Welcome to the Highlander Studios blog.

I won't promise any earth shattering revelations here. What I will be trying to do is post some new products as I release them, share some thoughts on gaming and show some pics of games and other stuff that I enjoy. So come in and make yourselves at home.


Sunday, February 27, 2011

Combat enhanced space chick

After several month of sitting on my table 90% finished, I wrapped this one up tonight.
Enjoy.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Conquistadwarf crossbows

I've been playing catch up with sculpting commissions after a six week root canal ordeal reminiscent of the end of Apocalypse Now. But I've managed to take a few hours each weekend to work on some of my own projects.

One of those has been the Weekly One Five jugger teams. The other has been a little more work on the Conquistadwarves.

This Sunday I was able to wrap up the crossbows.


I'm only starting with two poses. But these will allow for the assembly of army packs for a couple game systems out there. They may get helmet conversions later to add some variety without a lot of hassle.

This weekend I'll be working on two arquebus poses. They will start with helms and may be converted to bonnets later. I almost have enough pieces done for a master mold. But most likely pre-production casts won't be available until after Cold Wars.

I'm shooting for the end of April for production of both sets and the jugger teams. We'll see what happens.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

New horse project

After several years of having to make horses for one company or another, I decide to streamline things a bit for myself. A couple of months ago I made a blank horse doll to be used for conversions for most of my other poses.


I'm not totally happy with the details, but, hey, it's a doll to be modified so I'm not real concerned.

Last month I did a few trial poses for Splintered Light's Normans. I was testing the viability of chopping off large parts and bending other sections to the shape I wanted. It seemed to work out all right. The basic body and head bulk and proportions remained constant.


The next step is to make a series of standard horse models that I can use with minor adjustments for several upcoming projects. Post apocalyptic riders, El Cid figures, VSF cavalry, and maybe even some orc raiders will be done over the next year.

The first set is 3 standing poses.


The wires aren't fixed in place yet. I just posted this to show the parts that have been removed. It should also be noted that the lower 3/4 of the necks were cut away to allow positioning of the heads.

I'll follow these up with a set of 3 walking/ trotting horses, a set of 3 running and probably a set of 3 extreme poses like rearing, bucking, etc.

More pictures will follow as sculpting progresses.

Here are two pics to answer Doc McBride's question at TMP. Yes, the horses can be used with previous horse riders I sculpted for SLM with very little modification. They may not work with the pony riders for the Picts. I haven't checked them out.


The first is the unmodified Arthur figure.






The second has had the insides of the thighs and calves files just a bit to sit properly.

Also note that the furniture has not been added, so the horse will be thicker overall for the prototype. But the master and production molding steps should thin it down to about the same thickness as now.