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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 26, 2013 6:16:39 GMT
The one thing I constantly need to play but never have enough of are miniatures of just plain folk. Blacksmiths, barmaids, farmers, businessmen, etc. I'd love to see some ideas to build up a usable number (a couple dozen?) of common folk minis. Any ideas?
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Post by DMScotty on Nov 26, 2013 6:45:35 GMT
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 26, 2013 6:51:30 GMT
Thanks dmscotty, those are pretty nice. I'm probably way too cheap to spend that kind of money for them though. I particularly liked the "revolting women and children." That seems a little harsh for a description. Still looking for ways to get the same effect for, oh, 1/10 the cost.
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Post by onethatwas on Nov 26, 2013 7:28:05 GMT
Cool. Each of those sets of minis are revolting.
It seems rather oxymoronic to say that they are very attractive sets. But they are, despite their revolting nature. Someday i may invest in them. Yar!
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Post by grym247 on Nov 26, 2013 8:25:25 GMT
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Post by thedmg on Nov 26, 2013 13:03:20 GMT
I am having a Mel Brook's History of the World Part 1 flash back...
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justsix
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 34
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Post by justsix on Nov 26, 2013 14:46:38 GMT
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mrbulow
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 124
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Post by mrbulow on Nov 28, 2013 21:45:40 GMT
Anyone knows what the shipping cost, for 10 of thees, is to Denmark ?
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Post by earlteagrey on Nov 28, 2013 21:56:52 GMT
Bensrpgpile did a YouTube video on this topic recently:
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 28, 2013 23:19:50 GMT
Yeah that video is actually pretty much saying what I feel. Except that for now I don't think I'm in the market for $8 barmaid minis.
I know some people love the paper minis. I'd rather just whip up some Sculpey minis of my own creation before using paper. Which I do a lot. I needed a dwarven road crew for one game session so I made a dwarven road crew. It's not Reaper quality, but it worked, and I think worked better than paper.
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mrbulow
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 124
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Post by mrbulow on Nov 29, 2013 20:46:31 GMT
Me want to see pic or vid
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Post by skunkape on Dec 1, 2013 4:24:16 GMT
Except that for now I don't think I'm in the market for $8 barmaid minis. I agree with that adamantinedragon!
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Post by belatucadras on Dec 1, 2013 8:52:44 GMT
I went to the Dollar Tree and in the Christmas section they have those little houses and trees and such so you can set up a Christmas village. The people are a much larger scale than the houses usually and a bit larger than standard rpg minis, but are pretty close. They are usually dressed in Victorian dress and poorly painted, but touch up nicely. The women are in dresses that touch the ground so you could cut them off even further to shorten them up if the height bothers you. At $1.00 for 3 or 4 minis, it is hard to beat. I just picked up some firemen including a hydrant, a guy with an axe chopping wood, some ladies walking, and a nun and a priest. They also have trees and lamp posts that fit rpg mini size quite well. 1 dollar. 3, 4 and 5 to a pack. 1 dollar.
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Kyral
Paint Manipulator
Building Worlds.
Posts: 157
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Post by Kyral on Dec 2, 2013 10:25:28 GMT
I like the old glory minis, I may have to get some of them....
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Bael
Room Planner
Posts: 288
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Post by Bael on Dec 4, 2013 13:23:12 GMT
My dream is to open a company that sells a variety of inexpensive NPC types like Merchants, henchmen, townsfolk, slaves ... oh, and TROLLS (in different poses)! Trolls,like the Ral Partha ones are like GOLD on auction sites! I need to learn casting! There are some sets of plastic 1/72 peasants out there but they tend to be too short. I never thought of using paper/cardboard printed ones. I guess this would be a cheap way to get your city streets filled with commoners.
