Saw this website a couple of weeks ago...He mainly does 6mm but does have preview pics up of his upcoming 10mm
Just scroll down to the bottom of the page for the 10mm section
http://www.levenminiatures.co.uk/previews.htm
I have some of Mick's work in 6mm. Best on the market. If he brings this talent to 10mm, it will be good for the hobby.
His 6mm airfield range is superb. No thick base to have to blend into the setting. Bring em on!
Sunray out
I couldnt beliv how cheap it was as well, A couple of weeks ago I asked him if he fancied doing some 6mm viking buildings and 2 weeks later its on the preview page...oustanding
Quote from: Fenton on 19 November 2012, 09:02:25 AM
I couldnt beliv how cheap it was as well, A couple of weeks ago I asked him if he fancied doing some 6mm viking buildings and 2 weeks later its on the preview page...oustanding
Outstanding ! - You can always spot a gamer who loves his USMC units!
Sunray
Those Normandy street houses are looking great, can't wait for the 10 mm ones to become available. I think he might have access to a 3D printer? It looks very clean, and with lots of detail. Just an impression.
Those are really VERY impressive....Especially as the prices look far more than reasonable.
Hope that's a real success !!
Cheers - Phil.
These look really good. I just hope he will be making the cinema in 10mm! That would be fantastic. ;D
Hi all - just dropped by to say hi and many thanks for all the great comments - just hope I can live up to it all.
Am working hard on finishing the Normandy Housing for the New Year - and an interesting idea for the cinema in 10mm will add it to the wish list.
Oh - and no 3D printer I'm afraid - all done by hand.
Welcome to all the fun and games
Quote from: Fenton on 22 November 2012, 09:36:32 PM
Welcome to all the fun and games
Thanks bud - and thanks for starting the thread
Welcome Mick - good to see you here - and looking forward to seeing your 10mm creations [another vote for the cinema BTW] 8)
Thanks for the welcome - if there's any of my 6mm ranges you would like to see in 10mm let me know - Have got about 20 6mm left on the bench to finish off, then I'm concentrating on 10mm so I need an idea of what people would like to see - no point in making them if they already exist or theres no market for them.
I think if you started mentioning Ancient and Romano British Style buildings you would get some interest as they arent reallymade in 10mm
just for a laff - I've scaled up the cinema to 10mm
size would be roughly 130mm long, 85mm deep and 70mm high - OUCH - now that's a big model even for 10mm
Welcome Mick, I'd not seen your stuff before .... Very impressive!
I would like to see your Viking settlement range in 10mm, and second the suggestion for Romano-British :D
Cheers,
Kev
Your stuff does look good, and I look forward to some 10mm stuff.
If the 10mm cinema is looking too big, I would suggest compressing the floor area a bit, while retaining the height, this mixed scale seems to look good with 10mm figures.
As for Romano British - I think the Baggage Train do some houses and a fortress for this era.
Hi Mick - welcome to the forum - I have just pinged you an order for 6mm.
Two obvious gaps in 10mm :
1. A few decent airfield buildings. Corgi released these long ago in 1/144 card and now they are collectors items. You don't want hangers- we can build those out of plastic card - but a decent control tower and a few classic war time admin and nissen type structures. Airfield buildings are generic enough to have a wide range of gaming applications. You also win guys like Carlos who build the best in 1/144- 1/150 modelling and the sizable 1/144 aircraft faternity. Lots of N gauge railway types will also use classical WW2 airfield buildings
2. Boats...(I can sense Vic aka Grumpy Old Man typing in his Paypal code already) Nobody does MTBs, E boats and small gunboats in 10mm. Your work in resin is neat and clean enough for this level of casting. A few tramp type steamers for Pendraken VBCW would be the icing on the cake.
Great to see you in 10mm
Best Wishes
Sunray
Thanks for all the welcomes guys - and the suggestions. I like the idea of airfield and viking in 10mm so look out for them in the future.
I've never tried boats but it's an interesting idea - Built a remote control MTB some years a go - but that was 4 foot long so was a little oversize for 10mm, but will find out the plans and see what I can come up with.
Quote from: levenminiatures on 22 November 2012, 09:33:06 PM
Hi all - just dropped by to say hi and many thanks for all the great comments - just hope I can live up to it all.
Am working hard on finishing the Normandy Housing for the New Year - and an interesting idea for the cinema in 10mm will add it to the wish list.
Oh - and no 3D printer I'm afraid - all done by hand.
Welcome indeed! Your normandy houses look great, and coincidentally I need some ;) will your roofs come off? And do ou have a plan for inserting variety easily / like a panelled window or something similar? I intend to make a few streets, so it would be nice to have some simple ways without too much customizing :) just a question, but is there any plan to also offer damaged versions?
erm - no the roofs do not come off but it's an idea I can look into. The models will probably be hollowed out on the base to reduce weight, but are not designed to hold 'troops' etc.
