Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

@ Swampyturtle - Thank you! I just wish I had more time in the day to work on this stuff!

@ Dave - Yeah, I don't want to know too much about Vik's ....bitz....

@ Fantasy Bob - The torso will get bulked out. It's mostly there as an armature.

@ El Vic - Sure! I'll take a look at your knights, see if I can steampunk them up a bit! I'll PM my address.

@ Miss Dee - Slowly. Just like the rest of my projects at the moment. But never fear, it is in the works. Just nothing much to show right now. I'm planning on getting a case of Energy Drinks this weekend, so I can stay up later, get up ealier and actually get some stuff done. I may be cranky for a while though! Also, see the mock-up at the bottom of the page, I could just make the handle of the power mace longer, and add wings, maybe an eye symbol to it?

@ Zinge - Thanks! I don't think I'll ever have as much cool stuff on my webstore as you do, but it's a wonderfull place to start! Any word on when that awesome V-8 engine is coming out?

And to Fox Box - Thank you very much!

Not much to update today, I made some more gears this morning with the press molds, and I started to fill in the under side of the commissar's coat, which is still very rough, I need to fill in underneath just so I can sand and file and fill-in the outer part of the coat....then I will get some pics of her. Also working on her hat. I have decided to make her "twistable" at the waist, for additional possible poses, and "hopefully" an easier time of molding for Wehrkind. I haven't re-made the power mace yet, but it will basically be a smaller version of this one.

got the PM...might take some days till i am able to pack´em up tho... but then i wanna see your miracles^^

that staff head looks very cool...will you try this with layered PC or GS? tho i dunno if the pose should be altered then... to something more like this:

Vik, sounds good. I'll see what we have left in the ol' miracle bucket!

For the re-designed staff head, I was thinking of the wings for Miss Dee's Navigator, and I'm not sure yet what pose the navigator willl be in...I need to get the body further along before I get to that stage.

I don't know yet if I'll use PC or GS, depends on my mood I guess!

I'm still having the commissar in the same pose.

yep you are the sculpter ^^

and i totally forgott the wings of miss dee...!

Small update today, she's still rough, but I figured I'd post a pic just you can see there is progress. Also, just to distance myself from any possible repercussions, I'm going to start calling her "Female Military Leader". I would appreciate if you would do the same. Thanks! It wouldn't be a big deal, except I want to sell them, so the less they appear like a GW Commissar the better.

You realize that Commissar is an actual, real-world military rank, right? GW cannot hold Copyright on it.

Oh, I know, I just don't want them to think I am copying their miniature(s) that they named "Commissar". I am pretty sure it's alright if mine are inspired by thier minis...not so sure if they think mine are "Based on" their design. I have a call in to a lawyer friend of mine who is going to get me in touch with an actual IP attorney...until I talk to him, I want to play it a bit more safe.

Hmmmm... How about "Commandant"?

but then make it comandante...the extra "e" is for the extra amount of coolness^^

coat looks promising...the cap is sadly without the front thingy...dunno the right word...

what i am atm finding the most good looking feature are the creases at the inner elbows... that is always marvelous how any sculptors get that look that way... i can do smooth up to a point but creases is a mystery to me...^^

commisaress?

Commissarissima!

lol....

LOL I'll just leave it very basic for now until I hear from the lawyer.

So, update time! I think I am done with the Steampunk Weapons. They are about as clean as I can get them. And adding rivets to the band around the canisters is just too minute to do properly.
I did get the stocks filled in a bit more, and should cast up nicely.


I also tried my hand at sculpting enitre heads! Male heads for now, I'll try females later.
Here is my first one:


And next to a Cadian Segeant for scale:


And here he is with hair and a beard:


And here on the Centaur: ( there are more shots in my gallery)


I also tried a bigger one for the older Cantaurs. It's slightly bigger than a Chaos Space Marine head. I'm not 100% sure about this one, I think he looks like Dan Aykroyd:


I'm sure I would have had time to get more done, but we had our daughter's 3rd Birthday party this weekend, and that just wipes out a whole day's worth of productive time! By the time everyone leaves, and you sober up enough to hold an Exacto knife, it's time to go to bed!

Rofl @ Dan A comment...

By the way! My color shapers came in the mail on Friday! Love them! They're too big for tiny detail, (still need metal tools and needles for that) but they're the best for smoothing! It's like using your finger to smooth over large areas, but they fit in the small spaces too!

Thanks again Red Corsair!

Yea, I have a set of embossing tools from Micheals that are invaluable too. Can't have enough tools really ha ha. But yea, the shapers are sick when it comes to initial work as you can form it and keep it super smooth. Wait until you do armor, the wedge shapers are AMAZING!

And no prob! Us mini sculptors have a duty to share knowledge Have fun with the new tools!

the faces look very good! lots of character in them! you have come a long way mate!

and the guns...love the new stocks...and on that scale i think the bandolier around the canisters would be not really be seen anyways...

OMG your heads are amazing. I will have to try to sculpt a head now to for comparison reasons to show how awesome you are, and how laughable my sculpting is lol.

The steam punk weapons are looking awesome! Really great that you got a store/website, I popped in for a whirlwind tour!

I can't believe how you keep putting more and more awesome into those weapons man!

Just when you think it's about to overflow with awesome, BAM! Jake drops more awesome into the pot!

dsteingass wrote:Just when you think it's about to overflow with awesome, BAM! Jake drops more awesome into the pot!

man i cant belive i have been gone this long last time i was here all you had was the awesome female commissar. good lookin stuff by the way. i hope your store does well.

@ Red Corsair - Yeah, I'm still amazed at every new thing I do with these shapers! I can't wait to get to new armor!

