Forum for those who want to cast and market figures?

[huevans]

I am thinking of starting a little hobby-business selling a few figures for a skirmish game and my own skirmish rules. I have contacted a sculptor, but am just guessing as to the rest - including how to use Kickstarter, set up a website and packaging and casting the actual figures.

Is there a resource for overly ambitious idiots like myself to learn some of the basics??

[Captain Gars]

No idea about a "forum".

I would publish the rules and see if they get a good reception. If so, then I would think about making figures to play the game.

[carlos marighela]

I don't know of any 'how to' forums but I have spoken with a number of manufacturers over the years. If it's going to be a small scale hobby whose main aim is to subsidise some figures you want yourself, you are better off getting someone else to cast them.

Spin casting machines and their associated impedimentia like vulcanised rubber moulds are not inexpensive pieces of kit. That's a lot of capital expenditure to recoup over and above the sculpting costs, metal, time and packaging. There's also the learning curve of doing the casts themselves. Knowing where to have vents on sculpts, knowing about undercuts as well as mastering the machine. You'll also want somewhere with a dedicated space and well ventilated to do this.

There are a number of folk out there in the hobby already who will cast up models on commission, they can even hook you up with a variety of sculptors. Eureka are one such company. You can even commission a range and get them to market them for you, a few people have done so in the past.

Have a chat with some of the folk who sculpt and/or manufacture themselves, there are a number on LAF as it is.

[Moriarty]

It’s possible to hand-cast figures yourself, consult tInterwebs or any old Wargaming/modelling book for the process.
Prince August sell moulds and casing supplies:

https://shop.princeaugust.ie/

‘Alec Tiranti’ sold kits and casting supplies, but have since switched to pottery and trade under Potterycrafts, although they still offer white metal for casting.
EBay offers the vulcanised rubber for mould making:
https://sylmasta.com/product/grade-375-rubber-for-white-metal-1kg/?srsltid=AfmBOopIvdLluhz6_PHPlU876MRGPpspt7tlTuDRZR4uHH4vTNC3V1Zl

Hot metal can damage you and your surroundings, by fumes and fire.

[Rickf]

Hello mate,

This is exactly what I did, started a hobby business selling white metal 40mm modern figures www.dangercloseminiatures.co.uk I'll start off by saying I had a lot of help, I already knew people in the industry who own some of the bigger name companies.

Start off by finding a sculptor you like, lots advertise for work on Facebook and TMP. You can approach the ones you know who work for the famous firms, but they are very busy and not cheap.

I found a good second hand spin cast machine on EBay and have my moulds professionally made, there are a few firms that provide this service and it is definitely something that needs doing properly. You'll need a shed or something like that, it's not something you should do in the kitchen.

I used Wix for the website, it's really easy and I did it all myself. Get one of their webshop sites, a domain and link it to PayPal.

Advertising will be expensive unless you only rely on social media, I get hardly any orders nowadays as I don't advertise anymore. I don't need the money and I'm busy in the real world, but it's nice to know it's still there.

Cheers
Rick

[Mammoth miniatures]

So first and foremost, welcome to the wonderful world of the miniature side hussle!

You could try the indie mini makers discord if you enjoy discord - Personally I don't enjoy the never ending group chat style of discord but it's a good resource for asking questions.

The various facebook sculpting pages - oldhammer sculpting etc, are quite good for technical issues around sculpting and casting, although if you're outsourcing casting this may not be of much use.
Frothers UK was an amazing forum for exactly this, but it died. The facebook group is still quite good but not as industry focused.
If you have specific questions you could always ask them here, this seems to be the last real hub for small producers to gather outside of social media.

[robh]

....I am thinking of starting a little hobby-business selling a few figures for a skirmish game and my own skirmish rules......

Good luck with the endeavour.  I am a couple of years into a similar bucket-list project, but mine is purely for fun nothing commercial. What is known as a "Heartbreaker" in the old school RPG hobby. If I sell enough to cover my financial outlay I will be overjoyed!

I have a now well tested set of rules and the first masters of some commissioned figures painted as display/promotion pieces. I was intending to Kickstart it in the latter stage of this year but domestic issues and a pretty shitty year have delayed it until next.
For simplicity (and to avoid paying costs for stock and such like) I decided to" outsource" everything, so rulebooks will be Print on Demand only and I opted for 3D sculpted figures, paying for the stls to be created, but the actual models will be printed to order.

Kickstarter themselves are very helpful, you will need to contact them anyway to ensure what you want to put in your campaign is "woke-proofed", especially if you are looking at historical models or anything that is remotely close to a recognised/existing IP. The list of things you cannot include if you want to avoid the risk of complaint is extensive. They have good guides on how to use their service.
I tested a few EU based 3D resin printers and have a couple I can reliably use and have an initial PoD print of my little rulebook (which I need to extensively re-edit for better pagination).
I have no intention of creating a website and will use a small forum service like groups.iO for hosting Q&A chats, game files, scenarios and such like.

[huevans]

Wow! Thanks for all the response!

@robh - When you say "EU based printers" are these machines or companies??

I browsed IG last night and noticed a couple of professional STL printing services.

[robh]

@robh - When you say "EU based printers" are these machines or companies??

I hit up a bunch of 3D resin print services found on Etsy that will print from customer supplied files. A couple were commercial specialists but most I believe are hobby printers. I had some gaming stuff done by each of them (not my pieces but commercial/licensed figures, models and scenics) and selected 4.  I then had those 4 do various scale prints of my own pieces (under a sort of NDA), then agreed pricing and such with 2 of those based on the service I got.