I decided to leave the windows and doors as plain openings to allow the user to create their own mullion/transoms or door panel detailing etc. I found that creating window and door detail on the model limited the usage of the building for particular eras. As with real life, over the lifetime of a building, the structure usually remains the same but the window detail changes with the period etc. ie pre-16th century leaded glass progressed to such as Victorian double hung sash, to modern picture windows, and nowadays to UPVC etc - this way, changes can be made with a paint brush (hope I didn't bore you but you get the idea).
I hadn't planned on damaged versions, but again, it's another idea to look into.
hello
welcome on board !
Asking what we need opened the pandora's box ! ;)
Quote from: ronan on 24 November 2012, 08:17:24 AM
Asking what we need opened the pandora's box ! ;)
Could you do a Pandoras box in 6 or 10mm?...that would be great :D
Oh er Mrs! Pandora's box! ;) That's one I'm not sure even Nik could get away with on the Totty thread! ;D
Quote from: mad lemmey on 24 November 2012, 11:18:12 AM
Oh er Mrs! Pandora's box! ;) That's one I'm not sure even Nik could get away with on the Totty thread! ;D
Red rag? Meet bull... :d
Here you go: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1714.msg63514.html#msg63514
:)
;D
Welcome, Mick, can I echo the comments of the other guys re. workmanship.
Speaking personally, I'm always on the lookout for older buildings - half-timbered, georgian, churches etc. - because they read across all the periods and sit as well in WWII as they do in 7YW. Just a thought. :)
just checked Pandora's box - I could do that! - I prefer straight lines but curves are good too!
I don't do ancients any more, but I've noticed a desperate shortage of buildings for the biggest historical period. And they really DO lend themselves to all periods, whereas half-timbered thatch would not, I fear, do well in the wars of Chi'n and Wu, or the final stand of Greece against Macedonia, etc.
Nik - bet you can't do lesbian totty pic with Jodie Foster and Claire Danes.
(worth a try; the man has a knack....)
Quote from: FierceKitty on 25 November 2012, 02:02:01 AM
Nik - bet you can't do lesbian totty pic with Jodie Foster and Claire Danes.
(worth a try; the man has a knack....)
Tricky - here's a quick go... you'll have to do a mental-photoshop-exercise ;)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0BxM1923zF4/Su6fTGzKrTI/AAAAAAAAAFY/rr53VfVPeWw/s1600/claire+danes+nude+showing+nipples+.jpg)(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1Ssoxfl0MvQ/Sb4PLgv1wEI/AAAAAAAAIs4/qDB3LiOmZ5I/s400/silly2_jodie.jpg)
:d
Thanks for making my Sunday afternoon.
Quote from: levenminiatures on 23 November 2012, 11:19:37 PM
I decided to leave the windows and doors as plain openings to allow the user to create their own mullion/transoms or door panel detailing etc. I found that creating window and door detail on the model limited the usage of the building for particular eras. As with real life, over the lifetime of a building, the structure usually remains the same but the window detail changes with the period etc. ie pre-16th century leaded glass progressed to such as Victorian double hung sash, to modern picture windows, and nowadays to UPVC etc - this way, changes can be made with a paint brush (hope I didn't bore you but you get the idea).
Good points about the windows. as far as troops inside buildings are concerned, I do that a lot in city fighting. I have a set of damaged buildings that allow this. If you cast in one piece it will be hard to do, I suppose. Unless you can make the roofs separate and cast the buildings hollow... Not sure if others use buildings in this way. I remember getting a series of buildings for 10 mm once and I wasn't even able to get one square inch unit in.
Quote from: Pruneau on 28 November 2012, 06:29:51 AM
Good points about the windows. as far as troops inside buildings are concerned, I do that a lot in city fighting. I have a set of damaged buildings that allow this. If you cast in one piece it will be hard to do, I suppose. Unless you can make the roofs separate and cast the buildings hollow... Not sure if others use buildings in this way. I remember getting a series of buildings for 10 mm once and I wasn't even able to get one square inch unit in.
Solid buildings have never been an issue for myself, I have always used a footprint round the building the width of a stand to show who is in the building and on what facing, over the years I think I have decided that jostling troops in the inside of buildings is too much trouble
EDIT: Quote fixed.
Mick,
Welcome! Went to your site and loved it, particularly the industrial stuff. I wargame in the mid nineteenth century period, and things like sugar factories and brick works seem to abound. Any ideas as to what a mid 19th century Brick works would look like? Although I game in 10mm, most of the buildings I use are 6mm, I like more buildings in the same footprint. I would second the call for churches, they are the real multi-purpose models, covering hundreds of years. But I haven't seen one with the two angled spire so common in Europe. Looking for these both for 1866 (Chlum, lots of pics on the web) and for 1870 Gravelotte and Mars-le-Tour. But beware, frequent this forum too long and you'll have a list of new items from here to eternity!
