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http://www.gamewire.belloflostsouls.net/prodos-unicast-revolutionizes-miniature-industry/

I find it quite interesting, their pricing seems quite reasonable for a small project.

Prodos did mention that the big GUO type model from Space Crusade was single piece so I wonder if it was made with this technology?

Its a shame that this is advertised for single piece models although I'm sure it can also be used for multi piece designs as well. I much prefer a degree of posability with my models, the restricted (and 'dramatic') poses with the Imperial models for Warzone is the prime reason I haven't built a Wolfbane army.

I am actually really interested in the one piece production, that would make a lot of small projects quite possible.

It's interesting certainly. If it does what it says on the tin, it may well knock Trollcast out of the market.

I will definitely be watching with interest. It can very well solve the issue for two of the board game projects, where we need single one piece miniatures... but would most likely have to go with multi-piece.

The advantage is now we could possibly do single piece for the board game. But also still offer multi-piece for hobbyists that provide some ability to do dynamic posing as well. It could be a win win.

It is interesting that I just made an order for miniatures, literally paid the invoice a few days ago. If I would have seen this, I might have looked back into checking in with Prodos again. Although historically it might be better and that I should keep a wait and see. Doing the task isn't the questionable thing, it is how long does it take to deliver... not what they say they will do but the real time.

Edit: From what I can tell it is utilizing injection moldling plates and machine, but the mold itself instead of being steel looks to be a RTV silicone of type. I would guess they vulcanize to create it, similar to how you would create a spin cast mold. Instead of spinning casting, using gravity to flow metal to the pieces, you are injecting resin. It might not be RTV silicone but something similar. I would guess the mold lasts for X amount of casts so not as long as say a traditional injection mold.... but if the material is inexpensive and easy to create (ie: vulcanization method) then that is fine.

I have made a few questions in beasts of war announcement and wait Warren to get replies if you want some more questions feel free to ask, there or here and I will make a new post there.

they use hips, they have to inject plastic so it cools fast, and that way having a production time similar to the plastic with normal solid steel moulds.

They price per miniature , i am sure because in that price they include the expenses of having to re-do the moulds. its simple:

the have a cost of 45cents per miniature, a mould can have a promedium of 10 miniatures (28mm)

that is a cost of 4,5 dollars per injection, when a NORMAL injection for mass production, with solid moulds costs about 1,5 dollars.

So, i see this like: equal or bit lower cost than making METAL miniatures, but, in plastic , light weighted and with the pros & cons of plastic it self.

I would would use this service for small - medium productions ,that can be to:

A) test a product, and then, invest in proper molds for mass productions.

B) for boardgames that requires few miniatures, so you could do this, instead of using resin, so it would be cheaper.


But always, ALWAYS, mass production, you will need touse proper mould, IF you want to sell them as cheap as possible. Otherwise, you could use this for ever, give plastic minis but not as cheap as the ones done by proper moulds.

BUT, that extra cost is balanced with the extra detaild quality that miniatures can have.

Thanks for your comments, it is HIPS? I thought it was some form of resin.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
I have made a few questions in beasts of war announcement and wait Warren to get replies if you want some more questions feel free to ask, there or here and I will make a new post there.

I reached out to Prodos since I had some questions as well. I did forward some of your questions that you had. They answered with the following:

Q: "Can the miniatures be produced in coloured resin?"
A: Yeah.

Q: "Do do submit our own 3d files and if a fix needed to be made, do we have to make the fix or can Prodos do the fix (with a necessary fee)?"
A: We can do fixing.

Q: "What are the size limitations of the miniatures, can some be as tall as 54mm?"
A: Yes.

Q: "Would 32mm miniatures be an issue? 32mm we mean measuring from the bottom of the feet to the eyes, so roughly 34-35mm tall to the top of the head." - I had a concern about size because DemiGods is going to use them and that process for their miniatures but they did miniature they were going to be smaller.
A: No issues.

 Menhir Games wrote:
they use hips

The mold is fairly small it holds 6 28mm miniatures. They do say they can do 54mm, so I'd probably assume 3-4 depending on how they laid them out. I believe it only does one if it is 110mm but anything larger is an issue from what another company said because they couldn't do their large model.

From what I understand it isn't a true HIPS though at least according to them. It is a HIPS/Resin hybrid

I've been talking with Prodos recently and I'm going to be using them for my new miniatures. I've been wanting to switch over to resin for a while and they seem to be the best option for me right now.

So far they have been great to work with, responsive and answering all of my dumb questions in a timely manner. Their prices seem very reasonable, and they can even handle sculpting for me which is great, I've always used freelance sculptors and sometimes it takes a really long time for them to get though their current projects to add mine to the list, and I'm one of those impatient types. Prodos has staff sculptors so basically all I have to do is give them some concept art and they can do everything else from 3D sculpt to finished minis. Heck I bet they could even do concept art too if I asked. They can also do packaging and everything too and have their own box & card printing services which I also plan to utilize, or they just ship you the loose minis instead if you prefer.

As far as the single piece minis go, what they said is basically I just send them a full 3D sculpt of a finished mini, and then they will see if it will work as 1 big piece. If it's too complex or dynamic then they will handle cutting off any arms or other bits to make sure the mini gets cast in the best possible way. So that also will make things easier for the freelance sculptors I use and speed up their sculpting time a little. They can also cast it with a base attached to the feet, but I'm going to stick with the plastic round lip bases I've always used, and they can include them with the packaging, I won't need to order them separately now so that's nice.

I'm pretty excited about the new minis, as soon as I get the first few samples I'm going to try and do a little video and show the details and everything on the single pose minis. That will probably not be for a little while though since I want to wait and get a bunch of them sculpted first and do one big batch. I'm pretty confident, I've heard good things about their casting quality.

Thus far I'd definitely recommend them

This is quite interesting, do they work with individuals and not companies?

Actually I think they might do it for individual folks that want to make their own mini, so not just for companies.. Dawn at BOW had them do her own mini a little while ago.

http://www.beastsofwar.com/paranoid-miniatures/dawn-unveils-finished-jezebel-miniature/

I know that, I would be interested in making something in between a prototype and a small production run for some of my game ideas in the future and this method intrigues me a lot for that.

One way to find out, contact them on their website and ask