Boxer Rebellion: Box-Turtle Folk, WIP

[TaleSpinner 41727]

A client of mine has commissioned me to produce a new line of oriental-themed turtle people, based on box-turtles.  I'm pretty excited about this project as I love the subject as well as the challenges that it will present me.

 

We are going to take a modular approach to this, with me creating a fully sculpted shell with arm and leg armatures.  This I can then cast in bronze and use to make many different minis.  I am also planning on making several heads and casting them to be added to each sculpt.  A turtle head is pretty generic with little possible expression, so I should be able to make a few variations and reuse them.

 

I will also be sculpting and casting various oriental weapons, hats, and other accouterments to be added to the sculpts.  After all that, I will be making three sculpts to begin with, and we'll see where we take it from there.  If it all turns out, you'll likely be seeing all of this on the KS page at some point.

 

Here is the basic concept (this is very rough and I am not very good at drawing; the 3D sculpts will be a lot better):

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the basic armature concept:

 

 

 

Last night, I began the project by making the armature and underpinning the shell  Here is the top view:

 

 

 

And the side view:

 

 

 

I will be basing the turtle parts on the Eastern Box-turtle:

 

 

 

And finally, as I was typing this, the bronze came:

 

 

 

Now, I am going to have to figure out how to cut that up into chunks that can fit my crucible. 

 

More to come soon.

 

Andy

 

[GreenBeams 206]

Really looking forward to seeing how this progresses! 

All the best, 

Andrew

[Mad Jack 43729]

 

 This is awesome...  How tall are they going to be?

 

(I don't suppose you'll be sculpting one of the heads with a bowl-shaped depression full of water to make it a kappa, will you?

I love those guys and used them a lot when Oriental Adventures came out for D&D...)

 

 

 

 

[Glitterwolf 156047]

Turtles!!!

 

Love it!

[TaleSpinner 41727]

1 hour ago, Mad Jack said:

 

 This is awesome...  How tall are they going to be?

 

(I don't suppose you'll be sculpting one of the heads with a bowl-shaped depression full of water to make it a kappa, will you?

I love those guys and used them a lot when Oriental Adventures came out for D&D...)

 

 

 

 

 

20 to 25 mm.

 

I hadn't planned on it.  But, with the proper bit and a dremel tool, you'd be able to make that mod to them pretty easily.

 

[Speak_Centurion 244]

For inspiration, you might want to look at images of Chinese dynasty art and sculpture of turtles.

 

[kristof65 19541]

ooh, can't wait to see these finished.

 

[Gadgetman! 15169]

I did a bit of searching on eBay, and came across 10packs of 2.4 x 500mm Bronze Brazing rods for $7.79 (+ $0.99 shipping for first 10pack, no additional cost for the next few packages) from Hong Kong. 

Sure, that's only about 0.43 lbs for each pack, and the cost/lbs is probably horrendous, but then again, it's in the form of thin rods that can easily be cut.

 

THere may be thicker rods available that is more cost effective, also. 

 

[Julia 195]

Hey,

You can cut the bronze bar into chunks with an angle grinder, but it's not a fun task: lots and lots of fine bronze dust, sparkled like a champ for a few days. We use an old horizontal metal bandsaw, the saw itself is something specific for stainless steel, but the bronze is so soft that a normal saw blade will do just fine. 

[TaleSpinner 41727]

I used some Christmas money and bought and metal chop saw. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to contain the dust.

[Gadgetman! 15169]

Two ways, depending on your setup, really...

 

Vacuum, usually with a Cyclone to separate the dust out before it gets to the filters, or you could have flood coolant(cutting oil) running over the metal and along the blade. (Flood coolant systems recycle the liquid)

 

I use a home-made cyclone separator on my ShapeOko CnC when cutting wood and plastics, and spray-cans of cutting oil the few times I've cut Aluminium. (I cut much, much slower than with a saw, and since I usually cut out shapes and leave a bit of a border, I end up with the oil contained in the cut and the chaff as a thick paste)

 

A Cyclone will allow you to have separate 'waste buckets' for different materials, so that the dust can be more easily recycled or reused.

 

I'd go check out the www.shapeoko.com/forum/  for a few hints.

Very helpful and friendly gang, almost on par with this forrum... 

 

[TaleSpinner 41727]

I underpinned the dome last week, then sculpted the fringe on the shell once cured:

 

[TaleSpinner 41727]

I added a layer if GS to the shell and smoothed it down tight.  Then I cut in the plates:

 

 

 

After that I sculpted the details into each plate:

 

 

Next I'll start working on the belly plates.

[rfusca 1966]

Looking fantastic. Very realistic 

[GHarris 487]

These are going to look awesome!

 

Is there any chance that they will have options that will make them generically fantasy enough to be used as Tortles? They are a playable race in 5e Adventurer's League but there is a lack of miniatures for them.