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Hallo
I was wondering if anyone had pictures of old armorcast models.

Yes. Lots of people have pictures of Armorcast stuff.

1:Hit up Google
2: Search for "Armorcast Warhammer" in images
3: ????
4: Profit!

heh heh... stompah... heh heh
Thx i did that and... heh heh...

A while back I downloaded their old Titan gallery and posted it in Dakka.

The founder of Armorcast posts here as TimD, you could also send him a note if you have specific questions.


Gotta paint mine one of these days.




My dream...

More here
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-518-1722_Armorcast.html

I also uploaded all of the original catalog pics to my Gallery.

Tim

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-7222-24406_Armorcast%20Catalog%252F%20Box%20Art%20Photos.html

Here is the picture of the one I own all painted up.

I also have one of these.

Some really good models in that range.

Personally I like the old Reaver better than the FW one both because it's more portable (breaks down into a few parts for transport) and the flat surfaces are better for freehand or detailing.

I like to make kits my own, not just assemble them the stock way.

Always regretted not getting their Reaver or Phantom. At least I managed to get the Cannon of Khorne and Cauldron of Blood.

I really love the Phantom. Awesome Jes Goodwin design, scaled up by Mike without losing any of Jes' style. That a 22" tall model breaks down easily for transport is also pretty amazing.

Tim

timd wrote:
I really love the Phantom. Awesome Jes Goodwin design, scaled up by Mike without losing any of Jes' style. That a 22" tall model breaks down easily for transport is also pretty amazing.

Tim

Out of curiosity, how did they sculpt it? Wood? Clay? Green stuff?

Armorcats meow meow!

Seriously, was there a period in history when these didn't look goofy to people? I'd be more interested in where can you find the rules they had for these models?

I don't have any armorcast. Really like the Warhound.

But I can provide you with Armorcats

I was lucky enough a few years ago to find an Armorcast Reaver.

I seriously want to find their Tyranid Malefactors. If only because I want to use them as Tyranid Bastions. They're perfect for it.

 Lammikkovalas wrote:
Armorcats meow meow!

Seriously, was there a period in history when these didn't look goofy to people? I'd be more interested in where can you find the rules they had for these models?

Armorcast sold 30,000 resin 40K kits in three years while limited to selling ONLY to North America. Had the license been worldwide, the numbers probably would have been doubled. So in answer to your question: Yes. Without Armorcast showing GW there was a large market for the big models, there never would have been a GW Forge World.

Rules were published in Inquisitor magazine with different rule sets for first, second and third editions of 40K.

Tim

 Lammikkovalas wrote:
Seriously, was there a period in history when these didn't look goofy to people?

Maybe. But it was back when vehicle kits of any kind were rare and kind of crude, and superheavy-size stuff was nonexistent. So if you wanted a big tank or a 28mm titan then this was the best you were going to get. I can appreciate the historical value of the old kits, but I'm really glad that FW went with a better "use the Epic models as general inspiration at most" policy instead of literally scaling up the very limited Epic designs to 28mm.

Is this what you're looking for?

 Lammikkovalas wrote:
Armorcats meow meow!

Seriously, was there a period in history when these didn't look goofy to people? I'd be more interested in where can you find the rules they had for these models?

I have been with 40k since these were in stores, and I have always thought they were awesome. They are a reminder of what made 40k the game that is still here today.

Also have 2 malefactors I use.


All I can say is exocrines are easy to find.
Malefactors come up every month or so on eBay.
Haruspex can be a nightmare to find.
Dactylis, well, they are like trying to find a unicorn.
Only seen one this year on eBay and I missed it.

cool i found one of da titans for 99$ wich is cheaper than fw and retro

I really liked/like some of the models, especially the Eldar, Imperial and some of the Ork ones. The way these large 28mm kits pushed your imagination about how huge and diverse the war machinery of the game universe actually is made Armorcast and Epicast models always worth being around. A lot of the kits also benefit from modern paint jobs, as do many older models in general. I still love Epic, especially the 1st and 2nd Edition material. Artwork like this was what inspired a lot of players back then and was made into 28mm models by armorcast a few years later:







I would also really like to know more about how these kits were made.

well i know that one reason the kits look kinda bad is cuz armorcast wasnt allowed to change the design at all. they were just allowed to upsclae it

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

timd wrote:
I really love the Phantom. Awesome Jes Goodwin design, scaled up by Mike without losing any of Jes' style. That a 22" tall model breaks down easily for transport is also pretty amazing.

Tim

Out of curiosity, how did they sculpt it? Wood? Clay? Green stuff?

When Mike Biasi started out (as Mike Biasi Studios) the pieces were sculpted in very traditional sculpting techniques; sculpted in clay, then a plaster mold made to cast a resin master that was then cleaned up and final detailed. To make the final molds, mold rubber was painted on the master and then backed with a plaster mold holder. Again, very traditional sculpting techniques.

When Armorcast took over things changed a bit. Mike was still the sculptor, but he got a lathe and many parts were turned/machined. Master models were built more of sheet plastic, resin and modeling putty resulting in cleaner models for the newer pieces. Clay was eliminated from the process. Many of the models were basically resculpted, although some of the older models really needed to be redone (Eldar Tempest and Knight) but GW not renewing the license put the kibosh on that. Moldmaking and casting also changed mostly due to my 20 years of experience in making custom lost wax cast jewelry (my profession until we started Armorcast in 1995).

My Mike Biasi Studios Phantom


Tim

Thanks, Tim! Regarding the size of the miniatures, did Games Workshop provide a size reference for the Titans?

I found a handful of reviews of the Inquisitor magazines here: http://wargamedork.blogspot.com ( http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html )

The mag looks to be a good read. Were they officially available in other countries than the USA back then?


