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Author Topic: Howl's Moving Castle: The Ingarian Empire (5th of July - Sculptor Needed)  (Read 8276 times)

Offline Mr.Marx

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Re: The Ingarian Empire: 24th June - Resurrection
« Reply #30 on: June 24, 2020, 09:39:38 PM »
Hey all,
 
I'm coming back to this project after rather a long hiatus. I hope nobody minds me resurrecting this thread after so long, but I thought the pictures and discussion were worth keeping with the project as it develops.
 
The thing that killed my enthusiasm the last time around was that the Moving Castle of my Howl's Moving Castle project turned out to be completely the wrong scale. I tried to justify just using the out-of-scale model, but my 'a wizard did it' excuse to explain away the disparity just didn't sit right – and I’m just no good at pushing ahead with anything if it feels off.

The Castle being the centrepiece of the project and the first thing I bought, the obvious thing would have been to switch scales, from 15mm to 6mm. I could have carried on with the project quite happily that way - but due to the delay with the Castle being delivered from China, and the whole 'false breast episode', by the time I had the castle I had already ordered everything in 18mm.

Having spent a lot on this army and on the Castle and with the gnawing feeling that I should really be doing this project in 6mm scale I lost heart in the whole thing, got rather grumpy about it, and shoved the whole project in a box and put it in the back room.
 
But, I’m back at it now because I’ve got a really, really bad idea. How about I do the project….in both scales?!?
 
It’s a great idea right, because then I get to use the Moving Castle I already spent far too much money on and the rather extensive 18mm force which I also already spent far too much on. The idea would be that I just go ahead and do the 18mm force as before, but then duplicate the whole thing in 6mm as well, to go with the Moving Castle!
 
The crux of this idea came in the form of the recent revamp Kickstarter for Zombiesmith Miniatures’ 15mm Quar range. As part of it there were these fantastic nonsense castle tanks which looked like smaller versions of the Ghibli Moving Castle.



It is my understanding that, like they have done with all their other models in the range, these models will be duplicated in 6mm scale at some point in the future – so it should be quite viable to duplicate the same force in 18mm and 6mm.

That way I can have an 18mm force that goes up size-wise to these smaller ‘Moving Castle’ type machines, and then the 6mm force would take off from there, allowing me to have Howl’s Moving Castle. I’ve never duplicated a force across two scales before, which in itself holds some appeal,  but really, for me, a Howl’s Moving Castle project just has to have Howl’s Moving Castle in it, even if it is in a weird, convoluted way that brings in another scale.

This nice small, contained project is bloating out of hand. This is a dreadful idea. I’m quite looking forward to it.

Thoughts?

Offline YPU

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Re: The Ingarian Empire: 24th June - Resurrection
« Reply #31 on: June 25, 2020, 09:45:01 AM »
I am very glad to hear you are moving on with this project again!
3d designer, sculptor and printer, at your service!



3d files! (here)

Offline Mr.Marx

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Re: The Ingarian Empire: 24th June - Resurrection
« Reply #32 on: July 05, 2020, 03:33:49 PM »
Hey All,

Figure-wise I've got almost all I want for this project worked out. There are only a few things left that I can't find suitable figures for - but I got plans for all of them.

The problem is that they'll all require a bit of sculpting. Nothing all too major - hair and hats, mostly - but more than I feel I can do to a standard that I'll be happy with. The plan would be that I'll team up with someone at some point to do the sculpting for me, but I don't personally know anyone who can sculpt. I'm not sure how to go about recruiting for such a job, I've started a thread over in the Workbench about that, but if anyone is interested, please PM do me. UK only preferably (for purely postage reasons). Time and labour compensated for in money or figures.

Anyhoo, here is the plan:


1.) Wizard Howl, in his lesser monster form.

This is the sort of thing I'm aiming for:



Plan for this one is to take Microworld's "Great Dingonek" figure that I already have:



The plan would be to sculpt on a sort of 'emo fringe' over the figure's otherwise rather friendly badger-like nose, something like this:





I'm not sure where these images are from, but I think they're both fan-drawings. They convey the point though - the hair extends out of the rest of the body and to cover most the face in that stylish way that anime characters seem to like wearing their hair.


2. Wizard Howl, in his greater monster form.

This is what I'm aiming for:





After looking though a lot of owlbears and giant eagles, I think I've settled on the suitably aggressive looking "Terror Turkey" sold by Bears Head Minis.



The miniature is going to need a fair bit of sculpting, though. The tail is going to need a bit of fleshing (feathering?) out, that tuft at the base of the neck will have to go, and the whole base of the neck to the top of the head is going to need a covering in feathers. It'll be the most work of all of the figures, but if it can end up looking like it looks in my head, it'll be worth it.

My other consideration for this one was this rather lovely Owlbear sold by Oathsworn Miniatures as part of their Sensile Shoes range. I don't think it is quite intimidating enough for the role - much too thoughtful and cautious - but it is a lovely figure. I imagine I'll end up buying one to use for something else one day.


3. Magicians turned to Monsters



This should be one of the easier ones. Khurasan Miniatures make these lovely little "Foul Spirits, Winged Demons" which are just he spitting image, don't you think. They need hats though. Hats and masquerade masks, which will need to be sculpted on.




4. The Blobmen



These should be the very easiest of the lot. After a lot of looking around for blob monsters and 15mm scale figure blanks, I came across these "Blue Aliens" made by The Scene. I can file down the bulbous eyes, and they'll need big round noses and straw boaters. I'm hoping that, if 15mm scale hats are a fairly easy thing to sculpt, I'll be able to buy a few packs and re-pose them to make a horde of henchmen.




5. Flying Canoes



I've had quite a look around for these, but I've not found anything yet that would work as the basis for a conversion. I think I'm going to have to take another approach with these - more details if I make any progress at all, but they are firmly on the back burner for now.


So, that is the plan. Would be interested in anyone's opinions. If anyone can think of better figures for converting from, do tell. And, if you're interested in maybe helping me with the sculpting, drop me a PM.

I've ordered a large bag of lollipop sticks which should soon arrive in the post - once they're here, I've got about two hundred figures to clean up ready for spraying!

MM.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2020, 04:05:00 PM by Mr.Marx »

Offline OSHIROmodels

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Good figure choices  8)

Hope you get someone to sort them out for you.

Regarding the 'flying canoes', how about some larger scale fighter plane missiles/bombs with appropriate dolls house furniture on them?
cheers

James

https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/

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Instagram account - oshiromodels

http://redplanetminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/
http://jimbibblyblog.blogspot.com/

Offline YPU

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Good figure choices  8)

Hope you get someone to sort them out for you.

Regarding the 'flying canoes', how about some larger scale fighter plane missiles/bombs with appropriate dolls house furniture on them?

You can get sets of fighter armaments in a bundle with no craft, probably would sort them all out in one go with a lot of interesting parts to spare.

Alternatively, you should be able to get them 3d sculpted and printed, they are carbon copies of Albert Robida designs and therefore in the public domain, I should think. (note, not a lawyer)

I love your picks of monsters, they should add a lot of visual interest to any scene!

Offline Mason

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Some cracking idea there.

If you are looking to make quick and easy straw boaters, try using a suitably scaled Brodie helmet as your base to make life easier.You will only need to build up the sides a little.
 ;)


 

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