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dreskyn
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 3
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Post by dreskyn on Dec 4, 2013 17:40:14 GMT
I have another way of making mini's , and it works OK. I take some war hammer, 40K, Mage Knight, old DND, ral partha miniature and bits and make my ONE original miniature. Then I get some sculpey. (Craft stores have this in different brands. My local chain store has it on sale every other week for as little as 25 cents a block) Make two blocks of it at least as thick and slightly taller than the mini. coat the mini in POWDERED cooking spray as well as the one side of each sculpey block., and cover 1/2 of the mini in scupley, lightly spray the sculpey with the cooking spray, then cut a piece of thin card stock to go around the mini (as close as possible to the mini and to extend past the ends of the sculpey block). This makes a release. Now cover the other side of the mini with the second block of scupley. (I like using 2 different colors, but that is not necessary). Now in two different corners of the now big block of sculpey, jab two toothpicks 90% through the sculpey block. This will help line up the mold later. Now you have a choice. You can take your sculpey block apart and remove your mini, or you can leave it in there. If it is left in the block, then there is the chance that it may melt when you bake the scupley. But by taking the block apart and CAREFULLY removing the mini, you risk stretching your mold slightly. I opt for carefully removing the mini. I then re-align the mold pieces. Now bake the sculpey following the instructions. Once the mold has been baked and allowed to cool (very important) take the mold apart and clean the mold. Here is where the real fun part comes into play. You can do this one of two ways, you can spray your mold with cooking spray, and then press sculpey into both sides of the mold and then press the mold together, aligning up the mold using the toothpicks, and then carefully removing your new sculpey mini. This works but the mini usually ends up stretched a bit. Repair, or change the new soft sculpey mini and then when satisfied, bake the mini following the instructions on you sculpey package. I like to bake it longer than recommended, but at a lower temperature. The mini’s tend not to burn and become as brittle. You can also bake the sculpey mold again, and take out your hardened mini, but sometimes this will result in the mold fusing together and becoming worthless. I don’t recommend it. I have also taken this further, and made a wax mini to make a new mold. Spray the mold with CANDLE release, put the two sides together, wrap it in rubber bands and then pour hot candle wax into the mold. When the wax hardens, take the mold apart and there is a wax mini. Using a craft knife clean up the mini and add or fix any details. Use hot wax to build up areas, or add to the mini. This is a useable mini or you can repeat the above steps where you made your original mold with the following changes. Do NOT spray the wax mini with any spray. Place toothpicks around your wax mini in places where there are small parts (like an arm) to allow air to escape. Leave the wax mini in the big sculpey block. When you bake the 2nd mold, the wax may/will spill out of the mold. This makes a cleaner mold. You can now use the mold as above, and have better results. This mold could also be used for creating wax mini’s quickly. That wax mini’s can also be used for Lost-Wax casting, but that’s a bit more involved then I think you are looking for.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 4, 2013 22:19:39 GMT
Dreskyn, that post is simply crying out for a video tutorial... Plus I'd love to see some of the minis you've created this way.
I've used Sculpey to creaty molds like you describe here, and have cast plaster in them, but I've only used this technique for rather rough items like rock walls or tombstones. I figured it would not work with the level of detail most miniatures have. Maybe I need to revisit this approach.
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dreskyn
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 3
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Post by dreskyn on Dec 5, 2013 19:44:32 GMT
You can get a lot of detail, but they are not perfect. once you take them out of the mold, you can clean them up, and add any extra detail you like. I try to keep them simple for the mold. then add detail later. I will take a couple photos when I can find the time. the process as described above is really not hard after you have done it once or twice. you get better with practice. this process is good for making what i call "30K foot high view", or "Table ready" when you want to crank out a bunch of "same" looking mini's
If you want to make more signiture style mini's.... I like watching the dollar stores toy isle for the bag-o-soldiers / cowboys / indians/ cavemen ect. Those usually have 3 or 4 poses. They are always just a bit too big,but thats a good thing because.... I grab some epoxy putty, hack up the head, arms and legs off those bag-o-men, and make new pieces. The epoxy putty has a short work time I usually do this when i need a 40K Ork boss, or an missing a couple of Ork boyz for a unit. There are always extra head bitz and body bitz available on e-bay for cheap.
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Post by halloweenville on Dec 15, 2013 20:11:52 GMT
you could make your own with sculpey oven bake clay I've found several tutorials on youtube of how to make sculptures with sculpey right now I'm starting out with basic shapes and easy characters till I get the hang of it then going to work on more detailed figures.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 15, 2013 20:33:50 GMT
Yes, I've made quite a few minis with Sculpey clay, and quite a few also with epoxy putties like "green stuff" or "Apoxie sculpt". I needed a dwarven road crew so I made six dwarves using shovels, picks and a foreman out of Sculpey.
But I'm no sculptor. At least not yet. And I need a lot of villager style minis, and those six dwarves took me a long time for a pretty lame result.
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