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Before I went to university about a decade ago - I used to help a friend of my grandads who cast parts for dollhouses and model railways, this was because my grandad knew I was into 'miniatures' (though not exactly model trains, but I was happy to have a weekend job) and he paid a lad of 16 more than the equivalent of a paper round was in the late 90's!

Anyway although my grandad passed away and it had been a long time, I bumped into them again. He'd pretty much retired due to arthritus and asked if I wanted to buy all his gear off him, which I've done! Its still being thrashed out whether I'll buy all his old moulds off him and start selling his railway stuff again - but I've had a bit of a play around with it trying the newer low temp cure discs with 3D prints - and it and seems I still know exactly what I'm doing! Only thing I had to buy elsewhere was a 9" vulcaniser.

I'm very interested to see if there's any call for UK based casting services - what with the explosion I've seen in kickstarters using 3D printing to prototype. Im aware of crowdfunded mini ranges where the designers have just approached existing mini companies to subcontract-cast for them. Technically I would be purely a subcontracter - so I wouldn't be distracted by producing my own lines. I would love to find and talk to talented sculptors too, as I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head.

Really I just need a bit of input on (I am doing my own research as I type this too, I'm not that lazy!)
-Where can I talk to people who are currently looking to get their crowdfunded mini's projects up and running?
-How does the market work right now - are people buying their own gear or is everyone asking established companies to cast for them? (Not counting all the small companies going straight to resin - same cost for materials but much lower for equipment!)
-Are you a damn good sculptor and would you be interested in working with me
Please if anyone has any ideas or input let me know.

Thanks Dakka-ites!

Get yourself to Salute and talk to some people.

http://www.salute.co.uk/salute/salute-2014/

Might be worth tapping up a few of the kickstarter peeps to get their opinion. Folk like poots from kingdom death, cmon, raging shiroz and stuff. While they may not be uk based, or using metal, I'm sure they'd be happy to let you know the lay of the land.

Good luck with your new venture. I hope you make a success of it. There aren't enough people in this country making stuff anymore.

May well do, but its a hearty and pricey slog from deepest Northumberland!

I find events like that are great for getting advice and talking to existing casters and model companies, but I really need to meet people who have models that arent in production yet - Ive been to Vapnartak and Hammerhead etc but never Salute - is there a chance of meeting people who are still getting their projects off the ground, rather than already in production there?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Eggs wrote:
Might be worth tapping up a few of the kickstarter peeps to get their opinion. Folk like poots from kingdom death, cmon, raging shiroz and stuff. While they may not be uk based, or using metal, I'm sure they'd be happy to let you know the lay of the land.

Good luck with your new venture. I hope you make a success of it. There aren't enough people in this country making stuff anymore.

Thanks! Dont suppose theres a specific section of the board where these chaps lurk? Ive noticed the WS forum has a dedicated kickstart subforum, but cant see similiar here.

You might want to shoot a PM to the Dakka member Mechanicalhorizon.

I worked with him at GW for a few years. He used to run their moldmaking/casting dept, he then worked for Privateer Press as a sculptor. He also set up Privateer's initial resin casting dept. He also has some experience with plastics as well.

He's pretty easy to talk to, especially when it comes to moldmaking and casting.

Go to Frothers and talk to Pete. He runs TAG and the associated mould making/ casting service.

In the UK, probably about 50% of companies do their own casting. The rest outsource to other services. The big name is Griffin Moulds - they cast for Empress (I think), Hasslefree, numerous others and are seen as at the top of the pack for quality from what I've read. Ainsty do castings for other companies too, Warlord cast for Mongoose.

Gripping Beast, Heresy, Baker Company all do their own casting. I think West Wind do their own casting.

A fair number of the smaller mini companies (and folk involved in personal mini projects) hang around on Frothers

http://frothersunite.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=50

well worth having a look around over there

(warning they are not afraid to say what they think, so if you've got a think skin stay away)

I was actually discussing this very thing with my wife this morning.

Does anyone know off the top of their head where a man can go for similar services in the States? Or do some of these companies mentioned operate on both sides of the pond?

 Jimsolo wrote:
I was actually discussing this very thing with my wife this morning.

Does anyone know off the top of their head where a man can go for similar services in the States? Or do some of these companies mentioned operate on both sides of the pond?

I think there's a lot fewer contract casters in the US - off the top of my head, I think one of the big ones is called Valiant - not sure if it's Valiant Miniatures, Valiant Casting or what. Might be worth a post on one of the TMP boards - there's a lot more US based industry guys there (and one of the few times I'll actually suggest TMP might be of use lol).

 Jimsolo wrote:
I was actually discussing this very thing with my wife this morning.

Does anyone know off the top of their head where a man can go for similar services in the States? Or do some of these companies mentioned operate on both sides of the pond?

Iron Wind Metals
Black Orc Games
Fortress Figures
Valiant
Reaper Miniatures

When you say Valiant, did you mean Valiant Miniatures, the ones who make the 1/72 WWII models?

 Jimsolo wrote:
When you say Valiant, did you mean Valiant Miniatures, the ones who make the 1/72 WWII models?

Dunno, it's these guys:
http://www.veltd.net/studio.htm

 Jimsolo wrote:
I was actually discussing this very thing with my wife this morning.

Does anyone know off the top of their head where a man can go for similar services in the States? Or do some of these companies mentioned operate on both sides of the pond?

This TMP thread mentions a few

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=303874

Trollforged also does casting in their own trollforged material (check out Red Box Games KS thread and Impact Miniatures Chibi threads for details as it has disadvantages as well as advantages)

as well as more tradional metal

http://trollforged.com/store/production-services.html

(I suspect they may well be too busy to commit to a large project in timely fashion, but if you were just after masters they might be a good solution)