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Wargames Factory Looking for Digital Sculptors

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#1

Are you a digital sculptor who would like to see your work in hard plastic?

Can you sculpt in the celebrated 28mm style?

If yes, we’d love to see renders of your work!

If you’d REALLY like to impress us - pick a submission from the Liberty and Union League and “have a go”!

The Liberty and Union League is our program where fans submit ideas for hard plastic miniature figures, we post them up and take “votes”, and when a submission reaches a certain level we manufacture it!

Send us your information and samples of your work here: http://www.wargamesfactory.com/sculptors

Thanks everyone!

Tony

Tony Reidy
Wargames Factory
http://www.wargamesfactory.com

#2

It’s cool to see military miniatures adopting new tech for sculpting figures. I remember mentioning using digital sculpting for this on a miniatures forum some time back and being cold-shouldered.

I wonder though, given the opportunity for a new method of developing figures, why do you want to stick with the “28mm style” (by this I guess you mean ‘chunky’ with disproportionate head sizes)? Especially so as you are casting in plastic and not constricted by the material limitations of metal.

On the technical side of things, how would you require models to be submitted: all as one surface/mesh or could they be made up of multiple surfaces/meshes for e.g. body, clothing, equipment?

#3

We pull the meshes into another CAD program to make them mold ready. Typically, we like to see separate arms and heads…and Tim Barry, our art director and lead sculptor will give some guidelines and tips to sculptors who work with us to help them understand line of draft and the limitations of molding.

Re: 28mm style. Miniature figures are meant to be viewed from around 3-4 feet distance (i.e. while on the tabletop) and to achieve the right “look” on the table, it’s important to exaggerate some features and details. There is also the need to think about the painter and how they tackle the model. Toy soldiers are truly impressionistic in many ways!

#4

By the way Bonecradle – saw your old WIP Hussar. Check out the Liberty and Union League Napoleonics listing (and 18th Century for that matter) if you’re interested in doing something along those lines!

http://www.wargamesfactory.com/league_napoleonics
http://www.wargamesfactory.com/league_18thcentury

#5

Hi Wargamer

Yeah, I used to collect 15mm many years ago so understand the need for exaggeration in small scale sculpts. When asking about style, I guess I meant more, are you going for ‘old-style’ 28mm (so they perhaps fit in with existing models/lines) or for something more along the lines of the new Perry Brothers’ plastic Napoleonics, which appear to be more realistic in terms of proportion and ‘trimness’?

I guess a lot depends on the master making process and what resolution the 3D printer can achieve. I also see you are using recycled plastics - do they mold as well as ‘new’ plastics?

#6

Hi Bonecradle –

There’s been a fairly fast shift within 28mm figures over the last year with many of the metal manufacturers (driven I think in a large part by the Perrys) to a more proportional look and feel and our figures are meant to match that.

If you really analyze the Perry sculpts, you’ll see that there are still significant exaggerations – hand size, head size, length of legs (extremely long in comparison to the torso), and narrowness of shoulders. That’s what we’re going for.

Re: recycled plastic - you can’t use later generation (i.e. recycled many, many times) polystyrene as it breaks down over time. But second, third, fourth use is absolutely fine.

Thanks again for your interest!

Tony