Search the Community

Hello everyone, something different today. Because adventurers also need a reward, here are pictures of 02313, Treasure Hoard (third from the set) sculpted by Bob Olley.

So, after a lot of thought, research, and discussion, my wife and I have decided to purchase a lost-wax casting system. Essentially this is a system for casting any metal with a melting point below 2000 deg F into jewelry, minis, etc. Unlike the spin casting used by companies like Reaper, this will be low volume with only 10 to 50 pieces a day possible. I should note right away, that I do not intend at this time to go into minis production/sales on my own. So what do I intend to do with it: Make jewelry for my wife and our business. Eventually (10+ years), we would like to get into producing our own line of gold and silver jewelry and become seasonal vendors at various Ren Fairs as a retirement career once the kids are out of college. Of course this is a long term goal and won't happen for a long time yet. I'll practice on copper and pewter first. Make rings for our sister parish in Haiti. Due to various cultural reasons, most Haitians won't get married until they have a pair of rings. This can be very hard for some of the poorer people, so they just stay apart and don't get married. My wife can by old jewelry under value and I'll be able to melt them down and make them new rings and send them down to them as they need it. (We've been giving them the rings she finds, but this way we will be able to cast them in the shapes and sizes they actually need/want.) Make armatures for my sculpts. I spend a lot of time resculpting skulls and basic forms because I have to start from scratch. This will allow me to make a library of animal armatures and other stuff to speed up my sculpting. Also, I will be able to produce better sculpts by being able to control how much and what type of metal is in the armature. I don't ever want to send Reaper another piece of furniture that warps on the mold again (bookcase, I'm looking at you). For sculpts I can't/don't want to sell, I'll be able to make copies for my friends and I (maybe even some goodies for things like the BOGW ). I'm sure I'll think up other uses as I get more skilled at it. I started reading, studying, and taking some classes on the subject in the past few years. I'm at a point where the only way forward is to take the plunge and buy the equipment so I can begin practicing and learning for real. My finances are at a good spot for it now, so I took the plunge and ordered a kit from Gesswein. The following equipment is on its way: Rubber mold vulcanizer (small single figure version of what Reaper uses) Wax injector (for making wax copies in the rubber molds) Burnout oven (for baking the wax copies out of the molds before casting) Vacuum casting machine (for removing air from the molds and later pulling the metal into the molds during casting) Flasks, investment, wax bits, rubber, and lots of other materials needed. Here is a picture of the kit I bought: I won't be able to just jump in and start casting right away. I still will need to get a method of melting the metal (either a torch or an electric furnace). I'll also need to rework my basement studio with new benches, electrical outlets, and venting to make it safe, which is where this thread comes in, as I thought you all might be interested in this, so I plan on documenting everything here, from the unboxing, to the building, to the first cast piece. I'm very very excited! Andy

Now that I'm back from Reapercon, I think it is time to post pictures of my entries. This is Monique Denoir, and she was awarded a bronze Sophie in the painters category. I was pleased with the paintjob on her, and I'm happy that she could compete with the many very well painted Reaper miniatures in the competition (every year there are quite a few fantastic entries- this year was no exception).

FInished this one today after working off some hints someone gave me and I actually really like it :D

I started painting Narthrax the other day, and I've worked on him a little more today... So the bulk is done, I'm mostly at details and basing and stuff atm. However, to try and make sure I stick with this, I've decided to pop up a WIP thread. So this is where I'm at =] Yep, I'm still painting on a tray, on a teatowel, on my couch =P

Hi folks, Decided to take a break from CAVs and make some treasure tokens after seeing a tutorial I on here. Although I cannot find where the original tutorial is now (edit: you can find it here http://http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/33). These two took two hours for my fiance and I to make. I'm generally happy with how they came out, although the one lesson that I learned is that you need to make anything that sits with the gold very, very bright. When I painted the gemstones and the weapons I thought at first that they would look too ostentatious, but after adding the gold they kind of get drowned out. I also need to add another layer of dark wash to highlight the difference between the coins. But this was a fun project and I can see myself making more in the future. C&C always welcome!

I wanted to paint Mary for my oldest stepdaughter, she is into synchronised swimming and I believe part fish. Since she is also a bit of a scrooge I added a bit of treasure. Off to the start, Sculpted a rock with millyput. There will be more to follow.