Mollinary
Quote from: Fenton on 28 November 2012, 07:02:05 PM
Solid buildings have never been an issue for myself, I have always used a footprint round the building the width of a stand to show who is in the building and on what facing, over the years I think I have decided that jostling troops in the inside of buildings is too much trouble
EDIT: Quote fixed.
I see what you mean, and it's a good idea for freestanding houses, but I'm paticularly interested in the normandy houses for 44 city fighting, and it's gonna be hard to have that footprint. A two part structure, with the roof off revealing a flat surface would be workable though. No need for hollow casting, just two parts so I can take the roof off and put units on top.
Shoot me down in flames as I'm nowhere near 'up to speed' on resin castings.
But if 'hollow' buildings were required, might it be easier for the manufacturer to produce the buildings as 'flat packs?'
Front wall, back wall, two side walls and the roof ?
OK..they'd need assembly...but I imagine that wouldn't be too time consuming.
There's probably a blatantly obvious answer to why they're not made like this, which my sleepy brain can't fathom at the moment. (extra production costs perhaps ...more fragile when transporting ?) :-\
Just a thought though.
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: Techno on 29 November 2012, 08:35:15 AM
Shoot me down in flames as I'm nowhere near 'up to speed' on resin castings.
But if 'hollow' buildings were required, might it be easier for the manufacturer to produce the buildings as 'flat packs?'
Front wall, back wall, two side walls and the roof ?
OK..they'd need assembly...but I imagine that wouldn't be too time consuming.
There's probably a blatantly obvious answer to why they're not made like this, which my sleepy brain can't fathom at the moment. (extra production costs perhaps ...more fragile when transporting ?) :-\
Just a thought though.
Cheers - Phil
Interesting point Phil. I think the answer lies in the fact that Leven was developed in the 6mm world. This is micro scale. The culture was and is to cast solid as building were small and fiddly. Mick's taken 6mm to a new level as he avoids the thick 4mm base that many 1/300 buildings sit on.
Having said that, ALL resin buildings that I have played with up to 25mm have been solid. We took it as read that that was how buildings were made. I have a set of 6mm card villages that sit very cleverly on a ruin version, but this was card and not resin.
I suspect that only factor in casting flat pack walls and roofs is...the extra cost incurred in sculpture, casting and more packaging.
Who knows, now that the request has been flagged up, demand will open the market?
Sunray out
EDIT: Quote fixed.
Flat packs would definitely works for me. Side panels could be very very simple, we just need fronts and rears. I have been experimenting with making fronts for 10 mm normandy houses, with some success, but the making of silicon moulds proved very hard, and I now use open destroyed buildings ost of the time... But the look of a Normandy street nót blown to smithereens would be a great sight.
Here where I was at...
http://secondsquadonme.blogspot.be/2011/02/second-attempt-at-making-modular-10-mm.html
One problem with thin resin sheets could be warping? I have some N-scale resin building kits from Artitec, and they suffer from this to some extent.
Quote from: OldenBUA on 29 November 2012, 09:31:51 PM
One problem with thin resin sheets could be warping? I have some N-scale resin building kits from Artitec, and they suffer from this to some extent.
That's a damn good point !! :-\
Maybe that's the reason.
Cheers - Phil.
Quote from: Pruneau on 29 November 2012, 09:23:24 PM
Flat packs would definitely works for me. Side panels could be very very simple, we just need fronts and rears. I have been experimenting with making fronts for 10 mm normandy houses, with some success, but the making of silicon moulds proved very hard, and I now use open destroyed buildings ost of the time... But the look of a Normandy street nót blown to smithereens would be a great sight.
Here where I was at...
http://secondsquadonme.blogspot.be/2011/02/second-attempt-at-making-modular-10-mm.html
If you're going to go down that route, Rudy, surely it would be more economic to make an entire street as one unit? The whole thing would be stronger and you could still have individual roofs. :-\
Having said that, your initial experiments look good to me. :-bd
Quote from: Hertsblue on 30 November 2012, 08:51:06 AM
If you're going to go down that route, Rudy, surely it would be more economic to make an entire street as one unit? The whole thing would be stronger and you could still have individual roofs. :-\
Having said that, your initial experiments look good to me. :-bd
Yeah, in the end the idea wold be to make combinations of these bits and create larger fronts. But, to be honest, I struggled with the windows - might have an alternative now, and it was a lot of work. The idea would be to glue / putty parts together, put some plastercon the stones so the show through here and there, and in the end cast larger parts, like a few houses. The roofs were hard to design though, as I have no real experience in the matter.
Hi all - loving all the comments and suggestions.
Re flat packs - it's certainly worth looking into for 10mm.
