Legion Rising

[Subtle Discord]

Up to this point, I’ve been pouring my vacuum casting moulds around the part and cutting the pour gate out of the mould by hand. Since the liquid resin expands considerably as it literally boils when it reaches full vacuum during this process, the pour gate needs to be quite large in relation to the part being created. Not only was cutting the gate by hand risky, given the amount of force required I was very worried I might slip doing it and severely cut myself, but it also wastes a large piece of perfectly useful RTV (Room Temp Vulcanizing) rubber.

 

Hey look! It’s one of the most boring moulds I’ve ever made, and yet, it’s going to produce extremely useful objects for use in all future mould making.

 

With just three simple parts built from styrene (1cm, 2cm, and 5cm) I was able to create a modular pour gate that can be made larger in 1cm increments by stacking them in various combinations. Completely reusable, they can also be easily modified to make them slimmer for moulds that are thinner, like the ones I made for the new Proditor Trim Kit. Since I make two-part moulds they can also be stacked on the opposite side in the second part of the mould in order to double the gate size. They’re nothing revolutionary, but I’ve been procrastinating on making these simple-yet-functional bits for a while, so I’m glad I finally got them out of the way.

 

On a tangent side note, I can’t help but find it humorous that I am still unable to find a better solution to Lego for producing mould boxes. As I start to find more-and-more professional solutions for different parts of my production process the Lego keeps looking a little amateur beside it all, but I simply can’t ignore how completely functional and reliable it is. For the tiny bit of extra labour it takes to build and remove the box it creates perfect moulds of any shape or size (within reason), provided you have enough bricks. These bricks may have started life as colourful toys but for me, they’ve turned into real workhorses for my studio.

 

If the vivid pink Mold Max-30 RTV rubber I’ve been using was blessed by Slaanesh, then the sickly green Mold Max-40 has got to be the work of grandpa’ Nurgle.

 

In an effort to make moulds that are even more resistant to deforming when they’re firmly clamped to avoid mould slips, mould lines, and flash, I’ve been giving Mold Max-40 a try. It is noticeably thicker and more difficult to mix so vacuum degassing of the rubber is really a must. It also takes longer to cure; where MM-30 can be ready in 12-16 hours, MM-40 takes closer around 18-24 hours. However, the rubber is noticeably stiffer while still being very flexible and tough, excellent for producing the thin and precise parts I’m after. I’ve been having some small problems with moulds deforming ever-so-slightly over time so I think the stiffer MM-40 will help mitigate that issue.

 

“Whats shades of green is that, puke?” … “For your information, it’s called Electric Mucus.” ~ Futureama

 

Ok, so it’s not quite Electric Mucus Green, but it’s definitely really close. I’ve grown quite fond of the unnatural hue, in fact.

 

As I’ve alluded to, the first new moulds created with 3D printed casting masters are for the Mk.3 Proditor Light Trim Kit designed to fit the Rhino Chassis. With this kit, there’s still a lot of straight lines going on but 3D modeling the parts finally lets me take advantage of precise curves and round elements that would be much trickier to produce in scratch-built styrene. There is still a frustrating extra layer of labour required to sand smooth and refine the surface to get it as smooth as possible before the mould making process, but I know how well the mould rubber replicates even subtle surface variations so I can’t let it slide. It’s hard to make it flawless but it’s not difficult (just tedious) to greatly reduce it so it disappears under a layer of primer and a few layers of paint.

 

I’ve quickly mocked up the parts on a Rhino with absolutely none of its surface details removed, so the fit is a little comical in these images.

 

This is more to quickly showcase the look of the new kit on the model and give a close up look at the first new parts made by The Dark Works, so please forgive the fit. It’s appropriate that this should be the studio’s first new kit since it’s one of the key the original ideas that got me so much feedback from the community that it encouraged me to seriously consider starting the studio in the first place. Consider this a promissory note of my serious intent to redesign and update my current line while expanding the selection of new kits also available. Progress has been a bit slower than I expected, but I’m finally starting to get things sorted out and hope to start picking up the pace as I get each additional kink worked out of my process.

 

However, there is a bit of reality that comes with this kit in particular. While the costs of getting the smaller kits (more on those in the near future) 3D printed was in the expected price range, this Trim Kit was surprisingly more expensive than I was expecting; this one Trim Kit cost more to print than the parts to produce all four different models of the counts-as Havoc Launcher I’ve designed. While I had planned on getting all three designs of the first new Trim Kits printed, because they are/were still a bit experimental, the cost forced me to stick to only the Mk.3 while I made sure these would cast properly with the vacuum process.