@ El Vic - Thanks! I have to agree, that my skills are improving, but I still have a long way to go...A line from "Empire Strikes Back" keeps running through my mind...

Yoda: "He is too old. Yes, too old to begin the training."

I should have started this stuff a LONG time ago!

@ Mordain - You don't give yourself enough credit. I didn't start out doing very good. I have some nice disasters on my "Shelf of Shame" that can testify to that. I need to go back and re-do a bunch of stuff!

@ Reaper Man 2020 - Thanks! Yeah, there is not a lot in the store yet, so it's a pretty short tour. I'll post on here when there is more stuff there!

@ Dave - There is never enough awesome in the pot! Thanks! You have the same thing goin on your thread though! I usually have 4 to 5 pages to catch up on over the weekend, but I've been gone for 6 days! SIX! I am scared to even look at your thread! I'll be there all day!

@ alabamaheretic - Thanks! You must have been gone a LONG time! I'm not very fast. I hope the store does well too. I just need to get some stuff on it!

OK, so I didn't get as much done during my time away as I wanted to. Lots of different reasons, but mostly just busy or lazy. I did however get a package delivered on Friday! It was the starter pack from Smooth On! A Mold Making Starter Kit! Yay!

So, I had this Skull covered base that I wanted to make copies of...


So, that is what I used to try out the kit. I should have really started out on something a bit more simple. I think this one had too much detail...and the "rocks" on the base were some sort of broken bits of plaster or something, and they disintegrated when the moist liquid rubber mold was poured over them. So, they came apart in the mold, and it took a while to clean them out. Then I didn't wait long enough after spraying the "Mold Release" and it wasn't dry...
It wasn't pretty.


Huge bubble thoughout the cast! I tried to trim off the bottom of the cast, but it was worthless....this shall serve as a cautionary tale to those that follow!!!! Wait for the mold release to dry!


After that though, the casts came out pretty good! Here is the next cast with some Brown wash on it to show details.


Some of the eye sockets look pretty bad, but this is after I tried drilling out the bubbles that ended up in most of the eye sockets. It wasn't until I was almost done drilling them out that I though, these look like eye balls that are still in the socket! So, the next one, I left as-is, and I will be painting it up for a Nurgle base! Lots of slime and puss and decomosing flesh on the skulls! I'll post pics of that soon!

Yeah, bases are tricky to do right. And plaster, for whatever reason, just refuses to leave the crevases and cracks! I have no idea what mold material you were using, though, as my 'rocks' never actually crumble when I'm molding.

I actually had the same thing happen with a skull-base I created- tall, more of a rock with skulls around the base- and some of them came half-done, some with 'eyeballs'. But that's the fun of bases, is that they're sort of supposed to look like they've been crushed underfoot!

Like your skull base RSJake - where did you get those skulls from or are they another demonstration of your sculpting prowess?

hey mate...welcome back...

and what a welcome you provide us with!

for the dialogue...you know how that one ended, eh?

the skulls on the base... clever idea... monkeyh asked it already and i nkow you have shown us before where you got all those skulls... but again...please^^ your thread is just way too big to look through again^^

@ Anvildude - I'm not sure what the material was either, not sure whay I used it except that they looked like perfect little rocks! They came with an order I got off ebay, they could be meth for all I know! And I think the "Eye ball" bubles worked great! I'll get one painted (maybe) tonight to see what it looks like!

Monkey and Vic - the skulls were found here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40K-Resin-kit-human-skull-B-28mm-x-15-/250833950544?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a66de5750
An ebay seller I have ordered from before, but it looks like the skulls without the jaw bone are not availble right now. Keep checking back. They are really great skulls for very cheap!

I actually want to try my hand at sculpting small skulls like this, so that I can sell them too!

And let's see how that dialogue ended between Yoda and myself, shall we?

Yoda: He is too old. Yes. Too old to begin the training.
RSJake: But I've learned so much!
Yoda: Will he finish what he begins?
RSjake: I most likely will leave many projects unfinished, but I'm not afraid.
Yoda: Oh! You will be. You will be.

HAHAHAHA... priceless revenge adaption on that lil scene... but truly you have nothing to fear in the sculpting department^^

i knew i had him already in my wtach out list at ebay.... one day i will definatly need to make progerss with some terrain pice i started some months ago...and this needs lots of skulls and bones...if you are then able to proved ...then i order yours of course...!

Is is odd, isn't it, how something as generic as a human skull can be Copyrighted, so that you can't sell casts of them.

Gotta wonder if GW gets its skulls from someone else as well! Or if someone were to ask them, if they'd allow use of their skulls in other casting, with appropriate credit, of course.

Well, I guess that is one more project to put on my list! This will a quick one I hope though. I can work on the skulls in between other projects. I want to make some Human femur bones and maybe hands and arms too. Hell, maybe just a whole skeleton! Why not?

seeing those skulls i think they can be done in your own design... not THAAAAAT hard... and i think no one could have a copyright on any skull...otherwise millions of beadmakers would be in serious trouble...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
as long as said bones are seperate i am all ears... some nice and already bare bones... that would be a true blessing...

Yeah, I was thinking separate bones to scatter around when doing scenery and conversions...but I would/could sell them as a complete skeleton (or several), and you could connect them if needed, for hanging off of banners and walls and such.

I think if someone sculpted the skulls, there would still be IP issues connected to them, so I would want to make my own....just to be safe.

I might feel alright selling these bases, since I am not making molds of the skulls themselves, and selling those, but I think these bases will still be just for my own use, and when I make my own skulls, then I will make bases based off of those skulls and sell those with no guilt or worry.