All this is done by me and is my own design.


It's almost finished, just needs the front plate detailed but the sides, top and bottom of the prow can already be seen.


I have two questions: A) can that resin material handle the pressure/temperature of casting (I heard that their materials are generally rather brittle), and B) can I submit a multi-part kit as a single file?


I'm very curious to see those results as well!

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Check this link for printing options, scroll down to my comment.
http://www.forum.specialist-arms.com/in ... pic=5654.0

Also you can submit a multi part kit as a single file as long as all pieces are printed connected such as on a sprue.

Blind-

P.S. I may be interested in giving this ship a scratch build.

I am very tempted to cut up the model is smaller pieces and then either send it to Shapeways or Ninjamagic.

Depending on their time schedule, if I would want to produce the model, I'd like it to be cast by Troll Forged Miniatures, I know the guy running the show is probably one of the best casters in the business, and his Troll Cast plastic is just amazing.

But what's most important is that the details would end up looking rounded/molten and that the material won't break in the casting process. For that I would need to be able to experiment a bit.


That's awesome to hear! I have some bigger ambitions for this project, meaning that this ship would be first of several, and also part of a larger project (site hasn't been updated in a long time, but the forum is). So having somebody creating the models in such a quality that they're worthy of production is definitely something I'm taking into consideration!

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By the way, somebody over at the Anargo forums posted this:


Really want to play with that now...

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Thats what i was going to draw up for you, except mine was going to be a little different then this. I'll draw you a picture so you can see what i was trying to get at. My drawing skills are pretty bad.

Blind-

Been working on the ships a bit more...

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Started working on a prow, still very WIP...

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In the meanwhile, I've taken updated the front, added some torpedo tubes there. The ones on the top of the ship have been removed and have been replaced for the turrets.

The design of the turret is growing on me, however...I'd still like to one day replace them for the more spherical ones...

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It looks great... Except for that big eagle prow. Chop that sucker off is my advice, it clashes with the HW aesthetic.

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SG

Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.

I agree. Your take on HW styling is great ! It quite clashes with the eagle prow.

You should reserve the grimdark bits for a later project

Eagle bad, rest good.

Been toying with the idea of making the eagle head removable, meaning players could either choose for the 'generic' design which doesn't have the eagle head, or the Legion version which will have the head in front. Personally I'm quite fond of the eagle, it gives the ship a sense of megalomania, making it also a sort of psychological weapon rather than purely a conventional one.

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Two things I'm toying with for these ships. I've been getting a lot of feedback regarding the eagle head prow, meaning I'm starting to doubt whether to keep the eagle head or not. I kinda like the eagle head, gives it this megalomaniacal feel, but it does limit its use for other factions/games/settings. That in itself shouldn't really matter since this is primarily aimed at SITA/Sciror/etc.

But then I'm thinking, would other factions use the same type of ship? If so, would they perhaps have a different prow instead of the eagle head? What if I'd make it multi-part, enabling players to pick their prow?

Second piece of doubt is scale. At first I was thinking of having a prototype printed which would fit the BFG scale, since the ship would be classified as a cruiser in 40k, it would be around 80mm long. This means that a lot of the details would go lost, meaning I'd either have to remove a lot of the detailing, making it look more like a caricature almost, or go for a larger scale. I am very tempted to have this ship be made in a larger scale, around 200mm to 250mm long. The amount of detailing could then be really crazy.

However, this might bring a few problems:

*Multipart: When doing the ships on this scale, I would assume they'd have to be multipart kits. I guess this could be done by making the turrets, prows and components (blocks of which the ship is built of) separate. I wonder if multiple prow options would then still be fitting when doing it on such a scale... But on such a scale I might even have to make all the tiny components separate, meaning it could end up being a kit consisting of hundreds of tiny bits...

*Scale: When making the ship this big, it will become a very cool display piece, but it might not be that useful in a game of BFG or whatever other space ship game on that scale. That in itself isn't so bad, but I would imagine that a lot of the sales would go to clients who'd wish to use this ship as a proxy for other miniature lines. Should I keep this in mind when designing/producing this ship?

*Costs: I can imagine that producing such a large model will take a lot of resources. Having it 3d printed will cost a lot, meaning I'd really need to hollow out the ship as much as possible. But even then, having it cast afterward would also require a lot of resources.

But there are also some awesome advantages:
*I can go quite crazy on the details, add an extra level to what I've got now.
*The ship would really be an amazing display piece.
*Fighter drones, torpedos and boarding/drop pods would be more in the same scale as the ship. The Star Wars game sort of seems to be doing the same, so it might not be that weird to go down this route...

Your thoughts?

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Make the ship hollow and some holes so the matirial can get out or cut it into several parts. The price will be quite steep if you want to upscale it.

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Ok...I have caved in, for now! The eagle prow is gone (once again: for now), and went for something more generic. Now I still need to make the front stand out a bit more. It will need some torpedo tubes and such. I'd prefer to the keep the prow pretty blocky like this, there's something crude and almost hammer-like about it.



I think that for now I'll be going for a more conventional size, meaning that the model will be around 80-90mm long. First of all because it will fit in easier with games like BFG and such, especially since I want this ship to be able to have been around in during the DAoT and Great Crusade. I might make a larger (and more detailed) version of it at a later date, sort of as a collectors' item.

As for this model, I've got a feeling that it's almost done and ready for a few test prints to see what it will look like at this scale.

Next up is a battleship. Since this stuff is originally meant for Sciror, I'll use Philip Sibbering's concept as a basis and sort of create my own interpretation of it:



I guess it will get some exhausts at the back and the front will be used as tordedo/pods launcher. The rectangles around the Distortion Engine (round thing in the middle of the ship) will function as launch bays. Hopefully more on that in the coming weeks...

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