 

While this isn’t scaring me away from making these Trim Kits or future Armour Kits and beyond, it has brought into focus that the cost of some of my larger ideas will likely be more expensive than I was first expecting. It goes without saying that I’ll need to crunch numbers, pay more attention to labour input as I work on smaller projects, and see how to best proceed when it comes time to start making my larger designs a reality. While finances are always a factor right now I have a few final technical issues that I want to put to bed before I start figuring out how I can make some of my larger ideas real from a cost perspective.

 

So, behold this tip of the spear, a modest sign of much more to come. Thanks for following along.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Subtle Discord

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Congratulations on your Chaos Rhino conversion kit's successful installment!

[Sagentus]

That kit looks ace. It certaily makes the rhino kit look a lot more interesting/ more chaos

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks guys, it's a small step in the grand scheme of things, but definitely in the right direction. All journies of 1,000 miles start with a single step,  yadda' yadda', and all that...

 

Well, I should be casting, but it's Friday and my mind keeps wandering to painting, so I think I may need to start my weekend and get the brushes out. Must... finish... more... Vanguard...

[Ascanius]

Having read the entire thread from start to finish, I'm really in awe of what you've learned to do, Subtle. If I wore a hat, it'd be off to you.

 

I love your design sensibility and your commitment to quality; I think it really shows that you're doing 40K-style kits, not 40K-compatible (if you squint or take a really broadminded approach) kits like some other people.

 

I also applaud the level of detail that you go into to make things look right, especially compared to so many of the Shapeways 3D print shops that get the basic shapes right in 3D modelling and then call it good enough, with none of the extra parts like ammo feeds or details like rivets that you put in.

 

I'm not in the market for anything at the moment - and the Predator I'm currently building is evidence that I'm not even at the level of being able to make the stock kits look good, much less worry about doing justice to a fancier version - but I'll be following your work with a lot of interest.

 

One thing, though; as I said, I've read through the whole thread, and the English major in me can't let it go:

• sprue
• pintle
• make do

OK, my inner pedant is satisfied.

 

Keep on working your magic, Subtle, because I truly believe you're the best there is at what you do, and what you do is very pretty.

 

[Subtle Discord]

+++ Neural Congress ‧ Initialized +++ Comm-Link ‧ Active +++ Data Uplink ‧ Initiazing +++ Decripting Uplink ‧ Ongoing +++ Standby... +++

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks for the kind words Ascanius. Sorry about the spelling. Considering how poor my spelling is, I should feel good that those are my only major oversights when I'm proofreading my articles. Trust that the sentiment really is a huge boost when people like you who take that time to write and provide feedback and positive support, motivating me forward with my studio time and again. Right now I'm feeling a bit swamped with everything that needs to get sorted out to get things off on the right foot, but there's just too many people providing such great encouragement for me to get really discouraged. 

 

Ok, here's a sidetrack update because current painting progress is rather bland. Yaaay, I’ve cleaned up all the black and got some of the highlighting started… and the models look virtually no different in photographs. So I’ll continue doing the highlights and then it will be on to the green and that’ll justify a fresh round of images. I’m still not sure how I want to treat the Arc Rifles, but I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.

 

In the meantime, I’ve been itching to build a bit, but I know that I really shouldn’t get too distracted if I want to stay on track getting paint on these core Troops. So I chose to turn my focus towards the first Tech-Priest Dominus I had started a while back; he’s been glowering at me from the corner of my monitor stand for several months, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get the final details done.

 

+++ Name ‧ To Be Determined +++ The first of two planned Tech-Priest Dominus’ using the official GW model has been converted to personalized it, but I didn’t really do anything too dramatic to the pose.

 

Since the change to the left arm removes a very static element of the miniature I figured I’d try to build on the ‘Now, I’m gonna’ hit you with this!’ feeling it was developing; I cut the model at the waist and twisted the torso slightly in an effort to tilt the head a little and give the pose a bit of a lean. Combined with the change to the right arm it’s not a huge difference but I think it makes it look like he’s about to move in the direction he’s looking opposed to the static pose of the original model.

 

A few other minor conversions and alterations to some details is just my attempt to alter the miniature a bit in easy ways. With the Start Collecting box ensuring that any AdMech collector will have multiple Dominus models at their disposal I know I’ll be using it as a base for at least a few more models. Anything that I can come up with to help change things up a bit and alter the look will be a good thing.

