I have painted 7 x 42nd Highlanders this week and on the whole the Black Watch tartan 'impression' that I have achieved would seem to be about as good as I'm likely to get now, for some reason I really struggle to paint tartan despite some useful tips from Rob and others. It's a kilt, its very dark with a slight highlight and that's the best I can do for now. Next step is to convert the extra 12 figure base of Highlanders from 92nd foot to 42nd, this will involve repainting the facings and kilts to bring the total to 19 figures and the Sash & sabre command pack will need to be ordered to bring them up to the full 24 figures. This will then give me a total of 6 x 24 figure British line infantry battalions including the 92nd and 42nd foot. In addition there will be 12 x 60th rifles on 2 bases and 14 x 43rd Light Infantry in skirmish order on 2 bases .....subject to the Spanish postal service delivering the latter eventually of course!
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| Photo taken in low natural light to show the dark kilts. |
RHA crew - progress.
I mentioned a couple of posts back that myself and Ian Smith were planning to get some Royal Horse Artillery crews sculpted in 40mm to add to our Peninsular War collections. Whilst my initial idea was to commission the masters the traditional way, Ian persuaded me to explore the possibility of digital sculpts that could be 3d printed to create resin masters, indeed the 3d prints themselves could be painted and used for our artillery crews. A test digital sculpt of the RHA officer was commissioned by Ian and After a couple of small changes the latest images of the figure looks quite amazing. There are still a couple more alterations required, removal of the cross belt being one, and enlargement of the sword hilt another. Still early stages but I think the potential to produce some unique gun crews here is quite evidently a reality. I welcome any comments or suggestions at this stage.......it's a sneak preview.
Wow! Your RHA officer sculpt is exquisite! Brilliant work.
ReplyDeleteI love him too Jonathan, but must stress he is not my work but the work of the brilliant digital sculptor to whom I left a link couple of posts or so ago. His work for Graham Cummings is brilliant.
DeleteTop notch work mate - I thank the Gods that I've never had to paint tartan, not sure I could do as good as you've managed. As to the 3D printing - it's the future no doubt. When I win on spot the ball I'll get myself one I think.
ReplyDeleteCheers JBM, I can't say I'm 100% happy but at this stage the kilts will have to do, I'm seeing tartan patterns swirling around my head now. The 3D printing technology is really coming on a treat, I think it's quite a slow process when using an entry level printer such as Graham Cummings has described, taking several hours to produce a resin master and it stinks the room out! I really understood very little about the technology a few weeks ago, still don't if I'm honest. Few more years and we will all be printing out our own armies :)
DeleteWow... that RHA figure is going to be stunning..
ReplyDeleteSteve - I had no idea about any of this until very recently, I still don't understand HOW that digital sculpt converts to a printed resin model, but it does!
DeleteI think it's super exciting ... it's going to be an absolute sea change in the hobby and probably within the next 10 years... the printers will get faster, more capable of doing fine detail and will become cheaper putting them in the hands of most hobbyists... at that point some will be designing their own figures using off the shelf design packages (of varying degrees of detail), some - like Graham I think - will be selling digital sculpts for you to print yourself, or do it for you in either resin or metal.. picking up on Ross's point about painting robots, how long before some bright spark manages to develop a 3D printer that can take different coloured resins (like a multi colour cartridge on a printer), leading to ready coloured printed sculpts..?? Very exciting...
DeleteHi Steve - just read your Yapton beer festival report, can't believe that's yet another year flown by!
DeleteRe the 3D print technology, I agree it's very exciting. My original idea was to treat myself to a RHA crew via Steve Barber who is a great traditional sculptor. His original price per figure of £200.00 was subsequently discounted to £175.00 the price includes master sculpt and mouldmaking by Griffin - one of the best out there. I looked for a couple of other 40mm collectors who might wish to share the costs and it was Ian Smith - best of show winner at SALUTE a couple of years back with his 40mm Peninsular game - who suggested we explore the digital route. The cost per digital sculpt is a modest 75 Euros and the detail is quite stunning. I think Grahams 'entry level' printer cost around £400.00 and you can see the results on his blog. Graham did say it takes several hours to print- and the resin stinks,he does it when his Mrs is at work! - but that does not change if it's a single print or several prints, I don't quite understand that bit yet! Point is we could use the resin prints as our gun crews or we could go down the metal route with Griffin, but given the small handful of figures we require that may not be economical. Having said that those resin master prints can be produced in any scale from the digital sculpt, so in theory one could make them available in metal in 28mm 1/72nd etc as well as 40mm, although again for a RHA crew probably not commercially viable, but you can see the potential. Did you watch the old Minifigs video that was doing the rounds? Sculpting from metal dollies and using a soldering iron to add blobs of metal before engraving it to produce those distinctive masters? Incredible skill.
Would it be worth speaking with Andy (Old Glory) to see whether he would be interested in a limited edition run of the figures, to sell with his range. It would help with viability and give a nice collector element to the sculpt.
DeleteNorm, I think a RHA crew would make a great addition to a 40mm range as no one currently makes them, we shall see where this goes :)
DeleteThat sculpt is both amazing and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI agree Norm, just look at those facial features and that crest :)
DeleteThe tartan looks great to me, the effect ar arms length is just right.
ReplyDeleteThere are some VERY talented programmers and the like out there. I imaging home painting robots will follow.
Thanks Ross, I can't do any better anyway! As Steve said above who knows where this technology will take our hobby, but there will always be a place for traditional sculptors with their incredible skills.
DeleteI don't think you're impressionistic tartans are that bad! Certainly good enough ( which is the bar I set myself!) To be honest I'm dreading Montrose's army,lots of varied tartans, I've had the figures for years now! Your 3D sculpt visual looks great, can't wait to see it printed!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hi Iain, thanks for the comment re the tartans, I'm completely tartaned out now. From what I have seen on Graham Cummings blog those sculpts produce amazing resin masters, even on an entry level printer. Graham did say that some shallow detail can be slightly lost in the process so the sculptor increased the depth on for example cross belts. The results speak for themselves I think.
DeleteAbsolutely stunning sculpt - if I would alter anything (personal taste) I would adjust his left hand to look flatter - less clenched - and make his trousers a more tailored fit with less pronounced leather bottoms, but this is really nit-picking. How much will all this cost once you get one printed out? It sounds like an interesting idea for personality figures based on portraits...
ReplyDeleteHello Rob, please see my reply to Steve - the - Wargamer above re costs. The digital sculpts come in around 75euros as a starting point. I think Ian Smith has spoken to Graham Cummings re the resin prints, not sure of price yet but we may well go with painting the resin prints for our crews, did you see the masters that Graham painted on his blog? Crew will be open handed as I want to create a rocket battery base too so no resin pointy bits. A couple more tweaks on the sculpt yet, but I'm very pleased so far.
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