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Yeah CM, it's just painted masking tape. I had to snip Sledgee off the base to put it down though. Glad I did, very happy with the result.

Quick update on the mice.


Sniffy is coming along well with just the head to cover and sculpt. He has a nice fine little tail at the back. Still no giant rodent-bot though. And Cheesy is just a mummified wire frame at this stage. I aim to make him a bit fatter and he'll be carrying a big cheesy pizza and waring a tall chef's hat.

More awesomeness! Cool details on such tiny sculpts, is that a spanner that sniffy has? Great stuff!

Sniffy is all ready or paint. Deffinately one of the smallest so far.

Not totally sold on the giant lever of doom in his hand. I'll see how the paint takes and fix it if it looks off. And yes gobert, that's an adjustable spanner in his other hand.


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Also,

Can anyone ID this wireframe?

It's going to be someone some of you may already know.

Is it sad that I’m hoping for Happy from Hey Duggee? I’m probably wrong though

The nose makes me think it might be one of your grots...

gobert wrote:Is it sad that I’m hoping for Happy from Hey Duggee? I’m probably wrong though

Aw, I miss Hey Duggee. What a lovey little show. And Happy is a cute little crock. Doesn't he have Elelphant parents? Unfortunately, no it's not Happy. I may have to abandon Dakka and go post on the CBeebies forum if I started that.

monkeytroll wrote:The nose makes me think it might be one of your grots...

You got it! And of course it has to be Smirking!

Update for tonight, it's Cheesy with (empty) pizza board and pepper mill and no head.

Looking forward to adding facial features and a tall hat soon.

Oh mate, the only way this thread could get better is by adding Duggee and the Squirrels!

Sorry folks, no Duggee Hugs. Social distancing and all.

I'm loving these guys, can't wait to see what you're going to come out with next...

 theCrowe wrote:
Sorry folks, no Duggee Hugs. Social distancing and all.

That’s a fair point. Poor Duggee, good job he’s got his Lockdown Badge. I’ll stop hijacking your thread with CBeebies references now!

That pepper mill makes me swoon!

Wait, that sounds odd. I just like it is all.

quick update from a busy day.



Nober the Robber has escaped from jail again!



and Sniffy's robot is taking shape.

Wonderful mouselings! Detail with wrench and tesla rod and roller/mill... I wish You'd look into casting them, at least a limited series.

[sad wireframe cat]

I am sure Smirking will be in good company!

Wirecat wrote:
I wish You'd look into casting them, at least a limited series.

Thanks Wirecat, I'd love to give it a go. I've never attempted anything like that. Where would I even start?


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I though I was all ready with this one to go ahead and prime and paint so i took this shot.

And went on ahead. So then I was going in with the brown base coat and spotted, of course that he has no eye balls! Yikes. Back to the greenstuff for Cheesey the mouse.

 theCrowe wrote:

Wirecat wrote:
I wish You'd look into casting them, at least a limited series.

Thanks Wirecat, I'd love to give it a go. I've never attempted anything like that. Where would I even start?

I've done some research and ordered some silicone and resin! Goin to have a crack at it.


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Hi folks. Got on with a bit of painting today. Unsurprisingly these fellas being so small I got them both finished pretty quickly.


In fact they're the smallest minis I've done so far. The Hedgee's and the doggie henchmen are all about grot size but these little mice are more like snotling size. Here's a little scale shot to demonstrate.


And while I was at it I took the opportunity to do a little tribute shot.


Evil Otters of Chaos beware, we're coming for you!

Little chef has history of controlling men, he’s ramping it up to Raven Guard now! Awesome sculpts, particularly impressive give their diminutive size!

Not the best picture (when are they ever) but you can see Smirking is taking shape.


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Sculpting is complete on my very own Smirking!



Quite happy with the shape of him. He looks quite like he does in my drawings. Think I'll probably try to tart up the base a bit. Some orky scrappy plate metal maybe. But otherwise he's ready for paint.

And Smirking is painted!

I have to say after I think 5 years of writing chapters of this little fella's story it's actually a delight to finally have my very own miniature of him.

So I suppose a shameless plug is in order. If you'd be interested in reading his story it's all here in Dakka Fiction.
Smirking Da Chosen One


And as many of you will already know this little guy has featured in many of my Grot-Life sketchbook
pictures. If you want to see all those just bounce on over there.

Now I better get back to sculpting for the kids. Up next I've got Nober the Robber from square cops, a large rat-bot and possibly minitures of my own two boys!

Thanks for looking and C&C always welcome.

I was wondering when you'd sculpt Smirking. Looks great - really captures his character well.

Thanks Cap. Really pleased with him.


