Captain Harlock's Hoplites

[fluffy05]

Your sculpting and attention to detail are beautiful!

Absolutely stunning!  Many thanks for sharing.

[DonVoss]

This is just a great thread.
Full of very cool miniatures....with love for detail. Very well done...

Would love to see some etruscan helmets useable with victrix...

Cheers,
Don

[Captain Harlock]

i ve been sculpting afew heads with corinthian helmets mostly

[M.O.T.N]

Excellent!

[Tonhel]

The heads look great!
Do you have an update about a possible release?

[Captain Harlock]

Thanks for the support guys!
Right now Im sculpting some crests. I want those guys to really stand out, as they are intended to be used as Heroes and officers. I want to also offer a boeotian shield varriant (the one with the cut aways). Im also thinking about sculpting a separate spear point and spear butt, these would be slotted in a metallic rod. That would make the production simpler and it would be sturdier for gaming. My plan is to get everything ready by the end of the week.
Then there is the production. I would really like to have the first run out within the next month and certainly before xmas. I was planning to work with basically the single proper casting company we have in Greece. They are 10 min drive from my home, I know the guys and my brother used to work there. There are two problems. 1) the price for the molds and casting in resin is really steep, considering that Greece is a financial post-apocalyptic wasteland now. 2) They are really busy and they have big customers like Pegaso, Maim and Andrea, so that means some waiting time.

So there are two solutions.
1) Have a crowd funding campaign in indiegogo (we dont get Kickstarter in Greece), so that I wont fork out the production money out of my own pocket, and have the company do the work.

2) Be a true renaissance man, buy the materials and get myself into molding and casting the same way I got myself into sculpting. This time a bit easier task since my brother has some experience on the field. In that way I have a better chance of getting the production money back and if all goes well maybe a small amount of pocket money for future projects.

Im being totally honest and open about this. Im doing this first and foremost because Im having a blast. I dont care about man hours, many times I scraped stuff that my mates thought as ''perfectly fine'' and started over because it didnt sit well with me. I really want the best I can do with the skill I have at every point. Thats why Im keep pushing the envelope and doing things more difficult for me  . Most manufacturers that offer Greeks tend to gloss over details or missmatch periods. For example if a helmet looks ''greeky'' enough, then its a pass. I wanted THAT specific helmet/armour featuring in pottery or the archaeological museum. Nobody did it so I decided to do it for myself. Im not doing it on a  ''I have to make x minis a week for y amount of money per mini'' . So at any case Im not expecting to get paid for that time and attention.

Again I really thank you for the support and motivation

[M.O.T.N]

Continuing conversation from my thread, if you have questions or want advice on anything drop me a PM.

Take option 2 here - you will learn so much doing the mould making and casting yourself that it will make you a better miniature designer. When you do get someone else to do the mould making and casting they will thank you for it, less work for them to do in terms of tweaking your sculpts. Having your brother to help will be a huge bonus.

Thats the way I learned. The absolute worst part was when mould makers sent stuff back and I had to make adjustments, it's soul destroying when you think you are finished and onto something new... then old sculpts come back for changes. Or the mould works out fine... but you made the ankles or the bow too thin and it breaks when removing it from the mould (resin), or there's a high failure rate in metal because of how thin the part is.

Imagine you ran a crowdfunder and then some of these issue cropped up, talk about stress.

Sculpt a very simple and straight pose, rear rank perhaps, and use that as the test mini for your first mould.

[Tonhel]

Go for option 2. It will be more difficult and more work, but it will probably be the more interesting / rewarding option in the long run.

You can maybe do a small pre-order here on the forum and maybe in a couple of facebook groups to recover the cost of the moulding / casting material.

You can sign me up for the pre-order!

I love how detailed your work is!

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

I have enjoyed following this thread.  The figures look great and I would certainly be happy to make a small pre-order.  I know nothing about casting/sculpting, but option 2 seems to make sense for the reasons given.

[Captain Harlock]

Thanks guys!
@ Tonhel & Ethelred the Almost Ready
Much appreciated. The cost for the materials is reasonable, so there is no need to go the preorder route. Im trying to always put myself in the shoes of the customer (even in my regular job, graphic design) and I think that nobody likes to wait or be anxious of when and if he will receive his order.

@ M.O.T.N
Thanks for the solid advice. Im most probably going the diy way. I already know from my brother's experience that a mold will give at best 30 good copies before it has to be replaced. So outsourcing takes a headache away but unlike metal casting, the procedure has to be repeated (and payed) multiple times. The molding costs will never be evened out no matter how many copies are sold. I ve been asked to cut the minis in many places and I wasnt very keen on that because I know that most people dont like to deal with parts.  Offcource there have to be some cuts, but I want to do the absolute necessary, not what saves the casting service 10 minutes of working time.

[Muzfish4]

I have been following and enjoying this thread.

I know that you don't want to go with the preorder option to avoid stressing backers but maybe a limited preorder that stresses the items will be ready when they are and that anyone hopping on the preorder has to accept this as a condition of joining.

I'd be very comfortable with that approach and would not stress one iota as I'd know that quality takes time and that was precisely what I signed up for.

Good luck with whatever deliver option you end up going with.

[Captain Harlock]

ok a small wip sneak peak, while Im working on details

[DintheDin]

Awesome crest!
And the posture is reminiscent of old statues!
You are doing an epic job!
Keep them coming, Captain!

[Tonhel]

Magnificent

I really need that one as my Lochagos for Mortal Gods. He is sublime. Fantastic work!

Edit: You are really talented. Your work is of the same quality as the top sculptors that work for Footsore and Claymore casting! Really impressive work!

[swiftnick]

Absolutely outstanding!