So not to long ago I was looking for an online vendor who sold scale 75 paints as I wanted to try their NMM gold and the fantastic Mr uber nerd pointed me to a small company called fantization miniatures and while at their site I found they have thier own small line of minis called rusted heroes, I bought a couple and I needed a knight with a 2h war hammer and shield so I GSed a war hammer did a weapon swap and started to further practice my NMM so here goes and please comment away ;)

I ran a game last weekend set in a city that periodically floods with molten gold. To terrify my players just a little bit extra, I put some of my previously unpainted skeleton troops to good use. It was a quick job, but effective at making my players try to carry them off as extra treasure.....

When the dogs went crazy today, I knew it had to be my exchange mini since all of my mini orders have already been delivered. I was right! I had a package on the porch from the states. I couldn't stop smiling as I brought it in to open it. It was like Christmas! What would be in the box? In the box was a note on top of two bubblewrapped bundles. I couldn't see anything through the bubblewrap! The note told me who my exchange partner was - terminalmancer. It also told me that the figures are 77329 Silver Dragon which he explained he painted gold because "just because"! The second figure is Dark Sword's Wood Elf Goddess (Avatar Form) which he decided to have a go at sheer cloth. They turned out gorgeous! I am going to use them in my game. I think the two of them together could wreak some havoc! Thanks again, terminalmancer! I love them!

Hi !!! Mydas the Mean for Dogs of War army :)

Needed some simple minis just to keep painting. This is the treasure pile of 77138 (I've done the candleabras already so this completes the set). Apologize for the photo quality, only got one good photo out of the bunch.

I’ve long admired the various Nethyrmaul minis painted by everyone else, and thought of what I would paint it if I had one. I’ve seen Nethyrmaul painted up as many evil type dragons, being black or red, etc. and I wanted to go an entirely different route. I wanted her whole areas, her base, to be as pretty as I could make them to really offset the ugliness of her exposed flesh =3 My idea for her was based on a dragon character I designed for a little story that eventually got scrapped, but I kept her idea because I liked it. My dragon is a gold dragon, a noble female who defended the innocent and fought alongside goodly knights against the evil in the world. Her name is Kessindra. [Kess-IN-draw] She fell in battle….and her corpse was raised to serve and fight for those she had sworn to defeat. Her mind and spirit remain, chained and helpless, as her body acts out their evil will. Each scale is painted individually [and I use craft paint, so hopefully her quality isn’t TOO bad for that fact] Hopefully you all like her ^.^ Link to her WIP thread: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/53995-siris-kaladrax-n-nethyrmaul-wip-thread/?p=846024

Treasure hoards from 02313, 02320 and 02652. Sculpted by Bob Olley and Werner Klocke.

This is the (9th) completed vignette as listed on my (WIP) forum of fantasy vignette projects posted on Oct. 2, 2013; that I wanted to complete in Oct-Nov 2013. VIGNETTE TITLE...DESERT PROSPECTOR (EUREKA)... FIGURE...REAPER # 50119 (Crazy Pete the Prospector)... NOTE...This may bring an end to my projected vignette projects as listed on the above (WIP)...I do not have the figures I need for the other named/titled vignettes and without the figures...I can't work on the bases (since I don't know when and which figures will arrive first). I hope that you like this little desert vignette.,, Catdancer...

We use a lot of draconians, and there's never any that look just right. For this character we needed a 10' tall gold draconian. Having used up all the awesome reptus guys from reaper, and not having found anything bigger and cooler looking, we were at our wits end for him. Then one day I was looking at the shelf above my desk and said "Sweetie, what if we used this sivak draconian for Kezeran?" (that's the character's name). He's bigger than the others, he's cool looking, and best of all, he's made of plastic! The plan is to repose his arms so that he's weaponless, and use green stuff to sculpt cool looking claws on him. Here he is after I took out his weapon. I tried boiling him like a bones mini to repose his arms but that didn't work. I also tried soaking him in Simple Green to take the paint off but all that did was make him stink of licorice. I hate the smell of licorice.

Here's is my first mini for the show off forum! wohoo! It's Thorgram, Dwarf Warlord, 14042, painted up as the chieftain of the Thumbbreaker Clan, Thorzin Thumbbreaker. I learned a lot on using blending on this guy and thinning paints. Hope you like him

And here is another of my dwarven chieftain, Vigatharn, Alird (dwarven for "Gold Lord) of the Emerald Clan. Had to remove the weapons, since he doesn't use weapons, and his backpack.

A friend of mine published his second board game through Game Crafter. It's called: This is his second board game self-published. Check it out. Feedback welcome. I'll pass any along directly. Board: