14 years ago I had a dream... A dream where all of our little metal figures could be seen by people online, from such far away places as New Zealand, Peru and Doncaster. And now, almost a decade and a half later, the job is complete!
Back in 2010 we launched our first proper website, but we were missing images for the 2300-ish products in our catalogue at the time. We set a family member the task of sorting it out, but real life got in their way and the job fell to me to take on. Over the intervening years we've released over 2000 new products as well, so that's currently 4605 products that needed to be done!
Now 14 years is far longer than I ever anticipated but the problem has always been that adding photos is simply a very time-consuming process. Just a batch of 20 products can be anywhere from 5-8 hours of work to cast them up, assemble, blackwash, photo, edit and then upload. So that 4600 products represents close to 1500 hours of work in total! To put that in perspective, if the website photos was the only job you ever did, all day, every day, every week, every month, it would still have taken nearly 9 months to get them done.
So as I started this task before my now-secondary-school-age son was even born, you can imagine the amount of satisfaction and relief that comes from being able to say that it's done!
:-bd
Going forward, we'll continue to add more painted images to our ranges but thankfully we've got a team of fantastically talented painters who will be taking care of that for us!
An excellent job, well done and much appreciated!
Well done that man!! :)
Being far removed from vertually all wargames manufacturers I am, as their potential customer, much more likely to buy a product that interests me if I can see what I'm ordering.
Congratulations to the hardest working team in miniature wargaming.
Yes, well done.
Now can we have them bigger? :P
An achievement indeed.
Gentlemen, your challenge, if you choose to accept it, it to find ranges where he's missed one! :d
Well done to you and the team for all your hard work and effort to make this happen :) !
=D> =D> =D>
Though, I have to admit that I've always had a soft-spot in my chest for the drawn illustrations from the Dixon Miniatures (physical edition) catalogues, or the complete not-having-a-bloody-clue-what-something-will-look-like when ordering a product code from a lot of manufacturers. In a way, having photographs of all the Pendraken miniatures takes some of the fun out of it ;D
Well done Leon - great to have all the ranges photographed.
HUSSAR!
QuoteNow can we have them bigger? :P
Haha!
(chuckled through gritted teeth...!) >:(
Some images do need improving, notably the Dungeon ranges, but also some of the first painted Naps ranges too. The old, old site could only cope with 400 pixel widths so they were all formatted to that. They can be replaced but it'll be a while until I can photo them all again and format the new images.
Quote from: Lord Speedy of Leighton on 31 December 2023, 12:21:39 PMGentlemen, your challenge, if you choose to accept it, it to find ranges where he's missed one! :d
Go for it! I've had a good luck myself and filled any gaps that I could find, but there might be something hiding somewhere...
A mention in this New Year's Honours surely is on the cards. Many thanks
Quote from: fsn on 31 December 2023, 10:59:22 AMYes, well done.
Now can we have them bigger? :P
I thought you did not like 15mm figures
Well, I think I've spotted a possible error in a couple WW2 German images? Should it count, though it (probably) isn't Leon's fault...
GRV25 Panther, Ausf. A - is the painted display model shown with the correct hull? As the hull MG has the letter box opening - which is possible, historically but ...
GRV26 Panther, Ausf. D - the painted display model is shown with a hull where the hull MG has the 'bulging' opening - again, it is historically possible on later Ausf. D models, I believe, but most Ausf. D Panther's featured the letter box machine gun port.
Panther Ausf. A was produced (chronologically) after Panther Ausf.D, should people not be aware, and the letter box hull MG port was an early production feature that was discontinued and replaced with the 'bulge' on late model Ausf. D, Ausf. A, and Ausf. G.
I was wanting to buy some Ausf. D models last year but, the hull MG port issue put me off, if I'm honest. Maybe it's causing some confusion to others?
And, GRV29 Panther, Ausf. D, camouflaged appears to use a hull with the letter box MG port, just to add more confusion to customers (or, me, specifically). Obviously I could have just emailed and asked but, I never got around to making an order so didn't - and went with Pendraken's Modern tanks instead of WW2.
Quote from: Roy on 03 January 2024, 11:50:34 AMWell, I think I've spotted a possible error in a couple WW2 German images? .......
There are people who use a cardboard box with PzIV written on it so I don't think it will matter very much :D
True :)
I'm the type of person who isn't happy with early production wheels on my T-34-85 10mm models and sends Leon an email asking if there are any models with later pattern wheels, so I can convert some T-34-85s to use for the Vietnam War. [For the record, I still haven't converted them! ;D ]
Quote from: Roy on 03 January 2024, 11:50:34 AMWell, I think I've spotted a possible error in a couple WW2 German images?
Not sure on that, I'll check with Dave and see if the hulls have been swapped over on our painted images.
QuoteThere are people who use a cardboard box with PzIV written on it so I don't think it will matter very much :D
PzIV L/70 actually :)
And it did have a straw poked in the front to indicate a gun :D
And, yes, I'm not fussed if it has the MG modelled, much less about the shape of the port it fires through!
Wrong wheels? Muddy them up until you can't tell.
So much of what I do has to rely on "near enough" to provide miniatures as the actual thing isn't available in the right scale and/ or a price I can justify paying so, while accurate is lovely when it happens, "near enough" is good enough for army work :)
You know what bothers me about this thread? It's the title.
"Website Photos Complete".
I think as wargamers we all know that "complete" means something like "done for now, until Pendraken expands the range", or as Leonardo said "art is never completed, only abandoned" - and that's profound for a turtle.
(https://a1cf74336522e87f135f-2f21ace9a6cf0052456644b80fa06d4f.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/images/characters/large/800/Leonardo.Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles.webp)
Quote from: Ithoriel on 04 January 2024, 02:57:54 AMPzIV L/70 actually :)
And it did have a straw poked in the front to indicate a gun :D
And, yes, I'm not fussed if it has the MG modelled, much less about the shape of the port it fires through!
Wrong wheels? Muddy them up until you can't tell.
So much of what I do has to rely on "near enough" to provide miniatures as the actual thing isn't available in the right scale and/ or a price I can justify paying so, while accurate is lovely when it happens, "near enough" is good enough for army work :)
Sounds like a tale you can tell us about on Sunday maybe?
Quote from: fsn on 04 January 2024, 09:30:30 AMYou know what bothers me about this thread? It's the title.
"Website Photos Complete".
I think as wargamers we all know that "complete" means something like "done for now, until Pendraken expands the range", or as Leonardo said "art is never completed, only abandoned" - and that's profound for a turtle.
Sensei Leon is already one step ahead here purhaps?........................When any new ranges are added it is now normal for pictures of them to be posted in order to "increase our knowledge of the products involved" :) ;D
Well done that man =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>