 

Stan: “We need to talk. Do you know what this is about?” … Joanna: *Sighs* “My uh, flair?” … Stan: “Yeah. Or your uh, lack of flair, because I’m counting and I only see fifteen pieces.” ~ Office Space

 

To that end, to add a bit of originality to the model and to represent a Mechanicus Relic I integrated an Infiltrator/Ruststalker backpack to the component (Refractor Field?) that attaches to the Dominus’ back. In this case, it will represent the Solar Flare relic available to armies with the Lucius Forge World dogma.

 

I added a post to the bottom of the Dominus’ back component to mount the smaller backpack on and it was very useful for holding the part in place as I tweaked the styrene rods I used to act as cables between the two bits. No heat bending involved, I just cut 0.8mm styrene rod to length and bent them into the desired shape; after a bit of adjustment, I got a droop that I was happy with and then glued all the parts together.

 

Originally intended to be a Heretek Priest to lead a renegade Mechanicus militia force, the changes that arrived with 8th edition have put that plan into stasis… for now.

 

Since I have the need of a Tech-Priest Enginseer for my current list it looks like this miniature is going to find its way back to its original purpose. It’s a bit more converted then it needs to be but I don’t think the rule-of-cool will mind. It’s not like the Enginseer has any wargear options to cause any confusion over, despite what the model looks like.

 

I figured it was a reasonable distraction to get these two models done since I need to have something on deck and ready for primer once I get the current squads of Vanguard finished. Now that I’ve given myself a small styrene fix I think it’ll be easier to return my focus to the Vanguard and get them done.

 

*Subtle wanders off to paint some highlights*

 

http://i.imgur.com/efVyfTc.gif

 

Edit: To fix a grammar mistake and make the post gooder.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Subtle Discord

[Ascanius]

I think they both look great - little bit of extra flair never hurt anyone!

[Subtle Discord]

Note to self; note to others: polystyrene plastic does not belong in one's eye!

 

I dropped something, and as I bent down to pick it up I managed to jam a rod of styrene into my eye and gave my cornea a minor abrasion. It's not like I'm blind or anything, so nothing really serious, but I feel like an idiot now. The injury itself isn't affecting my central focused vision, which is good, but the damn ointment I need to put in my eye sure is. *Sigh* So it seemed that a little public self-deprecation would help to reinforce that I should be more careful in the future and to suggest to others to be careful in general.

 

 

[Augustus b'Raass]

Dude. Be careful! (says the guy whose index finger tips hardly have any tactile sense in them anymore from drilling 1mm drills and scars in his leg from 'reflex catching' his fallen scalpel between his legs)

 

Get well soon!

[Gederas]

I think we've all been there. I've stabbed myself with my hobby knife and pin vice more times than I'd care to state.

 

Hope you get better soon.

[Khornestar]

'reflex catching' his fallen scalpel between his legs)!

:cuss I’ve also done that, haha. Any hobby that involves sharp objects (or plastic rods :P) is bound to involve a minor injury or two at some point. Still have a scar on my left thumb from when I offered my first major blood sacrifice to Khorne as a lad trying to cut through some mini with a hobby blade.

 

But now you can never injure yourself again the same way, lest you incur the harshest judgment: not having learned your lesson. ;)

[Marshal Rohr]

I was very curious about the Mold Max-40 cure time producing noticeably different results, and I've got to say this has convinced me it would be worth the extra expense and time. 

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I wear safety glasses almost the entire time I'm at the hobby table just for stuff like this. Hope your eye gets better quickly.

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks all for the well wishes. My eye was better within a couple of days; I was even painting while it was still scratched so it really was a minor injury, but it was also an ‘I can’t believe I just did that!’ moment and I wanted publicly point-and-laugh at myself. I completely agree that eye safety is crucial when doing any work that warrants the use of eye protection. Seriously, don’t tempt fate when your vision is on the line.

 

@Marshal Rohr: I was a bit skeptical myself but I’m so happy with the Mold-Max 40 I suspect that I’ll be using almost exclusively. The added stiffness ensures precision but it’s still soft and flexible enough to easily remove components from the mould. I haven’t used it long enough to tell if the moulds will wear slower; I’m hoping it will dry out less quickly then the Mould-Max 30. Time will tell.

