10% OFF Painted Miniatures and Terrain Sale

I've just had a new module installed for the shopping cart at Highlander Studios and I need to test it out. So… I'm running a brief test sale on all painted miniatures in the Back of the Closet section. Until July 5, all painted minis will be 10% off. You can see the selection here:

http://highlanderstudiosinc.com/shop/index.php?cPath=23_32

There is also one 10mm terrain item here:

http://highlanderstudiosinc.com/shop/index.php?cPath=23_33

Thanks for looking.

Rod

Something old, something new...

First the old. The gashant doll went to the mold maker yesterday morning. Here's the completed pic.

He's looks a little large, but I'll wait and see the actual casts with a completed Hill Martian on him before I carve him up.

In this photo he doesn't look quite so big and he didn't seem to be in real life either. Worst case scenario is that I use him for a singular pack leader and make smaller guys for the rest. We'll see.

The new... I met a client at Nashcon who was interested in having some soccer figures made. I've finished the test sculpt and obtained permission to share a photo here.

This figure was a great stretch for me in two ways. First, it's 28mm which is a bit larger than my usual fare. Second, I haven't done any real sports figures. Ever. It was nice to spread my wings a bit.

There are a few stylized areas, of course. One of the client's requests was that the front and back of the torso not have too many folds. He wants customers to be able to paint logos, stripes, whatever easily. It also gives a broad flat expanse for the application of decals.

You'll also notice that the neck/ post is a bit long. This was intentional so the head could fit into several different torsos. Any extra length can be easily trimmed off.I figured it was better to have a little extra on it than to have to add some. The neck cavity is fairly deep to provide a more secure connection when assembled.

One more new item. I've finally caved and joined Facebook. So you'll see a few more buttons on the front page and within the posts. I tried to keep it as streamlined as possible and will make adjustments as I find out what works and what just gets in the way.

15mm Huts for sale

I finished this set of huts up today and decided that I'd sell them for some Historicon cash. I need to pay for my room, travel and new toys. The set includes: 2 styles of wattle and daub bottom, 1 stone bottom, 1 half stone granary/ treasury bottom, 1 thatched roof to fit all of the bottoms and 1 round stone well.

The whole hut family

Wattle and daub in disrepair

Wattle and daub

Stone

Granary

These have all been built for resin/ plaster  casting. The materials are PVC pipe, brass wire, styrene plastic and ProCreate putty. The well is a plastic cast I had done a while ago that hasn't found its way into production yet.

If you are interested in purchasing these prototypes for your business, please contact me for details.

Gashant mock-up

I've been sculpting personalities all week and wanted to take a break. So I put together the mock-up for the first gashant.

The rider is just an armature I posed and tacked on for scaling.

I'm going for a more aggressive look to the gashants. Some of the artwork I've found is pretty lame and doesn't do them justice as steeds for Martian steppe lords.

I've put the standing figure next to it for size comparison. I'm thinking the neck may be a little long, but that may change as it is bulked out and the frills are added.

I'm almost finished with the American personalities. I have two to wrap up today. I finished one last night.

"Professor" Benjamin Willoughby. He was originally going to be an inventor type, but he morphed into a less savory character while I was sculpting him. These things happen sometimes.

Space: 1889 - Mars Expeditionary Force

I wrapped up the first of the Mars Expeditionary Force last night.

He's only a test sculpt to try out some ideas, but he'll probably find a place in the unit packs as a light support weapon.

I've outfitted him with a breathing mask and goggles and the latest Martini-Simmons Quick-firing rifle.

Work has been a bit slower on these than I was hoping, but I have the American adventurers almost complete. The set will include a large armored guy, a female adventurer, a dumpy professor/ inventor and Custer. Yeah, I know he died earlier than 1889. But what if he ended up on Mars for the battle of the Little Big Horn Canal instead?

You've seen this guy before.

The Wilderness adventurers will include natural scientists Mr. and Mrs. Pitts, Quatermain and Stanley.

I've also decided on some London dwellers to include: Mr. Holmes, Ms Harker, and Phileas and Rebecca Fogg.

All are still subject to approval from Mr. Chadwick. I'll be sending him photos as the work is completed.

15mm Space Pals

I started these right after the bounty hunter. But between Nashcon and two backlogged commissions I didn't get to work on them much more until yesterday.

I still need to do a little final cleanup and reworking the connection of the bow after everything cures. The bow itself is a separate piece to ease mold making and casting. The support wire will be the gate and sprue.

It looks like I'll be sharing a bit of space with the Goblin Factory at Historicon. I was breathing pretty easy after finishing the overdue work until I realized that Historicon is a bit earlier in July than usual. So now I'm under the gun again to get new work to the mold maker; hopefully in time to have some new product for the show. Well, see...

Space Bug Flamer

The flame thrower bug is ready to go.

It was another fairly simple conversion. I chopped down the SAW and added the nozzle and striker.

I'm still working out the casting issues with the other two, but here are a few intermediate photos.

I like the simple tube for the AAM and went with the Battletech SRM 2 look for the ATM.

I'll add some view/ range finder blocks and a stabilizer bar of some sort for the second hand.

I want to avoid making these two-part models, so I'll probably end up putting a thin web between the tube and body of each. End users will need to trim it out with and x-acto. Or not. I'm also concerned with the way the jump packs will fit down over the carapace. We'll see what happens.

Space bug redux

After a long period of gestation, I've decided on the new weapons and poses for the Space Bugs. The first new bugs are minor conversions from the standard trooper. I wanted some close quarters troops so I've chosen a tri-barrel SMG for their weapon.

The barrels are different lengths since they move independently of each other as they recoil.

The second simple conversion is a new brain bug pose. I raised the left arm and repositioned the head.

These will be packaged with 4 of each SMG and 1 brain For a total of 9 bugs in a close quarters group.

I have three more bugs on the table: 1 anti-tank, 1 anti-air and 1 flame thrower. I'm not quite sure how to package those yet.