I lent it to one of my friends who has a young son and she said it was good, but very powerful for her to read, as a parent.
If you're interested, the first 11 pages of Three Shadows can be found here. If you like good indy comics, and/or are fan of fantastic almost "rough animation sketch" quality artwork, you should give it a look-see.
So, based on Ro's recommendation, I readThe Stuff of Legendand absolutely loved it. It reminded me of a darker version of Toy Story meets the Cuckoo story in volume 5 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The art was gorgeous, the story was captivating and interesting and I can't wait to read the second book.
Yay, I'm glad you liked it. I have yet to read any of Sandman, but it's on "the long list of comics to read", but the the story did remind me of a dark version of Toy Story. It will probably be a long wait for the next book, so I might honestly consider getting the comics. Last I saw was sometime this summer.
So I finally reacquainted myself with Amulet: Book 1: The Stonekeeper. I forgot how much I really enjoyed it. The storyline isn't one that is unfamiliar, however it's told very well and art is pretty good too.
I just finished the second book The Stonekeeper's Curse and Kazu Kibuishi uses more landscape scenery in his art and it looks pretty fantastic. Another good and fast read because I couldn't put the book down.
It's refreshing to see a story where elves are actually the bad guys for once. I look forward to the third book, The Cloud Searchers, this fall.
I know the movie was optioned to be a movie starring Will Smith's children as the main characters, but have yet to hear anything new about it. It would be really cool to see this adapted to live action or animation, however with recent flops from adaptations, I'm not holding my breath.
Has anyone else read the series? What do you think?
I started reading "Blacksad" as per Scott's Box's recommendation. At the beginning I was a little bit skeptical since all of the characters where anthropomorphic animals, I thought "Is this furry territory?". But all my doubts dissapeared when I read the Introduction by Jim Steranko. This is truly one of the most beautiful books that I have encountered in the past year.
Finished up reading Undercurrent, a manga about a woman running a bathhouse who's husband leaves her mysteriously. Genuinely absorbing story with lots of attention to atmosphere which is something I'm big into.
Funny coincidence. Just yesterday I loaned from my friend all three Blacksad books. I also read them on the same night, because Internet connection was down and I wasn't able to do school work. Do I even need to say that I liked the books.
Speaking of Blacksad, I tried to order that new Dark Horse edition on Amazon a few weeks ago. It said there'd be a delay of a couple weeks. Then I got an e-mail saying that they couldn't get it, and my order was cancelled. Now it's going for fucking $100. I hope they do another printing soon.
Also, this probably isn't news to anyone, but I started reading One Piece, and it's delightful.
I wish I could say Sonic The Hedgehog, but I can't. These days, the comic is crap. The art is horrible, the story is shallow and non-contiguous with Sonic Universe canon, and there has been absolutely zero character growth since I started reading it as a kid. The last issue I bought was years ago, and that was only because a new character appeared and I thought it was rather novel.
Oh, shit. Do you want to buy mine for $100? Anyone? Also, I hope this teaches you to use dcbservice.com, like me.
I never plan what I want to read far enough ahead to use DCBservice (though I do order from instocktrades a lot) and most of what I want to read is old anyway. I just thought "oh, hey, I guess maybe it's time to pick up Blacksad".
I also really like One Piece, except for when they spend 5 volumes on a single fight.
Yeah,I remember you mentioning that on the show a long time ago. I doubt I'll follow it very far, but I picked up the first three-volumes-in-one-book edition on a whim, and I've been enjoying it a lot.
Yeah,I remember you mentioning that on the show a long time ago. I doubt I'll follow it very far, but I picked up the first three-volumes-in-one-book edition on a whim, and I've been enjoying it a lot.
The long fights don't happen until volumes 7/8/9/10 with the swordfish-man. Volume 11 brings back the magic in a good way, but then another long fight starts again.
To be fair, it's not all 1 big fight. It's numerous fights mixed in with character development for Nami and then a big fight that lasts about a volume.
To be fair, it's not all 1 big fight. It's numerous fights mixed in with character development for Nami and then a big fight that lasts about a volume.
Don't fool yourself. At least Initial D keeps each race to one or two volumes maximum.
Finished off the last couple of chapters of Binbou Shimai Monogatari ("Poor Story"?) and read what's been translated of Hitoshi Ashinano's "Cub Isaku" (He's the guy who wrote and drew Yokohama Shopping Log.).
Comments
Rapid prototyping amongst hardcore 40k gamers holds a lot of allure. I know a guy who may or may not have built a Land Raider tank battalion for his mechanized IG with the 3D printers and scanners at his college. Yeah: scan a GW sprue and run off 20 copies for maybe $75. Save about $725.
I am amazed by the idea of using a 3D printer for miniature wargaming. We had one in college and people were always sneaking in to use it for cool and interesting purposes. The best I can remember was a new hull for an RC boat, optimized for speed.
I've made lead sinkers with an antique mold. It's not easy, but you can pull it off.
College kids whine about 40k prices. They obviously don't have Fab Labs.
If we get people in on this project, I will gladly help write rules. Project Combatslammer 50K?
My local comic shop/boardgame store owner recommened me Three Shadows because I liked the Stuff of Legend so much. Three Shadows is very different, but it has that same indy feel to it. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and without giving away any of the plot, the story is both heart-breaking and hopeful at the same time. I lent it to one of my friends who has a young son and she said it was good, but very powerful for her to read, as a parent.
If you're interested, the first 11 pages of Three Shadows can be found here. If you like good indy comics, and/or are fan of fantastic almost "rough animation sketch" quality artwork, you should give it a look-see.
I just finished the second book The Stonekeeper's Curse and Kazu Kibuishi uses more landscape scenery in his art and it looks pretty fantastic. Another good and fast read because I couldn't put the book down.
It's refreshing to see a story where elves are actually the bad guys for once. I look forward to the third book, The Cloud Searchers, this fall.
I know the movie was optioned to be a movie starring Will Smith's children as the main characters, but have yet to hear anything new about it. It would be really cool to see this adapted to live action or animation, however with recent flops from adaptations, I'm not holding my breath.
Has anyone else read the series? What do you think?
At the beginning I was a little bit skeptical since all of the characters where anthropomorphic animals, I thought "Is this furry territory?". But all my doubts dissapeared when I read the Introduction by Jim Steranko. This is truly one of the most beautiful books that I have encountered in the past year.
Speaking of animal comics, I really want that new Pogo treasury that Fantagraphics is putting out.
Also, this probably isn't news to anyone, but I started reading One Piece, and it's delightful.