| Archive for IMPACT! MINIATURES A forum for the discussion of board games and miniatures of the company (Impact! Miniatures) |
| Mephisto |
Armatures for side impactHi!What would be great to have in the side impact category would be armatures or dollies for sculpting. Normally they aren't easy to get and I think they would be sold a lot. 
http://www.masq-mini.de/frameset.php http://www.reapermini.com/store/c...ductid=4246&cat=26&page=1 http://www.reapermini.com/store/c...ductid=1269&cat=29&page=1 http://www.reapermini.com/store/c...ductid=1270&cat=29&page=1 http://www.jeffvalentstudios.com/...x.php?module=PayPalCart&cid=2 |
||
| Lychanthrope |
Clay shapers for sculpting and conversions. Gets my vote. The only places I've found so far are in Europe. | ||
| lahatiel |
I had the little art supply store in my neighborhood order them for me, but that was before I realized I could order them direct from Dick Blick online: http://www.dickblick.com/zz049/35/ Keep in mind that technically, for the sizes and firmness you want for mini sculpting, you actually want Color Shapers rather than Clay Shapers (as far as the actual product name goes). My little neighborhood store had to order them because they only carried the larger sizes as regular stock. Also, I don't know how close Bristol is to Evansville, but Dick Blick has a brick-and-mortar location in Evansville. I've got a Flat Chisel, Taper, and Cup Round in Size 0 / Firm. Those are not only the ones I'd already picked up on my own, but are also the same ones that were most recommended by Matt Gubser of Prophet Miniatures when I later took his sculpting class at last year's GenCon SoCal. |
||
| GalakStarscraper |
My problem is this.
Most of the folks that do the pro sculpting have suggested to me armatures are really bad crutches. Its something we can look into ... but we need to get some more money before we expand into these items. Enough folks have suggested them that I can look into getting them at some point. === ClayShapers I could see purchasing as well within the next year as I'm told these work very well with ProCreate which we really are trying to help get out into the world. Galak |
||
| Bodhi |
Armatures are pretty useless crutches. If you can sculpt a human figure you can bend armatures from wire. However for the converters out there (those who just want to add clothing and details) I think blanks would be of more use than armatures. That is very basic nudes in a few different poses that can then be dressed up. On that subject I'm working on a few nude dwarves that I intend to cast up as blanks and then do one set of fantasy footballplayers, one set of postapocalyptic dwarves (to go with this guy: ) and one set of classical fantasy dwarves (to go with this guy: http://www.crunch-waffle.com/FF/viewtopic.php?t=147) using the same basic poses for them all. So I guess if someone was interested in producing just the blanks as well that could easily (and quite cheaply - if I wouldn't have to pay for the casts myself that would really be enough since I would charge for the "conversions" anyway) be arranged. I'll get up some pictures of the poses in a couple of weeks or so and we'll see what you all say.
|
||
| Dark Lord |
I was considering buying armatures from Reaper to get me started (the ones that are basically blanks) but if the sculptors here say no then I guess I won't...but that leads me to ask,
"What is the best wire to use for the armature?" |
||
| Bodhi |
Hang on. I at least said that blanks (such as those from Reaper) are great if you want to practice making clothing and details since all the basic anatomy has allready been done.
But if you want to do your own muscles and all from the ground up a skeletal readymade armature is not much of a timesaver. Bending some wire together and slabbing on a first very thin layer of putty is just ten minutes work or so. And usually bending skeletal armatures (that have a marked tendency to break far to often) can take more time than that. As for wire: I prefer copper. It bends easily but is still very resilient. Stay away from amalgated (is that the correct english word??) wire. They're covered in a thin layer of grease which will prevent the putty from sticking. Thickness would depend on what figure you're making. |
||
| Dark Lord |
thanks! 
|
||
| Mephisto |
Even if the pro sculpters find it better to use wire, for the people who are trying to start sculpting, it's easier to take the armatures, because you don't have to care about the size and anathomy... And I think many people would purchase a lot of armatures. At least in the Spanish forum we wanted to place an order, but there are high shipping costs to USA. | ||
| Bodhi |
There are many good size reference charts out there for those who want something to measure their wire by.
Prophet miniatures (Mark Gubser) has done an excellent little beginners booklet that contains these charts and some useful tips for the beginning sculptor. Even if he has thrown in some fat skeleton armatures and some wire and other stuff that you could just as well buy in a hardware store the booklet alone makes it worth buying the whole package (he doesn't - as yet - sell just the booklet separately) Morgan keith studios has a free excellent printout of a skeleton in 28 mm, 54 mm and 90 mm size that has the advantage of having the bends in the wire printed out as a thick black line following the shape of the skeleton. |
||
| GalakStarscraper |
http://www.morgankeithstudios.com/tips_armature.html |
||
| Dark Lord |
Very informative! Thankee sai! | ||