Update on this square criminal. His coming along.

Hey, he's not a square! That's clearly a rectangle! I think he might be wearing a domino mask!

More seriously, looking forward to what you come up with...

Crowe,

Based on Smirking, I think you need to go into business sculpting Grots. Something that there are never enough of in Ork armies these days.

Cheers,

CB

What a delightful idea Captain. Truth be told nothing would delight me more. I'm planning on making all future sculpts suitable for molding and casting. Smirking's wings would take a deal of careful plasticine work to make a proper cast but I'd like to give it a go. Then the question of course is who is next? There are plenty of characters to choose from.


The crew of Smirking Da Chosen One.


SkagNet's rabble from Give it Your Best Grot. (Before they killed him)


Or the original Grot Kommandos from a Grot's Life.

Too many characters to choose from is no bad thing I suppose. The long sculpting war continues.

Nice job on smirking, I think swab gets my vote, simply for the bottle of grog and mop combo!

Nice choice gobert. I'll be interested to see which one gets the most support but I have a few favourites myself. My alternative grot collection may turn out to be unarmed crew, riggers and general dogsbodies. ie no guns, maybe. That may reduce their desirability for tabletop use. We'll see. At any rate I don't want to produce anything too obviously tied to the 40k universe (despite my stories) especially if I'm planning to cast and sell them. Goblin deck swab, Goblin pack lugger, Ammo goblin, that sort of thing.

Anywho, update for today,

Nober the Robber is done. Bit of a rush-job if I'm honest. I just wanted to get him done. Not a massive fan of these (not actually) Square characters but hey, you can't play cops and robbers without a robber.

What I'm really excited for is this!

Two little mice in Lego jail all packed in plasticine about to get slathered in silicone. I think I'm doing this right, I hope I am. I gave it a bit of a shudder with a bit of DIY drillbit vibration to get the bubbles out then left the first silicone half to set overnight. Then it's on to the tricky second half.

Had to check out your sculpting too. I remember the Smirking comics, I really enjoyed those! And the mini for him is absolutely perfect!
Honestly all the litter guys look pretty good

 theCrowe wrote:
What a delightful idea Captain. Truth be told nothing would delight me more. I'm planning on making all future sculpts suitable for molding and casting. Smirking's wings would take a deal of careful plasticine work to make a proper cast but I'd like to give it a go. Then the question of course is who is next? There are plenty of characters to choose from.

Too many characters to choose from is no bad thing I suppose. The long sculpting war continues.

Cheers and just to one at a time.

CB

 Pneumo wrote:
Had to check out your sculpting too. I remember the Smirking comics, I really enjoyed those! And the mini for him is absolutely perfect!
Honestly all the litter guys look pretty good

Thanks Pneumo. Always good to have more knowledgable sculpting know-how around. Dakka is a great place.

Update for today.

A new character is in the making. Sniffy's arch nemesis The Evil Mog. He's a nasty old tomcat that comes round our house sometimes.
The base is a round MDF disc but there's no room for the wire underneath it's a bit rubbish. If it's solid enough after sculpting is done I might rust snip the wire out from underneath.

And then back to Sniffy. (And my casting ineptitude)

Hmmm. This is not how it's done. For anyone else trying to do this at home my advice is make sure you have all the right gear including small measuring cups. Don't guess the silicone/catalyst ratio amount. It is NOT worth it. I added too little and a now painting catalyst on top in an attempt to stiffen the silicone. What a mess. Aw well, first time for everything I suppose. If I get two decent casts out of this mess I'll be amazed.

Another update for today sees progress on the Mog.

Still have his paws to do. I've been directed to make sure he's showing his sharp claws so that'll be fun.

Then we have the mouse moulding project. I finally got the first side of silicone to set so I cleaned up the other side of Sniffy and Cheesy. Painted the lot with some oil to help release the the mould and went ahead with the second silicone pour. Silicone pour number two went well. It set properly this time. So I merrily did away with the Lego only to find it was Han Solo time and Sniffy and Cheesy were totally encased. I may have growled like a wookie.

No to worry. I managed to snip, pry and slice them free. Cheesy will need his tail glued on again and they're a bit messy but otherwise they'll be fine.

So that leaves me with this.

It's as rough as they come and honestly I have very little faith in my ability to produce anything recognisable but I'm going to give it a go. Just as soon as I get my hands on a syringe to squirt in the resin with. What a faff.

This casting lark looks a lot harder than some make it out to be. There must be some knack to it. Maybe more oil or a different type? Perhaps the unset first side played a part? Sorry I’m not much help!

In any case the new evil cat is looking good, the claws sound like they’ll be a challenge! Will your toothbrush bristle technique work?