The actual part one of the reviews: http://wargamedork.blogspot.de/2014/03/operation-game-collection-warhammer-40k.html


And even an expanded 2nd Ed Squat army list

http://wargamedork.blogspot.de/2014/03/operation-game-collection-warhammer-40k_17.html

Tim,
I still have my phantom, I never painted it but always wanted to until I got out of 40k. now thinking of coming back, and boy is that phantom still on my mind after all these years. Thats still a hell of a model, and I have some ideas to blend it a little more into current range. I bought some extraparts, power fist and head for the phantom way back when, they were really well done but they were recasts.

Warhams-77 wrote:
Thanks, Tim! Regarding the size of the miniatures, did Games Workshop provide a size reference for the Titans?

Here is an article from Inquisitor #2 (September 1991) that shows the basic reasoning Mike and I used to figure out what scale to use for building the resin Titans and has some interesting observations on 40K scale, including vehicles. The heights for various Titans may seem small, but once they are painted and placed on the the gaming table, they look pretty big!

The exact scale of both WH 40K and Epic scale figures and equipment is somewhat inconsistant. 40K figures combine 1/35th scale heads and 1/48th scale limbs on 1/60th scale (height) bodies using artistic license to exaggerate for effect, giving us the artfully exaggerated figures we all know and love.


"SO YOU WANT TO BUILD A TITAN: SCALE IN WARHAMMER 40,000
Just suppose we wanted to build a Warlord Titan in full 40K scale instead of Epic scale. How tall would we make it? 10 inches? 15 inches? 20 inches? larger?

The scales in Space Marine run from about 1/250 for vehicles to about 1/350 for Titans giving an average of 1/300, about the same scale as GHQ MicroArmor.

So what scale shall we make our Titan? The original Adeptes Titanicus rulebook says Battle Titans (Reaver, Warlord) stand 60 to 80 feet tall. Where does this 80 feet measure to? top of the carapace? top of the carapace mounted weapons? Assuming that 80 feet is the maximum height we will assume that the 80 feet measures to the top of the carapace mounted weapons. A Warlord measures about 66mm to the top of its carapace mounted weapons. 80 divided by 66 is about 1.2 giving a scale for Epic Titans of 1mm =1.2 feet (Titans only, not vehicles). Now let’s see if we can figure out a scale for a Warlord.



The 40K ground scale of 1"= 2 Meters won’t work because it is much foreshortened to keep the shooting ranges workable on an average tabletop. This scale is a little smaller than HO model railroad scale (1/87), making our 80 foot Titan about 11" tall, obviously much too small.

Next we try the vehicle scale. The Rhino is essentially a modern U.S. M113 armored personnel carrier, running possibly a little larger because of the hull-high track configuration. The Rhino scales out to very close to 1/48 scale (1/4" = 1'-0"), a typical scale for model aircraft and some model vehicles. A 6' human figure in 1 /48th scale would be 1 1/2" high, considerably taller than a Marine figure in Warhammer 40K. Our 80 foot Titan in 1/48th scale is 20" tall with a carapace 14" wide-perhaps a little too large.

Next we try scaling to a Marine figure. Assuming a Marine to be 6'-3" tall (out of his power armor) we get a scale of 1/60 (1"=5'-0"), making our Titan approximately 16 inches tall. This looks pretty good and is our suggestion for a Titan scale. I realize that some of the Titanicus artwork seems to indicate that Titans are much larger than this, appearing in some drawings to be at least 2-300 feet high, but I think that this is artistic license or artists not knowing exactly how big Titans are.

In 1/60th scale, 1 inch equals 5'-0", giving the following heights for various Titans. To convert Titans from Epic to 40K scale, multiply the Epic measurement times 6.1. For vehicles multiply the Epic measurement by 5.25.

Another way to do this is to measure the Titan part in millimeters, multiply by 1.2 to get the actual measurement in feet, then divide by 5 to get the measurement in inches for 40K.

Warlord Top of carapace weapon 16"
Carapace 13"
Reaver Top of carapace weapon 13"
Carapace 11"
Warhound Carapace 9 1/8"
Eldar Phantom Head 17 1/4"
Fins 22 1/4"
Eldar Knights Top of head 7 1/2 - 9"
(standing)
Gargant Top of head 13 1/2"
Stomper Top of head 6"

Sixteen inches may not seem very big, but check out the picture of Mike Biasi’s 40K scale Reaver, (built to 1/60th scale, 13" overall height) on the cover of Inquisitor #2.

PS. We use 1/43-1/48th scale as our vehicle scale because 1/60 scale vehicles just LOOK too small. Using the figure height scale of 1/60 (1" = 5'-0") the Land Raider is over 16 feet high.In 1/48th scale the Land Raider is 13 feet high. Compare these heights to the heights of a WWII Sherman and Panther at roughly 9 feet and an M1 Abrams at about the same height. That's an extra 4 - 7 feet of target sticking up in the air, waiting to be shot at-not a very good design.

1/35th scale models make good heavy vehicles though and smaller (Pre WWII through early WWII) 1/35 scale tanks make OK 40K tanks."

The sizes of the Titans have been retconned by Forge World, so that their models are generally larger that the Armorcast models.

Tim

Very interesting, thank you, Tim. I was looking for some plastic tank kits to build the mid-90s Epic Battlewagon in 28mm and this helps a lot






Were the large Ork vehicles like the Battle Fortress or the Gibletgrinda ever made by Epicast or Armorcast?

None of the really big Ork stuff was ever done in resin, but Epicast did a few Ork vehicles. Check out the Collecting Citadel Minis wiki for a complete listing of resin 40K products over the years: http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Resin_Vehicles_&_Titans