Photos of the almost guys

Got an e-mail this morning from someone who likes seeing the details of mold making, so I thought I would post some pics of things that did not quite make the cut the past few weeks and the reasons why.

  First off we have my long range project the stalker tank. In this pic we can see that the left front fender was not cut out. This was simply a careless oversight on my part.  In this case the parting line at the front fender was off slightly resulting in part of the model not being cut out. What happened is that the bottom of the fender was floating into the top side mold. It pays to run a simulation on your cutting and really watch the tool path.

  Here is a Federal main battle tank. Looks OK, but the treads have some sort of angle that makes them really want to hang up. This means I can not make this yet. I have to polish and file the treads until they stop sticking. This tank is supposed to be a foe of the earlier trencher tank but right now it is MIA.

Here is a pic with a trencher turret. I think it makes a nice opponent. Maybe it will work someday. On a positive note the women 28mm troops are looking good. Almost got the backside mold finished and will start on the face side then. 
   With any luck the next post will have pics of these troops painted up and I will start working on the heavy weapons sprue.

Recruits are taking shape

  Wanted to post a few pics for those curious about the process of home mold making.   I am starting to think it would be much better to have someone do this part, but then I would miss out on all the fun. I by fun I mean frustrations. It is still way cheaper to make your own. For less than the cost of a single mold you can have equipment and software to make all the molds you want. It is getting the knowledge that is elusive.

Here is a block on the mill after roughing in the cavities for the sci-fi troopers. I used a .125 ball up to this point, a really big tool for our size objects.

Here is a body further detailed with a .060 ball mill. It is actually recognizable with boots and legs if you look closely. The head attaches closest to you from this angle.

This is a .012 bit, the smallest I could ever see the need to use. I will only use this for areas needed fine detail. These first women I am trying to make are fairly simple, just raw militia in a jump suit and carrying your basic small arms. If they turn out, which I think is a big if, I am going to make a sprue of heavy weapons for them.

  And this is a strange bird who built a nest in my shop rags right beside the CNC mill. It sets there looking at me and seems to be confident in its camoflage, even though it built a nest on bright red rags. I do not even know how it gets in and out, but it must make its way through a roof vent or beside the big doors. I have decided to allow it to stay, even though the 4 eggs are sure to lead to a quartet of annoying screaming chicks and a pile of crap covered shop rags.   And that is what has been happening at the shop. I still have to get that other tank mass produced, but the ejection is being a real pain. I tend to get frustrated and then set things down for a while. Once I get some fresh energy I will tackle it. I have to admit I am a bit focused on getting a few squads of these hapless female cannon fodder on the battlefield.  Squads like this are great, because sometimes they get lucky and take out a Chaos lord or something, giving you bragging rights for years. "Hey, remember that time my squad of housewives armed with rolling pins killed your 10,000 year old demonicly empowered, runic armored, power sword wielding berserking lunatic? Boy was that great."