 

Home stretch! The next twenty Skitarii Vanguard are turning the final corner to being done. Black and blue highlights are finished and now I’m on to the green elements.

 

Do you see the light!? A bright background to celebrate the impending preliminary completion of these two squads…

 

*In his best Kermit the Frog voice*

 

It’s not easy, painting green

All the small bits, you know what I mean

But when you’re done the blue

You know what you’ve got to do

 

It’s not easy, painting green

So many models, have you seen?

But you know when you’re through

It’s going to be right after the blue

 

... and now return to the dark with me, as I turn to accept that I now have to do a bunch of backpacks and heads. Yaaay, backpacks…

 

Since the other racks I’ve made have been quite useful but didn’t really have enough room for the heads and other small bits I figured one more to complete the set couldn’t hurt. I’ve used round bamboo skewers for the sticks in this case; they’re nice and slim while still being very stiff. I still prefer lightly gluing backpacks to the pictured styrene sticks, but this rack will help with all the other small bits for sure.

 

I’ll be priming the Tech-Priest Dominus and Enginseer along with these Skitarii components, so once the Vanguard are finished I’ll have something to step right in and start getting paint. And as the Tech-Priests start seeing some colour I’ll also get working on the squad of three Dragoons for the preliminary list. I see the Dragoons as roughly the halfway point, so yeah, progress! I’m quite keen to get working on them… and the bigger things that their completion will foretell…

 

Still can’t get that damn Micro-Ordinatus for a counts-as Baneblade (or other Super Heavy variant) idea out of my brain…

… or the Lucius Pattern Imperial Knight idea…

… or that Onager M.U.L.E. concept…

… or the Irradial Cogitator WIP…

… or that tri-leg Knight idea…

… or the Spider Titan…

… or the Kytan…

 

Shoot, I better get back to painting! So many ideas waiting their turn…

 

*Subtle wanders off to put some more paint on plastic*

 

[Augustus b'Raass]

I think if anything, a posable leg kit for the Imperial Knight would be most welcome. :tu:

 

Good to hear your eye injury wasn't serious. :)

[Subtle Discord]

Oooh... son of a... *Subtle's mind begins to wander a bit as a new idea starts to take form...*

 

Oh, now you've got me thinking. Somebody else is already making posable Knight legs, but there's room in the idea for my own more original take on it.

 

*Sigh* This place is a damn blessing and a curse! I don't need more ideas, but I like them and can't ignore an interesting concept once it's started to form in my mind.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Yeah the Russian guy has made them, but they're boring and not good quality and very expensive - $50 or something.

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, they're $50 and they're... okay. Nothing special, but I guess they don't need to be much more than what they are.

 

What you COULD do is make Chaos upgrades for the Knights. As is, all you have is the FW kit and while it's nice it's not something you'd want to use multiples of and quite generic.

[Eldrick Shadowblade]

Chaos knight kit... drooolllllssss

[Subtle Discord]

Three little Arc Rifles sitting in a row, but it's late here now, so now to bed I shall go.

[JeffTibbetts]

Man, those look so good. 

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks! As usual, the squads are taking a bit longer to finish than I was aiming for because of life, the universe, and everything, along with my normal compulsion to do certain details 'just so'. While I wish I was faster, I can't really complain since I'm much faster than I was before college and continuing to improve, so I'll take it.

[Subtle Discord]

*Subtle stumbles out of the wilderness that is research, clothing tattered, eyes bloodshot, a stoic look of determination on his face. He spits blood and checks that he isn't seriously injured...*
 

I have searched. I have found. I have seen. It can be done. Yes, I think I've found my 3D printing solution. Note: not my finger.
 
it, I'm going to do it ALL in-house, dammit! These have been produced with a 3D printer that is within my budget; it's not exactly cheap, but it doesn't require considering a second mortgage on the house, so it's realistic. Intended primarily for jewelry applications I think it's easy to see that it does very well on the surface quality. I want to stew on it a little and do a bit more research (ugh, it's actually exhausting to do), but I think this might be the final piece of the process that I'm looking for. I've been looking at maaany images over the last weeks and months while only paying attention when they're high-resolution close-ups, and these consistent kinds of results are what I was looking for.
 
I have no doubt that this is about to create a significant learning curve that I'll need to climb, but hell I've already figured out the rest of the process, what's one last piece? Wanna' come along for the ride? I think things are about to get... interesting... in several more weeks.

[Brother Casman]

Madness... absolute madness. I look forward to seeing what you find and do next!