I agree, large 'thin' resin panels do tend to warp due to the heat generated during curing, but the main problem here is they are rather brittle - (just drop one on a hard surface and see). The panels for a typical 10mm Normandy house would still need to be min 4mm thick to create the necessary strength, and creating a mitre on the sides for joining may pose a slight air bubble problem during casting, plus the roofs would need to be solid triangular blocks. - Now you've got me thinking ... am off in the workshop - see you all later.
Quote from: levenminiatures on 01 December 2012, 02:58:42 PM
Hi all - loving all the comments and suggestions.
Re flat packs - it's certainly worth looking into for 10mm.
I agree, large 'thin' resin panels do tend to warp due to the heat generated during curing, but the main problem here is they are rather brittle - (just drop one on a hard surface and see). The panels for a typical 10mm Normandy house would still need to be min 4mm thick to create the necessary strength, and creating a mitre on the sides for joining may pose a slight air bubble problem during casting, plus the roofs would need to be solid triangular blocks. - Now you've got me thinking ... am off in the workshop - see you all later.
Drop a solid resin casting on a hard surface and you'll wish you hadn't! I speak from sad experience.
The sad fact is that the technique lends itself more to plastic than resin. Don't know anyone who does such a thing though. :(
Sadly....
Even for something as 'simple' and flat as a wall, it would still be horribly pricey to produce something in plastic Ray.
The tooling costs wouldn't be as awful as they would be compared to making plastic men, but they'd still be way too high for most people.
Cheers - Phil.
Oh, I understand the complications involved with plastic, Phil. I was just wondering aloud if any of the model railway firms did anything of the sort. Saw a huge layout yesterday (in OO admittedly) on which there were all sorts of wonderful kit buildings. =P~
Pico Armor produce plastic buildings, so they are obviously set up for injection moulding. Maybe they do them or would consider it.
I know John Sweenie of Pico Armour quite well since I set up the 3mm yahoo group, If its the Monopoly buildings your talking about then I think he buys those in from else where...The other terrain pieces are resin and metal
Good point - I like that - 'monopoly buildings' - you're right they look exactly like 'em. Am still trying to get my head around the 3mm stuff myself - tools bigger than the windows like!.
Hi All
Talking of plastic N gauge buildings there are is the Kestrel range (Edit:My old teacher would have had fits :o)
(http://www.gaugemaster.com/_upload/imgs/lrg/40438176/GMKD2003.jpg)
http://www.gaugemaster.com/search_results.asp?searchstring=%20%20brand~~667~~brand%20%20scale~~%ACn%AC~~scale%20category~~1229~~category#24 (http://www.gaugemaster.com/search_results.asp?searchstring=%20%20brand~~667~~brand%20%20scale~~%ACn%AC~~scale%20category~~1229~~category#24)
Very useful for VBCW.
Cheers
GrumpyOldMan
Hey Grumpy - stop giving me ideas!!
Quote from: levenminiatures on 01 December 2012, 02:58:42 PM
the main problem here is they are rather brittle - (just drop one on a hard surface and see).
...or knock one carelessly against another one. :(
Hi LM
Quote from: levenminiatures on 03 December 2012, 11:09:57 PM
Hey Grumpy - stop giving me ideas!!
Always good at coming up with ideas that mean work for somebody else ;D ;D
But the Kestrel buildings (with the window bits closed off) make good examples of how to structure flat pack buildings:-
(http://www.gaugemaster.com/_upload/imgs/lrg/40438176/GMKD01.jpg)
Leaving the gutters, downpipes and and chimney pots aside (white metal?), the main issue would be designing the edges so that they are easily cast without air pockets yet can fit together for gluing.
Still, as I said, I'm the ideas man - my job is done! ;D ;D ;D
Cheers
GrumpyOldMan
A vacuum pump would help.
having played in the workshop on the challenge for an evening or two, I have come to the conclusion that flat packs are definitely for injection moulded plastic. Resin versions would not be cost effective, and not of equal quality. Sorry guys I've failed.
Your other stuff is still pretty dam' good. Apology not required. :)
I don't know if it would make a difference, but the buildings I have from Artitec come with the flat pieces in a single sheet of resin, and maybe some extra bits seperate. It means that when building the model you have to cut out the pieces first, but that's not a big problem, I would think. But maybe it would make the manufacturing easier/more efficient?
Quote from: levenminiatures on 04 December 2012, 11:23:44 PM
having played in the workshop on the challenge for an evening or two, I have come to the conclusion that flat packs are definitely for injection moulded plastic. Resin versions would not be cost effective, and not of equal quality. Sorry guys I've failed.
No failure just the restrictions of the material.
Quote from: WeeWars on 05 December 2012, 07:35:10 PM
No failure just the restrictions of the material.
No, indeed. Just bash on with the 10mm stuff. :-bd